Help me plan my trip to Spain!
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Anonymous
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I posted earlier about planning a trip to Europe, and we decided on Spain! We will be going for approximately 7-8 days (we haven't booked our flights yet). It will just be DH and me.
Our priorities are: 1) amazing food, 2) shopping, and 3) cities where you can wonder around and get lost, and feel like a local. We do some museums because we think we should, but stay no more than one-two hours so they are definitely not a priority....this is one reason I am considering skipping Madrid. Our priority is finding places that we can wander the city and eat amazing food/drinks and go into stores with local artisans. We will also be going in October, so do not want to go to a place solely for a beach to sit. I would also love some romanticism, as this is a trip away from kids! We also want authentic...I read on DCUM that Seville can feel like disneyland - I was excited about Seville until I read that! I also really like the idea of taking a day trip to Morocco if possible (and would I need a visa?), although that is not a necessity. Where should we go DCUM?! |
Anonymous
| OP again - Morocco day trips seem to land you in a Tangiers port that's not very nice - which isn't as exciting to me. Boo. |
Anonymous
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Consider San Sebastian with a trip to Bilbao to see the Guggenheim. A real gem, and amazing food.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/07/travel/36-hours-in-san-sebastin-spain.html?_r=0 |
Anonymous
| Day trip to morocco is not worth it if you only have 1 week. Barcelona has great shopping and food, basque region has better food but not as cosmopolitan for shopping etc. you can do a few days in Barcelona and then go to one of the seaside towns? |
Anonymous
| Bilbao |
Anonymous
+1 One of our favorite spots in Spain. We also loved Segovia. Barcelona was our favorite city. |
Anonymous
| I loved Granada. |
Anonymous
+2 Consider Santiago as well. |
Anonymous
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We did a similar trip to Spain in 2012 for our 10th Anniversary. We only had 9 days or so. We decided to focus on 1 region rather than spend all our time on travel. We started in Barcelona and spent 4-5 days seeing the sights, eating amazing food and having fun. We then went up to a small city about an hour away called Girona. Girona is still a partially "walled" city. It is very cool to walk on the walls and wander around inside those places. We then drove down to the Priorat wine region, stayed in a B& B and did a wine tasting tour in that area. It was awesome, though by the end of the trip, I felt like if I ever saw another glass of red wine it would be too soon.
I love Madrid too. I've heard absolutely wonderful things about San Sebastian but I've never been. I don't think you can go wrong anywhere you go in Spain. You could also do a southern sweep with Granada, Malaga and Seville. You may be able to get to Morocco if you do that trip. |
Anonymous
| I love Spain, and I know lots of people say Madrid can be skipped (especially compared to the other amazing places to visit in Spain), but I absolutely loved it. It's such a vibrant, awesome city and a great place to spend a few days. I personally liked it more than Barcelona, but YMMV. Just had to put it out there - I've already been twice, but even so if/when I go back to Spain, I definitely will do Madrid again. |
Anonymous
| madrid + segovia/toledo would easily fill up a week |
Anonymous
Thanks all! Just to clarify, we aren't big fans of museums, which is one reason we thought to skip Madrid since its such a museum heavy city. |
Anonymous
To clarify, my +1 earlier was for San Sebastián, not Bilboa. |
Anonymous
There are museums in most cities, unfortunately. If you really want to get away from museums you could stay in the countryside? |
Anonymous
Or they could go to cities with other things to do... I haven't been to a museum in the last 15 years (outside of DC). There are many ways to explore another culture. |