Talk to me about Barcelona/coastal Spain

simcal18

FI and I have our honeymoon flights booked for late July of this year.  We are flying in and out of Barcelona and will have 9 full days in Spain plus a travel day on either end.  That is all we've booked so far.  Our original plan was to see Barcelona and then drive down the Spanish coast, take the ferry from Gibraltar to do a day trip in Tangier, and then make our way back to Barcelona.  However, we are starting to realize that the Spanish coast is longer than we thought, and that fitting Gibraltar/Tangier in may mean we spend most of our honeymoon traveling and not enough time actually vacationing.  

We'd like a mix of cultural sightseeing and beach/relaxation time if possible, so we're now considering doing a Barcelona to Valencia (by train), Valencia to Mallorca (by plane), Mallorca to Barcelona (by plane) triangle.  However, while the Gibraltar/Tangier ferry and Barcelona itself have come highly recommended to us, we don't know a lot about Valencia or Mallorca.  Are they worth seeing?  What should we see/do there (other than the beach in Mallorca)?  Is there an alternative itinerary that we should consider in the area, or on the other hand, is the Gibraltar/Tangier area so awesome that it is worth the extra travel we would do?

Thanks very much for any thoughts/suggestions.

southernbelle0915

I lived in Spain for a while and traveled much of it. Barcelona is amazing. I would spend about 4 days there. IMHO, Valencia is only worth your time if your a beach bum kind of traveler. The straights is kind of a "ok cool, saw that. check!" sort of place IMO. Unless you decide to go to Morocco as well, then it makes sense.

If you're more of a cultural/historical type traveler, you will get a lot more out of Andalucia (province). There you can hit Sevilla, Granada and/or Cordoba. If you only have time to see one of those cities, I would choose Sevilla.

Madrid is cool too. Great museums, restaurants, shows, and a cool central park.

Everything is accessible by bus and train, which are quite nice and well used in Spain.

simcal18

southernbelle0915 said:

I lived in Spain for a while and traveled much of it. Barcelona is amazing. I would spend about 4 days there. IMHO, Valencia is only worth your time if your a beach bum kind of traveler. The straights is kind of a "ok cool, saw that. check!" sort of place IMO. Unless you decide to go to Morocco as well, then it makes sense.

If you're more of a cultural/historical type traveler, you will get a lot more out of Andalucia (province). There you can hit Sevilla, Granada and/or Cordoba. If you only have time to see one of those cities, I would choose Sevilla.

Madrid is cool too. Great museums, restaurants, shows, and a cool central park.

Everything is accessible by bus and train, which are quite nice and well used in Spain.

Thanks!  If we did the Barcelona/Valencia/Mallorca itinerary, we'd likely do 4 days in Barcelona, 1.5 days in Valencia, and 2.5 days in Mallorca, with the 9th day being train/plane time.  So it sounds like that would be about the right balance for us if we're looking for mostly culture and a little bit of beach?  I have done the Madrid/Cordoba/Granda/Sevilla/Toledo loop before and loved it, but that was 15 years ago and FI has never done it.  We originally wanted to stick to Barcelona and the coast because it was a place that neither of us had been before, but maybe we should rethink that plan and try and get at least a bit of Andalucia in.

amelisha

Honestly, Gibraltar is interesting, but the area around it isn't really the nicest part of southern Spain. Algeciras is kind of...industrial? I guess. Not really the most interesting part of the area and it's kind of a shame to spend much time there when you could be in Seville or Granada, for example. The drive down the coast from Malaga to Gibraltar is beautiful though. And the ferry to Tangiers...again, it's interesting and it's cool to say you've been there if you've never been to Morocco, but it's a shipping port and it's not really beautiful or historical. So...take that as you will, I guess.

I lived in southern Spain twice working as a nanny and I've done both of those things but I really don't think they're "must-sees" for Andalucia. Sevilla, Granada, Ronda, Nerja even, or just the coast generally are all way more worth seeing in my opinion. I lived in Malaga which is kind of tourist hell and I would still recommend it over the area around Gibraltar, frankly. I wouldn't bother with Torremolinos or Benalmadena or Fuengirola, the tourist ghettos south of Malaga, either.

For my money, I'd spend 4 days in Barcelona, then fly to Sevilla for a couple of days, then rent a car and take the scenic route to Granada with a stop in Ronda (look it up...the old Roman bridge is spectacular) and maybe around Malaga if you wanted, spend another day or two in Granada, then fly back to Barcelona for your flight home. You'd see way, way more of Andalucia, which in my biased opinion is the most beautiful part of Spain, and you'd get to check out all the amazing Moorish architecture, ancient castles, all that. The food is amazing, there's flamenco everywhere, it's beautiful. Recommended.

Your options are fine but to be honest they don't grab me much. Other people might disagree, obviously, but this is my opinion on it.

amelisha

I went for some photos. The first is the view from the top of the rock of Gibraltar where you can see the city beyond. The second is Sevilla. The third and fourth are Ronda and the surrounding area. The fifth and sixth are the area around Malaga. I couldn't find any from Granada in my folder but it has some of the most gorgeous Moorish buildings around, especially the Alhambra.

simcal18

amelisha said:

I went for some photos. The first is the view from the top of the rock of Gibraltar where you can see the city beyond. The second is Sevilla. The third and fourth are Ronda and the surrounding area. The fifth and sixth are the area around Malaga. I couldn't find any from Granada in my folder but it has some of the most gorgeous Moorish buildings around, especially the Alhambra.

Thanks so much!  These are gorgeous and reminding me of how much I loved traveling in Andalucia.  We really did want to tread new territory together, but if it's new to FI and it's been 15 years for me, maybe the fact that Barcelona is new to us will be enough .  .  .

amelisha

bostonbride2015 said:

amelisha said:

I went for some photos. The first is the view from the top of the rock of Gibraltar where you can see the city beyond. The second is Sevilla. The third and fourth are Ronda and the surrounding area. The fifth and sixth are the area around Malaga. I couldn't find any from Granada in my folder but it has some of the most gorgeous Moorish buildings around, especially the Alhambra.

Thanks so much!  These are gorgeous and reminding me of how much I loved traveling in Andalucia.  We really did want to tread new territory together, but if it's new to FI and it's been 15 years for me, maybe the fact that Barcelona is new to us will be enough .  .  .

I posted at the same time as your reply so I didn't notice you've already done that stuff, but yeah. Barcelona is very different from the south and you will have plenty to do and explore. And personally, I'd rather go back to to see the best stuff in those great cities than hang out in Valencia or Mallorca, which are fine and all but a lot less interesting in my opinion.

Another thought - I once took a long weekend and drove to Portugal with some girlfriends and it was a great time. Sevilla to the Portuguese coast is less than three hours, the drive is pretty, and it's something a little different. What about an itinerary like that?

majesty318

Throwing out a 2nd option to add northern Spain instead of Andalucia - head over to San Sebastian/ Bilbao after Barcelona. San Sebastian has a beautiful beach and the food in Basque country is amazing.

climbingsingle

I'm partial to Gibraltar since we got engaged there. But yes, there isn't too much to do after going to the top and taking the tours of the caves and what not. But I wouldn't skip it. You could easily do Gibraltar in a few hours. The views are unbelievable. 

simcal18

So many good options!  Maybe FI and I will just quit our jobs and make our honeymoon 2 months instead of 10 days.  That would be the easiest way to fix this because then we could see everything, although perhaps it would not be the smartest financial move.

So it sounds like the general consensus is that Valencia and Mallorca are not particularly amazing, or at least enough amazing enough to make 1/2 of our trip beach time there?  I'm almost thinking at this point that Andalucia/Gibraltar/Morocco is a separate trip at a later date when we are not doing Barcelona and we have time to do them properly.  Then we could fully explore Andalucia, spend a few days in the more interesting parts of Morocco (not just Tangier), and maybe even drive over to Portugal for a bit.  For this trip, we'll do a deep dive into Barcelona (4 full days), hit Mallorca OR Valencia (not both) for a little bit of beach time, and then maybe go north to Roses/Girona for a day or two?  Does that make sense?  

I'm so torn between pushing the itinerary so that we can see ALL THE THINGS and making sure we're relaxed and able to take a breath and enjoy our vacation as well.

JoanE2012

I don't have much experience with Spain, except for our visit to Costa del Sol....we stayed in Torremolinos.  From there, we did day trips to Gibraltar, Morocco, Seville, Mijas, Granada....I'm missing a place I think.  We travel alot, and this is one of my favorite vacations.

allispain

I completely second the idea of doing Barcelona for 4 days or so and then heading up to San Sebastián. The beach experience there is totally different (attracts a lot more Spanish travelers, while the Gold Coast tends to me almost entirely foreign nowadays). It's the modern gastronomical capital of Spain with some amazing restaurants and a huge selection of pintxos (the Basque Country's version of tapas). You could do a lot of the sight-seeing stuff in Barcelona, and then be beach (and food) people in San Sebastián.

Honestly, the train trip from Barcelona to Valencia is really long - you would spending an entire day on the train, and I personally don't think Valencia's really worth it. Barcelona and Granada are by far my favorite Spanish cities, with Madrid coming in a close third.

simcal18

allispain said:

I completely second the idea of doing Barcelona for 4 days or so and then heading up to San Sebastián. The beach experience there is totally different (attracts a lot more Spanish travelers, while the Gold Coast tends to me almost entirely foreign nowadays). It's the modern gastronomical capital of Spain with some amazing restaurants and a huge selection of pintxos (the Basque Country's version of tapas). You could do a lot of the sight-seeing stuff in Barcelona, and then be beach (and food) people in San Sebastián.

Honestly, the train trip from Barcelona to Valencia is really long - you would spending an entire day on the train, and I personally don't think Valencia's really worth it. Barcelona and Granada are by far my favorite Spanish cities, with Madrid coming in a close third.

Rome 2 Rio and the train sites are telling me Barcelona to Valencia is a little over 3 hour train ride and to San Sebastián it's 5.5-6 hours. Are they steering me wrong? A big part of the attraction of Valencia was the proximity so if it takes a while to go there we'll definitely skip it.

Jeannine12

We are doing Spain for our honeymoon also but we are Starting in Barcelona and ending in Madrid.  In Barcelona we are taking a wine tour that takes you to 2 wineries or 1 winery and to Montserrat.  I have a lot of trips I am picking up about Barcelona if you want to PM me.  But good luck planning...any choice you make will me amazing because Spain is just beautiful.