Confused with transportation, pls help

My personal travel perference is to not do a lot of 1 night stays but pick a base and do day trips from said base.
Consider day trips to Segovia and Toledo from Madrid.
Some have suggested day trips to Cordoba from Seville.
Renting a car might make your schedule more flexible and you could possibly drive to Nerja from Granada as a day trip or do some day trips from Seville say to Arcos de la Frontera,

I would stick to 3- night stops, if a place doesn't sound good enough for 3 nights skip it. Plan to be in Granada over a weekend as it is so much fun on weekends. Flights in Spain are cheap via Vueling. Enjoy your trip, J

If you are only going to spend a night in Toledo, then do it as a day trip from Madrid, instead. (There's a lot to do in Toldedo, we stayed 3 nights). I would also do Segovia as a day trip from Madrid. I'm not sure where you are intending to day trip to Cordoba from. Many, believe Cordoba deserves at least two nights, I recommend three. If you have to do it on a day trip, probably best from Sevilla, but you already do not have enough time in Sevilla.

If you are only going to spend 2 nights in the Basque area, you should just skip, its a long way to travel to just spend a bit of time. Can you fly into Barcelona and out of Bilbao or even Madrid?

Vueling flights do not include price for carryon. As soon as I add carryon (max wt. 10kg), the price shoots up and with 4 passengers, it stings!

Thanks for the input. I can avoid a night in Toledo and do this as a daytrip from Madrid (along with Valley of the Fallen and El Escorial).

Definitely will do Cordoba from Seville.

Thank you!

Yep, bags add a lot to the price. You are spending a lot of time and money to get to cities that are not close for just a small amount of time to see the cities.

I would say the pace of the RS tour is quite brisk. But keep in mind, they do it a lot, they don't get lost, they know where to park, and they have guides to whisk you through places picking up the just what they consider are the highlights.

Any domestic flights that allow carryon for price of the ticket?

The issue one runs into is the weight restriction, in addition to the dimensional limits. With some airlines you might be able to buy your way to a greater weight limit or simply resign yourself to checking bags.

Agree with above comments that the one nighters should be avoided if at all possible. The exception being your last night before the flight home.

I am kinda looking at dropping San Sebastian from the trip although I really wanna eat all the food. However, getting back to Barcelona from Granada is not any easier - it retraces the path I took to get there. Any suggestions?

Can you fly into Barcelona and out of Bilbao or even Madrid?
Unfortunately the only thing we have booked is flights and it is non-refundable :|

A lot of people do the "big three" Andalusia cities as a triangle. There is a high speed train from Madrid to Sevilla. I know there is now train from Granada, not sure its high speed. You could do Sevilla, Cordoba and then Granada and then back to Madrid. Or you could use a bus to go from Sevilla to Arcos to Granada.

Or you could rent a car when you leave Sevilla, go to Tarifa, Nerja and Arcos and turn in the car when you arrive Granada. I've not been to Tarifa or Nerja so I can't speak to them as far as a tourist destination. Arcos is enjoyable (There are also many other white village towns that are enjoyable--Grazelema, Zahara, Sentinel, Ronda. . .

I am not sure Tarifa and Nerja warrants much time, honestly. We stayed in Tarifa mostly to get a ferry to Tangier (would not recommend, for various reasons). Town is small and cute, but not much else going on. Same with Nerja - nice beach town, easy to get to Frigliana hill town but if you are doing Ronda and Arcos, you can skip Frigilana. IMO.

As others have said, you can easily do day trips to Segovia and Toledo from Madrid - not that both cities are not worth spending more time in, they are. But I also think you need to eliminate some of the one night stays, especially if you are taking trains and/or buses. Both modes of transport are great but they do take time. You might check into a car rental to see how it compares with all the bus and train fares (make sure you factor in taxi/uber to get from train/bus stations to your hotel). Although then you have to park the car, but it may make things easier for all your stops between Madrid and Barcelona.

Bilbao and San Sebastian are both very worthwhile, but are quite a bit out of the way, given the rest of your itinerary. Maybe Barcelona-Madrid (day trips to Segovia and Toledo)-Bilbao/San Sebastian-Seville-Arcos-Granada-Barcelona? Rent a car to drive from Granada to Barcelona, stop somewhere for a night or two along the coast? Worth looking at costs vs flying...

Sounds like a great trip though!

The Segovia stop is not in line with other stops. It’s just under 2 hours from Toledo. Seems like there would be a bus going between the two. Before finalizing the itinerary, check into the train and bus schedules for frequency and ease of getting to/from the places you want to visit.

I always get a rental car so can’t speak to public transportation.

I would try to build some flexibility into your schedule. The weather, especially in Andalusia, can be frying pan hot during the summer. Take a look here - Seville weather 2022. You may want to reserve rooms in advance, but rooms that are easy to cancel. If sweltering weather is forecast you'll be able to consider alternative locations.

I know Valencia wasnt on your itinerary but had you considered Barcelona to Valencia to Granada to Seville to Madrid and then back to Barcelona. Day trips to Segovia and Toledo and El Escorial from Madrid.

You can do Toledo as a day trip from Madrid. It's a 30 minutes train ride. With lots of trains. To get to the Basque Country, we took the high speed train from Barcelona to Zaragosa, then rented a car to take us the rest of the way. We stopped in Olite to see the Castle. With a car in the Basque country you can drive from San Sebastian to Hondarribia (walled town) or Bilbao. Beautiful drives along the coast with places to get out. Something also to consider, Basque food is very popular in Barcelona. We had great Pintxos in Barcelona. If the only reason to go to Basque country is for the food. We loved driving the back roads through small towns. It was very peaceful.

Yes, Barcelona to Valencia to Granada and west then north was my original plan. but to get to Granada from Valencia, I am routed to Madrid by train or take a slow bus.

Tarifa - yes, we plan to do Tangiers, hence 2 nights in Tarifa.

Renting a car may be a good option to get you from Valencia to Granada. It may be cheaper than train tickets or airfare for 4. We drove through parts of Spain for 3 weeks and it really wasn't that bad. Once we got to big cities like Granada we parked the car and walked or used public transportation. Of course you'll need to ensure your hotel or airbnb has parking . Best of luck on planning