Advice for planning 11 nts (arriving & departing Barcelona)

Congratulations on getting such a great deal on airfare.

If I were you, I would save Granada and Cordoba for your next trip and concentrate on Barcelona, Madrid, and Seville. Spending 11 nights in 5 different places is a lot. Or, drop Madrid and add the extra nights to Barcelona and Seville.

I agree, both that you snagged an incredible airfare and that you're spreading yourselves way too thin. Won't you be brain-dead on your arrival day, due to sleep-deprivation and jetlag? I always am. Even if you are not, a 9 AM flight arrival time may mean you get settled in your hotel (if they let you check in early) and are ready to head out to see the city by noon. But you can't be sure you won't run into some sort of flight delay, and the most popular pay-to-enter sights in Barcelona are quite expensive ($20 - $30 per person). I, at least, wouldn't be willing to pre-purchase tickets for Day 1, for fear I'd be sleep-walking through places I really wanted to see.

Barcelona has many sights that (if you want to see them, as so many visitors do) require you to have a timed ticket in your hand before you arrive at the sight. If you do not, you are likely to spend a long time in line (over an hour, I would guess) and may very well not get in at all because of a sell-out. Do not think that late April is low season or shoulder season in Barcelona. Barcelona has only high season and higher season.

The six problem sights I'm aware of are these: La Sagrada Familia, Parc Guell, Casa Mila/La Pedrera, Casa Batllo, the Palau de la Musica Catalana and the Picasso Museum (an utter zoo; skip it unless you simply cannot bear the though of doing so). I am not implying that you must go to those places or even that you should (though I think La Sagrada Familia is pretty important), but if they're on your target list, you need to plan ahead. You cannot just show up in the city and jog from one to another, making for an intensely packed, efficient 1-1/2 days. How are you going to know how much time you want at each place, or what travel time to allow between them? 1-1/2 days will leave you very frustrated.

So 2 nights in Barcelona is an extremely bad idea. It's hard to do a decent job of visiting that city in less than 3 full days (not counting a jetlagged or partial day, so this means 4 nights), and that is really quite short. By comparison, 3 nights in Madrid is either OK (if you like art or are planning at least 1 day-trip) or more than you probably need (if neither of those conditions applies).

I suggest consulting a guidebook about what there is to see and do in Barcelona vs. Madrid, thinking about your interest in art (and Barcelona has lots of art museums, too, just not the Prado), and using that information to adjust--if necessary--the time you've allotted to those two major cities.

Traveling in and out of Granada is a bit slow; it's not yet connected directly to the other cities by the fast AVE trains that work so well between Barcelona, Madrid, Cordoba and Seville. It's a great destination, but your sightseeing time per hour expended will be lower if you try to squeeze Granada in, and the time sent sitting on trains, buses and planes will increase significantly. Your main reason for going to Granada, I assume, is to see the Alhambra. Be sure tickets are still available for the date you would need. May tickets have been on sale since early February. If tickets are sold out on the official website, you'll need to employ an alternative strategy to get in: buy the Dobla de Oro ticket (if available; a bit more expensive), buy the Granada Card (if your date is available for the Alhambra; even more expensive), or ask your hotel if it has access to tickets (perhaps at some extra cost).

Check schedules and rail fares at: Renfe.com. Check flights from Granada to Barcelona at: https://www.skyscanner.com/.

As I alluded to above, there are lots of interesting side-trips to be made from Madrid. Setting aside the art museums, quite a lot of us find the side-trips more interesting than Madrid itself. There are also good side-trips from Barcelona. I'd stick to Barcelona and Madrid, especially since you have to return to Barcelona to fly home.

You wrote: "Any advice for amount of days/nights in each place and/or the order of destinations would be appreciated! "

Congrats on your great fare! When I'm planning a trip I compare the sights in the guidebooks to my interests. You haven't told us much about your interests, so it's hard to guess how much time you'd like to spend in each location and what you plan to see there. I was pretty brain-dead when I arrived in Barcelona around 11 am (from the east coast US but via Frankfort). We did manage one sight in the late afternoon after pretty much no sleep on the plane so it can be done.

Usually your first and last days are spent recovering from jet lag and getting to the airport, so you have eleven days to work with. Every time you travel to another location you lose at least half a day. That's why the previous posters are recommending you stay longer in a few cities - you spend less of your valuable vacation hours en route to someplace else.

Hope this helps!

Wow, what a price! As others have said, spend a little more time in Barcelona, 4 nights would be my rule, especially if you are changing planes going out there. The first day is a fog anyway and by the time you get to your hotel room and check in there's half a day gone.
Although I love, love Granada, I would also leave it for another time as well as Cordoba.

I differ to the rest in thinking that Seville belongs with Cordoba and Granada. I do agree that the current plan is a little thin, but some like a 'tapas' approach....a taste of a place is enough. If that is you, then recognize it might result in a blur of memories.
I might suggest something a little more logistically simple.....Barcelona, Madrid and Valencia. Or even just Madrid and Barcelona. As stated, BCN needs more days, and Madrid offers multiple day trip options....or rent a car and visit somemof the castle towns or tilt at La Mancha windmills.
Next time a cheap flight to Malaga turns up, then hit the 3 Andalusia cities you have listed.

You need more time at the places you plan to visit. In my opinion, Toledo and Sevilla are the must see cities in Spain.

You have a lot of travel, I would have skipped Cordoba and spend three nights in Sevilla.

Regarding Granada: I would agree with the person above who said that you should only consider going there if you already have your Alhambra tickets. You can no longer purchase tickets from the official website for April and May, so you would have to try a third-party website, such as https://www.getyourguide.com/granada to see if tickets are still available. These tickets can cost anywhere from $50 for a skip-the-line tour to $200 for a private tour. Best of luck!

Thank you everyone for the replies! Now I’m thinking 3 nts Barcelona, 3nts Madrid with a day trip to Toledo, 3 nights Sevilla. We have 2 more nights and need to get back to Barcelona on our last day for a 3:30 pm for. Any advice for best way back to Barcelona? Or best places along the way or another order of going to our destinations that makes sense?

I think you'll be sorry to have only two full, non-jetlagged days in Barcelona.

Now I’m thinking 3 nts Barcelona, 3nts Madrid with a day trip to Toledo, 3 nights Sevilla. We have 2 more nights and need to get back to Barcelona on our last day for a 3:30 pm for. Any advice for best way back to Barcelona?

If your flight departs at 3.30, you should plan to be at the airport by 12.30. I'd allow close to an hour from central Barcelona to the airport. Whether you want to get to the airport from any place but Barcelona depends on your tolerance for risk. You could take train leaving around 8 am from Madrid and arrive in Barcelona in time, but if there's any problem (train delay, for example), there's virtually no way you could get to the airport in time for your flight. So if you spend your last night in Barcelona, you only have 1 left. Add it to any of your stops.

If I were you - and obviously I'm not - I wouldn't drop Cordoba & Granada if you were already planning Sevilla since the three cities sit naturally together culturally and geographically and when will you return?

I would either

• drop Madrid entirely and add one night to Barcelona and two to Sevilla, then route Ba Gr Se/Co Ba (or the reverse);

or

• drop Andalucia entirely and add more time to Barcelona and Madrid, with day trips from both and a stop inbetween in, for example, Zaragoza plus a night in Toledo.