1

Questions:
1. how were you planning on travelling between Madrid and SS and SS to BCN? SS is horribly expensive to fly into (i.e. no low cost airlines).
2. Have you factored in the time it takes to get from city to city?
3. It helps to let us know where you are travelling from. I'm guessing US so you will be jetlagged the day you land in Madrid which will wipe you out for at least 1/2 to a day.

With only 9 days (less 1 for jet lag) I suggest you pick 2 cities and spend 4 days there to really get to see something worthwhile. Why spend all this money to get there and spend the rest of the time moving around to see nothing out but views from plan/bus/train?

Have a rethink.

Happy travels.

2

@ PhiMeow

You do have a really good point. We are really determined in making at least Madrid, Barcelona, and Ibiza happen...even if that means sacrificing a few things at each place. Considering that, we could scrap San Sebastian and send an extra half-day in Madrid on June 11th and fly to Barcelona that afternoon (instead of flying into Barcelona on the 12th).

1. Won't be an issue if we scrap SS. (If we do decide to go to to SS for some reason, i think we can fly into nearby Bilbao and maybe rent a car and drive 50-60 miles east to SS. Just a thought.)
2. I think now that SS is out of the picture, the time spent traveling won't be that great. Also, from my understanding, traveling from Madrid and Barcelona is only a couple of hours and the same goes for Barcelona to Ibiza. (Once again, if we decide to do SS then this would be an issue. It would be the biggest con of going to SS.)
3. Oops, sorry. Yes, we are flying from California. I don't think being jetlagged will be a big issue for us. We are young guys who have no sense of time in the first place and sleeping the flight won't be an issue either.

We really appreciate the advice about the time constraints. We think we can manage Madrid, Barc, and Ibiza without too much difficulty. This was a spur of the moment trip for a pretty short time frame so we understand we aren't going to be able to do everything we want.

please please PLEASE keep the help coming!! Thanks again!

3

HIgh speed trains are faster than flying from MAD to BCN. Booking ahead can make the fares cheaper. You'll want to get your internal flights settled very soon to get a decent price. Even if the jet lag doesn't get you, you'll need to figure out what to do with your bags so you may be hanging around a bit until you can check in. Some hotels offer baggage rooms; investigate this.

4

If you still want to go to SS it definitely will be cheaper to fly into Bilbao. Bus runs from Bilbao to SS regularly if you don't want to drive. If you decide to get to Bilabao, must check out the Guggenheim Museum and the museum restaurant - fantastic food but not cheap.

Madrid, BCN and Ibiza in 9 days ~ 3/3/3 is do-able. Leaving out SS is a good idea.

BCN has a convenient stretch of beach - Barceloneta. Good for people watching but will be busy as June=summer.
If you like chocolate make sure you check out bubó pastry shop in the Born area of Barcelona - situated in a corner of the square facing the beautiful, old Santa Maria del Mar church (address is Caputxes, 10).

Happy travels.

5

I would skip San Sebastián and/or Ibiza; depending on your interests and preferences. Be aware that when you say: San Sebastian: Travel to San Sebastian on the morning of June 11th. Spend all day and night on June 11th, you won't spend all day and night on June 11th in San Sebastián. You have to arrive to San Sebastián, go to your accomodation, make check-in... When you'll be able to actually visit the city will depend on your arrival time but it's sure you won't have all day and your time in San Sebastián would be short.

Something similar happens when talking about Ibiza. You won't have all June 15th there. I don't know what's the arrival time of the flight you plan to take but you won't have more than 1 day and a half in Ibiza (at best because I'm guessing you won't get more than roughly one full day). Why do you want to go all the way to Ibiza to spend such short time there?

Skipping San Sebastián and Ibiza, you would have some time to make some daytrips from Madrid and/or Barcelona.

From Madrid to Barcelona, the best way to go would be to book well in advance (in order to get one of the heavily discounted web fares) and AVE train.

If we do decide to go to to SS for some reason, i think we can fly into nearby Bilbao and maybe rent a car and drive 50-60 miles east to SS. Just a thought

If you plan to rent a car, get beforehand info about what drivers licence you need to drive in Spain and get it if you don't have it. There are buses from the airport of Bilbao to San Sebastián. You could also take a train or a bus from Madrid to San Sebastián.

6

I'll join the list of folks suggesting that 8 nights sounds like no more than 2 major destinations. Especially when you have to backtrack.

I looooove the implication that jetlag is for sissies, lol. Time will tell.

7

You guys have been awesome!

So we've taken everything you've all said and have officially cut-out San Sebastian from the trip.

Our plan is as follows now:

Land in Madrid at 7AM on the 9th. Check-in/be ready to go by Noon on the 9th and have the rest of the day and all night in Madrid. Spend all day/night in Madrid on the 10th and spend all day on the 11th. Then, on the 11th, we are planning to take the AVE train out of Madrid at 5pm (does anybody know when we should get to the station for that departure time?), which takes approx 2.5 hrs to get to Barcelona.

Arrive in Barcelona around 730/8pm on the 11th. Subway to the hostel in either "El Barrio Gotico" or "El Born". After checking-in/getting ready, we should be out of the hostel by 10/11pm. We will have the 11th night, 12th day/night, 13th day/night, and 14th day/night (we are planning to make a day trip to Montserrat on the 14th day). On the 15th morning we will take a flight to Ibiza at 9:30am (ferries take too long and aren't much cheaper, from what we found).

Arrive in Ibiza at 10:30am on the 15th. After checking in/getting ready, we should be good to go around 1pm. We'll spend the afternoon around Ibiza and the night partying. We'll stay there until the 16th night (so we will have all day/afternoon on the 16th), where we will catch a flight straight to Madrid at 10:30pm.

Arrive in Madrid at 11:30pm on the 16th night. Drop off our bags at the airport and change/take what we need; hop on a train and enjoy our last night around the streets of Madrid. We can catch a train after a few hours and head back to the airport to get on our flight at 9am. (or we can just chill/sleep in the airport if we don't have the energy to go out again)

May not seem like the most relaxing trip but we can't wait!!!!

8

If your flight is 9am the next day (17th) you can not check your bags in the night before. Check in opens 3 hours before the flight i.e. 6am or thereabouts.

9

@PhiMeow

Instead of checking the bags in on the 17th (which like you said would be im possible), we are thinking of putting them in the luggage storage facilities at the airport.

10

^^ 2 thumbs up!

11

Thanks!!

Any advice on how early we should leave for the train stations/airports in the different cities?

12

I'm spending 9 days in Spain in June too. Here is my plan.

Land in Madrid early morning Friday. Chill at my friends house until evening and sleeping or whatever,,,

party, eat and drink all night
saturday wake up to breakfast, and walk towards gardens markets etc
sunday hit up museums
monday morning at 7 hop train to san sebastian, arrive 5 hrs later at 1 pm.
check in to san sebastian vintage hotel with babe.
walk around get tapas, start getting drunk
retreat to beach in evening for more wine.
find late night food and fall asleep at hotel
tuesday
go to beach in morning, go to "high point" of the city, eat good food, drink great wine
wednesday morning
leave for barcelona by train, arrive at 1 pm
check into beach hotel
catch tale end of markets, eat and party
thursday - party market food combo all day
friday depart for madrid
friday party
saturday unwind
sunday fly into amsterdam (for a layover that I snuck into a night and afternoon of amsterdam)

13

Let me know how your trip worked out,

I am going to be in Spain for 8 days at the end of Aug.

I plan to do two days in Madrid, two in Barcelona, my boyfreind wants to do Ibiza, but not sure if its feasbile...i think it would be one day + night thing, and seville, and potentially morrocco.

Not sure if all of this is feasible.

I would really appreciate any guidance

14

PM86, best if you post the above as a new post. You will get better response.

Anyway IMHO I think with just 8 days, you are crazy to do 2 days in Madrid, BCN, Ibiza, Seville and/or Morocco.
You'll spend half the time travelling and not seeing much.