First Time in Spain Trip Itinerary Help Please

All the places you want to visit are on the beaten path. However, once you get off the main tourist streets it is possible to find restaurants frequented by fewer tourists. Of your options, I’d opt for itinerary 1. I feel four nights in Valencia is too many. If you really want off the beaten path, you need to get a rental car to visit all small towns. Being your first trip to Spain, you’ve selected some nice cities to visit.

I sort of agree that 4 nights in Valencia is maybe a bit long, but by that point in the trip you might be ready to take things slowly. But have you found reasonable airfares out of Valencia? One advantage of Valencia over coastal Andalucia is that the former will be more temperate.

But since it's a summertime trip and you're going to swelter in Andalucia, I want to suggest considering some time in the Pyrenees. I haven't done that myself--I've been through the area but never at altitude on the Spanish side of the border. That means I don't really know what's possible by public transportation. You can get a bus to Puigcerda (Poo cher DAH), a very pretty hill city that is HOT in the summer. I don't know whether it's practical to get into the cooler mountain areas via bus.

Or what about the Basque Country? It is usually a lot cooler all along that northern coast, even in the middle of the summer. That's where I headed during the summer of 2017 after dealing with the heat in Madrid, and Extremadura.

Both seem like well-paced itineraries. Presumably you have reasons to skip Madrid. My only question is why, in #2, you put Barcelona before Valencia. Granada to Barcelona to Valencia is a substantial backtrack for no reason I can see.

Maybe you're researched train lines so that backtrack makes sense. But if not, or if you'll be driving, consider finishing in Barcelona for both itineraries.

Too bad it has to be summer, but better summer than not at all. And congratulations on having "easy going" teens. Not all parents are so lucky. (Mine weren't!)

I like better the Itinerary 2 because you would spend less time in the inferno that is Andalucía during the high summer months.

I also think the area between Barcelona and Valencia, known as the Costa del Azahar (Orange Blossom Coast), is both delightful and relatively off the beaten path, you can add some stops there. It's a land full of ancient olive trees, citrus groves, sandy beaches, lazy beach towns, time-warped castles, and Roman Ruins. Especially the Knights Templar castle at Peñíscola is really spectacular along with its white washed old town!

I don't see a need for 3 nights in Cordoba, cut to 2
Also, cut a day off Granada to 2
Seven nights in Barcelona is a bit much even with day trips.
I wasn't impressed with Malaga
Add Madrid and do day trips to Toledo and Segovia (recommend four days total.

Thank you all for your replies. You have all given me good food for thought.

I haven't been to Spain yet (tentatively planning/researching for next year), but this Youtuber recently put up several detailed videos of Malaga and Cadiz that might help you https://youtube.com/c/TheAbundantTraveler