mainland spain for 3 weeks - any recommendations

[yugyug]

My gf and I will be in spain for 3 weeks in June - plan is to hire a car in Barcelona and just drive around.... anybody got any recommendations for places to go and things to do? Sorry thats a bit vague I know... m^_^m

I guess we want to hit beaches a lot, I'm into spearfishing and we both want to party heaps (but not like everyday ) . Also if anybody's got any car hire advice that would be great as I'm a bit unsure whether to book before I go or just do it there. Budget is tight but not shoestring. All help much appreciated!

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[Kasper]

if you're not european, you should consider a temporary transit. basically, it a fancy way to say to lease a car. the deal is you get a new car and the rates are quite cheap. 2 summers ago, i spent like 3 months driving through europe with some friends and that's what we did and it was way cheaper than a regular rental, not to mention that there's no limit on mileage and insurance are included and there's no deductable.

<a href="http://www.peugeot-openeurope.com/html/fr/intro/default.htm" target="_blank">http://www.peugeot-openeurope.com/html/fr/intro/default.htm'>http://www.peugeot-openeurope.com/html/fr/intro/default.htm"] <a href="http://www.peugeot-openeurope.com/html/fr/intro/default.htm" target="_blank">http://www.peugeot-openeurope.com/html/fr/intro/default.htm</a>

[url=" http://www.renaultusa.com/TravelPartners.asp"] <a href="http://www.renaultusa.com/TravelPartners.asp" target="_blank">http://www.renaultusa.com/TravelPartners.asp</a>

[url=" http://www.ebctravel.com/index.html"] <a href="http://www.ebctravel.com/index.html" target="_blank">http://www.ebctravel.com/index.html</a>

[url=http://www.autoeurope.com/buyback_home.cfm?aff=writing ]http://www.autoeurope.com/buyback_home.cfm?aff=writing

you can google some more but you should find all the info you need there as well as pricing.

as far as spain go, How much do you want to drive? to you want to stay around Catalunia or cover a lot of spain? or do you want to go to France also. My favorite area in Spain are of course Barcelona, the Basque country and Madrid so i would def recommend these places. the south of Spain is reallly cool also so is the meditarean cost so it's a bit of a hard choice. overall, spain's a really cool country to visit and the parties are good pretty much everywhere you go, be prepare to do it all night though. the end of june might be really really hot in the south and in madrid also so you might want to consider that when you make your plan. or if you want, the south of france is close to barca and really nice, i'm going there next september for some friends wedding and i'm pretty looking forward to that.

[Cue]

June? Barcelona? You lucky sod - http://www.sonar.es - it's awesome, some of the best music I have seen all in one place and totally wicked

[juxtaposed]

drive down the coast from barcelona over valencia over alicante to sevilla and alhambra and finally gibraltar

[Kasper]

forgot about sonar, you HAVE to go, i was there 2 years ago and it's the best festival i've ever been to.

[Cue]

Yeah, I went 2002 and 2003. It's brilliant, esp the day which is more mellow and experimental - the nighttime is pretty ravey-davey (but still totally ace)

[yugyug]

wow thanks for the info everyone esp. that bit about car leasing - actually I'm australian but will be travelling on my british passport so not sure it will apply, but I will look into it so thanks.

Sonar sounds good, I haven't been to a big festival in ageeeesss.......

I've just decided I want to go the palace in Alhambra (17 types of ceramic tile tesselations!) which is south so maybe keep on going to Gibraltar......but I want to see the Guggenheim in Bilbao and I want to get wasted and see a bullfight too so I guess there will be a lot of ground to cover!

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[Cue]

Gibraltar isn't as exciting as you would think. It's interesting given its history, and odd - a little Britain in Spain - but I wouldn't burn up too many miles to get there if you have limited time.

Mind you, if you are down that way, then think about shooting over to Tangiers for the day ... Ferry goes from around there somewhere - think it was £35 a couple of years back ...

[Tisswat]

Instead of going to Gibraltar, I would recommend making a stop in Tarifa - the most southern point of Spain. It's a tiny village and a Mekka for wind-/kitesurfers.

reporter: "what do you think about western civilization?"

gandhi: "i think it would be a good idea."