First time in Spain, questions on Spring itinerary

If I'm interpreting your itineraries correctly, you do not arrive in Spain until Day 2, which means you have only 9 nights in Spain. For me, 5 or 6 hotels over the course of 9 nights (or even 10 nights) is way too many. Spain is really too large a country to be covered geographically in such a short period. Since you obviously have a strong interest in seeing Andalucía, I suggest postponing Barcelona till a later trip.

Another possibility would be to just stay in Barcelona, Madrid and Seville, with a day-trip to Cordoba from Seville. That would still be too rushed for me, but other travelers have managed such aggressive schedules.

One problem with a blitz trip for me is that you'll probably leave every city feeling you need to return (Madrid, for example, has lots of magnificent day-trip possibilities that you don't have time for), which means that Trip #2 may also need to range from one end of the country to the other. I think it's more logical to do one trip to the north and one to the south; there's less time spent traveling back and forth that way, and it saves money on transportation. The fewer cities you visit, the more you'll actually see, because you won't be on trains/buses/planes or inside your hotel room unpacking or packing.

Trip C
Day 1 - US to Barcelona
Day 2 - Barcelona
Day 3 - Barcelona
Day 4 - Fly Barcelona to Granada
Day 5 - Granada
Day 6 - Train Granada to Cordoba
Day 7 - Train Cordoba to Sevilla
Day 8 - Sevilla
Day 9 - Train Sevilla to Madrid
Day 10 - Madrid
Day 11 - travel home

Trip C
Day 1 - US to Barcelona
Day 2 - Barcelona
Day 3 - Barcelona
Day 4 - Fly Barcelona to Granada
Day 5 - Granada
Day 6 - Train Granada to Cordoba
Day 7 - Train Cordoba to Sevilla
Day 8 - Sevilla
Day 9 - Train Sevilla to Madrid
Day 10 - Madrid
Day 11 - travel home

So djp_syd(David), you’re ok with the number of transfers just not the order?
We do not travel often so when we do, we would rather see many places. Our last trip covered 4 cities in 10 days and we loved it. Could we have stayed longer and seen more in each, most definitely.

I'm curious: What were the four cities you visited in ten days?

Salzburg, Venice, Florence, and Rome! 2 nights each for first 3, 3 nights for Rome.

In that case, maybe you'll be OK with 4 cities in Spain. But Salzburg doesn't have that many sights, and Florence is physically small. I'd equate Madrid and Barcelona with Rome. Not sure where Seville falls.

This was my thought in trip B for eliminating Madrid. Save that for next time and let Barcelona be our Rome. I could also take out Ronda, it just caught my attention in Rick’s travel video. Plenty of flight options out of all three so that is not a concern. (Barcelona, Madrid, Malaga)

I've been to Ronda twice. It's very picturesque, but it ain't Granada/Seville/Madrid/Barcelona. Malaga I've never been to, but it may be a viable arrival or departure airport for you, which Ronda certainly is not.

Wasn’t really looking to spend time in Malaga other than the night before flying out. If I remove Ronda in trip B it leaves me with Barcelona, Sevilla, Cordoba, and Granada,(fly out of Malaga) thoughts?

More time would be desirable, but if it's what you want then what you plan would be a bare minimum. Be smart with your train times. Travelling between 5pm and 9pm saves your days for sightseeing.

Travel is slow to/from Granada, so a flight in from Barcelona saves some time.

David, if I use your itinerary suggestion, Trip C, but stay in Sevilla longer, remove Madrid and depart from Malaga would that be better? Maybe do day trip from Sevilla.

I think then it would be Barcelona, Granada, Cordoba, Sevilla, Malaga(airport)

Granada is closer to Malaga than Sevilla.

Barcelona (3)
Sevilla (3)
Cordoba (1)
Granada (2)
Malaga (1)

definitely fly from Barcelona to Granada or Seville. Saves time and quite inexpensive. We flew from Barcelona to Granada.

As others, my suggestion is to do fewer cities and more days in each. We spent 3 days in Seville and it was barely enough. I thought I would be done in a day, but we just wandered around and really enjoyed the city. We did Cordoba on the way from Seville to Madrid.

My two friends and I just did the following trip and it worked out really well for us:

Day 1 - US to Madrid, spent night in Madrid
Day 2 - Madrid (day trip to Segovia)
Day 3 - Madrid
Day 4 - Madrid (day trip to Toledo)
Day 5 - Took train to Seville, arrived by mid-afternoon
Day 6 - Seville
Day 7 - Train to Barcelona
Day 8 - Barcelona
Day 9 - Barcelona (day trip to Montserrat)
Day 10 - Barcelona (day trip to Figueres)
Day 11 - Traveled back to US
The three of us were very surprised at how much we enjoyed Madrid. If I had to do the trip over again, I would try to add one more day in Madrid (staying five nights instead of four).

Plan C is pretty good. BUT don't spend the night in Cordoba. Instead, take an early train out of Sevilla, stow your bags at the bus station across the street from the train station, spend the day in Cordoba, then take a late train on to Madrid. That saves schlepping your luggage in/out and the packing/unpacking, checking in/out, etc., of another hotel stay.

We will be in Cordoba during the Patio Festival, would that be more reason to stay over night?