a week in spain (city breaks)

eoinf

Hi

Both of us have a week off the end of April and were thinking of going to Valencia, Madrid or Barcelona. We started thinking about the possibility of doing 2 or even all 3 in a week (Friday to following Sunday), Has anyone done this by train or driving is it feasible. If so can someone recommend a rough route?

Any recommendations would be appreciated.

We are kinda open to anything just not the normal week sun holiday.

Cheers

Eoin

An Citeog

Madrid is a fair bit away from both Valencia and Barcelona and would probably take you 8+ hours to drive, if you were to rent a car. Getting parking in the cities could be a problem aswell.

If I were you, I'd fly into Barcelona (Aer Lingus being my first choice and Ryanair to Girona or Reus only if you must), stay there til Tuesday, then get the train to Valencia (about 2.5 hours) and stay there til Thursday. Train from Valencia to Madrid will cost you about €40 and takes roughly 3.5 hours. Then stay in Madrid until Sunday and fly home from there with either Aer Lingus or Ryanair.

If you were to rent a car, you could probably take in another couple of cities/towns eg. Figueres (hometown of Salvador Dalí) and Tarragona on your way to Valencia. In fact, if you wanted to rent a car, I'd fly into Girona with Ryanair, then onto Figueres (50km away) and then to Barcelona (136km). There really is plenty to do for those that don't want the typical "sun and beach" holidays.

eoinf

cheers for the tips.

flights are booked (without my consent) .

flying into barcelona on the saturday morning and home from valencia sunday the week after.

after that we have no plans .

gonna spend 2-3 days in barca.

is ther much to see/do between barcelona and valencia. if so any recommendations.

prob head for valencia on the thursday so that gives us monday-thurs in between.

An Citeog

I'm presuming you're flying with Aer Lingus then. Are you going to rent a car or just rely on the trains? You could easily spend 3/4+ days in Barcelona. Maybe stay there til Tuesday. Tarragona would be my next port of call, about 1.5 hours on the train south of Barcelona. It was the capital of the province of Catalunya during Roman times and is a really beautiful old Roman city. Definitely worth the visit and you could easily spend a couple of days here (say Tuesday to Thursday). Then just get the train/drive down to Valencia. The train journey/drive follows the coastline the whole way down so it should be quite nice. I haven't been to Valencia (yet) so can't really tell you much about the city, apart from the fact that the seafood paella there is meant to be unreal!:D

eoinf

still not sure about the car or train. train seems cheap enough and what with probably heading out and drinking most evenings the car wouldnt be much use.

trip wise we are pretty easy going . 3 days at the start in barca 2-3 at the end in valencia but inbetween whatever happens happens.

cheers for the cadvice.

Eoin