About Alicia Chávarri Expertise Questions about travel details, Spanish culture, Spanish language, translations, curiosities, Spanish literature and also Spanish Economy, as I have an Economy Degree.
Experience I am a Spaniard and I live in Spain. I also have experience in teaching Spanish to foreign students.
Organizations Teso Lombo Cultural Association ( Salamanca, Spain )
Education/Credentials Degree in Economy. University of Salamanca.
Degree in English Language. University of Salamanca.
Question I am thinking about surprising my wife and taking her to Spain.
I am deciding between doing a guided tour or just exploring Spain on our own. I am not one for tours and the only one that looks appealing is a Spain at Leisure tour through Brendan World Tours which spends a few nights in a few towns and allows you time to explore on your own. So anyway the tour would be 3 nights in Madrid, 3 nights in Seville and 4 nights in Torremolinos it would obviously take you to all the sites around there and give you time to explore on your own. It would include some meals and have a tour director that would be very helpful.
My other option would be to travel on our own in which case I would do something similar like 2 nights in Madrid, 1 night in Toledo, 4 nights in torremolinos and 3 nights in Barcelona. My concern is traveling on our on we may miss stuff, get lost etc. How hard is it to travel through Spain. (My wife speaks pretty decent Spanish, she has taken 8 years of it and spent time in many Latin American Nations) How hard is it to get around Spain? Are there any areas you would suggest? My travel agent suggested renting a Car from Toledo to Torremolinos and then flying from there to Barcelona. Obviously Spain is pretty big and we won't be able to do it all but this would be a once in a lifetime trip so I would want to do it right.
So can you give me some input? Obviously there are pros and cons for each situation but my biggest worry is if we explore on our own we may miss stuff or have problems and it may be frustrating. So could you let me know what first timers to Spain should do?
Also I read that Torremolinos is very crowded and not too great in the summer. Is this true and would you recommend not going to the Costa Del Sol at all?
Sorry for all the questions I just want to be as informed as possible.
Thank you very much. Jason
Answer Hi ˇˇ
In my humble opinion, it is ok and easy to travel in your own.
Torremolinos doesn't sound a good option to me: it is overcrowded since May to October and most of its population is from abroad.
My choice would be: Madrid, Barcelona, Sevilla, Granada and Salamanca. Of course you will miss something ;) we always do when time is an issue, but I think those are the "essentials"
Most tourists that visit Spain miss Salamanca, which is my hometown ( I live in Sevilla now). I don't know why, since Salamanca is the most artistic town in Spain and one of the most artistic in the world. You can visit the University, the oldest in Spain and the second oldest in Europe (first is Bolonia in Italy)
If you want to visit the Costa del Sol, you can travel to Malaga, close to Torremolinos.
If you choose the route above, you could fly to Madrid and then rent a car to Salamanca ( 2 hours drive);back to Madrid and take the AVe train. It will take you to Sevilla in about 3 hours. You can visit Granada and Malaga from there.
