This summer we arrive in Barcelona on July 10th and Depart from Madrid on July 30th. We would like to visit Galicia and some southern spain. Any recommendations on an itinerary? I know it's a lot of ground to cover. We'd also appreciate and recommendations for great family places to rent. We'd like a pool in southern spain so we can have some afternoon breaks with the kids. Thanks for you help!!
Also, has anyone used Madrid and Beyond for travel plans? Rachel
I am sure you have already armed yourself with a good travel guide for Spain, and Spain is a big country, so it would be best if you would give us some more details on what you would expect to do, see, etc.; what your preferences are, how would you envisage travelling within Spain from point to point (car, train, bus), and so forth.
I have no experience with Galicia but if your itinerary would include Andalucia (and we know it will include Madrid and Barcelona) I will be more than happy to assist you with answers to specific questions.
For starters, and to provide you with some framing for the prospective trip, I will just say that we spent three weeks in Spain with arrival and departure in Madrid, then going to Barcelona, Granada, Cordoba and Seville, the last three stops being the classical first trip stops (and perhaps many more times in future trips to Spain) in Andalucia.
I have written a reasonable detailed trip report, but our trip reports site is down just now. I will post here a link as soon as the report is accessible.
I am sure other members will add their comments but the process is started. Do not hesite to ask more questions, whether in this thread or by opening new threads as necessary so that the questions will be as clearly defined as feasible at this time.
Thank you for your reply. What I have so far for an itinerary is the following.
Stay Barcelona 4 nights, fly to Granada, stay Andalucia 5 nights and do day trips to Sevilla and Granada etc, then take train or drive to Madrid area (Segovia, Avila, etc) stay 4 nights, then fly to La Coruna in Galicia and stay 6 nights and see fireworks and festival in Santiago de Compostela on the 24th. Then we would fly to Madrid on the 29th?? From La Coruna.
Below I made a table with the proposed Itinerary.
Barcelona 4 nights Andalucia 5 nights Avila, Segovia, Madrid area 4 nights Galicia (Santiago de Compostela, Orense,etc) 6 nights Back to Madrid 2 nights
I've tried to limit the time in Madrid because I think it not easy to keep 10 year olds interested in city stuff. I really want us to have time to eat, drink, be merry and soak ourselves in the culture.
Does anyone have recommendations on tweaking the itinerary and also, on places to stay with kids.
Rachel, with the exception of the 6 days in Galicia, richness we spread for the other locations, this is extremely close to the plan of our trip.
We started in Madrid, took the train to Barcelona, flew from Barcelona to Granada (great minds think alike!), but then used buses and trains and stayed in Granada (4 days), Cordoba (2) and Sevilla (3), then back to Madrid with exactly the same day trips (plus Toledo), but we used guided bus tours to simplify things for ourselves.
Now I am even more sure that my trip report and one by our member Shannon will be of good use and I will provide the links here as soon as available.
One more thought: if you go to Granada, and will visit Alhambra, you may wish to read (if I not too presumptuous) "Tales of the Alhambra" by Washington Irving and for Spain in general "A Stranger in Spain" by H.V. Morton. Capital books for this trip, with beautiful "stories" to share with the kids.
We spent four days in Barcelona with our 11 year old daughter in February 2005. We all absolutely loved the city, though we did not get to see any more of Spain.
We bought a two day pass for one of the on-off tour buses. Barcelona is a big city and this enabled us to get a good overview and then easily get to several places we wanted to visit. We were all very interested in the Gaudi architecture-- especially the Sagrada Familia and Park Guell-- and I think your 10 year olds would enjoy these too. The very creative street performers on Las Ramblas are a lot of fun.
We rented an apartment through Friendly Rentals. They do have rentals for periods of less than a week. This turned out to be much more economical for us than a hotel, and we enjoyed have the extra space to spread out. (Here's the linkto our apartment-- it was great and an ideal location. Unfortunately I can't give you the link to my review right now, but I can post it later if you are interested.
Another plus for the apartment for a family is being able to cook a few meals. Dinnertime in Spain is very late (like 10 pm), so we normally ate lunch out and cooked a simple meal at "home" for our dinner at a more reasonable time for us. The big food market off Las Ramblas is great-- especially the huge strawberries! (This is a way to save some money too.)
your itinerary is fine i think. you could split andalucia into 3 ngt in sevilla, one night granada and one night cordoba; they do have excellent train or bus service amongst the 3. Madrid area one night in Avila,SEgovia( do not missed La Granja near Segovia smaller size Versailles done by king felipe V grandson of king louis XIV of France who was born in Versailles). and the rest in madrid Santiago de Compostela and Orense are good choices.
Madrid has plenty for 10 yrs old; i once lived there and go every year,(i am spanish/american/french!!) my kids are 13 and 15 and they love it!!!speak the language too as well as French and English.
the wax museum at Castellana near plaza de colon is great history lesson. Retiro park there is plenty to run,eat ice cream; and and rode boats in the lake;also two great museum Velazquez and palacio de Cristal ( all cristal palace). On paseo Rosales up ave princesa there is a ski lift (teleferico) it goes to casa campo where there is a zoo, aquarium, and attraction parks with many rides ala disney. Madrid is the highest capital city in Europe;the ride on the ski lift is fantastic. i am envious i was their age when i lived there and I always will have Madrid! enjoy it. any details post it here i am usually around at nights in France where I live now.
stay Andalucia 5 nights and do day trips to Sevilla and Granada
I highly recommend staying in a beautiful ,small pueblo blanco ( white hill village) while in Andalucia to get a real feel for authentic Spain. We have a 6yo and have been in one for three months and it has been awesome.
The children will love it and you will too. They almost all have public pools and many rentals will have pools as well and you can walk to everything. Ours is near the sea as well.
Make your day trips to the cities from there.
There are 3000 festivals in Andalucia a year and they are something not to be missed, so perhaps look for that when choosing places to stay. To give you an idea of how that will charm you and your children look here, here and here.
Kathy, Thanks so much for your suggestions. The apartment looks great! Was it quiet? I'm going to look into renting that one for our trip. Your post was very helpful.
Soul Travelers suggestion for andalucia is also great. Would you let me know what town you are staying in? The pictures are beautiful. You are a very fortunate family. Thanks, Rachel
I don't like to say the name of our village online just for security reasons since I put so much information on our blog.It is not impossible to find, but I don't want to shout it from the roof tops ( so to speak).
There are MANY beautiful white villages in Spain and this link should help you locate one that will fit your needs. Our village is amongst that list, but there might be other ones that work better for your trip.
Sounds like you will have a wonderful trip and Spain is such a great place to travel with children as they are cherished and enjoyed by all here.
In Madrid area, I think Toledo is more interesting than Avila, and of course you must visit Segovia. And yes, may be in Andalusia you will spend a couple of days more cause it's very big; may be you don't need all this days in Galicia. Great tavel, I hope you like spain and came next time to meet new places: Vasque Country, Valencia, Salamanca...
Posts: 10 | Location: Madrid | Registered: 09 January 2007
You might want to keep an eye on our blog as we will be doing lots of places in Spain with a child that you will later be visiting and you may see somethings that interest you.
I try to give sources and ideas that work for us as we go, so good for families. IF there is something that does not work so well or is not family-friendly you will hear that too.
There is a nice waterpark with a Spanish history flavor just outside Seville that we will probably check out while there which might be VERY inviting for you in July.We will also go to some great Flamenco places ( that Pedmar and others suggested) that my child will love.
We will be seeing Seville,Cordoba ( some with a native),Granada ( with a friend has been a long time resident in this area & terrific guide), Ronda, horseshow in Jerez,Marbella,Picasso Museum in Malaga,Madrid quickly, Nerja caves, Valencia quickly, and about a week in Barcelona in a resort on the beach.( We loooved the Dali Museum, so you might want to add that to your Barcelona stay as a day trip).
Hopefully I will have some good family friendly ideas and pics that may be helpful in your planning as they will already be kid tested.
It will be REALLY hot when you come, so keep that in mind.
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