advice on first time10 trip day to Spain

With limited time (10 days is quite short for a trip to Europe IME...where are you coming from/returning to?), you are wise to save Barcelona for another trip - it'll still be there next time.

How are you getting to/from Granada?

For me, half a day in Cordoba was enough.

My strongest advice is to not do Toledo as a day trip - if you do, you will experience Toledo at its very worst (badly crowded with large tour groups and countless fellow day trippers). The best way to do Toledo is to arrive in the afternoon, watch the crowds all drain away, enjoy a few hours in the afternoon and evening, sleep in the old center, get up early and enjoy another few hours of blissfully-crowd-free time, then mid morning (around 10 am), flee Toledo as the throngs descend on the city. Head to your next stop (in your case, maybe Madrid). Toledo is a delight without the crush of humanity that floods every street from 10 am to 4 pm every day, but in mid-day...not so much.

We had a similar ten day trip a couple of years ago and that is pretty much what we did except that we spent three days in Madrid to start and flew home from Malaga instead of returning to Madrid. A tad rushed but it fit our ten days well.

PS -- Our experience with Toledo in late April does not match up with common refrain to avoid the day tourists. We didn't find it particularly crowded at all.

I hit Toledo before the mid-summer crush in 2016 but there were a lot of people on the streets between Zocodover Square and the cathedral. It's a bit like Venice--walk away from the pedestrian flow and you're back in the Middle Ages; show up for just a few hours and follow in the footsteps of a tour group, and you may not understand what the fuss is about.

It turned out there was a religious holiday while I was there, which may have been a factor in the tourist load. In any case, I really, really, liked seeing the 6 or 7 sites covered by the bracelet sold in the tourist office. Most included a bilingual tour on-site. If I had arrived in the later afternoon and left at mid-morning, I would have missed most if not all of those sites. As it happens, I spent 3 nights (two full days) in Toledo and loved every minute of it. I found it much more interesting for pure wandering around than Madrid. (I did like Madrid's art museums.)

I think that itinerary is spot on! You have a couple nights in each place, the travel between them isn’t too bad. It sounds like a full, but not hectic pace. You can play Toledo by ear. I agree with other folks here, it can be a wearying but still satisfying place during the day. I’ll throw this in though too, that place can get HOT in the afternoon. Personally, I would leave it out and enjoy Madrid, which I found underrated.

Also, worth noting that you will be there while the May ferria is in full swing. There’s bullfighting everyday in Madrid’s Plaza de Toros. Also, San Isidro day is May 15th. If you’re in Madrid for it you will find a lot of outdoor food & performance places, mostly clustered near the Royal Palace. Everyone is on the streets for this. It was an enjoyable surprise for me, but it also meant all the major sites were closed that day.

I think an extra night in Madrid opens up additional options.

1. Arrive Madrid. Train to Cordoba (1N)
2. Visit the Mezquita, Train to Seville (3N)
3. Seville
4. Seville
5. Train to Granada (2N)
6. Visit the Alhambra
7. Train to Madrid (4N)
8. Madrid
9. Day to Toledo
10. More Madrid (or day to Segovia)
11. Depart Madrid