My husband and are traveling to Spain for the first time. We were supposed to go in May 2020, but...
We do not have a set itinerary yet and have gone through several variations. Initially we were going to fly into Barcelona on Christmas day (arriving on the 26th), stay 3 days, take the train to Madrid and stay 3 days, take the train to Granada on 1/01, stay the night, tour Alhambra the next day and rent a car. We'd then drive to Ronda and stay in the parador 1 night, drive to Gibraltar and stay somewhere on the Spain side walking over to Gibraltar. Next, we were going to drive to Tarifa and take the ferry to Tangier on 3 kings day as we heard many places in Spain would be closed. Next we were going to go to Jerez and Cadiz and stay in another parador. We'd then drive to Seville and return the rental car and stay in Seville 3 days before flying home. This seemed like a lot of movement and rushed.
We're now looking at:
Flying into Madrid (arriving 12/26) and then flying to Bilbao for 2 days to do the Guggenheim and a Rioja wine tour
Flying to Seville from Bilbao and staying 3 days
Renting a car and driving to: Granada, Ronda, Gibraltar, Tarifa (Tangier ferry), Jerez/Cadiz
Returning the rental car and flying to Madrid to stay 3 days (possibly taking a day trip to Toledo) before flying home
This also seems pretty aggressive. We want to see everything but are realizing that is not possible with the time we have. We love wine and really like Spanish wine so that's why we would want to go to Jerez/Cadiz for the sherry. We could skip Bilbao and Rioja as it might not be worth the time we are spending. I'm sure we would have access to Rioja wine all over Spain. I've read reviews that Gibraltar and Tangier may not be worth the hassle for a day. It seems like Gibraltar is primarily the Rock, cave and monkeys.
Madrid, Granada Seville and Jerez/Cadiz are musts for us. We also REALLY want to go to Barcelona, but we can reserve that for another trip if needed and pair that with southern France.
Should we just stick with Madrid (day trip to Toledo), Seville (day trip to Jerez/Cadiz) and Barcelona and find our way to Granada for 1 night/2 days?
Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.