April 17th - May 1 2019 Madrid Arrival, Barcelona Departure

Please be more specific about the timing of the trip since so many of your interests involve outdoor activities. Even early spring should be generally pleasant in Andalucía; maybe not so much on the north coast between Galicia and the Basque Country.

Except for History, you don't have much in the way of city interests. Are you looking for a more rural/small-town vacation?

Sorry; I did read the subject line but immediately forgot, and then I didn't scroll back far enough!

So not the best time of year for places like San Sebastian and the Picos de Europa. Barcelona and much of Catalunya should be nice, plus Andalucía. The area around Madrid will be somewhat cooler.

The folks really familiar with the various possibilities will comment soon, I hope. My interests are so different from yours that I can't be of much help.

I'll just warn you that the Alhambra sells out very early, so if you're interested in Granada (from which you might prefer to fly back to Barcelona), you should start your ticket search as soon as you have dates to look for. My guess is that the basic tickets for the entire month of April are sold out, but you might snag a Dobla de Oro ticket (covers more, costs more), or you might be able to get a ticket via the Granada Card (covers even more, costs even more, but it's not ridiculous). It's the time slot for the Nasrid Palaces that is the problem. You can tell whether there are any openings available via the Granada Card before you complete the purchase. If no luck via either of those methods, you may be able to get a ticket through your Granada hotel (probably at some extra cost). In all cases, the earlier you try to accomplish this, the better your chances.

The Alhambra is not the only thing to see in Granada, but your time is limited and could easily be filled with other destinations (Toledo, Segovia, Cordoba, Seville as well as Madrid and Barcelona--and those are just the larger places). I'd prefer to stick to just three cities if you choose largish ones (Madrid, Barcelona, Seville). Or maybe two if you decide to include a lot of enticing outdoor activities and/or side-trips to small towns.

Barcelona has a lot of top attractions that tend to be open every day. I think that city won't be too affected by Semana Santa, but since you're flying home from Barcelona, you will probably be there after Easter (I'm guessing) unless you decide to make this a mainly Catalunya trip--which is definitely a possibility. On the other hand, Barcelona is very heavily touristed and might be even worse than average during Easter Week. It's a place where you often need to buy sightseeing tickets in advance.

I hope you eat fish the Spanish love ham and cured meats. I drink a lot of different world beers and found that a good special beer is hard to find in Spain ( I was There 3 months ago) though in Granada they have a microbrew called Alhambra Reserva. Oh and the first two Tapas are free in Granada with each drink. One visit to a tapas bar I got curry potatoes and assorted seafood respectively with each beer
I also site see in the day and hit the live music scene at night. You have to check Timeout Madrid and Barcelona to see what is going on musically before going. There is some hiking near Montserrat near Barcelona.
You probably can rent a bike in Barcelona.

Personally, I think that you should embrace that you will be in Spain during Semana Santa (Holy Week), and not see it as a constraint, but as an opportunity. It will make your travel experience so much deeper and rewarding than any normal time of the week.

The majority of Spain's cities, towns and villages, all have their own processions and celebrations combining music, art, and colour. Especially in Andalucía, you will find the most intense spirit of Semana Santa. Cities like Córdoba, Granada, and Sevilla will have really spectacular Semana Santa processions.

Note that there may be some slowdown in those cities, towns and villages attributed to Holy Week. Also note that Easter Monday (April 22) is a public holiday in Spain, so the large majority of shops and restaurants will be closed.

If you can get the logistics to line up, I would try to do something like this:

Fly in to Madrid
Immediately take the AVE Train south to
Cordoba (2 nights) - Semana Santa
AVE Train to
Sevilla (3 nights) - Semana Santa
ALSA Bus to
Granada (2 nights)
ALSA Bus/AVE Train combo back to
Madrid (2 nights)
AVE Train to
Barcelona (4 nights) - Hiking day-trip at Montserrat or along the Costa Brava
Fly out of Barcelona

If you are planning on using the AVE Trains during Semana Santa, try to secure the tickets in advance, as this is a very busy travel time for families and popular trains/routes may be sold out.

Carlos, THANK YOU! I appreciate your insight. I don't see Semana Santa as an experience constraint, I'm just being mindful of the travel constraints as you pointed out. I am excited to experience the cultural uniqueness of this special week. I will take your advice into consideration.

If doing Madrid at all, I would stay after landing, then go to Andalucia and fly to Barcelona from Seville or Granada. I wouldn't waste time to travel back to Madrid.

Check to see how much domestic flights are. I flew Seville-Madrid for 30 euros and Madrid-Granada for 80 euros this past month.

Normally I would agree with the recommendation of staying in Madrid right after landing. However this is a special case, as you land right in the middle of Semana Santa, so you don't have too much time to waste, which is why I recommended you go directly down to Andalucia to catch as much of the holy week festivities as you can. Just to put it into perspective, Semana Santa is just as important and even more so than Christmas is in Spain :)

However, in the event that it does not work out logistically and you have to stay in Madrid for your first few days, there are day trips that you can do which can also give a good atmosphere of Semana Santa, albeit not on the grand scale as in Andalucia. Closer to Madrid, the towns of Cuenca, Zamora, and Salamanca all have pretty good Semana Santa processions.

For Cuenca to be a practical day-trip, one needs to take the AVE (fast train). Those tickets get quite expensive if bought late. They may already be expensive; I haven't checked. The slow trains take way too long for a day-trip. Even aside from Semana Santa festivities, Cuenca is a very interesting side trip.