I have a trip to Spain flying into barcelona arriving the morning of 9/20 and leaving 10/1. This will be 10 full days.

Originally, my husband and I were keen on going to places like seville and granada. Now that I see how long it takes to get there from Barcelona, and that I have also heard interesting things about such places as Bilbao, San Sebastian, and Palma de Mallorca, I'd like to get some input from slow travelers about what a manageable itinerary might be for this trip. We probably won't get a car, so we will be relying on public transit.

We are very fond of museums and eating Thank you for any input.

Although it may not seem like "slow travel," the most sensible thing to do if you want to go north is to fly from Barcelona to Bilbao, and from there take the bus to San Sebastian and other points along the coast. The airport in Barcelona is easily accessible by train from the center of town and the cost of airfare within Spain (on Iberia or Vueling) can be extremely cheap ($30) if you book early online and fly off-peak hours.

I will point out that once you are at the Barcelona airport, it is no more trouble to fly to Granada or Sevilla, if you really want to go there. Granada is one of the great sights of Europe.

There are also many wonderful destinations close to Barcelona that are worth several days of your time. Girona is one. It's an unbelievably underrated city, full of artistic and historical treasures. Vic is another, which has one of the most wonderful, eye-opening museums I have ever seen. If you want to understand Catalonian culture, and the glory of it, and how it inspired Gaudi and his contemporaries, a trip to Vic is extremely rewarding.

Food in Catalonia and the Basque country is fantastic, with San Sebastian and its environs taking the prize as far as I am concerned. My own view of the Guggenheim is that it is generic and not worth the trip. If you go north, go for the food and the scenery.

PS: If you like food and museums, Madrid has much of the best Europe has to offer. The Prado is without peer. To me a manageable itinerary would be 5 nights in Barcelona (with a day trip to Girona and/or Vic), 2 nights in Granada, 3 nights in Madrid.

With only 10 days, I would not try to go to Granada or Sevilla. You'll eat an entire day getting from one place to the other (even flying.) Save that for another trip.

I'd say do half and half Barcelona and Madrid. Or, stay in Barcelona a few days and then rent a car and get out into the countryside a bit. Madrid has some of the best museums on the planet. You will eat very well in both cities. Just don't try to go to far or do too much in 10 days!

quote:

...10 full days

Lucky you! The biggest problem will be deciding what to leave out!

Once you arrive in Barcelona do you want to fly between destinations or use trains?

If using trains, I'd limit it to 2 main cities, with one "extra", e.g.:
- 4 days in Barcelona
- train to Zaragoza (for something a little different)
- next day, late train to Madrid
- 4 days in Madrid (day trip to Toledo?)

If flying, I'd reduce the days in Madrid by one & add 3 nights in either Seville or Granada as suggested by bobbix.

Enjoy!

This is a hard choice, but since you love museums, if you can fly, then go to Madrid and Granada or Madrid and Seville. Granada is one of the most beautiful places and the Prado in Madrid is rated one of the top five museums in the world. The Palace is also beautiful and a day trip to Toledo would be easy. Whatever you do, you can't go wrong with anyplace you go in Spain.

quote:

We are very fond of museums and eating

Danielle, you will do well in staying in bilbao,Barcelona and Madrid for museums and food.THe basque,catalan,and castilian cuisine is the best,and of course the Prado and Thyssen -Bornemisza in madrid, Guggenheim in Bilbao are tops for museums.
you will have plenty to see in 10 days in those places along.

Some of your answers don't seem to favour anything like I understand as Slow Travel. I don't see why you need go do far from Barcelona. I agree with Girona and Vic and Besalu, a short busride from Girona is a delightful village with a great medieval fortified bridge.
The train ride to valencia is not long and that's another great city, both for its historical architecture and the fantastic recent architecture of the City of Arts and Sciences. Morella is a wondeful place to spend a night, the Pyrenees are fabulous. There's enough there for a long time.

Valencia is only 4 hours away by bus and its a fantastic city to visit, with lots of sights, culture, beach, great food, events, nightlife, etc. Its the new Spanish city, for tourists, so to speak, so still quite unspoiled, uncrwoded and genuine. You would love it, everyone does

valenciavalencia,
just read over your site very nice setup and loads of information on Valencia:nice

last year my aunt die in El Saler;so now only cousins all over Spain,and one still there.

My choice would be:-
3 Nights Barcelona, train to Valencia for 2 nights,then fly from Valencia to Sevilla (reaaly good cheap no-frills airline on this route - www.vueling.com) for 2 nights.
Then travel to Madrid on the high speed train - the AVE (book tickets in advance on www.renfe.es) for the reat of the stay in Madrid.

Sadly, it does not give you the North of Spain but in ten days you would really be stretching it.

All the above are great cultural cities.

Michael

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This message has been edited. Last edited by: Colleen,

pedmar, thanks a lot, do get in touch if i can help with any info / advice

If you're going to Barcelona and then heading north, a side trip to Cadaques is well worth it. It's a wonderful fishing village where Picasso and Salvador Dalí used to hang-out.