Post cruise time in Spain

Need recommendation. Upon completing med cruise we are tring to figure out if we should spend time in Barcelona and then do coastal drive down to Gibralter, or spend time in Barcelona and then head to Madrid. We will be in Spain early October. Only have 5 days post cruise so need to choose wisly. Not interested in museums.

If this is your first visit, I would recommend staying in Barcelona and then going to Madrid. There is so much to see and do in both these cities.

If you drive down the coast to Gibraltar, there will not be a lot to see other than coastal resort towns. If you did decide to drive, I would recommend driving via inland cities rather than along the coast.

Personally, I would take the train or fly to Seville which IMHO is Spain's most beautiful city. base yourself there and you can easily do a day trip to places like Cordoba, Jerez de la Frontera, Cadiz, Carmona. The weather is more likely to be better in the south of Spain too.

Yes, Madid is lovely also and you could do day trips to Toledo, Segovia or Avila etc from there.

Personally, I would take the train or fly to Seville which IMHO is Spain's most beautiful city. base yourself there and you can easily do a day trip to places like Cordoba, Jerez de la Frontera, Cadiz, Carmona. The weather is more likely to be better in the south of Spain too.

 

Yes, Madid is lovely also and you could do day trips to Toledo, Segovia or Avila etc from there.

LondonTowner, we will be going to Madrid for a few days after our cruise. I would like to stay near the center of town. Is there a hotel you would recommend? I have looked at Tripadvisor, but there are so many, it is hard to pick just one.

We often book city hotels on melia.com which are a Spanish company. Their hotels lack character, but they are clean, comfortable and have good service. They have different star rating hotels, so will suit all budgets. They also have a price guarantee, meaning you can't book them anywhere else cheaper.

The last time we were in Madrid we stayed in one of their Tryp hotels on the Gran Via. You can't get more central, but can be a bit noisy. I have also stayed in the Hotel Los Galgos in the Salamanca area, which is a more upmarket area of Madrid.

I've stayed in a few other hotels too, but can't recall the names. As long as you are somewhere central you will be OK as Madrid is fairly compact and public transport is good, so you can get around easily.

I'd choose northern Spain, maybe because it's different from the Mediterranean. Actually we are doing a 6 days road trip from Santiago de Compostela to San Sebastian this October, along the northern shore of Spain. Many nice views and terrific food all the way. We're doing a one way rental for 150€ / 6 days, which is a good deal to us.

I would not do a road trip to Gibraltar from Barcelona. The landscape is too similar IMHO and it's quite a distance.

Andalucia is also a lovely region as well, maybe you want to fly to Sevilla or Malaga and then rent a car there, or use high speed trains, and then fly back to Barcelona before going home.

We often book city hotels on melia.com which are a Spanish company. Their hotels lack character, but they are clean, comfortable and have good service. They have different star rating hotels, so will suit all budgets. They also have a price guarantee, meaning you can't book them anywhere else cheaper.

 

The last time we were in Madrid we stayed in one of their Tryp hotels on the Gran Via. You can't get more central, but can be a bit noisy. I have also stayed in the Hotel Los Galgos in the Salamanca area, which is a more upmarket area of Madrid.

 

I've stayed in a few other hotels too, but can't recall the names. As long as you are somewhere central you will be OK as Madrid is fairly compact and public transport is good, so you can get around easily.

Thank you for the advice, I have not heard of melia.com so I will check it out.

Thank you everyone for the advice! Definitely some research to do. We thought it would be easier to rent a car and drive but i will look into train etc.

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I would also agree with Elmartellama about the north of Spain, but didn't suggest it as many first time visitors want to go to the more well known parts of Spain. The scenery in the north of Spain is beautiful as it is so much greener than the Mediterranean coast.

The cuisine is also very different and the Basque country has more Michelin starred restaurants than anywhere else in Europe.

The only downside can be the weather. It does tend to rain rather a lot, which makes it so green.

How about driving up to Aix en Provence? That's what we're thinking of doing when we disembark in Barcelona in April. We did a shore ex there last fall and loved it.