Trip to Spain

[partyATkemba]

Hi all - looking for suggestions...

My soon to be fiance (weird to say that) and I will be traveling to Barcelona in the beginning of June and plan on visiting Seville as well. Will be there for 8 days.

Garnering suggestions for food / activities / attractions. Feel free to kick this to the cesspoool if needed.

 

[UConnTrumbull]

I've only been to Madrid but I've heard that Sevilla is really cool. The entire southern part of Spain has great beach cities like Huelva, Cadiz, Granada and Malaga. I've heard Barcelona is aesthetically great but can be done in a day or two. Not sure if this helps.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

If you get a private tour guide for a day in Barelona, you get to skip the line to get into Sagrada Familia. At least a couple of years ago that was VERY worth it. I've seen cathedrals and palaces all over Europe and that church is the most impressive thing I’ve ever seen.

 

[B1GEast]

If you want to go to Seville, Grenada or Cordoba, I would recommend breaking up your trip into two parts and stay in either Torremollinos or Malaga.

Those three towns are only a 90 minute bus drive. The Gold coast of Spain is beautiful. Make sure to plan your day around siestas, they really do close up shop mid day, we were not ready for this and it was frustrating at times.

If you plan on visiting the Al Hambra mosque, get there very early, they have a daily limit of people.

Barcelona is awesome, more of a night life there. Las Ramblas is the place to be. Lots of wonder things to do and see.

Didn't go to Madrid, was told to skip it, glad we did.

There was not one restaurant that we did not enjoy. The food is just great.

The people are beautiful and easy going.

Enjoy your trip.

 

[Fishy]

Why start a new thread? Just go to Cape Cod.

 

[upstater]

Get in a car and drive. And stop a lot. That's my best advice. I spent 3 months there about 15 years ago (Almeria-Mojacar-Sevilla-Granada), and also took a 3 week trip (Ibiza-Barcelona-Pyrenees-Pamplona-St. Sebastian) since.

If you're heading down to Sevilla, you might consider making time for Granada too. Granada was my favorite town there.

 

[WestHartHusk]

Get in a car and drive. And stop a lot. That's my best advice. I spent 3 months there about 15 years ago (Almeria-Mojacar-Sevilla-Granada), and also took a 3 week trip (Ibiza-Barcelona-Pyrenees-Pamplona-St. Sebastian) since.

If you're heading down to Sevilla, you might consider making time for Granada too. Granada was my favorite town there.

I second all of this. And I would not go to the Gold Coast, it's like Florida in Spain.

There are some really fantastic beaches around the Almeria area if you are up for a long drive and not as nice as city. But you can live large there for cheap.

 

[tzznandrew]

Montserrat

La Ramblas is a bit touristy (I hated it), but Sagrada Familia is worth it.

 

[nomar]

Daniel says it's the best place that he's ever seen. Oh and, he should know 'cause he's been there enough.

Seriously, though, I was in Barcelona 3 years ago. You don't need a guided tour to get quickly into Sagrada Familia (we barely waited in line) but you should buy a ticket as far as possible in advance of when you want to go. If you just walk up without a ticket, you'll be there for 3 hours.

All the Gaudi stuff is great, like Park Guell. I'm a big Miro fan, so the Miro museum was cool for me.

You can take the sky tram up the mountain and either take it or the bus back down. We took the bus down, which winded around all the Olympic stuff.

You really can't go wrong with the food, if you like tapas.

I love paella; if you do too, eat it in Seville rather than Barcelona.

 

[8893]

I loved Barcelona. The highest concentration of beautiful women of any place I've ever been. Could never get used to the siesta and timing though; was always looking for food or drink during siesta and everything was closed, and then at night many of the clubs and bars don't open until midnight, which also takes some pacing...

All the Gaudi stuff is great; you can do a walking tour of the architecture.

If your travels permit hitting Toledo en route to Seville, I thought that was a very cool town with extremely interesting history and would be a good day trip.

Also really enjoyed Lisbon, if you can squeeze that in, but I would make that a two night trip if you do.

 

[uconndoit]

I lived in Madrid for 6 months fwiw and traveled around a bit on various other trips to Spain - San Sebastian and Zarauz / Bilbao (was at the amazing Guggenheim there about a month after it opened), Cordoba, Cadiz, Barcelona, Seville...never made it to Granada unfortunately.

8 days is a tight time frame to get to Seville and back - you spend way too much of your limited time in Spain on traveling.

I'd second the idea of renting a car. I'd spend 2 days in Barcelona then do a nice loop - maybe do Barcelona - Zaragoza - Valencia - Barcelona.

 

[Marat]

Montserrat

La Ramblas is a bit touristy (I hated it), but Sagrada Familia is worth it.

I loved Montserrat - quite breathtaking up in the cliffs. I think its just over an hour from Barcelona. We took a tour there once.

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/...8khaSqPtgHWXVyfkzoDhhiU3qPK46FxN6NFP_yP5lsH2w

 

[Bubba1957]

In Barcelona, the gothic city and Sagrita Familia are awesome. Lots of small great restaurants in the gothic city. It's old, walkable and beautiful. I'm a big fan of Monserrat too. It's an amazing place that is geologically interesting, with great buildings and views. Near some good Spanish wine country too. The wines in Spain are also awesome and inexpensive. Spanish wines contain no sulfates which seemed to totally eliminate hangovers. If you could stay at an Air BnB near the gothic city, that would be best. We loved heading to the market every day and living like a Catalonian. For great hiking, scenery and interesting history the area north of Barcelona, called Costa Brava is really cool. Very quite with lots of other Europeans biking and hiking. Also Salvatore Dali's summer home and museum are up there. Good luck, Im sure you will enjoy.

 

[Jay-Bone]

Be very careful on Las Ramblas. Walk across it, don't walk down it. Wear a money belt, get your stiff arm ready, they'll grab your balls and squeeze while another picks your pocket. Some of the best pick-pocketers in the world.

Do Gaudi, Parc Guell is cool. Font Majica for the show is cool. Check out the Boqueria Mercato. There's a famous bar which is like 90 degrees inside and they serve absinthe poured over a sugar cube on a spoon. Check a Barca game. Awesome city right on the beach. Have a blast!

Congrats btw.

 

[B1GEast]

I second all of this. And I would not go to the Gold Coast, it's like Florida in Spain.

There are some really fantastic beaches around the Almeria area if you are up for a long drive and not as nice as city. But you can live large there for cheap.

The Gold coast of Spain is Not like Florida.

 

[SubbaBub]

There are summer festivals that you should check out. I think the one in Alicante is during the solstice which is after your trip but if you find one in your area it would be worth finding.

 

[freescooter]

I found Valencia to be a fascinating mix of ancient & modern. Food was great too. Center and lSt stronghold of the Republican forces during the Civil War.

I also loved the northwest coast, costa del muerte and the pilgrimage city Santiago de Compostela was pretty fascinating. Stayed in a hotel that was originally built by Ferdinand & Isabella in 1492 as a hospital for pilgrims. It later served as Generalisimo Francisco Franco’s “vacation home” while he was dictator of Spain. Just FYI Franco is still dead. This area has a much more Celtic feel than Madrid. The other place that is fascinating is the university town of Salamanca. Oldest university in the world. A famous instructor Fray Luis de Leon was arrested by the Spanish Inquisition held for five years. On his release after 5 years in prison he returned to the classroom and began his lecture “As I was saying before I was interupted...”. Well, nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.

Have a great trip. Really fascinating country.

 

[cohenzone]

Hi all - looking for suggestions...

My soon to be fiance (weird to say that) and I will be traveling to Barcelona in the beginning of June and plan on visiting Seville as well. Will be there for 8 days.

Garnering suggestions for food / activities / attractions. Feel free to kick this to the cesspoool if needed.

We took a several week trip to Spain a few years ago. We visited a lot of the major cities. Seville was my favorite. I'm also one of the few people, but there are others, who liked Madrid better than Barcelona. Valencia is also worth a visit. It has an Arts and Sciences plaza that is eye-popping. A bunch of great looking buildings that makes my wonder why the Sydney Opera House is so famous and nobody know about the plaza. Toledo is also fantastic, but unless you have the time, some of these places are at least a decent train ride or flight from Barcelona. A few other cities worth a look are probably too far from where you want to be. Bilbao and Pamplona. I can't believe how narrow the streets are where they have the running of the bulls. People have to be nuts.

Seafood tends to be good. Tapas in a lot of places. The northern cities have something called pinchos which are basically little sandwich rolls of all kinds held together by a toothpick. You take whatever you want and give the toothpicks to the cashier at the end who totals them and charges you. I don't recall pinchos in Barcelona or Seville, but maybe there are some places that have them.

 

[Dogdeacon]

I was there 15yrs ago, did Madrid, Cordoba (day trip) Sevilla (3 nights favorite), Cadiz (1 night, eh), Gilbraltar (an imperialistic abomination of an island, NO) and a day trip to Morocco (yes - guided ). Loved Madrid, saw a bullfight due to reading Hemingway (but worth seeing once).

Drove everything, very easy country to drive in other than Madrid which was somewhat busy but no Rome and tamer than NYC driving. Rented a car in advance but then flipped and got an even cheaper deal at airport upon arrival. Easy.
Didn't book any accommodations in advance, also very easy & fun part of any European trip IMO.

If I was going again would hit a Mediterranean beach/city instead of Cadiz & Gibraltar. There was no one on beach in Cadiz in May. The outdoor cafes of Sevilla were outstanding, still use olives to this day to soak up the alcohol when having more than one.

 

[LIuconn]

San Sebastian

 

[Waquoit]

I've never been to Spain. But I've been to Oklahoma.

 

[cohenzone]

San Sebastian

Beautiful, probably too far from Barcelona and Seville for the OP.

 

[cohenzone]

I've never been to Spain. But I've been to Oklahoma.

Love those Tulsa bullfights.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

I took a pill in Ibiza

 

[mauconnfan]

Hi all - looking for suggestions...

My soon to be fiance (weird to say that) and I will be traveling to Barcelona in the beginning of June and plan on visiting Seville as well. Will be there for 8 days.

Garnering suggestions for food / activities / attractions. Feel free to kick this to the cesspoool if needed.

Are you looking for Best Beer, Best Wings, Best Whiskey and Best Pizza because if so this is the place?