First Time Spain in March (2 Weeks)

I can’t speak to ease of access using public transportation as I normally get a rental car when visiting Spain. Chinchón is small and is probably worth a few hours at most, possibly not worth the effort it might take to get there. I’ll let others opine on that. A few of the towns (Montefrío, Pampaneira, and Capeleira) you have listed are in the mountains where there’s a good chance there will be snow that time of year. Due to their location public transportation options may be limited and infrequent. Pedraza is 41km from Segovia. With a rental car, yes it could be done in the same day as Segovia (depending on how much time you spent there), but you need to check on the public transportation options to know if it’s possible. That time of year, there could easily be snow in both locations.

I also can't speak about public transportation options, but I recommend against visiting Nerja & Frigiliana in February. The town of Nerja will be very quiet (not beach weather), and the caves in Nerja do not justify the visit on their own (there are many more impressive cave systems in Europe alone,). As for Frigiliana, it is less interesting than the "white towns" like Arcos de la Frontera.
So I would spend that day to visit Seville local sights instead.

I pack more into an itinerary than most, but I feel you have way too much and will end up spending more time in transit. But, you didn't ask about your itinerary. Are you planning on seeing the Alhambra? Just a few other reactions, I do not typically use a tour company to do my day trips, but your best bet to see Arcos and Grazelema is probably to look for a tour guide/company from Sevilla to take you to the villages for a day. Do you actually have 14 days, or when you say "Day 1, Granada 2nights, Local sights", is that actually Stop 1? Meaning will you visit Granada for 2 nights AND THEN go to Pampaneira? Both Segovia and Toledo are doable in a day trip. I did Segovia in a day and it worked out well. We stayed 2 nights in Toledo, and could have used more. IMO, Toledo (and Cordoba for that matter) has so much to do, that it should be more than a day trip. I thought Montserrat, Girona and Besalu were amazing. I would do Montserrat and then the following day, Girona. Girona is only a half hour by train, and you will get more time to explore. Girona is probably in my top 3 favorite cities in Europe.

I was relieved to get to the end of your post and see that you know you are overreaching, but you don't need to prune this down "a little"; you need to prune it down a lot! You have selected excellent bases, given yourself in most cases too-few nights in them and then proposed to leave those top-flight cities almost ever day on side-trips. In the winter when days (and sightseeing hours) will be short. Fortunately, in most cases you can wait till you're on the scene to make a final decision about those day-trips without financial penalty.

You didn't tell us what sort of sightseer you are when you visit a city. Do you want to go inside historical sights? museums? Do you mostly enjoy walking around and looking at exterior architecture, city life and people? The answers to those questions will help you determine the best pace for your trip. As it stands, you have six different hotel stays (including two Madrid) over just fourteen nights. I think that is too-rapid a pace for world-class cities like this.

I have never traveled to Europe in the winter. My most recent trip to Spain was in April through mid-May 2019. I covered all the territory you will visit but not all of the same small towns. I, too, used public transportation, but my experience in April is no guarantee of what will be running in February. I hope the Renfe website with straighten itself out for you soon. Is it possible what you're seeing is a partial schedule since there is a big adjustment due in early December? I would think February would be pretty similar to November, so you might try looking at the schedule for next week as a general guide.

For places without trains (the Alpujarras villages outside Granada, Nerja, Frigiliana, Chinchon, Arcos de la Frontera, Grazalema, Mijas, Pedraza, Besalu, Cadaques, and probably also Sa Tuna and Castellfollit de la Roca), you can begin exploring transportation options on the website Rome2Rio.com. It is really, important to recognize that the actual fares, travel times and frequencies shown on that website are often laughably inaccurate. However, it's usually correct about whether a specific form of transportation exists at all. If it suggests making a transfer in a particular city, it is usually correct. What you need to do is keep clicking through Rome2Rio.com until you find the name of the company providing the bus service, then go to its website for accurate information about the schedule and fares. Rome2Rio purports to cover every country in the world. I find it useful in Europe if used with caution.

Some specific comments:

In my opinion the top destinations in the territory you are trying to cover are Madrid (especially if you like art or are into nightlife; otherwise, I don't think it's a special as some of your other stops), Toledo, Seville, Cordoba, Granada, Barcelona and Girona. I know you want to include some smaller places (I like to do that, too), but for me they are much more minor destinations. I would plan far fewer trips to secondary stops. You don't have time for full exploration of the top cities I've mentioned. Here are some specifics:

Madrid: Try to avoid spending that first, useless night in Madrid. If you arrive very late I understand that it may not be practical to head out of town, but it takes time to get to a hotel, check in and get settled, and you'd just be leaving the next morning. If you ultimately decide you have time for Toledo or Segovia, perhaps you could head there on your arrival day??

Granada: 2 nights will allow you to go to the Alhambra (a full visit takes more than 4 hours) and see a bit more. I'd rather see 3 nights here, but you don't have that much time. There is bus service to the Alpujarras in the summer; I don't know about February, and in any case this should be axed. It's lower priority. Pampaneira would probably be best. It is larger and looked livelier.

More to follow.

You said you think you need to prune this down and I agree. Too many daytrips. You leave yourself no real time to explore your base cities and the pace would be exhausting. I know you want to see as much as you can but slow down a bit and give yourself time to enjoy the places you are visiting instead of rapidly hurrying on to the next site. Tell yourself you can always go back again and see more. Prioritize what appeals to you. I assume you are flying in to Madrid and out of Barcelona. I think I would reverse the whole order of the trip. Start in Madrid so that then you do not have to backtrack there and work your way towards Barcelona. Go to Sevilla to Córdoba to Granada to Barcelona as your five bases. If you are not yet committed to flying out of Barcelona I personally would leave that area for a future trip and spread my time out more into Andalucía, then you could fit in some more of the places you mentioned. If you are fixed on your original route then consider the following:
You have two nights in Granada which basically gives you a full day and maybe half of a second day. You will need all that time just to see the sites that Granada offers. I would eliminate those day trips. Yes, you can get from Granada to Malaga by train or bus. But again why visit Malaga for a few hours if you have the next two days planned as daytrips? Do you want to see the Malaga sites? I think the advice about Nerja being very quiet and closed up in February means you can eliminate it. I cannot speak to Frigiliana. There is bus service from Malaga to Nerja, I have done that, but honestly unless you are keen on seeing Malaga (which I do like) I suggest going directly to Córdoba from Granada. You can substitute those those Malaga nights for Córdoba and Sevilla. Córdoba is a great place to explore and you can use at least a day or two there. From Córdoba go to Sevilla. Sevilla is full of treasures to see. You need at least two days to see the Sevilla sites themselves. Then if you want to go to Ronda schedule it from here. I would think you can not fit in Grazalema and Arcos de la Frontera. Too much back and forth. Too many changes.

Your two nights in Madrid really only gives you one full day of siteseeing and you want to see Madrid, Toledo or Segovia and Pedraza or Chinchón. Not enough time to do all of that. Give yourself at least a full day of siteseeing in Madrid. Either Segovia or Toledo are excellent daytrips and both are accessible by train or bus. I personally would go to Toledo, but it is really a question of personal preference. You do not have time for a second daytrip.
Then you want to go to Barcelona and again have three nights planned which gives you two full days and you want to see Barcelona and Montserrat or Sitges and Girona as daytrips. When would you see Barcelona? That alone could take up all your time. Either spend that time exploring Barcelona or possibly choose just one daytrip, the one that most appeals to your interests.

I hope I do not sound harsh, my intent is to be helpful. I think you need to reduce greatly and rearrange your route.

Oh, looking at your title, you are definitely looking at only two weeks. We had about 15 days and did Sevilla, Arcos, Grazelema, Ronda, Granada, Cordoba, Segovia and Toledo, and that was all we could squeeze in.

I agree with all acraven said, but I especially think going to Toledo on that first day is an EXCELLENT idea. From the airport, it really is not that much more of an effort to go to Toledo vs. a Madrid hotel. I also agree that Madrid is much less special than the other cities on your list.

What I really wanted to add, is comments about the weather. I think Spain is an excellent choice for your timeframe. I was in Barcelona/Montserrat/Girona at the end of December, beginning of January. It was cool (mid 50s to low 60s), but usually quite sunny and we thought it was fabulous. People were outdoors. We were in Sevilla/white villages/Granada/Cordoba during November. Again, lovely weather perfect temperatures for sightseeing, people were outdoors, eating at cafes, etc. Based on the averages I'm looking at, I think you will find your weather to be similar to what we experienced, and probably more will be open in the white villages.

Continuing:

Malaga is a pleasant coastal city with some decent attractions. I enjoyed it. But I was in Andalucia for a month; you're giving yourself eight days. I think you should delete Malaga. You cannot see everything, and you'll have a better trip by spending more time in fewer cities and less time sitting on trains and buses. Definitely Nerja (bus) and Frigiliana (bus; Rome2Rio says part of the trip would require a taxi) should be deleted.

Ronda has both train and bus service. I haven't verified Rome2Rio's information here, but it says the fastest route would be by train from Cordoba. Next fastest is by bus from Seville; train from Seville takes longer. There is onward transportation to Granada: an early morning train (7:58 AM) and an early evening train (7:13 PM / 19:13); those take between 2-1/2 and 3 hours. So it's possible to work Ronda into the itinerary while moving forward rather than making it a slog of a day-trip. However, as with Malaga, I question including Ronda. What you get for a lot of time in transit is less than you'd get in the same amount of time at one of your more important destinations. What it comes down to, I think, is that you should give up the secondary stops in Andalucia or the Barcelona area (a serious geographical outlier).

Grazalema can be visited as a day-trip by bus from Ronda in the summer; I have no idea about February. Arcos de la Frontera is a bit larger, with more to see once you arrive. It can be reached from Seville (Rome2Rio says by bus or train to Jerez, then bus the rest of the way) or from Ronda (bus). If you feel you cannot give up Ronda and/or the white villages, the only way I'd recommend your seeing them without a car on your schedule would be on a bus tour, which would probably be from Seville. Such tours do exist in the summer; I don't know about February. It wouldn't be cheap, but squeezing in Ronda and at least a couple of villages (not necessarily the two you mention) in a day would perhaps justify it. The Ronda/white villages area is worthwhile primarily for those who see it en route to or from Granada in their own cars. You are not in that situation, and your time is awfully tight.

Alternatively, Carmona makes a nice side-trip from Seville; that would be a lot cheaper and quicker than a full-day bus tour.

Although I prefer spending multiple nights in Cordoba (I think it has considerably more to offer than Malaga), with your schedule a day-trip may have to do, and it is best done from Seville because of the fast train service.

I like Segovia a lot (the aqueduct is a "wow" for sure, and there's some interesting architecture), but I like Toledo even more. The medieval center is large and very atmospheric. You might be able to get in and out of Segovia in less than a full day (not to say that it isn't worth spending the full day there), but Toledo really deserves at least one full, long day.

Edited to add paragraph: I don't know anything about Pedraza. Chinchon is a cute little place with a circular plaza/bull ring.
It's accessible by bus from one of Madrid's several bus stations (add time to get to bus station). Worth a stop if you're near it in a car. Definitely not worth the time by bus on a first, rushed trip to Spain.

Remember that Madrid will be easy (logistically) for you to revisit, so you could postpone Segovia and Toledo for a later trip. I'd hate to see you go to the trouble of traveling down to Andalucia and not spend enough time to get a really good look at it. So I'd dig into a good guidebook, make a list of sights I wanted to see in Seville, Cordoba and Granada and make a realistic estimate of how much time each of those cities needs. Seville, in particular, is quite large. Unless you are a "walk past the outside of the building" sort of traveler, I think Seville itself needs 4 nights. Add a night for each day-trip.

See my next post for Barcelona and surroundings.

Post #3:

I adore Barcelona. I've spent at least twelve nights there in the last few years and would happily return. But I suggest you postpone it. It's a large city full of quirky architecture in addition to its share or museums and other sights. Without any side trips I think it's a four-night-minimum sort of place (or I guess three nights for just walking around). There are a lot of sights so busy that timed entry tickets were required even before COVID-19, so it is tricky to put together a really efficient sightseeing plan. You just cannot know how long you will spend inside a modernista building or museum, or how long it will take you to reach the next sight. That means you need to be careful about not buying entry tickets timed too closely, which can lead to bits and pieces of time you cannot make good use of.

I'm a huge fan of Girona. It has a large medieval district, a couple of historic churches and a good art museum. It would be my #1 side-trip from Barcelona. There's frequent, rapid rail service. But you don't have time for this side-trip. I haven't been to Montserrat so cannot compare it to Girona from the standpoint of interest. However, I doubt that February is the best time of year to go. I believe there are some nice walks and views, but it's at altitude so I figure it could be somewhat chilly.

Sitges is a pleasant beach resort. It does have a few museums, but for a first-time visitor I'd rank it below places in Andalucia like Ronda and the white villages.

Cadaques was beautiful in the summer, with bougainvillea dripping from whitewashed houses. I don't know what the atmosphere would be like in February, and in any case this is one of the places that would simply require too much travel time to be justified on a packed trip like yours. It involves a train to Figueres and then a considerable (though very scenic) bus ride; Rome2Rio indicates there's all bus service all the way from Barcelona to Cadaques. But the total transportation time would probably be at least five hours, not counting the time spent getting to and from the bus or trains station in Barcelona.

Besalu is picturesque; the fortified bridge is neat, and there's a small medieval center (nothing like what you'd find in Toledo in terms of size). It's accessible by bus from Girona and Barcelona, but this is another long trip (close to four hours round trip), and Besalu is quite small. I think it's much better as one of several destinations for the day, but that is difficult to accomplish by public transportation. In theory, if the bus schedule cooperates, you could go to Girona, walk around there a bit and then head to Besalu, but Girona deserves a lot more than "walk around a bit". You'd also spend a bit of time in Girona walking back and forth between the train station and the historic center. I really, really don't recommend trying to combine Girona with any other destination on a day-trip.

I haven't been to Sa Tuna or Castellfollit de la Roca and don't know anything about them. I haven't checked to see whether they have bus service.

The most practical way to knock off at least a couple of villages in Catalunya seems to be a one-day bus tour. In the past there has been such a tour from Barcelona. I haven't taken a tour, but one of our other posters did and recommended it. Here's one such tour: https://www.getyourguide.com/catalonia-l641/small-group-medieval-villages-tour-from-barcelona-t55978/. There may be more than one company offering a tour like this. Try Googling bus tour medieval villages Catalunya.

I can see that you've done a lot of research--places like Chinchon don't show up on many proposed itineraries, but have you thought through in detail what sights you want to see (especially go inside of) in the major cities, and how much time that will take?

Thank you all for your responses..they are very helpful.
@acraven you've made it so easy for me to knock off 'a lot'!

Yes, you're right, this is too ambituous an itinerary & I almost cringed while typing, but I usually put everything down on paper on draft#1 (which this is), and then ask around for opinion.
As you rightly pointed out, I have not yet decided on the major city attractions and I do realise I won't be able to squeeze in even for the major ones in Madrid/ Granada/ Seville and Barcelona. I am looking at extending my stay by 2 more nights, guess I still will scratch just the surface of this beautiful country! I am inclined towards extending one more night in Granada, dropping Malaga altogether and another one in Barcelona. The other 3 nights (of Malaga) can sit somewhere between Seville, Madrid & Cordoba.

Super great tip on moving directly to Toledo/ Segovia or my other bases right on the day I land. I will do more research on it. Will certainly take Rome2Rio more seriously now that you recommend, have always skipped its search results since I also think they mention the prices way too high! It's also the case with Omio. Hence, I hope the Renfe works soon as it will show the most accurate results with prices.

Answering your ques: You didn't tell us what sort of sightseer you are when you visit a city. : I dislike overdoing museums and enjoy people watching at a cafe or maybe to lounge around in a park more. But will definitely want to do the major sights in Barcelona, which I know are HUGE and far from one another. I agree that Barcelona deserves a seperate trip but since I have this huge desire to see eevryhting and specifically Girona, I may still commit this crime, haha! There's still a lot of things I need to put down on paper like the major attractions in cities. It's already so overwhelming!
Will keep on updating on the forum and keep bugging you! Thanks again :)

I understand better now. And I do the same thing, in a way. My trips are long (I'm retired), and I start out with very few hotel reservations and a bunch of notes about all sorts of picturesque towns I'd like to see. I end up not getting to even half of them because I do like museums and end up spending a lot of time in the big cities. I like being prepared, just in case. I enjoyed spending a day not doing much of anything in a couple little towns of the Alpujarras. But I also spent roughly three full days in Granada itself.

I should have mentioned earlier that for most of your trips on AVEs and similar express trains, you can save a lot of money if you're willing to commit early to tickets on specific trains. They may be non-refundable (check rules carefully), though, so be sure you're comfortable that your trip will actually happen on schedule. Working mostly from your original itinerary, these are the train legs with significant potential savings for early purchase:

Madrid-Granada
Granada-Malaga
(Either Granada-Seville or Malaga-Seville)
Seville-Cordoba
Cordoba-Madrid
Madrid-Barcelona
Barcelona-Girona (slower, cheaper trains also available, but I'd want the time in Girona)

Although the Madrid-Toledo trip is on a fast train, the ticket prices do not vary with date of purchase, so you needn't worry about that one. However, those trains do occasionally sell out. It sounds as if the trips from Toledo back to Madrid late in the day may be the riskiest. Keep in mind that if you start with Madrid-Toledo, you will have to go back to Madrid in order to travel south to Granada, Cordoba or Seville. There is no faster option by either train or bus.

Longer trips on the price-variable trains can be very expensive if you buy the tickets shortly before your travel date. You can see how high they may go by looking at prices for travel today or tomorrow.

Whatever you do, do not try to buy a long-distance train ticket from a staffed counter at Atocha Station in Madrid. The lines always seem to be hours long. The vending machines should work OK, though there were reports of occasional problems using US credit cards in the past. Since most travelers try to buy their tickets ahead of time and few people have been traveling recently, we just haven't had an opportunity to hear about that sort of issue recently. Just in the last week someone reported success buying from the Renfe website, so I'm assuming you'll be able to do that once you think it's safe to commit the money.

One other thing: Everywhere you're headed could be quite cool at night--down in the 40s (F) at night--that's under 10 C--if not the upper 30s. Seville and Cordoba are likely to be your warmest stops.

Actually it's pretty easy to group the Barcelona sights by location and using the metro is and efficient way to get around. A key is to find a central location to stay. The problem is more to decide which ones are going to be your priorities. I love most of the Catalan Modernism but Gaudi - not so much. That made it easy for me to skip the often crowded Gaudi sights and concentrate on others, especially those of one of Gaudi's teachers, Domènech i Montaner (Palace of Catalan Music, Hospital de Sant Pau). On the other hand, I was unexpectedly enchanted by the Dali Theatre and Museum in Figueres. I also recommend visiting Girona - it may be possible to combine the 2 in a single day trip, depending on how early the Dali museum opens (you go through Girona on the train from Barcelona, so you can stop for a few hours on your way back).

The white hill towns are lovely but not so easy without a car. Take comfort that there is so much else to enjoy in Andalucia! Consider a day trip to Cadiz on one of the 2 Carnaval Sundays.. You could spend a couple nights in Jerez - go to Cadiz by train and to Arcos (you'd get to a hill town :-) by bus.

Overall, I'd say the best towns to visit are Sevilla, Cordoba, Toledo and Granada. Ronda, Malaga, etc. are what I consider "second-tier" - Cadiz, Jerez and Arcos as well - but since you can fit them in conveniently and get the special Carnaval experience too, it's worth considering.

What kind of problems are you getting on the Renfe site? Maybe we can help.