One D will be finishing an internship in France in December, and will stay into January. Other D and I will hopefully fly out between Christmas and New Year’s to join her for some travel and hopefully warmer weather. As we live in the frozen north, warm can be 50s to 60s in December. We have tossed around various ideas. Italy, southern Spain, Morocco? As the Ds are grad students, and I am a thrifty traveler by necessity, cost matters. Not that we don’t splurge on an occasional good meal. I anticipate train travel rather than the restrictive cheap airlines. Ideas? We like hiking, biking, history, trains and great food.
Morocco can be very, very reasonable and will be warmer than Spain and other southern European spots.
I recommend Aix-en-Provence. It is a lovely town, though expensive, and is a good base for exploring the south of France. If you stay at an Airbnb, the housing cost won’t be too high.
My husband and daughter took a ferry from Spain to Morocco a couple of years ago. As soon as they got off the boat, they were swarmed with people selling things and offering to “protect” them. It was really creepy and they took the next ferry back. They have no desire to visit Morocco again.
Morocco is just a different culture, much like you’d find in India and other places where folks are more aggressive salespeople when looking to make a sale. A smile and a “no thanks” or simply ignoring them both work. Not exploring such an interesting and beautiful country because of touts would be unfortunate IMO. Granted, everyone has different tolerances for global travel and cultural differences. We spent over 2 weeks there and we never felt unsafe. Feel free to PM if you want more information.
I live in the frozen north also and 50 - 60 in December is quite welcome! I spent 10 days in Madrid right before Christmas a couple years ago. I left the week before Christmas, so can’t advise on Christmas traveler traffic.
I loved using Madrid as a destination and base for further exploration. I saw all the major Madrid museums, galleries, churches and other tourist sites in a relaxed manner and took easy day trips by train and bus to Toledo and Segovia. There are many other day trips possible as well. I prefer to stay in one location if I have less than two weeks to travel, but combining Madrid with Malaga or with Barcelona might also be an option. I’ve not tried AirBnB, but found the hotel prices in Madrid very reasonable although your travel time may be more popular. The dollar is strong against the Euro now - that would help also.
It sounds like a great opportunity, no matter what you decide to do!
Well, I’m just telling you what their experience is. My husband is not a shrinking violet - we’ve been in similar situations in Jamaica. But these people would not leave them alone and just kept swarming. I have talked to other people who had the same experience.
Yes, I have traveled extensively in Asia, and while a certain level of tout is easy to wave off, it can be terribly intense at other times. S felt overwhelmed in Varanasi, in India and left India for Nepal.
I wonder how Aix would be over the holidays? Not sure D would want to do that again for our sake.
Some of my happier experiences have been in very rural areas, where there are small towns to explore, beaches to wander, and hikes to do. But what I fear is that things would be so shut down over the holidays that we would be looking at closed restaurants and sights. Malaga has been brought up before and sounds interesting, if far from Paris.
I was in Spain in January and February – Madrid, Barcelona and Seville. There were many warm days (in the 50s) but there were also some bitter cold days (one day in Madrid it was 19 and snowing – it was miserable). To be safe in Spain, the further south you go, the warmer it will be. Madrid can get quite chilly in the winter. There’s plenty to do and see in Andalusia – we did some hiking (not at high elevations) and drove around the White Towns, visited Granada, Cordoba, Ronda.
My daughter went to Morocco this January. She had great weather, but it was risky – it can rain a lot in the winter.
How about the Costa del Sol in Southern Spain combined with Gibraltar?
It’s not southern Europe, but H and I went to Ireland last December. It doesn’t freeze there. It ranges from 40 - 60 around the year. Still… they have named storms in northern Europe starting in December and last year was a bad year. I didn’t mind the weather and the rain, but I did mind driving through scary deep puddles because the country was so saturated from storm Desmond. Funny how it might be 19 degrees in Madrid but much warmer in Dublin.
My kid and some friends went to Almeria, Spain. They had a great time…but this was four college student guys,…and also 10 years ago.
If anyone has interest in crossing from Spain to Gibraltar, you may want to do it within the next 24 months. I read that Spain may close the border once Britain is out of the EU.
I appreciate the town/city names in the south and will look at each one, as I know nothing about that area. The UK was a consideration, and D may visit friends there right after her internship ends. Ireland from France somehow seems a bit backward. I considered meeting her there, but airfares are most reasonable to Paris, and part of the point is to see where she has lived in France. Ireland will probably be a separate trip at a point with someone who loves the music as much as I do.
Good warning on Madrid and the cold! However the train passes right through Madrid from Paris, so we might as well spend a night or two there and see some of the museums.
I’ll have to check with the Ds about Morocco. My S loved visiting years ago, and though widely traveled, has stated it is his favorite country.
No one is recommending Italy?
It can be time consuming and awkward to cross the border from Spain to Gibraltar even now.
I think the possible weather conditions are probably unpredictable this far in advance. A couple years ago, many of the Rome tourist major sites were closed due to snow. I think that was later than your travel, maybe February. Since you are used to cold (like me), I’d pick where you want to go and check Accuweather before packing. Any place is still likely to be better than here. (But who knows! I’ve finally given up trying to self-predict and take things as they come - I’m a happier traveller!)
I’ve not traveled in Italy during your travel dates. I image the churches would be wonderfully decorated. Actually, they were in Spain even during Advent. Creches are a major tradition in Spain. There were special - free- exhibits in Madrid of a creche (Belen) owned by the Spanish monarchy. Many churches also had beautiful creches.
We spent the week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve traveling Spain a few years ago. We chose the location based on weather (mild and pleasant) and price. Marbella was our base for four days, then we took the train to Barcelona. Granada, Gibraltar, and Morocco are easy day trips from Marbella/Malaga, though we chose not to spend the time on Gibraltar. I would not go to the markets in Morocco without a guide. Barcelona was amazing too! We used a guide from Toma Tours and loved the trip.