Need advice

jman98

I am sorry to say but I genuinely think your friend is wrong. Barcelona or Madrid have their own ambience. Just like NY and LA have their own atmosphere. No one place is like another.

rohinig You may be confused but we need you to come back fill in the many answers here before you can be helped any further.

I have only been to Madrid in Spain and it was a nice place during the spring ....

It has the palace, fountains in the street, artists in Park Retiro, also a couple of famous museums and generally a nice outdoor atmosphere with cafes , tapas bars etc....but Spain is a little too big to cover in one trip and Madrid is in the centre.....

As others have said, it's a big and very diverse country, and you would end up frazzled and frantic covering all that ground in that timescale. You could focus on a couple of regions, contrasting ones that offer both big-city and more peaceful attractions.

Thanks for all the responses! Jman, you're right, i do need to answer a few questions before I get more help! Here's some answers and more questions :)

1. I will be flying in or driving down from Hague; haven't decided yet.
2. I traveled quite a bit around Europe by road a few years ago, but this will be my first trip to Spain. I do not know what the travel distances are like between each region/city, hence I'm unable to fix the itinerary. For instance, how much time will it take by road from Barca to Seville?
3. How does San Sebastian -- Valencia -- Barca -- Seville sound? Is there enough variety in that itinerary? More important is two weeks enough for it? :)
4. I've also been checking up about the 'bus about' but haven't got much feedback from anyone. Have any of you tried it?

Lemme know.

Cheers,
Rohini

(P.S. Though I'd vote for NY over LA any day, Barcelona does sound more interesting)

1. You mean from Den Haag (The Hague) in the Netherlands? (Just being curious)
2. Have a look at [www.viamichelin.com]
3. Sounds doable, if you like driving. Better check travel times first. How many of you will actually be driving, by the way? And do you have your own car (I'm asking because if my assumption in #1 is correct, it will be very expensive to rent a car in the Netherlands and return it in Spain)?
   (P.S. maybe it's nitpicking, but no local would call Barcelona "Barça" - that abbreviation is reserved for the football club)
4. No, but I've seen some threads about it here in the past. Maybe you can dig up some old threads if the search function cooperates.

... besides Barca is a village inland Spain, a bit in the middle of nowhere... not usually included in itineraries as a highlight of the country! LOL

regarding "3. How does San Sebastian -- Valencia -- BarcELONa -- Seville sound?"
Honestly, sounds illogical to me if you are driving. You are going down to Valencia and then up again to Barcelona...
San Sebastian -- Barcelona -- Valencia -- Seville looks better, but driving Valencia to Sevilla is a good 8 hours trip non-stop (btw you can stop in Cordoba). And I'd like to include Granada in any trip to Spain... but I'm afraid you don0t have time.

Madrid or not Madrid?? I think you are already cramming too much (there are so many places in between to stop on the route above). But if you are driving your own car, maybe you can do a "U-shaped" trip like:
arriving to Spain via Hendaye - San Sebastian
Madrid
Sevilla
Valencia
Barcelona... and up to France via Portbou

Do you drive a lot at home? Why not "leave the driving to.." the pros. Drivers miss a lot of gawking. Driving in Spain is no holiday. An Aussie told me its terrifying.

AVE rapido trains are super fast. Barcelona to Cordova 2.5 hours±.

Long distance travel eats time and money. You've got little time to waist between ......

Rent a car locallty if you can't stand it. Train stations are not waisted time. They are a chance to see everday life.

Don't plan too much, too tightly. You need time to yourself and to just digest the constant sensory overload.

And give you guys slack to change itten. along the way.

This should be an adventure, not a rat race.

Three nights at each stop, gives you two whole days for enjoying. And you learn more about it as you wander a place. And museum hours are weird each place you go.

Thrilling. Isn't it?
{ 8oQ

"busabout" is a jump on jump off service, aimed at dropping backpackers from "highlight to highlight" and hostel to hostel. if you have never been to europe before, want to be nannied, want to mix with other back packers (not locals), etc this is the service that you want. if this doesn't sound like you it is not for you. also the schedule is fairly rigid. normally in the busier seasons at least it will pass through each place on the route every secoend day

This is the route I followed over the Christmas period - took 14 days - however part of it was "driven" by a local.
Barcelona, Madrid, then a long drive to Seville via Cordoba, and coming back via Granada, Valencia to Barcelona. There was plenty of variety as each city has a very different feel. It may be too much if you have to find the highlights and places yourself but I enjoyed it. Time constraints are a pain when theres so much to see and do and no one can make the choices really but yourself based on your interests.