Spain in 6 days - what to see?

La Sagrada Familia Cathedral in Barcelona. Also Park Guell - both Antoni Gaudi creations. They are both fascinating.

 

The first thing you should do is take me with you! Seriously I have no idea as I haven't been there, but your trip sounds amazing!

 

I don't know much about Spain but my favorite vanlifer couple on YouTube, Eamon & Bec, just spent some time there in the last few months so maybe their videos will be of help. Scroll down on their home page to the Europe section. At least two of the videos have Spain in their titles, and I'm pretty sure a few others were made while they were in Spain too. They've just arrived in Africa last week.

Have a fabulous trip!

 

10 years ago we drove from Madrid to the south coast - Estapona - with a lunch stop at the Parador in Jaen - very elegant and not terribly expensive but - caveat -with a very well dressed clientele. That drive will take you through La Mancha territory. From our rented villa in Estapona one day we drove to Ronda, a mountain town nearby but this too became a much longer drive than we had prepared for - hairpin turns after hair pin turns. This was the day that it really hit us the Spanish meal times posted mean exactly that. Finding lunch was not as easy as we'd thought. By the time we finished our lunch, most of the town was off for siesta. Dinner that night was also a challenge to my 'likes to eat at 5:30 husband". We did find a curry place that was full of Brits and opened at 7pm I think. When you hear about 8pm dinners it may mean 9 or 10 pm. Be forewarned.

The day in Granada was wonderful, and yes an early start to get to the Alhambra when it opened. We had bought our tickets on line and somehow eventually navigated the check in system there. We got though that process and went back into town to have a mainly tapas lunch. Then back UP the hill to the Alhambra for our tour which was truly one of the highlights of the trip for both of us. I'd lived in the Middle East so so much was familiar to me - the art, the ever-present fountains, pools etc. We stayed til it closed and would have actually liked more time. But hungry bellies wanted us back in the villa so I could fix a dinner and not try to find something open.

We both fell in love with Sevilla which seemed much more light hearted than a lot of other places in Spain. Many years of ultra strict Catholicism plus the years of Franco's dictatorship... We also took a day to visit Gibraltar just cause it was there! and the hours for restaurants were more in tune with England than Spain which made my dh happy. I can survive with coffees and pastries for a long time but not him. Our final drive was up through Tarifa and onto the E1 to Lisbon where we spent a 2nd week.

We ate a lot of great seafood while in Estapona and right now I can't think of anything else that stood out other than the difficulties in finding places open to suit dh's belly time. Neither of us drink nor eat almost any fast food, not that I can recall seeing - any? but I would say, you can't go wrong with tapas anywhere and you could probably become a certified sherry expert with all the varieties available. Also check the translations of some dishes as dh was happy with his pork cheeks ragu (when he didn't know what it was) and I almost had a special of 'foal'. Horse meat was readily available as opposed to beef. You may get more tips from my album of the trip - Spain and Portugal Have a great time!

 

We visited Barcelona and Madrid 8 years ago. No photos!
Barcelona was too touristy for me. I liked Madrid a lot better. I'm a museum nerd and I felt I was in heaven! Picasso's Guernica is at Reina Sofia; it's absolutely stunning! At Thyssen-Bornemisza I saw Van Gogh for the very first time and loved him even more (and I returned there again while DH was watching Moto GP or F1 at the hotel).
I didn't like the food there. I enjoyed our dinner only when we visited an Italian restaurant and we had pizza and spaghetti. Also, not everyone speaks English.
I'm sure you will enjoy your time there!

 

Aarrgh! I just finished typing a long post and lost it all so here's the short version.

We spent five weeks on a road trip in Spain three years ago. We had a fantastic time with great food and wine. Maureen is right - be prepared to not eat your evening meal until after 8pm. You may be able to find tapas earlier than that and can sometimes make a meal from them.
My favourite cities were Granada, Segovia and Cordoba. I wasn't a huge fan of Barcelona (got pickpocketed there) or Toledo. As far was smaller towns went, we loved Avila, Merida, Lerma, and Osuna.
Be sure to buy your tickets for the Alhambra in Granada well ahead of time (possibly now) as you may be out of luck otherwise. There is a limit to how many tickets are sold each day.
There are many incredible cathedrals to see but they can be a bit much after a while. We loved seeing the Roman ruins in Segovia and Merida in particular while Avila is a beautiful walled town. If you are driving be prepared for very narrow medieval streets in the old towns. We had to turn in our side mirrors sometimes and we had a little Fiat!
I would try to stick to one area when you only have six days as there is just so much to see. You could drive up to the Basque country from Madrid or down to Burgos, Lerma and Segovia.

 

Spain and Portugal are the only European countries I have visited and loved them both so much. I agree with what most people seem to say - Granada is wonderful - the Alhambra is magnificent! Also really liked Cordoba but if you are only there for 6 days then I would stick to Barcelona, Granada and Madrid (loved Madrid so much - more than Barcelona)
The Prado Gallery is a must view - we took our 14yo and 24 yo sons and they happily spent hours there - unheard of! We also loved the food everywhere.
You are going to have to either fly in and out of places or take the fast trains which are great - wish we had them in Australia - driving will eat up way too much time unless you stick with a small region.

Have fun - I'm jealous - would love to go back...