Fall 1st visit to Spain

I've got the exact same question! My wife's birthday was yesterday and I gave her Rick's Spain and Portugal guide books. We will now start planning. I'll follow this discussion thread.
From Minneapolis, Madrid seems a bit faster to fly into (i'd rather have a long day going home)
So I'm hoping we'd go the opposite direction from your's. --> Leave on the 2nd to last Th of Sept and return two Tues later.

With 10 days you can do ONE of the big cities (Madrid OR Barcelona) and the highlights of Andalucia (Seville, Granada, Cordoba). Not both big cities.

My first visit to Spain was only 6 nights - 3 in Seville, day trip to Cordoba, 3 nights Granada. Add a night in Cordoba and 3 in Madrid or Barcelona and you have a good trip

I prefer Barcelona to Madrid, but to me it is its own thing, its own culture. Madrid "fits" better and is closer to Andalucia. Either would work. Both would be pushing it.

I agree with @Mira, I also prefer Barcelona to Madrid.

If you want to focus on cities, you could do Barcelona-Madrid-Sevilla in 10 days. Or if your preference is Granada and the rest of Andalucia, then fly to one of the major cities and go from there. Train travel in Spain is convenient, fast and when booked ahead quite affordable. If you want to do the smaller hill towns in Andalucia then a car pretty much is a necessity.

Many thanks Mira & Debbie! Will stick with Barcelona and look at train travel! Wondering if we could fly as conveniently to Granada from Barcelona as taking train? O

I would leave Barcelona for another trip. Firstly, because it is easily reached by flights from everywhere, and secondly, because it has fast train connections in to France.

1. ARRIVE Madrid (4N)
2. Madrid
3. Day to Toledo
4. Day to Segovia
5. Train to Seville (3N)
6. Seville
7. Day to Cordoba
8. Train to Granada (2N)
9. Alhambra
10. Train to Madrid (1N)
11. DEPART Madrid

Taking into consideration the time for arrival to airport, waiting, possible air delays (not uncommon) and possible lost checked luggage (some lost for 7 days and worse from BCN), people recommend train. However, other prefer plane and it was my choice for an earlier itinerary.
I'll just mention again your comment..«Barcelona is a must »

You could try for something like this, but I would find the focus a little too scant.
1. ARRIVE Madrid (2N)
2. Madrid
3. Train to Seville (3N)
4. Seville
5. Day to Cordoba
6. Train to Granada (2N)
7. Alhambra
8. Fly to Barcelona (3N)
9. Barcelona
10. Barcelona
11. DEPART Barcelona

Can you tell us if you have already bought your airline tickets? And if so, what are your airports? No point us suggesting routes if you have fixed departure/arrival cities.

If return Barcelona, I suggest you add in Andalusia this trip. Madrid is such an easy overseas flight for some other time. This allows for a little more time in Seville and possibly, one road trip form Granada to Seville if you want to see some smaller towns and the 'famous' White towns like Ronda.

Hi Maria & David: a good plan makes such a difference - nothing worse than a panic feeling that we are in the wrong place! We leave from NYC. We have nada, zip when it comes to tickets or reservations... I am grappling with how many days at each place and the easiest way to move around... then I will get down to the reservations. Many thanks for your input!

The first thing to tackle is your flight booking to/from Spain. Obviously, price and convenience are the big considerations here. Look at simple return tickets for Madrid and Barcelona, or 'open jaw' - in one, out the other.