2 Weeks in Spain March/April 2018 - Itinerary and lodging help please.

You didn't mention Granada, but if you want to see the Alhambra, you need to check now on ticket availability. It sells out far in advance.

Madrid has a lot of great day-trips if you'd rather stay put in the big city rather than hopping around. Toledo, Segovia and Cuenca are very different and all worthwhile. Cuenca requires use of the AVE train to make the travel time reasonable, so that's one you'd want to settle on early, in order to get a cheap ticket.

Can't help with upscale hotels.

Thanks acraven. Although not clearly stated, I'm looking for suggestions for stays between Madrid and Sevilla. I know we can't see everything in two weeks but want to make the best of our time without feeling rushed. Big cities wear on me after a while (Rome is great but the small towns in Tuscany and along the Amalfi coast are where my love for Italy evolved). Looking for the same in Spain. And we don't need luxury accommodations; clean, quiet, safe and friendly will do - and we are willing to spend a little more to ensure such a stay. Thanks.

I would consider staying in Cordoba between Madrid and Seville. It's beautiful and La Mezquita is fascinating. Easily doable with the train....

You have a nice amount of time for your trip. No need to feel rushed. Be sure to visit Cordoba, Seville, and Granada. As someone said, be sure to get your Alhambra tickets NOW. Many people like the Hotel Guadalupe which is right near the Alhambra. You could also visit Ronda and Malaga, but they are of secondary importance.

Toledo is between Madrid and Seville, but to travel from Toledo on to Cordoba/Seville by train, you'd have to return to Madrid first.

Also sort of between Madrid and Seville are the towns of Ubeda and Baeza (main rail station being Linares-Baeza). I've never seen them, but they were mentioned here and I Googled for pictures, which led to my decision to put them on the list for my next trip to Spain. This is a very non-touristy area; I love that. But getting to Ubeda and Baeza would require taking a regional train rather than a fast train (as you would do between Madrid and Cordoba/Seville). And the onward trip from Ubeda/Baeza to Cordoba/Seville would also be on a slow regional train.

If by chance you decide to drive, the town of Almagro is worth a stop for a couple of hours and a meal; I wouldn't recommend spending the time getting there by public transportation, however.

Thanks to all. It looks like I might add Cordoba and Grenada and squeeze in Ronda if possible. That puts us in Sevilla on Holy Saturday and Easter. Not planned, but this could be a once in a life time experience. I'm sure we will face some challenges as well. Recognizing that it will be very crowded, I'm looking for suggestions on hotel recommendations that will put us on the edges of, but accessible to the Semana Santa experience. Thanks.

It takes quite a bit of time to get to Granada, currently by a combination of train and bus. If the point of going is to see the Alhambra, check ticket availability now. I believe the calendar shows nothing left for the last week of March or the first few days of April. Tickets might be available from your hotel, or there might be spots open on a tour that includes the Alhambra, but it's not something to leave to chance. I wouldn't trek all the way to Granada on a tight schedule without guaranteed tickets to the Alhambra.

I like Ronda a lot.

Your plan sounds as if it could end up as something like this ...

Day
1. Arrive Barcelona (3 nts)
2. Barcelona
3. Barcelona
4. Train to Madrid (3 nts)
5. Madrid
6. Day to Toledo
7. Train to Sevilla (3 nts)
8. Sevilla
9. Day to Cordoba and the Mezquita
10. Train to Ronda (1 nt)
11. Train to Granada (2 nts)
12. Granada and the Alhambra
13. Fly to Barcelona (2 nts)
14. Barcelona
15. Depart Barcelona

You could even spend the night in Cordoba on Day 9.

Thanks again acraven! I'm looking into the Granada Card and tours this morning.

djp,
Nice itinerary. I didn't realize that Granada had an airport. I'll now consider putting Granada as our last stop. Thanks.
Any thoughts on rental car travel in Spain (outside of the big cites). Last year I drove around Ireland after a car-less stay in Dublin. Besides the narrow roads, steering wheels on the right and driving on the "wrong" side, it wasn't that bad.

Flying out of Granada means you can avoid a time consuming return journey by road or rail. Look at Vueling for cheap fares.

A car can be a help or a hindrance. You won’t really have much spare time to allow for the luxury of casual stops along the way. Trains get you to where you want yo go directly, and usually in quicker time.

From Barcelona to Madrid and Madrid to Seville, the train will be a great deal faster, and that's before you add in time to find parking, etc. Don't discount the ability to take breakfast or lunch along with you and eat it on the train. The driver can't really do that in a car. On a quick trip like this, saving that time is very worthwhile.

It's common for travelers to rent a car for part of their time in Andalucía. It's pretty essential for seeing the white villages (unless you want to take a tour), and as long as you have a car for that purpose, you might decide to keep it for the drive to Granada (which lacks fast train service). But if the only purpose was to drive to Granada, it wouldn't make sense to me. The driving time and the train time to Granada are very similar. And who knows how much time you'd spend at the rental-car office? Some travelers have commented that picking up a car can be a slow process in Europe.

Factors to consider when travelling by car ...
- Rental cost
- Permits
- Fuel
- Tolls
- Navigating
- Parking
- Road conditions
- Time taken

Factors to consider when travelling by train ...
- Fare cost
- Location of station
- Time taken

We rented a car from Granada (as we were leaving the city, not while in it) and traveled through Ronda and Arcos de la Frontera to Seville. It was an easy rental process, although acraven is correct - for some reason I had to wait in line for about 30 minutes, and I was the only person in line! But other than that, there were no problems getting out of the city using Google maps. We parked in a pay lot in Ronda at the Plaza Dusquesa de Parcent for 18 euros per night. That lot was close to the New Bridge, Alameda, and bullring. Dropping off the car at the Seville train station was actually very fast, although I think I may have just lucked out that an attendant helped me right away. Enjoy!

IMO the first thing you need to do is find out what's happening during Semana Santa in the places you plan to visit. This is the biggest holiday in Andalucia. It begins on Palm Sunday and continues through Easter Sunday, with many hours' long processions from morning till after midnight most days. That means the main streets in the historic center may be closed to traffic for the entire week and many other streets will be closed sporadically for several hours for the processions (which take various routes through the towns). It also means highest hotel prices and room demand so with only 2 months to go, it may become difficult (if it isn't already) to find reasonable accommodations. The biggest crowds are in Sevilla and Malaga. I think it's pretty busy in Toledo too, especially toward the end of the week. Thursday night is the most special procession so Thursday/Friday nights may be harder to get accommodations. Cordoba's processions are more low key so it may be easier to get accommodations there. There's a very special procession in Granada on Easter Sunday. On the other hand, Madrid is pretty normal and in Barcelona there's barely a nod to the holiday.

I was in Malaga and Sevilla in 2016 for Semana Santa, then in Cordoba on Saturday and Easter Sunday - not much going on there then. I liked the processions and the ambience in Malaga much more than in Sevilla.

The best route would be flying to Granada, then train/bus to Sevilla, train to Cordoba, train to Madrid - or vice versa.

Do not discount the disruption inherent in those processions. I hit a couple of comparatively minor celebrations during the summer of 2016--one in Toledo and one in the small northern town of Laguardia. In both cases I had great difficulty as a pedestrian getting around the procession to reach my hotel or the bus stop. So try not to make life to difficult for yourself when you select departure times for inter-city trips during that week. Obviously, it would be much more difficult if you had a car parked in the area of the celebration.