AboutVíctor Díaz Expertise I live in Madrid,and travel frequently to Valencia. I have also travelled to many places all over spain, if haven't been there i'd try to help anyway providing my knowledge and links.
I enjoy trekking in the mountains, and know pyrinees, Picos de Europa and mountains in the center.
Question QUESTION: hello victor, Im considering participating in the following program: http://www.vaughantown.com/
which of the two towns would you recommend staying: Avila or Salamanca. Also, I would like to return to Madrid and visit for a couple days before heading back to the states. I have free Marriott points and would like to use them but there is no Marriott in Madrid so the closest locations are http://www.marriott.com/search/findHotels.mi.
which would be the easiest to get to from madrid via train or bus and enjoyable to visit . please let me now if you need any additional info. Oh yes- I was considering the Oct.20-25...is weather nice at that time of year? Thank you in advance for offering your awesome advice. jane
ANSWER: Hello Jane
Both places looks great, Salamanca city and El Barco de Avila.
Salamanca may be better if you want to visit places near the hotel, have shops, bars, etc. Salamanca is a city and an important touristic destination as well as for students from everywhere.
A nice place in October with pleasant temperatures, nights will begin to be a bit cold.
El Barco is a town, have also shops and bars, etc, but you can't compare it with Salamanca. El Barco has a much better natural environment and landscapes with the nearby Gredos mountains. It have a similar climate but a bit colder. You may have some rainy days in both places.
El Barco is closer to Madrid but transports are much better in Salamanca.
About Marriott hotels, seems there are 6 in spain, none of them close to Madrid (closer is about 400km away).
Barcelona will be fine, in order to visit the city but it's located by the airport, not the typical hotel to explore the city but more for passengers in route. Located in an industrial and office area, and no metro near to get to the center of the city.
Playa andaluza(Estepona) and Marbella are in Costa del Sol, they look great, like all Marriott's in Spain and you could have still nice weather at the south of spain,at least for sunbathing, but with only a couple of days you may have rainy days and ruin your staying there, also you may check how weell are they communicated with Malaga. (Malaga is easy to reach from Madrid, but once there how to get to those hotels?)
These hotels are also mainly oriented to sun&beach tourism.
Mallorca is also a bit far from the Mallorca city, is also sun & beach and in october you can't rely too much on good weather in the balearic islands.
Denia is more or less the same than those of Costa del Sol, but is more complicated to get there form madrid (only buses).
Sincerily i wouldn't choose any, but if you must, Barcelona for a city sightseen (bearing in mind that you will need some time to get to the center with public transport or use taxis) and Marbella or Estepona for sun&beach (with poor public transport from Malaga).
alternatively yhou may choose another hotel or hostal (cheap hotel) in Madrid and enjoy those couple of days more there, and even do a daytrip to Toledo or Segovia.
I hope this helps
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QUESTION: thank you so much I tend to agree I think we will forge the Marriott and stay in hostels and visit Madrid. If possible I would love to refer to you again as I plan this trip. Thank you and I will be in touch! Fondly, jane
ANSWER: Dear Jane, you may ask me again whenever you want.
regards.
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QUESTION: hi victor, getting down to the final plans. ? regarding easyjet. there seems to be a lot of additional fees especially with payment methods. any suggestions, can you pay cash at the airport to avoid credit/debit fees? what is your experience with this airlines since you dont think we should use ryanair!
this still seems like the most economical way to get from lisbon to madrid . Agree?
Answer Hello again Jane
I'm a bit confused since i don't remember answering any question about lisboa-madrid for a long time...
About additional fees, i don't have any experience flying with low-cost.
Consider
-email them directly to ask
-post this question about fees at tripadvisor forums (for example)
i don't think you shouldn't use ryanair, but looks like there aren't flights lisboa-madrid with ryanair
I have check spanish airports site http://www.aena.es
and at the madrid airport, setting lisboa as destination there are several companies available such as easyjet, iberia, spanair, tap, vueling among others. Vueling and easyjet are low cost.
I have also checked Ryanair site, and there isn't any flight from Lisboa with this company, only from Oporto/Porto to Madrid.
