Travels in Spain

[André Le Nôtre]

Hi Folks, I have received some interesting travel advice here before, so I thought I'd try a post on our latest trip.

My wife and I are planning on going to Spain for ~ a month's vacation, after having canceled plans in 2021 and 2022 due to the pandemic and other life events...We have been to Europe many times and have visited many European countries (I am a dual U.S.-Irish/EU citizen). This will be our first trip to Spain. We live in the SoCal area (do not like it here!), so these trips take quite a bit of time and effort (and money) to plan. We can speak some basic Spanish, but would also like to learn just a little Catalan—at least basic greetings and pronunciation. I also speak some French, which I think may be useful in Basque country.

We are planning on going in May-June. Hopefully, in this timeframe we will miss the worst of the tourist stampede and heat.

I would be interested in any advice on the following itinerary, and also suggestions for hotels, restaurants, museums, wine tasting (rioja, sherry), swine tasting (serrano, iberico), music (flamenco, pipe organs), megalithic sites, and the like. We like to take our time and soak up the local culture—not do 15 cities in 15 days! Hence, we will likely stay in 4-6 cities in our roughly month there. Spain seems to have endless beautiful, picturesque, historic towns and sites—can't see them all!

We always prefer quiet neighborhoods and tend toward AirBNBs instead of hotels. We are nightowls and will fit in perfectly with eating and staying out late. 

I will not rent a car or drive. We will rely on trains, cabs, metro, walking, buses, etc. When we were in France in 2019, we took a couple van/bus tours (one to Giverny, one to Mont Saint Michel from St .Malo), where they took us there, gave us a little orientation, and left us to do our own thing. I don't like bus/tours in general, but one here and there is useful.

Here is the plan so far: Madrid, Granada, Barcelona, St. Sebastien/Bilbao, then

Madrid: 7 nights. We like to start slowly and relax on our first day, get used to the local time, get our bearings, not have any big plans. On our remaining days in Madrid, we also want to take a day trip to El Escorial, a day trip to Toledo, and in Madrid see the Palacio Real, various neighborhoods, Parque del Retiro park, etc.

More importantly, we want to be able to take our time in the four major museums: Prado, Reina Sofia,  Thyssen-Bornemisa, Palacio de Liria. In between these, we like to walk around soak up the culture, wine, food, music, etc. We might end our trip in Madrid before our flight back to HELL A (Loss Angeles), so may have a few more nights there.

I am also very tempted by many smaller towns not too far from Madrid. Salamanca, Segovia, Aranjuez for example look very interesting! Maybe a train or bus out there or maybe hit two in one day.

Not sure what neighborhood to stay in, but we would like to be close to the museums and maybe the Parque del Retiro.

**Train to Granada**

Granada: 5 – 6 nights. The Alhambra is the number one thing we want to see in Spain and we will take at least two tours—one at night. It looks as if the Albaícin would be an interesting neighborhood in which to stay. We will likely take a day trip to Seville. Some people have recommended staying in Seville instead, but—from everything I have read and seen—it is not as interesting to us as Granada, Madrid, Barcelona, San Sebastian. And again, Alhambra = number one thing we want to see! Difficult choices must be made.

**Train to Barcelona**: This appears to be an eight hour trek. We can do this, but wonder whether it might be better to break the trip up into two roughly equal segments. Ideally, I think it would be cool to stay in a small-ish seaside town halfway between, where we could do nothing more than: 1.) Walk from train to seaside accommodation, 2.) eat food, drink wine, listen to flamenco 3.) sit on beach, 4.) Walk back to train station a couple days later. Valencia is about halfway between, but is another large city, which does not appeal to me at this point of the trip.

Barcelona: 7 nights. Of course, we want to see the Sagrada Familia, Park Guell, Museu Picasso, Montserrat, La Rambla, Barcelona Cathedral, etc. Sitges looks very tempting as well. I love Art nouveau architecture and we spent a lot of time in St. Petersburg  (Russia!) wandering around taking photos of the various buildings.

**Train to San Sebastian**

San Sebastian: 5 – 6 nights. We will visit the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao and enjoy the foods, wine and culture of Basque country. We might eat at Arzak or Extebarri (logistically not easy)—or we might not. I am often underwhelmed by very high profile, very expensive restaurants. I am sure there are more great things to see in this area but I have not even read that far in the book yet (at this point in my life, the list of things I SHOULD do is absolutely endless). I wonder about maybe staying in a seaside town halfway between Bilbao and San Sebastian. 

After San Sebastian, we will probably take the train back to Madrid, unwind for a few nights, then fly back to HELL A. Alternatively, I am tempted to fly out of Bilbao to some other European city where we can get a nonstop to L.A. Maybe see Amsterdam? or Vienna? or Zurich? for a few nights. These trips can be tiring, and it may be too much.

Thanks for any advice!

[Mapman]

**Train to Barcelona**: This appears to be an eight hour trek.

I have never visited Spain, so I can't give any recommendations about places to visit. However, I enjoy planning trips (especially by train), so I can say some stuff about that!

It looks like there is a daily train from Granada to Barcelona that leaves at 8:10 AM and takes 6 hours 10 minutes. (For some reason it is not the first result on the RENFE website.) However, there are nonstop flights on Vueling which cost the same amount (or less), even for a refundable ticket that includes a carry on and checked bag. While I enjoy traveling by train, I would strongly consider flying between those cities. (There appear to be hourly buses from Granada to the airport, and the Barcelona airport is well-connected to the public transportation network.)

I don't see any particularly convenient seaside towns on the route: There is no coastal train route between Granada and Valencia. (The fastest train goes via Madrid.)

From Barcelona, it is sometimes faster to get to Bilbao than San Sebastian (there's only an afternoon train to San Sebastian). There's a local train line between Bilbao and San Sebastian that stops in some coastal towns (including Deba and Zumaia).

[André Le Nôtre]

Thank you! The flight does sound like a better option, and 8:10 AM is a bit early for us nightowls!

We may also consider staying in Valencia for a night or two, hence: Granada to Valencia, then Valencia to Barcelona a couple days later.

[Mandryka]

Take the ferry from Santander to Portsmouth and fly back from London.

[Florestan]

I also speak some French, which I think may be useful in Basque country.

It might (just might) be useful in the Pyrenees Basque Country, close to the French border. In San Sebastian, not that much. My advice is to learn some basic Spanish phrases concerning asking for directions, ordering food/drink in restaurants and the likes.

[Brian]

Spanish trains are very comfortable and there is a high-speed network but I am not sure if Granada is on it. In 2011, I visited Galicia (which is not on your list and is mainly for long-distance hikers), Barcelona, and Girona. Girona was a nice enough town with good city walls to walk, but not an essential stop. It used to have a classical CD store owned by the record label Harmonia Mundi, but this appears to be gone now.

Barcelona is one of my favorite cities in the world and my best advice is simply to stay a long time, as you are doing, and absorb all of it. Go to the produce and meat market near La Rambla and buy your own meats, cheeses, etc. for a picnic or for breakfasts in the hotel. You can have some incredible architectural walks here. Get to Parc Guell as early as possible to avoid crowds; by contrast Sagrada Familia is incredible at sunset as the abstract stained glass windows project spectacular colored light all across some of the church features (like the organ pipes - many years ago that was my GMG avatar).

It might be worth considering a side trip to Cadaqués for the Salvador Dali and typewriter museums, but I don't know what you would remove to make way for this.

The Basque Country is where I most want to visit next time. From what I hear, the standard of food in the region is uniformly incredible even if you are not going to the most globally famous restaurants. A chef friend of mine recently visited and I can ask him for food tips.

I found that rural Galicia was the only place where English was not widely spoken. I had a good amount of Spanish so things went fine, but even there, communication was not really a problem. ("Soy de Texas" "Texas? Ohh, John Wayne!!") In Barcelona, strangers asked ME for directions.

[André Le Nôtre]

Thanks gentlemen, interesting advice so far.

Mandryka: Interesting suggestion. I did not know about the ferry. London would probably be our first choice after Bilbao, except that I/we have been there twice and want to see something new. I really did enjoy my second visit, a business trip to do research at Kew (Royal Botanic Garden). Kew is just the perfect place to stay--20 mins from central London or 20 minutes from LHR by tube. So picturesque and peaceful--a world away from the tourist hordes! Amsterdam is looking like our first choice at this point...

Florestan: Thanks. We do speak a little Spanish and have been brushing up. I took three years of it in high school, and although I forgot almost all of it, I am picking it up pretty quickly now. Strangely enough, after nearly four years of studying French, I almost feel more confident with Spanish (or even German). I feel as if there are just so many ways to f@#$ things up in French (although I love the language). I am pretty good with pronunciations though in all these languages. I want to learn a little Catalan for when we are in Barcelona.

Brian Thanks. Funny you mention staying a long time in Barcelona. The more I read and the more I see, the more the place looks absolutely INCREDIBLE. I LOVE all that modernista/Art Nouveau architecture, and the museums, food, look incredible as well. Before I read your post, I was telling my wife that maybe we should consider a little longer than a week there!

As for the local ingredients/picnic in hotel idea--that is exactly what we did many nights in Paris. We were generally out all day doing sightseeing, and wanted to get back to our AerBNB flat (AWESOME place in the 2me Arrondissement if you're ever looking for something in Paris let me know) to relax with some wine and the incredible breads, meats, cheeses, and desserts (Joseph Patisserie - WORKS OF ART!) I am sure we will do the same in Barcelona.

[Biffo]

It is a shame you have ruled out Seville, it is my favourite Spanish city; the cathedral is spectacular. Cordoba is well worth a visit though it can be very hot. Santiago de Compostella is also worth a visit but is a bit out of the way from your other venues.

[(poco) Sforzando]

I've only been once. Flew to Barcelona, flew to Granada, train to Seville, train to Madrid. Side trip from Madrid to Toledo. The Alhambra is all you think it'll be, and I did a second trip at night too.

[André Le Nôtre]

Yes, we have tickets for a day visit to the entire Alhambra complex and a night visit to the Nasrid palaces (different dates). Our AirBNB is in the Albaicin and we have a spectacular view of the Alhambra. Five nights there will be a nice respite between the big cities of Madrid and Barcelona. PLENTY of interesting stuff to see (hear and eat) there in four whole days. We have tickets on Vueling from Granada to Barcelona--better than a train journey of 6+ hours IMO.

Buying tickets on Iberia turned into a major PITA, and we finally went to a travel agent to complete the transaction. I am told that dealing with RENFE from the U.S is likewise a headache, but we have not started that process yet.

Madrid, Barcelona, and San Sebastian look great as well! We have been buying tickets to the Prado, Reina Sofia, El Escorial, Sagrada Familia, ete, etc. well ahead of time. Seville does look really interesting, but just does not capture my interest as these other cities do. We may be back some day (and visit Seville) when we visit Portugal and the Azores.

Really looking forward to this trip.

Also, found this (love it!):



 

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Did you ever have any luck getting some suggestions as to record stores to visit?

PD