Driving trip south from Barcelona to Madrid

How far south are you planning to go? I foresee the car being a major liability in the bigger cities.

Time of year?

Do you mean you have a total of two weeks, including five nights in Madrid?

Also what are your interests? Will you spend time in Barcelona?

Sorry I wasn’t clear currently 5 nights in Barcelona, then pick up car and 14 days to drive around southern Spain ending up in Madrid where we’ll drop off car, 5 nights or so in Madrid, figured we’d do some Oda y trips (Toledo) out of Madrid but train.

Our interest beaches ( if weather is good) walking h thru cities, towns exploring, will do some museums but find anymore than 3 hrs in museum each day is overkill. If we’re overly ambitious might do two museums shorter in a day. We have full day food tour in Barcelona. Expect to something similar in Madrid

We still need to know the time of year. Andalucia is brutally hot in the summer. Zaragoza, a very attractive city between Barcelona and Madrid on the rail line, also bakes at that time of year, and Madrid is not exactly pleasant, either. Your timing matters a lot.

Spain has a lot of museums, but most are not super-large. The only ones I can think of where your three-hour limit could be a factor are the Prado in Madrid and the MNAC in Barcelona.

For the three cities you've mentioned--Barcelona, Madrid and Toledo--a car would be of no value whatsoever. There are very fast trains linking those cities. Barcelona to Madrid is about 2-1/2 hours by train and 6-1/2 hours by car (with no stops or navigational errors).

In terms of timeframe we’re actually in Barcelona now

Tarragona, Alicante, Murcia City/Cartagena, Almería, Teruel, Úbeda/Baeza, Almargo, Cuenca are possible places to visit. There are literally dozens of places between those worth visiting, so once you know which route you’re taking, check the towns along the route for places and sights that interest you. My guess is it’s too chilly now to spend much time on the beaches.

My recommendation would be to forget the driving idea and just take the Ave high speed train from Barcelona down to Sevilla then to Cordoba then to Granada, finally to Malaga before making your way to Madrid.

I think you missed the time to go to the beach by a few months.

Trains are great in Spain. You would only want a car for small towns that are spread out - like the hill towns in Andalucia - and only if you want to visit several of them for a few hours each. In larger towns, parking and traffic eat up time and money. I've only driven along the Costa del Sol. Two choices, either drive the old coastal road which in part has sea views or drive the tollway. The tollway is fast, but no views. The old road has roundabouts or traffic lights seemingly every kilometer. Driving (not including stops) takes about 3 times as long as the tollroad.