MADRID AND GETTING TO OTHER PLACES - TravelPUNK Backpacker College Student Budget Travel Message Boards!

BoSox · 02-11-2005, 10:35 PM

I have about a week to decide if I should spend two months next summer studying Spanish in Madrid. If I go though I want to be able to see some other places as well. The problem is that I will only have weekends(hopefully 3 day ones) to travel and I need to do it cheaply. Can anyone recommend anything? I really want to see Portugal, Morroco, and maybe even southern France. How would I get to these places from Madrid and for what price? Can you do it in only a couple of days? Is it safe? I want to travel to these places because I am going to see most of central Spain while taking my classes so it would be a nice change of place. Plus any other info about Madrid would be appreciated. thanks.

wardenjordan · 02-12-2005, 08:55 AM

I always found the train to be the most reasonable way of travel to access places within spain, and while you are studying spanish if you can get any type of student ID it will cut costs that much more. For travel to the south of france check out the airfares. I know flights out of Madrid can be dirt cheap and i've kicked myself for spending a night on a train when I could have flew for cheaper. When you get there don't let anyone tell you morrocco is dangerous, it's not. It's cheap and awsome.

**kingcrazylegs** · 02-12-2005, 10:44 AM

Yeah, you can easily get to the places you mentioned via train from Madrid. There are lots of neat little towns to check out in the area...Here is a recent post about some of that stuff.

BoSox · 02-12-2005, 02:19 PM

thanks for the info. one other thing that i want to know though is are there a lot of places with public wireless internet service. like a starbucks or something. also what would be a good budget for two months. my accomendations are all taking care of so basically what would it cost to eat out and party a few times a week and maybe do a lil traveling while im there to like portugal, morroco, or barcelona for a weekend. thanks.

**kingcrazylegs** · 02-13-2005, 10:47 AM

I am not sure about "public wireless internet service" (b/c I've never used it) but you can easily find internet cafes and such.

For food and fun in that area I would plan on things costing roughly the same as the US. You can easily eat at the same cost as you would in the states as long as you go to the right places and the same for going out.

britney · 03-12-2005, 12:47 PM

The train is the easiest way to get around Spain. I lived in San sebastain(the best town there is) and we would rent cars all the time and drive to France. You could take the train from Mardrid and rent one. The trains go into France as well. The car is easy to get and much more fun if you have a friend with you.

BoSox · 03-12-2005, 03:09 PM

I was thinking of that but I think I am too young. I am only 20. Don't you need to be like 25?

**U2fan** · 03-12-2005, 05:47 PM

that is the rule in the US; I don't know about Spain.

I would say 3 days to get to Morocco and back would be pushing it....you need longer than that or you really won't see anything. The roads in Morocco are not good and it takes forever to get anywhere....

kimballthegreat · 03-12-2005, 05:48 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by BoSox@Mar 12 2005, 03:08 PM
I was thinking of that but I think I am too young.* I am only 20.* Don't you need to be like 25?

Hi, this is kind of a general post for some day trip ideas to do in madrid.

first off ... if your under 26 goto one of the banks in madrid and ask them for a youth card ... Carnet Joven ... I think it's free. You get some good discounts on trains and stuff... I took the trains everywhere. good places to visit are Sevilla, Cordoba, Ciudad Real, You can jump on the AVE .... I lived in C.R. and it was less than 20eu to go one way from Madrid to CR so i figure sevilla is about 40. Salamanca is a University town.... aka hot women

. Segovia is by far the best ... neat castle there. ... small town ... can walk from one end to the other in 30 mins. You can take the renfe train north to a place called Valle de los Caidos ... Valley of the fallen ... it's where Franco and his predecessor are burried( bus station at principe pios)... . Don't be in a hurry to get out to far there is so much to see in madrid. I liked sol ... a coupla blocks away ( lavapies ) just on the back street from the plaza are a bunch of immigrant owned shops were you can buy stuff for dirt cheap ... A couple of blocks from the Campo de las naciones is the parque juan carlos ... huge park. Retiro is cool ... a ton of stuff to explore. Look for the "fallen Angel" statue while your there

you can get there via Retiro or banco de espana exits ...

there is a lot of stuff to do.

**U2fan** · 03-12-2005, 05:48 PM

I will also add that I was all over Spain and Portugal last summer and didn't see the Starbucks type wireless internet anywhere. I think that is mostly in the US and hasn't hit there yet.

But yeah, like KCL said, internet cafes are everywhere.

byler · 03-12-2005, 09:34 PM

I'm studying in Madrid next year for 6 or 7 months... I'm studying @ Complutense University of Madrid, through a program called ISA... where are you studying?

You should definately take the opportunity and do it... I'm definately excited about going next year. Let me know how it goes!

~Byler