Travelling to Spain

Your trip to Spain must be planned carefully because the country has multitude of things to do and see as well as being much larger and more culturally diverse than most North Americans realize.

Alhambra in Granada

       

La Mezquita (Cordoba)

• Many cities in Spain are worth seeing but don't try to see more than 2 cities a week or you will not get a taste for each city.
• There are several distinct linguistic/cultural (Basque, Catalonia, Castille) and climate zones (temperate north, hot dry Andalusia in the south, more moderate Mediterranean coast line). I makes more sense to visit the south in the spring and fall whereas the north is always temperate (Summer is 70-75F).
• Some of the cities that are worth a visit are Barcelona, Pamplona (bull run), San Sebastian/Bilbao (Basque country), Madrid (Museums/Palace), Toledo (medieval walled town), Seville, Cordoba (Mesquita), Granada (Alhambra/ 14th C. Moorish Palace) and Malaga (hub of Costa del Sol)
• It may make sense to fly or use the train (AVE high speed train links Madrid, Barcelona, Seville and Malaga) between cities to avoid long drives because most of the time you can't make use of a car in town anyways. 
• Car rental makes sense driving from Seville to the Andalusian hill towns which would be inaccessible by train.