29 days itineraries in southern Spain in February

Spain's a large country. We took a Vueling budget flight from Granada to Barcelona and it took an hour in the air.

Not many people on the forum will recommend a trip to Tangier, so I'd question going to Tarifa at all. Morocco is wonderful, but Tangier is not. The good news is that there are flights to much more attractive Moroccan cities like Fes and Marrakech from several Spanish cities--as well as cities elsewhere in Europe--avoiding the time-consuming ferry business that only gets you to Tangier. You can check skyscanner.com for information (schedules and fares) on flights between Europe and Morocco. The schedules might vary seasonally, and they probably will not run seven days a week, but I found flights to both Fes and Marrakech from Barcelona, Madrid, Seville and Malaga. Flights are generally more frequent to Marrakech.

Tavira/Ronda/Tangier aside, all your destinations are linked by express trains. The distance from Barcelona to Granada is great enough (and the trains infrequent enough into Granada) that it's worth considering a flight. Many folks like to rent a car for the leg between Granada and Seville,, which don't have straight-shot train service. Although trains and buses are workable on that route, renting a car would allow you to stop over in Ronda and/or see one or more of the white villages (Arcos de la Frontera, Grazalema, Zahara de la Sierra, etc.).

If you aren't big fans of art who want to spend a lot of time in Madrid's art museums, I'd recommend transferring one night from Madrid to Seville. Four nights in Seville is rather minimal, I think (lots of sights and a rather large, atmospheric city), and five nights in Madrid might be more than you need, depending on how many day trips you want to take. You already have Toledo covered, but Segovia, Salamanca, Cuenca and Alcala de Henares are good side-trip options from Madrid.

Looks like a nice visit. You could safely take a night from Granada and Toledo, and plug Cordoba in there if you'd like.

Personally, I'd look at flying from Barcelona to Granada, renting a car for Tarifa, and returning it on the way to Sevilla. Everything else can be done very by train with less stress and probably lower cost.

I agree with Acraven re: Tangiers. I respectfully disagree about Madrid. It's a rich city, and visitors that only value it for its major museums lose out on its wealth.

For the places you have listed, you wouldn’t need a rental car. If you were stopping at towns and sights between them, then a car would come in handy. Three nights in Granada is sufficient. However, if you had a rental car you could use that extra day to visit a couple nearby towns with castles. Lanjaron is a nice town to walk around and has a castle ruin.

I’m not certain what your draw is to Tarifa, even for one night, other than to catch the ferry to Tangier. The town itself isn’t all that large, has no must see sights, as a good distance from any place of interest. It’s even a two hours drive from Ronda. Six nights is way too many.

If you had a rental car, then three nights in Toledo is fine. I’d use one of those days to take a day trip over to Consuegra to see its castle and windmills, then a little further east to see the windmills at Campo de Criptana (famously, the giants in Cervantes’ Don Quixote), and slightly further east to Belmonte Castle seen in the 1960s movie El Cid. Without a car you’d have plenty of time to enjoy the town.

Yes if history and art are your main goals I would certainly drop Tarifa, not much of it there, it's probably too windy at the end of January to make the crossing to Tanger anyway.

Instead I would add 2-3 nights in Cordoba, 1 night to Sevilla, and 3-4 nights in Zaragoza.

Zaragoza is conveniently on the high speed train line between Barcelona and Southern Spain. If you like history and art I can think of no other city in Spain than Zaragoza that encapsulates almost every facet of Spanish history and art. More than 2,000 years of history in fact, including Roman ruins of the city walls, forum, and amphitheater, and the Aljafería; an 11th-century Moorish palace, the most northern Islamic palace in Europe. Throughout Zaragoza you'll find Mudéjar architecture, a unique mix between Moorish and Christian styles and motifs. Zaragoza is also the home to the Nuestra Señora del Pilar Basilica, which has one of the best church exteriors in Spain.

I think that Zaragoza is one of those undiscovered gems that Rick Steves calls "back doors". It reminds me a lot of Barcelona before international mass tourism really took off.

Thank you for the great feedback. Does it make sense to squeeze in Morocco in this trip? If yes then how would you recommend?

I wouldn't. There are many interesting cities in Morocco, as there are in Spain. Given the ease of flying to Morocco from Europe (or into Casablanca from the US), I just don't see the need to try to cram Morocco into this trip, leaving you with short visits to both countries.

I agree with the people who recommend spending a couple nights in Cordoba. I love Cordoba and the Mezquita! It doesn’t make sense to me to go to Andalusia and omit Cordoba. We also enjoyed the Alcazar gardens, Palacio de Viana and its pretty patios, the Mercado Victoria, Roman Bridge, and exploring the lovely Juderia with its white-washed walls, narrow lanes and patios.

Otherwise your itinerary looks good to me except for perhaps omitting Tarifa based on what other people have said. I have not been there so I can’t comment based on first-hand experience.

Not much to do in Tarifa, aside that it´s a very windy area. Practically the most southern point in Spain, it may make a good base for the ruins of Baelo Claudia, Cádiz and the white towns...and a great restaurant for top quality seafood, El Ancla.

I modified our itineraries according to your informative feedback. I removed Tarifa and added Zaragoza and Cordoba. Any recommendations for the order of cities now we are relying on trains? Any suggestions for accommodations? We always try to stay in rental houses for a more authentic experience. But I have to admit that a historical hotel is very appealing.

​- Barcelona 7 nights
- Granada 4 nights​
- Zaragoza 3 nights
- Cordoba 3 nights
- Sevilla - ​5​ nights​
- Toledo ​3​ nights​
- Madrid 4 nights

• Barcelona 7 nights
• Granada 4 nights​
• Zaragoza 3 nights
• Cordoba 3 nights
• Sevilla - ​5​ nights​
• Toledo ​3​ nights​
• Madrid 4 nights

Play around on the Renfe website to get a sense of the train routes. Zaragoza is better reached from Barcelona or Madrid, so it will likely not be able to be inserted between Granada and Cordoba. You can get to Toledo via Madrid, but you can't come straight from Sevilla. It may be beneficial to rent a car for a small portion, but you would certainly not need one for most of this itinerary.

Good on you for dropping Tarifa, in this case I think Zaragoza and Cordoba will align better with your interests. The whole itinerary can be done using high speed trains, either the AVE or new low cost AVLO. I'd arrange your itinerary like this to minimise backtracking.

​- Barcelona 7 nights
- Zaragoza 3 nights
- Cordoba 3 nights
- Sevilla ​5​ nights​
- Granada 4 nights​
- Toledo ​3​ nights​
- Madrid 4 nights

Regarding Zaragoza, I'd recommend staying at Hotel NH Ciudad de Zaragoza, an incredible location for a very reasonable price, directly overlooking the Pilar Basilica and the old Roman walls, in the old town. Recently renovated and very modern.

The best place for tapas in Zaragoza is an area called El Tubo (https://www.zaragozago.com/calles-zaragoza/tubo-zaragoza/). Another great place to eat is at the gourmet food market off the Plaza de España, called Puerta Cinegia Mercado (https://zaragozaguia.com/puerta-cinegia-gastronomica-un-mercado-gourmet-en-el-corazon-de-zaragoza/)

Valadelphia's right about Zaragoza. It's too bad you need to end the trip in Madrid because of your return flight. Otherwise, it would be a no-brainer to begin the trip with Barcelona-Zaragoza-Madrid. As it stands, I think your best option is to treat Zaragoza as a side trip from either Barcelona or Madrid. The travel time on the fastest trains is so similar that it doesn't really matter whether you see Zaragoza after Barcelona at the beginning of the trip or before Madrid at the end of the trip.

The obvious alternative is to do your sightseeing in Madrid mid-trip and return to that city for one night right before your flight home. The latter is a time-waster, but then so is making a round trip from Barcelona or Madrid to Zaragoza.

I'd suggest doing some research on any special events scheduled for your destinations (other than Barcelona) during your trip, to see whether there's a significant reason to be in a particular city at a particular time.

Cordoba can be positioned in several different spots in your itinerary, because it is on the Madrid-Seville and Madrid-Granada rail routes, as well as some of the routes between Seville and Granada. Fast rail service into and out of Granada is less frequent than it is on the Barcelona-Madrid-Seville line, so it's worth taking a look at those schedules before deciding how to handle Granada. Schedules and fares can be found on the Renfe website. At the moment the schedule only extends to January 15, so you'll need to use an early-January date for your research, choosing the right day of the week.

Granada is a must see. The Alhambra is spectacular.

I think you have planned your durations for each stop correctly. Looks like a doable plan.

You might want to ditch the car as old European cities are extremely car unfriendly.

Vueling Airlines can be used to hop between Barcelona Madrid and Sevilla. Very cost effective.

The other destinations are a short rail ride away.

You can rent a car for a couple of days at a time as needed.

Thank you for the invaluable feedback. I added and removed places I would never have thought of. Here is the new draft.

• Barcelona 7 nights
• Granada 4 nights. Arrive by plane. Depart by car. 
• Seville 5 nights. Drive from Granada, stop by Sierra de Grazalema Natural Park, Grazalema and Zahara. Not sure if we can fit Acros in this day trip. If not then we will make a separate day trip from Seville to Acros and possibly include Jerez as well. I love horses but maybe we should go to the equestrian show in Cordoba instead of going to Jerez. Return the rental car.
• Cordoba 3 nights 
• Toledo 3 nights
• Zaragoza 3 nights 
• Madrid 4 nights

Your plan looks very relaxing and will be lovely. Did you consider a day trip from Barcelona to Girona? We have that scheduled in just two weeks but have never been to Girona (an ancient small city), so I can't recommend with experience. Many on this forum recommend Girona which is why we are giving it a go. We did do a day trip from Barcelona to Montserrat in early April, however, and it was wonderful.
We are flying from Paris to Barcelona and, several days later, from Barcelona to Granada on Vueling Airlines: be aware that VA is currently undergoing a strike by its cabin crew. Our first flight was canceled by VA and then re-booked, fortunately on the same day. Others have not been so lucky.

Hi Lindy. Thanks for the tips about the airline strike. I only heard good things about Montserrat but will probably take a whole day. I will check out Girona as well. Have a wonderful trip!

It has been several years since I was there, but I had to decide between Jerez and Cordoba for the equestrian show based on the day of the week. Cordoba, at least, did not have an every day option. But I have not checked this recently.

Good point about the equestrian show in Jerez and Cordoba

I haven't been to Jerez, but I think there's rather frequent bus service from there to Arcos de la Frontera, and the bus trip would be much shorter from Jerez than from Seville. Whether it would be possible to hit both Arcos and Jerez on the same day by making a loop from Seville (using the train between Jerez and Seville), I'm not sure. The historic district in Arcos isn't super-tiny, and it's uphill from the bus stop, so it's not the sort of place you can explore in an hour.

Thank you for the info. I will look into this more.

I second the suggestion to visit Girona. We were there this past September for three nights (using it to do day trips to Figueres and Cadaques) and liked it very, very much.

Thank you for bringing Girona to my attention. It looks like a place I would enjoy very much. I would certainly include it in my next trip. My itinerary quite full the way it is. I also prefer to focus on southern Spain in this trip due to the cold weather in February.