Critique of my 16 days Spain itinerary

No Toledo? It's a magical, lovely old city -- IF you can manage to avoid the crowds. You can avoid the crowds by staying overnight -- most people do Toledo as a day trip from Madrid (because it's easy). But everybody does that, which means from around 10 am to 4 pm, the city is overwhelmed by crowds. Beat that by arriving around 3 pm, watch the crowds disappear, enjoy the beautiful old city in the late afternoon and evening, spend the night, and you will have it nearly entirely to yourself. Get up early the next day, savor a few hours in the morning quiet sharing Toledo with only the locals. Then watch the day trippers roll in on trains and buses, note how the streets fill up with crowds, then get out of town by 11 am.

I'd drop your 2 days in Malaga.

Are you really going to Cordoba twice, both times as day trips? Instead of doing separate day trips from Madrid and Seville, maybe stop at Cordoba on your way from Madrid to Seville, and spend the night (or two) in Cordoba.

This itinerary seems pretty packed. Such little time in each place leans much more toward “seeing a checklist” rather than truly “exploring the cities”.

Going to Cordoba twice as day trips doesn’t make sense. After day trips and travel time, you only have 1.5 days in Seville, which can easily fill 3 days.

I would drop Malaga.

Agree with the others to drop Malaga. Very nice city but not quite as good (as a tourist destination) as the others. I would substitute Toledo instead (en route to Seville). You could also drop both the day trips to Cordoba and spend two nights there between Seville and Granada.

I would definitely spend 2 nights in Cordoba. The Mezquita is amazing but there is more to Cordoba than just the Mezquita. Cordoba is so charming and beautiful at night when the daytrippers have left and the city is illuminated.

I would omit Ronda and spend the day in Seville. There are many beautiful and historical sites in Seville, and it is a gorgeous city with its beautiful architecture, parks, plazas, fountains, etc. that you really need 3 whole days there to fully appreciate the city.

I love Malaga, but the city has changed with the massive improvements to the cruise facilities and resulting forays of too many people into relatively spaces. Ah, nostalgia.

There is a huge menu of opportunities to explore and I rank Malaga in the lower quartile of priorities. Twenty years ago we stumbled upon Malaga, but even then it was not on our travel priorities.

I recommend spending a night in Toledo to experience the town without the crowds and also a night in Cordoba for the same reason.

Have fun!

As others have said, day-tripping to Cordoba from Seville is not a good idea here. The fastest train takes about 1-3/4 hours, one-way. That's 3-1/2 hours spent on trains that day, plus the travel time to and from your Seville hotel. The train from Madrid to Seville goes right through Cordoba, so it makes a lot more sense to spend two nights in Cordoba and see it at a more comfortable pace.

I'm not certain, but I think perhaps transportation to Ronda would be faster from Malaga or Cordoba than from Seville. However, I agree with others that Ronda and Malaga, though worthy destinations, pale in comparison to Toledo.

How do you plan to get to Portugal from Granada? It's conceivably you'll need to return to Seville to fly to Portugal. That depends on your initial destination in Portugal. Ground-transportation links between Spain and Portugal are weak. If you do have to travel back through Seville, that would be another opportunity to hit Cordoba in transit.

Hi! I just updated the Itinerary. If you can see, I add a day on Cordoba and Granada, I also take out the Malaga as you guys suggested.

I like that pace.

I'll just stress it one last time: Doing Toledo as a day trip from Madrid (which it appears you are now planning) is a significant mistake, IMHO. Like many other popular places in Europe "being loved to death," Toledo is a dramatically different experience based on the hours you are there. With your current plan, you will see Toledo at it's worst -- jammed with all the other day-trippers who have the exact same plan. Instead, invert the time you have planned for Toledo -- rather than seeing it at it's worst and most crowded (10 am to 4 pm), along with many thousands of other tourist day-trippers, see it at its best, without crowds, and outside those hours, by not doing a it as day trip, but instead by spending the night there. The difference in your experience will be, as different as day and night (literally and figuratively). You will end up with roughly the same amount of usable time to spend there, but being there without the crowds you will be enchanted by the place, rather than looking forward to getting on the train and getting out of there.

I would suggest you also consider doing the same for Segovia, for the same reasons. Like Toledo, Segovia is beautiful, full of amazing sights, and also full of day tripper tourists from Madrid - for the same reason that Toledo is: it's super-easy to get to/from both cities from Madrid by train or bus. So every tour group that includes Madrid (which is pretty much every one of them) will also include, you guessed it, a day-trip to Toledo and a day trip to Segovia. If you love being in a crush of thousands of package-tour friends, then stick to your current plans for Toledo and Segovia. If not, invert your time.

BTW, you have 4 days listed for Madrid. But one of those days is a day-trip to Toledo, another one is a day-trip to Segovia. So now you are down to 2 days actually in Madrid.

But you have a more fundamental problem...you are listing "Day X, I'll be here, Day X+1, I'll be there," etc. However, in your counting of days, you are not honestly accounting for the time it takes to move fro place to place. For example, you go from Barcelona to Madrid, but you are not accounting for the minimum 1/2 day (maybe 3/4 day) that you will consume just getting yourself out of Barcelona, taking the train or plane to Madrid, getting to your hotel and settled in. So Now your "2 days" in Madrid has dwindled to one full day, and a few hours on your arrival night.

You have 4 full days allocated to Seville, and 3 full days in Granada. A whole week split between the two cities. They are great, but given how much you are trying to cover here, I think you can afford to peel off one night for someplace else. Consider re-arranging you time in/around Madrid. Madrid deserves more than 1 full day, but that's all you will get with your current plan. Break off Toledo and Segovia, do not do them as day trips from Madrid, spend one night in each, and find another full (non-travel) day for Madrid.

The points above about the limited options for getting between Spain and Portugal are spot-on (this always come as a shock to first-time visitors to Iberia -- it's definitely not what most people expect for travel within Europe). You need to figure out your plans for connecting Spain and Portugal first, then re-work your plans above to make it all work.

I don't think you have yet mentioned what time of the year you are planning your trip. That can make a big difference.

Finally, you say you are planning a "16 day itinerary" but you then detail your plan for 19 days. Uh-oh... Best to get out a calendar and look at actual, specific dates for everything.

You must be brutally honest with yourself when planning. Too many people tell themselves little lies about how much usable time they actually have, plan things out, and only later realize they have set themselves up for disappointment or a death-march.

Hope that helps. Good luck.

I will go there this Summer in July. I do not have a problem adding more days, because I will stay in Europe for two months. I will stay one week of each countries that I will visit in Europe this summer. So I need to add 1 more day in Madrid in to just to explore it?

I am assuming that Day ## - City XX means that you are sleeping that night in that city. When is your trip - the timing can make quite a difference in determining the optimum itinerary.

Are you arriving in Barcelona on Day 1 or the day before? So do you have 4 full days or does Day 1 including flying in, so you maybe have 1/2 day?

Madrid - because of your 2 day trips, you only have 1.5 days to see Madrid. You'll use the better part of 1/2 day transferring from Barcelona. I haven't been to Segovia so I don't know if it's worth using a day out of your tight schedule. Toledo is much better as an overnight - worth the extra time and hassle for another hotel change. You could do it coming from Barcelona or before Cordoba.

Cordoba - please skip Ronda. It's not worth the huge chunk of time to get there and back and there is a lot to enjoy in Cordoba. Use that day either to spend in Madrid or Toledo or Cordoba.

Your longest stay is really Sevilla. It's less than an hour by train from Cordoba so you'll have a good chunk of day 12 as well as the 3 full days. OTOH that only gives you 1.5 days in Granada, assuming you use the morning to travel. Do check the ALSA bus and Renfe train schedules to know what your options are. You may want the better part of your full day for the Alhambra. Be sure you can reserve your ticket before you commit to hotel and transportation. Tickets always sell out.

Yes I'm sleeping every night on each city. I will go there in July. Day 1 is including in the flying in. I will be arriving there at noon. Like I said, I can add one more day in Madrid. But I probably add one more day, because you guys are correct, 1 1/2 day is not enough to explore Madrid.
I have questions on the ticket on Alhambra, is Alhambra general tickets different than Dobla de Oro General? Because the Dobla de Oro is much more expensive the Alhambra general. Thank you

The Dobla de Oro gets you access to other historic sites in the Albaicin neighborhood, not just the Alhambra. I bought it and thought it was worth it. I spent one day basically just following their little mapped out route exploring the Albaicin neighborhood and dedicated another day to the Alhambra.

July !! Are you aware of the weather conditions in Madrid and Andalucia? Hot is an understatement. Take into account that the excessive heat could slow you down.

I liked the Dobla de Oro ticket, too, but it's not necessarily right for you. The additional sights it covers are not terribly expensive, nor do they sell out, so you could just get the 14-euro Alhambra ticket and decide on your other stops as you move around the city. The Doble de Oro ticket doesn't cover all the sights in the city, and on a short trip, trying to fully use that pass could leave you with no time for other sights, such as the incredibly over-the-top baroque Basilica de San Juan de Dios.

It's very helpful to know about the Dobla de Oro ticket, because those do not sell out as the plain Alhambra tickets for any given day. If you suddenly find all the Alhambra General tickets gone for the days you'll be in Granada, just grab a Dobla de Oro ticket right away. You'll have to choose an entry time for the Nasrid Palaces at the Alhambra. The Alhambra complex is large and takes time to see. If available, I'd choose and early Nasrid Palace entry time you aren't spending all of the hottest hours of the day up on that hill.