I got a great round trip ticket to Barcelona from August 18-September 1, and I was trying to figure out the rest of my itinerary. How much time would you recommend staying in Barcelona? My friend and I are active and in our Mid-20's. We are debating between going to the French Riviera and Madrid. Which would you choose? Is it too much of a stretch to do both on a two week trip?
Edited by: eightinamillion
Over two weeks you could do a nice Spanish loop like Barcelona - Valencia - Madrid - Zaragoza - Barcelona. Maybe four nights each for Barcelona and Madrid and 3 each for Valencia and Zaragoza (or maybe just 2 for Valencia/Zaragoza and add 2 in Tarragona - its between Zaragoza and Barcelona).
You can do all these journeys by train - book ahead on renfe for good discounts (you can only book 2 months ahead).
The French Riviera (or Côte d'Azur in French) will be impossibly crowded and expensive in August. It's the peak month for French holidaymakers and they flock to the Med, along with zillions of other Europeans. That's the month when the hoteliers and restauranteurs make their money as the moths fly into the flames. You could spend quite a lot of time (as well as money) just looking for somewhere to stay. Besides, it takes a minimum of 10 hours on the train to get from Barcelona to Nice.
Stevegerms' recommendation looks very good to me and a much better proposition than the French Riviera.
don't waste your time in madrid...barcelona is great maybe head south. if you do go to ibiza definately take the day trip to fromentera, you get away from the grown kids. or check out the gugenheim museum in bilboa.
don't waste your time in madrid
I really dislike 'advice' like this. #3, you give absolutely no reason for not going to Madrid and completely ignore the fact that millions of visitors to Spain include Madrid in their itinerary because of the three world class museums there. I imagine that you didn't enjoy Madrid but that's no reason to discourage others from going there. Quite what Bilbao has to do with Barcelona and the French Riviera is beyond me.
I would dedicate 5 days to Barcelona, meaning you can see the main sights at a leasurely pace (like a holiday pace!) without rushing. I would also follow Stevegerms reccommendation of doing a little Spanish tour, as well rather than heading up to France. Nothing against the French or France, but it'll be easier and less hassle for you to move within Spain - you can get some decent internal cheap flights, and even venture to Andalusia instead of staying totally north (although bear in mind that it'll be chocka!).
Even inland Catalunya is beautiful and you cpould look at rural accommodation (casas rurales) or paradores close by (look quick if you fancy that). Hope that helps.
Madrid is one of my favorite cities in Spain. It has fabulous art museums, great architecture and history, fantastic nightlife and wide expanse of green parks. it it is a most convenient base to visit world-heritage cities like Toledo,Cuenca, Segovia,Avila etc. I love exploring on foot old Madrid's atmospheric cobble stoned streets.
Thanks for all the feedback. In the interest of balancing both of our desires, My friend and I decided to do a little of both Spain and France. We'll spend two nights in Barcelona, fly up to Bilbao to stay with a Spanish friend for a couple of nights and then travel into France. We plan to travel Southern France from the Atlantic coast to the Mediterranean coast. We'll stop in Toulouse and check out Carcasonne (I know it's probably beyond crowded, but it's there and looks pretty neat to stop by.). Then we'll hit the Mediterranean coast. We'll maybe hit Montpelier, then head back towards Barcelona, by way of the Dali Museum. We'll end our trip with a couple more days in Barcelona. Now we need to figure out lodging, transportation and how much time for each of these places.