It’s a matter of what you like and your travel style. I would not spend 3 weeks in one city, but you probably could spend that long in any major European City without getting bored. I would look at about to 1 1/2 weeks in Spain — concentrating on 2 cities. You could visit other places as day trips or as shorter stops “en route” between the two. If you’re into beaches (and have the money) you could spend additional time on the Costa del Sol.

I’d then pick another country/area for the rest of the trip. Portugal is, of course, close, but it’s a surprisingly long train trip between the two. France is another option that’s reachable by train. You can probably find a very cheap flight (check our “cheap flights” forum for tips) to just about any other country in Europe, so your options really are unlimited…

If you decide on 2 or more countries, look for an “open jaw” flight (like into Madrid, out of Paris) to avoid backtracking to Spain for your flight home.

Oldlady has some good advice, but if you really want to spend all three weeks in Spain, I wouldn’t rule it out. For my very first eurotrip (at age 17), I spent three weeks in France, and loved it. I spent about a week in the south, a week and a half in the North and a few days in Paris before leaving. I liked traveling to different regions of the country and, like you said, immersing yourself in the culture. Personally, I thought it was great to concentrate on one country for my first trip, improve my language skills and get a really get a feel for a couple different regions and their cultural nuances.

Well after I posted this I started thinking what if I do get bored in one city. So I would like to fly in to Barcelona and spend a week there, I would like to avoid Madrid I would much rather be near water of some sort I am not very good at being in land. I do either of you know which city on the Med. would be the most intresting?

-Renate

Spain has plenty of coastline, so you’ve got a lot of options. There are tons of beach areas on the Mediterranean coast to both the north and south of Barcelona, and as old lady mentioned, on the southern coast is the Costa del Sol. Many towns/villages on these coasts are almost like little English-speaking enclaves that cater to tourists and expats. Alicante, in Valencia, is a nice Spanish city that has some nice beaches and nightlife. For a coastal trip that would allow you to sample the cultural & geographical diversity of Spain I would consider cities like San Sebastian, Santander, and La Coruña (A Coruña in the local language called Galician). The Balearic islands of Mallorca, Menorca, Formentera, and Ibiza are easily accessible from Barcelona too.

I’ve never been to Spain so I can’t give you first hand advice. However, my dream trip to Spain includes Andalucia. Cadiz is on the Atlantic, but I’ve heard it’s lovely. You could stay on the water, but daytrip to Seville and Grenada.

Yeah…. the Andalusia is very beautiful. I spent some time there back in ’05 and had a great time. I was down there visiting with my friend and her family.

Make sure you hit up Granada and visit the Alhambra.

Thanks for all the wonderful advice! I decied that I am going to go to Barcelona and Algeciras. I want to be in Barcelona on the September 24th becaust thats there big festival. So I think I should spend my first week in Algeciras. But I am at a lost for transportaion from Barcelona to Algeciras. If they have an airport I can not find it there. I thought about flighing in to Malaga from Atlanta but that is much more exspensive than just flying to Barcelona and seeking another form of transportation. So now I have to figure out how to get from Barcelona to Algeciras and the website I found for the train station make little sense. It is in half english/spanish like it is attemping to translate and its just a mess.
-Renate

Why Algeciras? It’s a port city, kind of ugly, and will be a serious pain to get to/from Barcelona.