9 day Spain itinerary?

Posted by anh5057 on 10/03/18 03:27 PM

Hello Everyone,

I will be traveling to Spain for the first time with a friend for 9 days/9 nights. (12/28-1/6) We will be flying in and out of Madrid. We arrive 12/28 early morning, and leave early morning 1/6. We would like to hit the major cities - Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, and Granada. Is it possible to hit all 4 in our time frame? I've researched the cities and out of the 4, Madrid sounds the least appealing to me so if I have the least amount of time there - it is okay. Is it possible to see all 4 cities? If so, what would the logistics look like? Below I posted an idea, but not sure if it is reasonable.

P.S. We are early 30s and in good shape. This trip will be during the holiday season so I'm not sure if it will impact travel in any way??

Arrive Madrid (12/28)

Madrid to Barcelona (12/29) (evening speed train for ~3 hours)

Barcelona (12/30, 12/31)

Barcelona to Seville (1/1) (early morning speed train for ~6 hours)

Seville (1/2-1/4) (Day trip to Granada)

Seville to Madrid (1/5) (early morning speed train ~2 - 3 hours)

Sleep in Madrid (1/5)

Leave (1/6)

Posted by Julianne

10/03/18 04:48 PM

11 posts

Hello,

Thank you for your interest in Rick Steves' Europe!

In Rick's 10 day recommended itinerary in Spain, he suggests going to Madrid, Toledo, Barcelona, Sevilla and Granada. Based on Rick's itinerary I think you could fit in all of your desired places in 9 days.

Here is a link to the itinerary page on our website: https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/spain/itinerary

You will be moving around quite a bit on your trip and could consider omitting one town, but with enough energy you could see it all!

Some things may be closed and transportation may be limited on the 1st, but you should not have too many issues overall due to the holidays.

Hopefully this helps!

Posted by Nathan B.

Pittsburgh, PA

10/03/18 05:29 PM

162 posts

Granada needs more than a day trip. The Alhambra will take several hours to fully experience. Add several more hours for eating, wandering through the city and just general exploring. Plus, you have to make the roundtrip from Sevilla to Granada, which is a hike. You should plan on staying at least one night in Granada

Many people would consider a visit to Madrid incomplete without a day trip to Toledo. There are also other day trips from Madrid, such as Segovia, that most people on this forum would highly recommend.

You probably need to cut at least one city, because your trip looks like quite the whirlwind.

The city I would cut is Barcelona. It's quite far from the other cities you intend to visit. That 6-hour train ride from Barcelona to Granada is a killer and basically creates a wasted day. It's time that you should spend elsewhere. I know visiting Spain and not seeing Barcelona seems like an oxymoron, but you have very limited time.

I would cut Barcelona and add at least one night in Granada. I would also strongly consider a trip to Cordoba to visit the Mezquita. Many people around here would recommend an overnight in Cordoba as well.

If there is any way you can fly into and out of other cities than Madrid, you might be able to cut Madrid and add Barcelona. This would be particularly helpful since you don't seem very interested in Madrid.

For example, you could fly into Barcelona, stay there for a few nights, then head to Andalusia for a few more nights before flying out of Sevilla or Granada.

Your current itinerary just has too much to see, too much traveling to get around and too little time to actually enjoy it all.

Posted by Harold

New York, NY, USA

10/03/18 08:35 PM

11294 posts

If you try to "hit" Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, and Granada in 9 nights, they will hit back! With only 9 nights, pick two of the three:

1) Madrid and around (Toledo, Segovia, etc).
2) Barcelona and around (Girona, Montserrat, etc).
3) Seville, Granada, and Cordoba.

You could, of course, "see" all four of your desired destinations in 9 nights. But, particularly with the requirement to start and end in Madrid, you will spend a lot of time and money in transit rather than in seeing. Spain is a larger country than it appears at first glance, and there's a lot to see in each place. If you really do want to see a lot in a short time, take an escorted tour; if you're going on your own, cut down the number of destinations and enjoy them, instead of making the trip an endurance test.