Best areas to stay in Barca, Madrid, Granada, Sevilla, and Toledo

Oh, please don't miss Cordoba. It is a charming little city with plenty to see. Its on a river with a Roman Bridge, a gorgeous, white old Jewish quarter, they are known for patio gardens and of course the Mezquita. Some do it on a day trip. We were there 3 nights and could have stayed longer. It was really nice in the mornings and the evenings when the day trippers were gone. We thought the Mezquita was even more interesting than the Alhambra.

In Toledo we stayed close to the cathedral.
In Granada, we stayed at Hotel Anacapri, the area was great for us.
We stayed in the old town of Sevilla, minutes from the Alcazar and the cathedral. Hotel El Rey Moro.
In Cordoba we stayed about 10 feet from the Mezquita, at Hotel Mezquita

In Sevilla earlier this year, we enjoyed the Hotel Fernando III. I started writing a review, but haven't finished or posted it yet. Here's a preview:

After our recent Rick Steves Best of Spain tour, Stan and I opted to stay on in Sevilla a few days. As is usual for us, we switched hotels as soon as the tour ended. The tour had been staying at Hotel Amadeus Sevilla, and we moved to the Hotel IMG Fernando III, San Jose 21, just around the corner from the Amadeus.

There wasn’t anything wrong with the Amadeus, but the Fernando III was
much less expensive, an average of E170 per night, as opposed to E260.
I had seen it recommended on the Forum as an alternative to the
Amadeus, and was delighted that we did.

The Fernando III is modern, with light bright surfaces, and is larger
than our usual choices. But in spite of the size, and the impression
of a more “business class” hotel, the staff was wonderful, and always
eager to help.

We had a standard double this time, on the first floor up.

The rest of the review would have been more specific about the room's appointments, as well as the rooftop bar. I guess I should finish the review and post it, no? Maybe I'll have time tomorrow while the turkey is roasting...

We'd love to go everywhere, but, you know, only so much time. We prefer not to stay places for just one night. I'm a big proponent of "less is more." Right now we are thinking:

Barca 4 nights (including the night we arrive, which to me doesn't count)
Madrid 4 nights
Granada 2 nights
Sevilla 3 nights
Toledo 2 nights

With training into/out of each location, all of these locations are cut by half a day (at least). So Granada and Toledo are only 1.5 days. Would you prioritize differently?

I've been to a lot of areas in Spain, but I have not been to Barca. I think relative to other cities, Madrid is not as interesting. Its newer. Toledo is the historic capital of Spain. I would cut the days in Madrid, unless you are going to the art museums. Granada, Cordoba and Sevilla are the three great Andalusian cities. I would prioritize them.

Many people recommend at least four nights in Sevilla, bare minimum. It is a lively, beautiful city with a lot of history and much to do. We only stayed two nights in Granada, and that was fine for us.

To "eek" out more time, we flew in and out of Madrid, but we took the AVE train to Sevilla right after arrival to the airport. We stayed two nights in Madrid at the end of our trip. One of the days we were in Madrid, we took a day trip to Segovia. In Madrid we stayed at the Hotel Europa on Del Sol. It was a great neighborhood. In the evenings we walked to the cathedral and palace and enjoyed people watching.

We are not fancy people, either. We tend to stay at smaller, local, family owned hotels. Prices were budget to moderate. I'm now remembering the Toledo hotel, Hotel Santa Isabel. That was more basic, budget place but had an amazing roof top terrace. They served a very basic breakfast. Location was great. Street was quiet, yet quite close to the cathedral.

• I don't think it's necessary to stay overnight in Toledo. It works really well as a day trip from Madrid, and you get to benefit from eating dinner in Madrid instead of Toledo that way.
• Area of Madrid to stay: Generally, for your first time in Madrid, I would stay in central Madrid, but not in the very center. You don't want to be staying right near the Puerta Del Sol or Plaza Mayor, or along Gran Via, because it's too touristy and crowded. So, as a rough guide, stay south of the Tirso De Molina metro stop, east of the Anton Martin metro stop, or north of the Callao/Gran Via metro stops. Neighborhood wise, that means Lavapies, Malasana, Chueca, La Latina, and Barrio de las Letras.
• Sevilla, I think it's nice to be close to the Alcazar/Cathedral area, but not right on top of it. Can't really go wrong in the center though.

In Madrid we stay at the Puerta del Sol, Sevilla by the cathedral, and Toledo, either the Parador just outside of town or Hotel Reina Cristina. The last time we were in Granada we stayed right at the Alhambra complex in the no frills Hotel América.

Your choice of Barca is interesting (between Sigüenza and Soria) since it is not well served by public transportation and is very, very small. I’m going to guess that Barca should be Barcelona. If that’s the case, this is a good example of why full names should be used.

Yes. Barca is the name of a football team. The city is Barcelona.

Jaime, thanks-never knew there was an actual town named Barca! You are truly "el Sabio!"

Yes, I mean Barcelona. I didn’t know there was a city called Barca either, and was using sports slang.

Try to be in Barcelona for La Merce Festival that appears to be Sept. 20--24. 2026. You can Google the previous years' events to get an idea of what the schedule will be. We did not visit Toledo, but for those other cities I made a list of things we wanted to do and tried to stay within walking distance of some of them. We stayed in small apartments near the cathedrals of Granada and Seville. We also spent 3 nights in Cordoba, which we loved. We stayed in small hotels in Barcelona and Madrid within walking distance of sites and the metro. I used booking.com for reservations. Sometimes you can save money by booking directly. Our trip was 24 days and we loved it.

Well that could be a pleasant surprise! As of now, we are planning on being in Barcelona from 9/19-9/23.

Yes, I didn't want to be rude, but I wanted to ask the appeal of Barca, and was going to note that I didn't think there was a train to get there.

In Barcelona, we stayed by Plaça Catalunya, and were happy with the stay. I would definitely give more days to Barcelona than Madrid.

I would include cordoba in your itinerary. We liked Toledo but much preferred Cordova. Take a night from Toledo and spend it in cordoba. In fact, if you don’t love art, I would also take a night from Madrid and add it to Cordova for 2 nights. (And I love Madrid) but Cordova is really special.

Ask yourself this question. Would you return to Andalusia at a future date just to see Cordova? If not, you should add Cordova to this trip.

In Barcelona we stayed at hotel gran via near placa Catalunya. Excellent location.

In Seville we stayed in barrio Santa Cruz. In Cordova we stayed near the mezquita. And in Granada we stayed by the river.

In Madrid we stayed at hotel Madrid mercure. Close to the Prado and Reina Sofia.

Ok, I will try to edit the itinerary to include Cordoba. I went there in the 8th grade (1998) but don't really remember it and it seems highly recommended. The other reason we have 2 nights in Toledo is that we are likely arriving later in the day, then have one full day, then leave for the airport the next morning. So essentially only one day there.

I like the way you are doing your planning, taking into account the transit time. I did really like Toledo, and enjoyed being there in the night and the morning. We had no issues finding a place to eat. In fact, there was a tapas bar my husband still talks about. I get that it is very hard to develop an itinerary to see all the places you want to see, yet not overdoing.

Our hotels in Madrid, Granada, Sevilla, and Cordoba are my my recent trip report:

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/trip-report-analucia-and-madrid-in-november

The Cordoba and Granada hotels were right in the center, Seville's was about 10 minutes from the Cathedral, and Madrid's was no more than 15 minutes walk from Plaza Mayor.

We saw Toledo as a day trip, arriving there a little before 10 am and leaving at 7:25 pm. I thought I would mind that we didn't stay overnight, but I thought it worked well as a day trip.

I agree with those urging you to include Cordoba while you are in Andalucia, unless you think you will return there. The Mezquita is an amazing site. We saw Barcelona on a different trip, and loved it, so if you can plan Barcelona for another time, that might allow you the time to enjoy more sights in Andalucia.

As a side note, in Spain Barça is not used to refer to the city of Barcelona. Barna is sometimes used, but I've mostly seen it as an abbreviation in writing.

Well consider it, but Barcelona is the only city of the five that I’ve never been to. Granted, it was 1998, but still. It’s also one of the few “great” cities of Europe I’ve never been to.

I think jules m's point about the art museums in Madrid is important. If you don't expect to devote much time to seeing them, I'd definitely recommend reducing your stay there to 3 or possibly even 2 nights. Although it would be easy to spend a week just walking around Madrid, I'm sure, the fact is that it is visually less distinctive than your other planned stops. Alternatively, you could keep the 4 nights in Madrid, plan a day-trip to Toledo and allow for a possible day-trip to Segovia. One big advantage of Madrid is the large number of very worthwhile day trips it offers (I've only mentioned two of them).

To be clear, I think Toledo is worth two or even three nights, like Cordoba and Granada. But compromises are nearly always required, especially on a trip to Spain that attempts to see both Barcelona and Andalucia.

I did go ahead and post a full review of the Fernando III. Here's the link: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/spain-reviews/hotel-fernando-iii-in-sevilla

Like INXS says, “not enough time, for all that I want.” Unfortunately only so much PTO and the grandparents can’t keep the kids (4&6) forever.

Honestly if we were to do a major pivot, it would be keep Barcelona, then head towards Basque Country and end in Marseilles. We did northern France over twoish weeks last year, so that’s unlikely. Don’t get me wrong, it was amazing, just prefer something different.

I love the lively discussion. This has gotten way more detailed than expected and I LOVE it.

As of today, we have not purchased plane tickets, but our dates are arrive in Barcelona on Saturday 9/19/26 and leave from Madrid on Sunday 10/4/26. Due to grandparent availability, the only alteration we could make is to push everything back one week.

I posted the nights in each city earlier. If anyone has a complete redesign of itinerary, I’m open to suggestions. My rough draft intended to keep travel times to a minimum, but again, open to suggestions. We’re not opposed to renting a car, but seems unnecessary. My wife and I are both foodies, love cultural experiences and just walking around new places. I’m a history geek and my wife loves art, but we compromise accordingly. We’re both big believers in “less is more” and getting to know places, but don’t mind pivoting. We’ve done three week trips where we didn’t stay in any one spot for more than 2-3 nights, but that can be a bit taxing.

Anyways, open to ideas!

You could spend all your time in Barcelona/Catalunya. There is plenty in Barcelona for at least seven days, plus, all kinds of day or short trip opportunities. For example, Girona is a gorgeous, walled city (one of my favorite in Europe) and a quick train ride. You could spend 3 nights in Girona if you do a day trip to adorable, medieval Besalu. Figueres, is just north, on the coast, and birthplace of Dali. I've not been, but the museum sounds quite interesting--quirky, like Dali. You could go south a bit to Tarragona, a world Heritage site with Roman ruins. Closer to Barcelona is Monserrate, a monastery, perched on jagged peaks and easily done in a day by public transportation.

I second the hotel recommendations given by Jules M for Madrid and Toledo. Both were well located for tourists. I suggest getting a taxi from the Toledo train station to the hotel because the hill town streets are very steep, narrow and maze like. The Toledo Cathedral is one of my favorite religious sights, because of the elaborate interior wood and iron work. I also enjoyed the hotel roof top terrace in Toledo. You have a great view up to the Cathedral and Army Museum. The Cathedral is lit up at night. And if you time it right, you can enjoy the church bells ringing.

Definitely a taxi from the Toledo train station (which is gorgeous and a must see). If doing a day trip via bus from Madrid, then there is an escalator or something??