Trip to Rome, Seville, & Barcelona

If possible, can you fly into Rome and home from Barcelona? We have been to both and can certainly take months in Rome, but if you want to split time, you can enjoy the "must" sights in Barcelona in four days.

The only non stop from Seville SVQ to Rome-Ciampino airport (CIA) is with Ryanair, a low cost airline notorious for very strict baggage restrictions. After you visit a while with your daughter in Sevilla and travel around there in Andalusia. I would fly from Sevilla SVQ to Barcelona BCN first. There are plenty of flights every day with Vueling and also two with Ryanair. Barcelona deserves 3 full days. I had relatives there so I visited for longer periods, but frankly after 4 days I get so bored that I have to head to Sitges to the beach. After you are done with Barcelona, you should take a flight to Rome. There are several flying options from BCN to Rome Fiumicino airport FCO, with both Vueling and Alitalia. And of course you can still fly with the pesky Ryanair to Rome CIA. Then from Rome, I would come home. As far as flights from the US are concerned from SFO to Sevilla you are probably limited to British Airways-Iberia (it's actually the same company, the two merged years ago) with two stops going (In London and Madrid). SFO > LHR > MAD > SVQ. Unless you want to take a high speed train from Madrid (do it only if you want to see Madrid). Coming back from Rome FCO, you would have only one stop in London.
FCO > LHR > SFO. So in the above planning you should buy an open jaw (multi-city) ticket with British/Iberia. From SFO to SVQ going. and then returning back to SFO from Rome FCO.

For discount airlines within the EU try: Easyjet www.skyscanner.net
www.dohop.com Getting in and out of Seville will be more of a problem than Rome and Barcelona. Seveilla is absolutely gorgeous. April/May will be a perfect time to visit. I would fly into Rome from the US. Use a discount carrier to get from Rome to Seville. From Seville take the high-speed train to Barcelona. Fly back to the US from Barcelona.

Depending on how much time you want to spend with your daughter in Sevilla, it is doable. But all three cities are pretty remote from each other, so efficient transportation will be the key issue. But they are all very different cities in culture, food and architecture. So you will see a great range of things. Sevilla is a 3-4 night stay, though it can be longer if you want to explore Andalusia with your daughter. Barcelona is 3-4 nights. Rome should be at least 5 nights to really see the major sights. You'll need the other couple days for transit. Sevilla will be ther hardest to get to/from the US. It probably makes more sense to fly between Sevilla and Barcelona than the all day train (with connection in Madrid). You'll have to fly between Spain and Rome. You don't have to fly the cutrate airlines mentioned above. They often have cheap prices but charge hefty baggage fees and might fly from more remote airports not well served by transit. Do your homework to compare all aspects before deciding. Madrid is a major hub, so don't discount connecting through there.

I wouldn't take the train from Sevilla to Barcelona. That's way too far (like 6 hours far). For those distances flying is more efficient and almost certainly cheaper. There are several non stop flights connecting the two cities, including low cost airlines.

I cannot comment on the logistics, but I will tell you that Barcelona is a vibrant, beautiful, walkable city with many, many things to see. La Sagrada Famillia, a very famous church still being built is amazing even from the outside; it is quite expensive to tour, but those who do love it for its beauty and uniqueness (you can see some of it on youtube. We saw some of Gaudi's other works, Parc Guell (an outside park with many areas decorated with Gaudi mosaics) and Casa Batlo, an intriguing home designed by Gaudi, with a great audio tour. It is a beautiful city and I hope you can work out the logistics; it is easy to get there by plane from/to Seville.

If you fly into Barcelona and want to vist Seville next, the AVE only takes 5 hours 20 minutes (it does pass through Madrid but you don't change trains). The fare is 72,50 euros if you buy in advance on Renfe and get the Web fare. What kind of hotel are you looking for? We stayed at Casa 1800 in Sevilla and it was very nice; actually a little nicer than we susally book but it was well-priced during the Feria so we did it. Really enjoyed the rooftop terrace at sunset. The location was perfect. For somethin less expensive in the same area (edge of Barrio Santa Cruz), Hostal Laurel looked really nice. We had lunch on the square there and peeked inside.

With 14 days I'd be on the fence about dropping something, depending on what the 14 days you posted means. Does that exclude the travel to/from the US? If so, what you said could work. Otherwise time becomes tight, because Seville->Barcelona and Barcelona->Rome will each consume the better part of a day, leaving you with 10 full days. I'd drop Rome, not Barcelona, to save it for a future trip (depends, of course, on how much time you spend in Seville). We did this route a few years ago, BTW, adding on Madrid at the start; all great cities to visit. EasyJet Seville to Barcelona and on to Rome was what we did. The way I'd think of it, you might want to spend 4-5 days visiting your D. Not that there's that much to do in Seville, but that gives you time to do more leisurely things like catch up, browse the shops (great pottery places near the river!), perhaps visit some nearby areas, allows your D to spend some time away from you with her schooling without having to cram the remaining time with her into a few days, etc. But if you spend 4-5 out of 10 days in Seville that doesn't leave a lot for the rest. Barcelona is nice to explore, lots of great pedestrian areas, I could see spending 3 days there and finding plenty to do. We liked the bus tours but the city is so big they break it up into 2 legs. We did both in 1 day and thought that was just too much time on the bus; doing it over, we'd buy the 2-day pass and do a leg each day. Rome can take as much time as you have! Sure, if you race around you can "see" everything, but I prefer a pace where I don't feel rushed; figure 2 or 3 main sites per day, time for lunches, for walking, for coffees, etc.

Thanks for you help everyone. As much as we want to see Rome we have decided the best option is to leave Rome for another trip and spend all of our time in Spain. We are now looking at flying into Barcelona and out of Madrid and taking the AVE train to Seville.
Any suggestions on where to stay in Madrid or Seville?

We took the hispeed train from Madrid to Seville. The ticket to fly EasyJet from Seville to Barcelona was only 30E with advance purchase. The overall time is maybe 1-2 hours less than the train. The RS book lists lots of recs about places to stay.

Avoid the Plaza Mayor in Madrid. We stayed at a hostal about a block away (Hostal Santa Cruz). At night (at least when we were there in April) Plaza Mayor looks a lot like an Occupy movement - lots of homeless people sleeping there more or less permanently with lots of political signs. They didn't seem dangerous but it was unsightly and unsanitary. Hostal Santa Cruz was functional but nothing special - only a good choice if you prefer budget lodging. In Seville, we stayed at the Silken Al Andalus. It's a very nice, but giant, hotel a little outside the center (easily reached by bus from the back of the hotel). The standard rate would have been way out of our range (about 300 euro a night) but I got a deal, four nights for under 300 euro, that we went for. It might be nice to have your daughter scout something out for you. The area around the Alcazar/Catedral is nice. April fair is 16-21 April in 2013. It's worth seeing if you get a chance.