Spain

Nine days in Barcelona sounds like a lot. Unless you are doing very specific things. Most people probably send about 3 days and nights to do the basic tourist things. Southern Spain, Andalucia, could fill your whole 14 days if you wanted. Sevilla is worth about 3 days, Granada with la Alhambra is a minimum of 2 days/nights, Cordoba is a day/night or a daytrip from Sevilla. The White Hill towns are popular and could fill anywhere from 2 - 5 days. I haven't done Morocco but that would probably take another 2-3 days if you spend a night. Others will have to weigh in on the other options, as they run a-plenty.

Thank all of you for your wonderful tips. I spent eight days in Lisbon last year and had to scramble near the end of my stay there, to see everything I wanted. It's always a trade off.At any rate, I will consider your learned opinions and proceed there from. David.

While I don't think 9 days in Barcelona is too long, if I only had 14 days and wanted to see some of southern Spain, I would not spend 9 of them in Barcelona - or indeed any one place. Of course the big 3 are Granada, Seville and Cordoba. Of the places you suggest I have spent a lot of time in Granada, Malaga and Jerez. Malaga is a bit of a mixed bag to me and not sure I would suggest it - the older part is nice as is the redeveloped port area. Going to the islands and over to Morocco will take time from your already rather limited time. Jerez is lovely but I would focus my time on Granada and Seville and perhaps Jerez and Cordoba - depending a bit on how you plan to move around - car/train/plane. The longest we have spent in Barcelona so far is a week and loved it, would happily spend more time there but 5 days is probably enough to see the major sites and still give time to Andalucia.

IMHO That would be a long time in Barcelona - but we prefer Madrid. 3 nights would be more than plenty out of 14 days. Spend some time in Madrid, Segovia, Toledo, Seville(not one our favourites either), Cordoba & Granada with visits to the many smaller towns too. You'll get plenty of advice on the other's favourites. Have a great trip!

I absolutely recommend a visit to Valencia. Here's my story about a recent visit: http://www.stripes.com/travel/valencia-beautiful-by-bicycle-1.179046

We highly recommend Valencia too! We wished later that we had spent more time there and less time in Seville. We would also take Madrid over Barcelona every time.

One of my favorite places in my travels to date is Granada. I absolutely LOVE the Alhambra (especially it's incredibly beautiful gardens) and also the exotic Albayzin area in the historic part of the city. We also really loved the beach in Nerja (east of Costa del Sol along the Costa Tropical). I have not gotten to Sevilla yet, but I here it too is wonderful.

I agree that 9 days in Barcelona seems a bit much with the whole of Spain beckoning. Loved Seville and Granada and we did Cordoba as a day stop from the train on the way back to Madrid. In addition to the sights in Madrid, there are some great day trips like Segovia, Avila and Toledo. Seeing some of the White Hills villages are great and the ruins of Italica, just outside Seville were pretty good.

I'm a little biased about this because I'm from Barcelona and I just love my city. You could definitely spend 9 days there with plenty to do and visit, but I have to agree that if you're only 14 days in Spain you should get to see other places.
The North of Spain is also a gorgeous region!

Barcelona and the surrounding areas are wonderful- but I agree with Liz- I'd head for Seville and Granada.
Have a great trip!