# Marriott's Playa Andaluza - 2 Weeks or move to another resort?



## marmite (Jul 27, 2019)

I was looking at taking a first trip to Spain, and see that there are so many day-trip possibilities if I made Playa Andaluza my home base for a couple of weeks.  Do you think 2 weeks is too long at that resort, or would you move on for that 2nd week to somewhere else?  Marriott's Marbella Beach Resort is only 20 minutes away, but seems like it might be too much hassle moving resorts for such a short distance. 

We would definitely have a car rental, but could also entertain using ferry or flight to an additional destination.   We're not beach people and was thinking of going in spring time.  Ideas?


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## GetawaysRus (Jul 27, 2019)

We all travel differently.  Some of us are "faster" travelers and some are "slower."  By fast and slow, I mean the pace we enjoy while traveling.  Are you a go-go-go traveler, or will you want some down-time days?  Also, when considering day trips, we have different tolerances for how long a drive we will tolerate as a day trip.

My wife and I took a 3 week trip to Spain in 2012.

Week 1: we flew to Madrid and spent 6 nights in Madrid.  That gave us 3 full days for Madrid and 2 additional days for day trips by train (Segovia and Toledo).
Week 2 was at Playa Andaluza.  You can either fly from Madrid to the Costa del Sol or go by train.
Week 3:  during most of week 3, we used our rental car to take a driving loop through Andalucia: Seville, then Cordoba, then Granada.  We stayed at hotels in each city.
We took several easy day trips from Playa: Ronda, Gibraltar, Malaga, some of the other "white towns" of southern Spain.  Tangiers can be reached by ferry, but we didn't try that.  And we spent a bit of time at the resort.  Memories are funny.  I remember that we drove to a nearby market.  We purchased a frozen bag of mixed seafood, some pasta, oil, garlic, and a bottle of Spanish red wine.  I still remember enjoying the seafood pasta my wife prepared as we sat on our balcony overlooking the sea. 

We also are not beach people.  I don't recall exactly, but we wouldn't have spent more than one day visiting the beaches.

I have in my old notes that the drive from Playa to Seville is 2 1/2 hours.  Without looking it up, I can't tell you how long the drive would be from Playa to Cordoba or Granada (Google will tell you).  I do have in my notes that Granada to Malaga airport (we dropped off the car and flew home from there) was 1 3/4 hours.  I also don't know how easily you could travel by train if you preferred not to drive.  We do not enjoy long driving days and that is why we did that driving loop and stayed in hotels in each of those cities.  But it would be easy to fill your second week this way if you were OK with using Playa as your base and OK with the length of the day trips.  In my opinion, one day was enough to see Cordoba - the big sight is the Mezquita.  You could easily spend more than a day in Granada (I remember making reservations for the Alhambra in advance) and even a few days in Seville, again all depending on your travel "style."  So if you wanted to use Playa as a base and then overnight at a local hotel in Granada and/or Seville to lessen the driving, I think that's a very workable plan.

I like to use the Rick Steves travel books for Europe.  I have learned that whatever amount of time he recommends for a destination, I need to add at least a day (sometimes 2) more so that we can enjoy the destination at the pace we like.

Overall, this was a fabulous trip.  We were there during the first 3 weeks of October and were fortunate to have wonderful weather. 

Have fun planning it.  You will likely want to return to Spain on another trip.  We did, visiting Portugal and the northern part of Spain, but that's a different post.

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I'll add another caveat.  Our Seville hotel was in the center of the city.  Driving in the center of Seville to reach the hotel was not easy.  The streets are narrow, twisting, and there were many one-way streets.  Typically my wife drives and I navigate.  I had a GPS for Spain, but because the streets are so narrow with buildings on both sides, I kept losing the darn GPS signal.  We went round and round, and she got more and more frustrated with me, until we finally made a lucky turn and found our hotel.  That was it for driving in Seville.  We parked the car and only picked it up when we left the city.

The drive into Cordoba was much easier.  Granada was intermediate in difficulty, if I remember.


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## Pompey Family (Jul 27, 2019)

We own at Playa and have been visiting for years. Two weeks is not enough, in fact two weeks is quite short for the amount that you can see and do using it as a base. Because we're regular visitors we combine our time there with side trips and also whole days lounging around the resort. It makes no sense logistically to up sticks mid stay and move to Marbella if only for the hassle of finding somewhere to store your refrigerated goods during the transition (depart PA by 10:00 whilst MBC may not have a villa ready until 16:00). It's so close that you're not gaining anything by changing location. The only reason to change is if you wanted to experience the resort itself.


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## marmite (Jul 27, 2019)

GetawaysRus said:


> We all travel differently.  Some of us are "faster" travelers and some are "slower."  By fast and slow, I mean the pace we enjoy while traveling.  Are you a go-go-go traveler, or will you want some down-time days?  Also, when considering day trips, we have different tolerances for how long a drive we will tolerate as a day trip.



We are probably on the faster side.  We enjoy port-intensive cruising, with a few sea days sprinkled in between.  We are like that on land too -- 2 or 3 days of hitting the sights and one to relax in the hotel and immediate neighbourhood, then we do that over again!  As for day trips, I would probably think driving 1.5 hours max in one direction, as we'd probably not want to drive back when it's dark. I am usually the navigator, and I won't be driving a standard car anywhere (and other drivers will thank me for that)!  I thought that the cities that were more than about 2 hours away, we could perhaps overnight in a hotel and return the next day.  We have no problem with abandoning the timeshare for a night or two at a time when we're on vacation (great to have somewhere to stash your things as well).  It is still much more economical and relaxing to have a home-base than hopping from hotel and worrying about our luggage in the car when we're between hotels.  The other downside to hotels, is we are travelling with our teenage daughter, and Europe particularly is difficult to find accommodations that fit 3.  We have often bought 2 hotel rooms, which makes the cost really add up quickly.


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## marmite (Jul 27, 2019)

Pompey Family said:


> We own at Playa and have been visiting for years. Two weeks is not enough, in fact two weeks is quite short for the amount that you can see and do using it as a base. Because we're regular visitors we combine our time there with side trips and also whole days lounging around the resort. It makes no sense logistically to up sticks mid stay and move to Marbella if only for the hassle of finding somewhere to store your refrigerated goods during the transition (depart PA by 10:00 whilst MBC may not have a villa ready until 16:00). It's so close that you're not gaining anything by changing location. The only reason to change is if you wanted to experience the resort itself.



Unfortunately I am somewhat tied to the school schedule, which means I have 2 weeks in March or as perhaps 3-4 weeks in July/Aug. Airfare is mind-boggling over Christmas so I don't even bother to travel then. For Spring my daughter usually misses 2-3 days, as we take the full two weeks away but with the long flights from Canada and time-zone changes we lose another day of travel as well.  Even though I could spare more time in Summer, I was thinking that July/Aug would be oppressively hot?  What are your thoughts on the best time to travel (given my current restrictions to the school schedule)?

I do agree the move to another resort is a hassle. I hadn't thought about trying to keep the food cold.  Good reminder! When I look at the reviews of both properties, Playa is more appealing to me so I probably don't need to try both.


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## HudsHut (Aug 4, 2019)

What are the main differences between Playa Andaluza and Marbella? Is there something specific that makes you prefer one over the other? 
I am considering a post Christmas trip. It will be our first time to the southern coast of Spain.


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## PrairieGirl (Aug 4, 2019)

marmite said:


> I thought that the cities that were more than about 2 hours away, we could perhaps overnight in a hotel and return the next day.  We have no problem with abandoning the timeshare for a night or two at a time when we're on vacation (great to have somewhere to stash your things as well).



This tells me that you will do very well by using Playa Andalusia your home base for two weeks.  There are no end of day trips within your 1.5 hour limit and several other cities that are well worth the overnight trip that they would require.

And even though Rhonda is compleletly "doable" as a day trip, I highly recommend an overnight there.  It is so nice to be there in the early morning and the evening before and after all the tour buses depart.  It seems to totally change character.

We only spent a week at Playa, but I could easily picture being happy there for two weeks.  Beautiful kitchen, good outdoor grills, an Aldi close by, so if you are into cooking a few meals in, you'll be in heaven.  The units are marvelous and the views incredible there.  Enjoy!


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## marmite (Aug 4, 2019)

PrairieGirl said:


> And even though Rhonda is compleletly "doable" as a day trip, I highly recommend an overnight there.  It is so nice to be there in the early morning and the evening before and after all the tour buses depart.  It seems to totally change character.



Thanks so much for this nugget of info, it really will help me plan a great itinerary.  I think the hardest part will be prioritizing which places to see -- I can't believe how many interesting places you can get to from this location.


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## Pompey Family (Aug 5, 2019)

PrairieGirl said:


> Beautiful kitchen, good outdoor grills, an Aldi close by, so if you are into cooking a few meals in, you'll be in heaven.



Very true with the exception of the outdoor grills. I'm don't know when you last visited but the grills have been replaced within the last couple of years to useless electric heaters. They're essentially grills consisting of metal bars that heat up but with no other source of heat, all you end up with is burnt food where contact is made with the bars whilst the rest remains uncooked. I have no idea how they passed production let alone deemed suitable for PA. I understand MBC are going the same way with theirs. There was nothing wrong with the old gas barbecues so I have no idea why our maintenance fees were wasted on such useless equipment that is completely unfit for purpose.


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