dear all....I hv been busy researching and planning my trip to Spain relying heavily on this and also madmadrid website. Thanks so much to everyone who has kindly responded to me.
Now...I have only 2.5 weeks in Spain...and I plan to cover madrid, toledo, granada, ronda, sevilla, BCN, as well as the Parc Nacional d' Aiguestortes. Will do Girona as a day trip.
Now many of you would have seen the problem - too rushed! Not relaxing enough!
As such, I have to make a tough decision and leave out some of the places.
Thinking of leaving out Sevilla...I wonder whether it would be somewhat similar to other cities like madrid/granada. Ronda is a must as we prefer small towns etc....
Any advice? Pls help....it seems like Sevilla keeps being mentioned as a romantic...beautiful city....so are we missing something by leaving it out?
Thanks!
Posts: 12 | Location: Singapore | Registered: 12 January 2004
It's not similar to any of the cities you'll visit and it's a beutifull city, but you can leave it. I think the musts are Barcelona, Toledo and Granada. And Then C�ceres, C�rdoba, Salamanca and Sevilla.
Posts: 153 | Location: Madrid (Spain) | Registered: 10 June 2003
My advice to you is don't try to do Zig-Zagging of the country, don't try and mix the northern cities with the southern ones, you'll get seriously knackered.
Do the northern cities this summer, like Madrid, Salamanca, Avila, Vallodolid, burgos, Segovia, Barcelona too perhaps, if you have the time and energy, but I think it is not advisable to try and go from north to south and back again in the same two & half week vacation, you would spend more sitting in a train, than you would really experiencing & appreciating & enjoying all the wonderful architectural, historical & monumental masterpieces of each place that you visit.
It is in my opinion No good whatsoever going to visit a place like any of the previously mentioned, for just a quick day trip or two, you cannot possibly take in and appreciate what any of those cities have really got to offer.
So take my advice and stay in the north for the summer, and come back to see all the fabulous southern cities, either in the winter to come, or leave it until next summer, becuase there is soooooooooooo much in those cities to take in, that it will blow your mind, and you really need every day of a two week vacation to do it all.
My advice, go to Sevilla, Granada, Malaga, Cordoba, Cadiz & Jarez, this winter, because it is still warm, and very very sunny.
I personally think you need a full week just to see Sevilla, but if you're just going to take Snaps like a sightseer, and pay no real attention to any of it, then 3 days should do it.
Un Saludo y buena suerte, y que tenga un buen viaje!
Posts: 698 | Location: Santander | Registered: 11 August 2003
hi Au, i would leave out the Parc Nacional d' Aiguestortes if i had to leave out anything. i have never been and am sure it is beautiful but i think you should see sevilla before you see a national park.
is there anything you will see at the Parc Nacional d' Aiguestortes that you can not see at a national park back home?
just wondering why you would come all the way to spain from singapore to spend the limited time you have at a national park
don't get me wrong, i love nature too burt i think your time would be better spent in the cities and villages of spain, as Iberian put it... "appreciating & enjoying all the wonderful architectural, historical & monumental masterpieces".
Gracias to all! We are actually trying to get a flavour of both north and south, and come back again next year to concentrate on one of them...very likely we shall return next year to concentrate on Sevilla & Andalucia (minus Ronda n Granada which we will cover this Mar 04) then...Because, we very much wan to visit one of the Parc Nacional...Ordesa and Asturias regions are too far out, so we shall take Parc Nacional d' Aiguestortes. We are doign open jaw on return leg hence we need not go back to Madrid. We will fly out to Paris from BCN.
If we leave out Sevilla, it will go something like this: Madrid - train to and fro Toledo - train to ronda - train to Granada - flight to BCN and change bus to Espot (Parc Nacional d' Aiguestortes) - Bus back to BCN - flight to Paris
Of course, if Sevilla should be a must, I should leave out the Parc totally and continue from Ronda to Sevilla, then flight to BCN. That would give me 3/4 nights in Sevilla.
OH ...decisions decisions....
Appreciate more views.... Thanks!
Posts: 12 | Location: Singapore | Registered: 12 January 2004
Jer, have you been to Singapore? We dont have any national park back here! :jeje: The highest point we have here is called ...a 'hill'...which can be walked up in around 15 minutes... Hence the picturesque image of the mountains/valleys/meadows/waterfall...are alluring and addictive to us! During our trips to Taiwan and Australia....apart from the people and town/city , what's been equally and truly captivating has been the greens and mountains sceneries too... Oh dear....liek i mentioned in my earlier post....it would be between sevilla and the parc then....
Posts: 12 | Location: Singapore | Registered: 12 January 2004
The problem it's that you come from Singapur and maybe you don't know if you'll come back or not and when. I like to travel a lot and there are a lot of countries that I'ld like to visit but I only have a month for holiday to travel, and normally the interest to know a new place is bigger than the interest in visitng those things I couldn't visit in the first trip. I think Granada is a must for a first trip to Spain, the Alhambra is for me the most beautiful monument in Spain and one of the most beautifuls of the world, and it's only 400 kms from Madrid and 250 kms from Seville. Maybe you could take the AVE (speed train) to Sevilla (I think it's 3,5 hours, almost like the cercanias to Avila ) and then go from there to Granada. They're not hard trips, the only one hard is from Madrid to BCN (6 hours). BCN is a beautiful big city, more beautiful than Madrid but it's far, maybe you think about what you'll see there (Gaud� and so on), maybe you could change also Aig�es Tortes by another nature place closer ... How many days did you plan to stay in each place?
Posts: 153 | Location: Madrid (Spain) | Registered: 10 June 2003
30 minutes from Granada you have Sierra Nevada, the highest mountain in Spanish Mainland is there ( I think almost 3500 mts), it's not as green as Pyrinees, more arid, but when it's covered with snow is beautiful, around Ronda there are mountains too. Have a look at photos to decide. Anyway, reading your reasons, I would leave Seville.
Posts: 153 | Location: Madrid (Spain) | Registered: 10 June 2003
i took a weekend trip to both sevilla and granada, and while they were both excellent, granada is the absolute must and sevilla you could do without if you see granada. thats my two cents.
Posts: 14 | Location: Bloomington IN | Registered: 03 February 2004
Hi Au.....I wanted to share my trip with you...I had 3 weeks this summer with my 3 sons and this is the tour we took.....Madrid-Zaragoza-Tarragona(awesome place)-Valencia-Granada-Guadix-Torremolinos(Ronda,Gibraltar)-Cadiz, Sevilla (Cordoba)-Toledo, Madrid(el Escorial, Segovia)....it was a lot for 3 weeks, but totally doable....Personally I don`t like Barcelona, but you could do it and leave out Zaragoza, Valencia, Guadix.....don`t leave out Sevilla, it was one of out favorite places. We liked Cadiz a lot too....however if you are planning another trip in the future to the Costa Del Sol you might want to forgo Ronda and Granada for that trip and see Caceres and Santiago de Compostela...there is so much to see that you can`t do it all in 3 weeks, but I would say the Costa Del Sol is a good week and a half by itself.....you really need to investigate each place and decide what YOU like because it is your trip and you have to get the most out of it that you can.....just remember there is no guarantee that you will have another chance so make the best of this one......
Hi AU If I were doing Spain for the first time I would stay in Madrid for at least 6 days. Why? because Madrid being in the center of the Spain, it affords you an enormous amount of area's to visit on day trips. Within 1 1/2 hrs is Toledo, Escorial, Segovia, Aranjuez, a little longer is Salamanca, Burgos, and really unique Cuenca. As an added bonus when you do day trips you spend nights in Madrid which is when the city really wakes up. Then you could High Speed train it to Cordoba spend the day go on to Sevilla spend at least 3 days, onto Malaga/Ronda then Granada to Alicante up the coast to Barcelona daytrips here can include Girona, Sitges Tarragona and Costa Brava and then onto Paris. The National Park trip seems like lost time to me especially since travelling through some of these places like Cuenca through La Mancha will show you some beautiful and unique geography I highly recommend driving to Cuenca the scenery is spectacular Whatever you decide will be great. The Spanish people are warm and friendly. Just drink plenty of wine, and the rest will be easy.
Posts: 2 | Location: Brooklyn | Registered: 21 March 2004
- rent or buy a cell phone from me for your stay in spain, more info at 
- already have a cell phone, get a spanish SIM card for it at 
We dont have any national park back here! :jeje: The highest point we have here is called ...a 'hill'...which can be walked up in around 15 minutes... 
