30+ days in Spain, how to divide up our time

I'd say you're off to a good start planning here.

I'm a fan of taking it slow to see vibes beyond sights, and do not think you're in Madrid or Barcelona long—I'd probably even take a night from Zaragoza and give it to Madrid. A number of day trips you'll likely make from that BCN time.

Most would say six nights in Madrid is maybe too much. For a capital city ( Toledo was the capital until the 18th century and makes a great daytrip as it’s only 30 minutes away) Madrid is beautiful but not demanding of six nights.

The other thing that occurs to me is that you might stay two nights in Cordoba, or add time to Seville and see it as a daytrip.

We did Malaga and frankly, it was nothing special. There are far more interesting places to visit in Spain.

Granada, one of my favorites, but you don't need four nights there. Suggest no more than 2 nights.

Cordoba and Sevilla, you got them right.

Madrid is good with the day trips. Segovia and Toledo are special. Salamanca is wonderful, but a bit far from Madrid.

Haven't been to Zaragoza. Haven't been to Valencia, but hear it is nice.

8 nights in Barcelona is a bit much. Suggest 5.

There are some tweaks I'd make around the edges, but I like it overall.

• Although I wouldn't say 4 nights is necessarily too many for Granada, I'd definitely shift one of those nights to Cordoba. There's lots to see in Cordoba.

• It's possible the Ronda day trip would be faster and/or more convenient from Malaga than from Seville. Options won't be very frequent from either origin, I don't think, so convenience of departure time might turn out to be as important as travel time. At a glance, it looks as if trains would be your best bet from Malaga, though Avanza runs buses linking the two cities. From Seville, the Damas buses look faster than the trains. From both Seville and Malaga the trains seem to go through Antequera. Buses take different routes, so it might be worth considering using a bus in one direction and the train in the other.

• I'd like to see more than one night in Toledo; there's as much there as in Granada, I'd say. Toledo has a very large medieval center and more sights than could possibly be crammed into even a full day. An extra day in Toledo would be a lot more worthwhile than a trip to Avila, I think. I recommend that you at least get as early a start as possible if you make Toledo a day trip.

• I'm not much of a fan of Avila. It has a wall, and that's about it. I've never been to El Escorial. I can vouch for Cuenca, which has an atmospheric old town on top of a hill and two modern-art museums. Cuenca only works as a day trip if you take the fast AVE. Those tickets usually need to be purchased well ahead of time to keep the cost reasonable; other (non-express) trains are way too slow for a day trip, though much cheaper.

Two other good side trips from Madrid are Salamanca and Alcala de Henares, both university towns. Alcala de Henares is served by Madrid's commuter rail network, so it's a good option for a cheap, last-minute trip.

I understand why you'd want to keep the first night in Málaga, but you do not need the other two. They are better spend in Córdoba and Toledo, in my opinion. The rest of your plan is sound! Ronda is a bit far from Seville at 2:15 one way by bus, but it's still doable. If you do not feel up for it, Cádiz is a great day trip too.

You can take a direct train from Cordoba to Ronda (2h) but not from Málaga.

I will be the contrarian here because I disagree with the posters who do not like Malaga. I agree with your plan to spend 3 nights in Malaga. We spent 2 nights there and wished we had a 3rd night. Rick Steves doesn't give any time or credit to Malaga. He gives it one page in his book and treats it primarily as a transportation hub. We really, really liked Malaga and think it's an under-rated city.

Some highlights of Malaga:
The vibrant and beautiful city center with gorgeous architecture, nice stores, and lots of cafes and restaurants.
Malaga Cathedral: beautiful with a mix of styles (Renaissance, Gothic and Baroque)
Atarazanas Market located in a 19th century iron building
Picasso Museum and there are tons of other art museums
Alcazaba and Castillo de Gibralfaro. The Alcazaba is a Moorish fortress on a hilltop. Slowly walk to the top and enjoy towers, pathways, gateways, Roman columns, patios with fountains and lush greenery with exotic flowers. And the views of the port and the Mediterranean are stunning!!! This was one of our highlights.
Walk along the Promenade by the port and enjoy drinks overlooking the harbor.
I think Malaga will be a wonderful place to get over jet lag with its coastal ambiance.

Granada - I think 3 nights will be enough.

Cordoba - I agree with acraven that you should take one night from Granada (so 3 nights instead of 4) and add it to Cordoba. Spend 2 nights in Cordoba. The Mezquita is magnificent, but there is a lot more to Cordoba than the Mezquita. Such as the Alcazar, Palacios de Viana, Mercado Victoria, leisurely explore the Juderia, Roman Bridge, and more. And Cordoba is so special and charming at night when the daytrippers have left and the city is illuminated.

Sevilla - 5 nights is good with a day trip to Ronda

Madrid - 5 or 6 nights is good. Haven't been to the day trip places you mention.

Toledo - definitely spend 1 or 2 nights in Toledo. So if you spend 5 nights in Madrid, take one night and add it to Toledo. DO NOT Visit Toledo as a day trip. As with Cordoba, Toledo is so charming at night when the tour buses have left and the city is illuminated. If we saw Toledo as a day trip, I think my opinion would have been "what's the big deal?"

Haven't been to Zaragoza.

Barcelona - I would spend 6 nights in Barcelona.
And spend 2 nights in Girona. You can take the train there. Girona is a medieval walled city. You can walk the walls. If you were willing to rent a car, I would suggest 5 nights in Barcelona with a 3-night car trip to Girona (2 nights) and Cadaques (1 night). Cadaques is located on the Mediterranean and is lovely. Looks like a Greek village. Dali's home is nearby in Port Lligat. I don't know if it's possible to take public transportation to Cadaques so you might need to rent a car if this interests you.

To get to Cadaques by public transportation, one takes the train to Figueres and switches to a bus there. The last part of the bus ride is very scenic. The bus departs from the regular Figueres train station, not from Figueres Vilafant where the fast trains stop. So you can either take the slower (and cheaper) regional train to Figueres and easily connect with the bus or you can take the fast train and get yourself over to the other train station (just under 1-1/2 miles away). There's a city bus connecting the two stations. I suspect it is not terribly frequent. It think it's timed to meet the fast trains. If the fast train is late, the bus doesn't wait (in my experience).

I didn't find Figueres is a particularly attractive or interesting town, but it's the location of the very interesting Dali Theatre-Museum, which I enjoyed despite disliking surrealist art. There's also a small but stunning jewelry collection covered by the same admission ticket.

The previously mentioned Girona has a beautiful historic center, two old churches, a good Jewish museum, a good art museum and a walkable wall. It's an affluent place that seems to have a lot of good restaurants (none of which I have tried). Girona does get a bunch of visitors, but they are mostly concentrated in the northern part of the historic district, so you can wander peacefully elsewhere if you want to. Girona makes a nice change from Barcelona, and it's a very good base for a day trip to Figueres and/or Cadaques. While staying in Girona I also day-tripped by bus to the small medieval town of Besalu, which has a fortified bridge. Like Figueres, Girona has both regional- and express-train service.

I think your itinerary looks generally good but I would add a few suggestions. Madrid has a few big sights and museums but I far prefer other places in Spain. I think you could take a night or two off unless you really want to max out your day trip options. I would also consider a day trip or over night to Salamanca- not much to see per se, but an amazing plaza and fun ambience. I would personally remove Malaga. If you have time to add, maybe another night or two in Sevilla, which is incredibly atmospheric in the evenings.

Thank you for all the great information... I had not looked at Salamanca. It looks like we could go from Sevilla to Merida - Salamanca - Madrid, and then pick up the trip from there.

Thank you!!

While Seville-Merida-Salamanca makes sense on a map, it doesn't work as well when you look at train schedules. Seville-Madrid-Salamanca-Madrid is all on very fast trains. You can go all the way from Seville to Madrid in under 3 hours. There's a morning routing that will get you from Madrid to Salamanca in about 1 hr. 45 min. So you can travel all the way to Salamanca within about 4-1/2 hours on the train (ideally spread over two days, which works fine for a day trip).

There is no express-train service between Seville and Merida; that leg takes over 3 hours and there are, apparently, only two trains a day (11:55 AM and 5:30 PM--I checked the Monday schedule).

Then from Merida to Salamanca there are no trains at all, at least not covering the entire distance. There is ALSA bus service. Spanish intercity buses are usually comfortable, but that leg will take a bit over 4 hours. So you'd have to dedicate over 7 hours to get from Seville to Salamanca if you swing through Extremadura.

The Merida-to-Salamanca bus goes through Caceres (full of historic architecture--needs days, not hours to see) and Plasencia (worth a stop but the bus station is a bit of a walk from the nice historic center). Merida itself is a bit dull except for Roman ruins and a nice, modern archaeological museum. Extremadura is definitely worth some time, but that's a commodity I don't think you'd have on this trip, so I'd stick with the faster route.

One issue with what you're proposing is that it's a mixed-mode trip. It should be OK if you wanted to spend the night in Merida, I suppose, but if you'd plan to go all the way to Salamanca in one day, you'd be at risk of missing your planned connection to the bus at Merida if there was some sort of train issue. On a through trip by train or bus, you'd be protected financially if you missed a connection due to the carrier's fault. Here, it would all be on you. Since your target this year isn't Extremadura, I don't see a good reason to take on that risk, small though it certainly is.

How much time would we need to add to our overall time in Spain if we wanted to include Extremadura? Maybe we could rent a auto in Sevilla as we leave, drive through Extremadura and return the auto in Salamanca... then the train to Madrid.

Oh, it would be great if you could add more time.

I'm a slow traveler and user of public transportation, so not the best one to tell you how much time you need. Certainly no more than 1 night in Merida. I'd go right on by Merida if you don't care about the Roman stuff; there just really isn't much of anything else there.

Caceres would really benefit from 2 nights (1-1/2 days), I think. It would be a great spot to slow down and wander after a lot of must-go-inside sights in Andalucia.

Trujillo, a back-of-beyond sort of place that was home to several important explorers, is sort of a must if you get as close as Caceres. A day trip there would work, or you could spend the night and perhaps be the only foreigner in town. Trujillo is due east of Caceres, so it doesn't really get you any closer to Salamanca.

A bit farther east is Guadalupe, where I've never been. I know it has been rather strongly recommended by others here, so I'd research it too.

I only used Plasencia as a point to break a long journey, so I didn't give it the attention it deserves and can't tell you how much time you'd need to do it justice.

There are a few people on the forum who've spent more time in Extremadura than I have. You'd really benefit from hearing from them, so I urge you to start a new thread with "Extremadura" in the title. Don't forget to mention where you'll be before and after the proposed trip through Extremadura and the time of year. (Extremadura bakes in the summer and is probably cold in the winter.)

If you do rent a car, then you can definitely visit Mérida on your way from Seville to Cáceres, and use Cáceres as a 3-night base including a day trip to Trujillo.
Then, on your way to Salamanca, you could stop in Plasencia or, better in my view, the village of Candelario (near Béjar), which is very pretty. With an extra 2 nights I would perhaps stay in the area of Candelario, because La Alberca and the surrounding area is also worth a visit, despite being in the middle of nowhere.

Swap a night in Málaga for Córdoba. You do not need so much time in Málaga … also, 5 nights is more than enough in Sevilla. Would maybe add Cádiz there, along with Ronda.
8 nights in Barcelona + 6 in Madrid is also quite a bit … would maybe shave off 2-4 from that and try to fit in Bilbao if you can.

I haven't been to Extramadura, sorry.

But for your other question, there's always more to see and do in Spain, yes, it's worthwhile to add time . . . always.

I thought Malaga was a very pretty, pleasant town with a couple excellent small museums and one or two other sights, but it's definitely second-tier compared to your other places.

I spent 4N in Granada and would have been happier with only 3N. My last day I felt like I was scrounging for places to visit.

Cordoba and Toledo are wonderful. I think Cordoba needs 3N, more if you can find them. It's quiet and romantic in the evenings, lots of smaller museums that are excellent, great restaurants, horse shows, flamenco, and more. Toledo is also a 2N stay for sure.

Sevilla for 5N is also good. I think a day trip to Ronda is a waste. Either rent a car in Granada and spend 2-3N visiting the hill towns with Ronda as your base or skip the area. Jerez is a good day trip, about 1.5 hours by train. There are horse shows at the Royal Equestrian School, sherry bodega tours and tastings.

If you love European painting, you'lll want 2 full days in Madrid for the art museums. Otherwise 2 full days is enough including a short visit to the Prado. There's just so much more to enjoy in the other places. IMO Madrid is one of the least interesting European capital cities.

Barcelona 8N. Terrific. I've been there for 5 days, then for 7, and last time a 4-day weekend tacked on to a trip to France. I'd go back for another 8 days in a flash.

I would give some of your allotted time for Barcelona to a two night stay on the Costa Brava.

Should you choose Extremadura, don't take too seriously an earlier comment about "Certainly no more than one night in Merida." I admit that if you have absolutely no interest whatsoever in seeing ancient Roman ruins, perhaps one night would be enough; otherwise I believe at least two nights in Medrida can easily be justified, and at least one more for a day-trip to the charming town of Zafra.