Help planning Madrid-Seville- Grenada- Valencia (with teens!)

I used to live on the coast in southern Andalucia (on a boat, actually) and remember Christmasses quite distinctly, Only two or three times was it warm enough to sit out. It could be bright and crisp (12-13 deg c) but occasionally it rained in biblical proportions. So I wouldn't get too hung up on thoughts of the coast, but stay in cities where there is enough to do if it rains or is too cold.
Are you planning on travelling by train? Are your 3 days actually 3 nights? If so, you only have two full days in each place.
Christmas Day is relatively quiet in Spain, but if you are there on New Year's Eve, there will be big celebrations into the small hours.

The high temperatures in both Valencia and Motril (on the coast one hour south of Granada) in December 2025 was in the low 50s. If driving between Granada and Valencia you could drive by some coastal beach towns between Alicante and Valencia depending on the route you take, but as Lin stated, don’t expect the temperature to be warm enough to sit out.

Are you planning on driving? Have you compared driving vs train?

I think you could make a case for omitting Sevilla and having longer stays elsewhere, but I’d want to know how the transport breaks down. Two full days per place is awfully tight…

When you say outside of museums, what kinds of things does your family enjoy?

We are thinking of taking the train between Madrid/Seville/Grenada and then driving. Does this make sense to do it this way?

Any advice on the drive between Grenada and Valencia? Also unsure what to do in Grenada on Christmas- happy to scoot out and visit somewhere else if there is more to do. I understand all of Spain will be very quiet.

Flights are cheapest in and out of Madrid for us which is why we are flying in and out of there.

I don’t know that you really have time for that—it’s five plus hours. Weather could be iffy, so you’d have to break up the trip, losing considerable time from both cities. If you have your heart set on that part of the journey, then something else will need to be reduced.

Renting a car can be more economical when you're saving the cost of train tickets for 4-5 people, sure. But, what are you doing with the car once you get there? None of those cities are car friendly and all of those are easily to get around with public transit and walking. Even if you're not stressed about renting a car and driving in a foreign country (Spain is an easy country to be a driver, IMO), parking and driving through medieval cities can be an annoying waste of time. You also just experience a city more on foot and using public transit.

The issue with your plan is that the Spanish train network is partially a hub and spoke system centered in Madrid. There is no train line easy from Granada to Valencia, Alicante, Murcia, etc. The route would be back to Madrid and changing train stations.

My advice would be just do Valencia on another trip. I love Valencia, it's a great city. But, you can easily reallocate those three days in Madrid, and Sevilla. Madrid and Sevilla merit a week by themselves easily. You could also do Malaga instead of Valencia if you want another beachfront city.

A couple of ideas with the young adults in mind -

Seville:
Rooftop tour of the Cathedral — https://www.catedraldesevilla.es/en/cultural-visit/guided-tours/visit-to-the-roofs/
Las Setas
Bar el Comercio for churros and chocolate

Madrid:
Dinner at SDD2 (reserve ahead)
Reina Sofia -if just for Guernica
Day trips to Avila, to walk the walls, and Segovia for the aqueduct and Alcazar.

Granada: Two nights is enough. Instead, take a day trip, or better yet an overnight, to Cordoba for the amazing Mezquita.

Have a great trip!

Not intending to argue with anyone. I trave for those things that interest or are important to me.

I just got back a few days ago from 4 days in Valencia. I was visiting my son, daughter in law and two grand kids. Wonderful trip. Wonderful family. But that would have been true anywhere we met up. Valencia in particular? I was underwhelmed. I will never return unless they are there to greet me. Too much in the world, just for visiting "places" that I have enjoyed more.

BUT; you said "visiting an exchange student/family!" You should do that. Will you ever have the opportunity again?

We always self-drive so have no experience with public transportation. But, driving in Spain is easy, stress free and affords flexibility and freedom. Just do not speed or park in ZTL zones! While it is true that you do not want to drive once you have arrived to a city, it is easy to identify a parking garage in advance to drop the car on arrival until you are ready to move on. Here, @jaimeelsabio is the expert on driving and parking in Spain and has been very helpful to our planning. In several trips to Spain, the only frustrating experience we had was finding our accommodation, with parking, in Granada. But, that was on the accommodation. And, once sorted, it was a mild aggravation. Bottom line, if you are inclined to drive go for it.

As a clarification, ZTL is the abbreviation of a restricted driving zone in Italy.

In Spain there are ZBE, Zona de Bajas Emisiones (Low Emission Zone). I’ve never actually seen a ZBE sign, but assume all city centers are low emissions zone. A rental car will have any needed sticker. I have seen other signs specifically stating I was entering a low emissions zone.

The limited traffic zones are fairly well marked with a zona trafico limitado or other sign. Most vehicle restricted streets will probably have bollards to prevent cars from entering. If your hotel is within a vehicle restricted area, there are normally 30 minute exceptions for loading and unloading luggage, or getting to the hotel parking garage. If that’s the case, ensure you give your hotel the vehicle license plate number so you don’t get a ticket. Cameras monitor traffic.

Thank you all for taking the time this is all SO helpful.

True, the biggest part of our trip is:

A) picking up our son who will be studying in Grenada August- December
B) Visiting our old exchange student in Valencia/and his family.

Unfortunately the flight in and out of Madrid really determined the start/end of the trip as well as timing it with our high schoolers Christmas break.

We are not huge foodies but love the outdoors and exploring.

Your plan is fine, I just think you have too many stops planned. You could spend all 12 days in any one of those places, and three of them are a must. The easiest solution would be to save Sevilla for a future trip, but if you have your heart set on Sevilla, then give Madrid short shrift and just fly in and out there of there with the minimum time needed (it is the easiest to get back to later after all). I’m assuming you have time built in at the end for getting back to Madrid.
After decades I still write out my plan day by day so I can clearly visualize what I am losing in terms of transit time, plus to ensure I have included time to chill and not wear myself out. I highly recommend that strategy, especially someone with have teens in tow—who may not exactly be quick to get up, get packed, etc. List everything you want to do, then assess if you have time to do it.

If you keep Sevilla on the list, in addtn to the Sevilla Catedral rooftops tour , we did a “See by Bike” tour and a cooking class w Taller Andaluz with our teenage nieces. All three got “10/10 , no notes” feedback from the crew. 😃

For Madrid, the Eating Europe tapas y mas food tour was also a hit .

(For the record our nieces are fans of museums but move at a faster pace than us so we set a meeting point time and let them zip ahead w their own audio guides)

A small addition to what valadelphia said. Determine ahead of time which sites are must see for the group and which can be dropped if time runs short. That eliminates having to figure it out when you’re there when everyone has their own opinion of what should be dropped.