Help! Hotels and itinerary for 11 days in Spain

Consider AirBnBs.
Barcelona 6 days
Madrid 5.
Get to know the cities.
TripAdvisor will give many suggestions for museums, etc.

https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/spain/barcelona-madrid-2023

Check out the "Itinerary" for inspiration and adjust to suit your interests and time

We went to Spain last year in September for 12 days and also flew into Barcelona and out of Madrid. Here's what we did:

4 nights in Barcelona. We rented an apartment in the El Born area, which was close for walking to most things we wanted to see. We like doing a walking tour to get acquainted with the City we're visiting. We did a Tapas, Taverns and History tour through devourtours.com. Be sure to visit La Sagrada Famillia (buy tickets ahead of time). We also did a trip to Montserrat and visited the Picasso Museum

From Barcelona, we took the fast train to Seville for 3 nights. We did another Devour tour (Tapas and Flamenco) and visited the cathedral and Alcazar (again, buy tickets ahead of time).

Seville to Toledo for 1 night - nice to be in a smaller city and beautiful at night.

Toledo to Madrid for the last 4 nights. We went to Prado Museum, Market of San Miguel, Plaza de España, and had tour and dinner at Restaurant Botin and took a Paella cooking class that we found on airbnb experiences.

I booked our stays through booking.com, Expedia or airbnb

The first question is, not how many days, but how many nights do you have? It's easier to plan if you know how many full days you will have on a trip. I love Seville, but traveling there from Barcelona will take up far too much of a day. Save Seville for another trip. Full disclosure, and I'm probably in the minority, but Madrid was my least favorite city in Spain. So with that said, and assuming that you actually have 10 full days, I would suggest the following. Five nights in Barcelona. Sagrada Familia is a must IMO, purchase the tickets ahead of time for the time that they open in order to avoid the crowds. Lunch at La Bouqeria Market one day. If you enjoy wine, then take a day trip to Sant Sadurní d'Anoia. It is an easy train ride from Barcelona. The tour and tasting of the cavas at Codorniu Winery is terrific. https://www.codorniu.com/en/visits/our-visits/groups-codorniu-discovery-tour There are also other wineries in the area.
You can also include a visit to Simon Coll Chocolates. https://espaixocolata.simoncoll.com/en/#reserva-visita. Our stay at Hotel Granvia in Barcelona was terrific. Train from there to Toledo for a one night stay. Train from Toledo to Madrid. Rick has a good walking tour of Madrid. Make a visit to the Mercado de San Miguel for at least one meal. We stayed at Hotel Preciados and it was less than ideal. Lackluster service and rooms that were drab and too basic for the price.

I assume you’ll be in in Spain (ES) twelve nights. Download Rick Steves app on your phone and take his self-guided walking tours so you don’t miss seeing anything. I also recommend buying his 18th edition ES guidebook: https://store.ricksteves.com/shop/p/spain-guidebook.
Don’t expect to accomplish anything on arrival day other than settling in. Buy tickets for the Sagrada Familia (no need to buy the higher priced ticket for views from the tower unless you like looking down from the nose bleed section. The best views are at eye level). You also need to buy tickets for Picasso’s Museum in Barcelona before leaving home. The Bari Gotic (Gothic Quarter) and Eixample are good areas to sleep in.
You need a minimum of three nights in Barcelona. You can fly nonstop from Barcelona to Granada and spend two nights in Granada. Buy tickets for the Alhambra when you buy your tickets for the Sagrada Familia, etc.
From Granada take a direct train (no transfers) to the Sevilla-Santa Justa station and sleep in Sevilla’s Barrio Santa Cruz (Jewish Quarter) for two nights. You can then take a direct train from Sevilla’s Santa Justa station to Madrid.
I don’t recommend sleeping in Toledo. First of all, you need to transfer in Madrid to get there and then the town shuts down early. It does make a good day trip from Madrid by direct train though.

I would suggest researching hotels on a third party site, such as booking.com, but then book directly with the hotel if possible.

Thank you everyone for the suggestions!

Hello everyone! Working on the last details of our potential itinerary :) One quick question: What is the best way to buy train tickets in Spain? I see there are different companies? (Omio, Renfe, Raineurope, etc?) Kind of confused here...thanks!

Buy them at www.TheTrainline.com
This website will list all the high-speed trains traveling from Barcelona to Madrid- not just Renfe trains.
I bought my September ticket on IRYO’s Frecciarosa train a couple months ago for $20.
Have a great Trip !

When we go to Span we try to stay at Paradors as much as possible. With regard to where to go, that’s strictly a personal choice. We’ve been to the main cities and now we gravitate to small cities and towns not on most U.S. tourists’ radar.

https://www.renfe.com/es/en is ESs national rail line so I would book with Renfe. It will be cheaper than the Trainline.

We booked with renfe also for our trip last October.

Thank you, Barbara and Mary Pat! And did you book in advance on Renfe's website? I've heard about some people having issues trying to do so when using their US credit cards?

You can try using a virtual private network (VPN) or check if Renfe accepts PayPal to avoid any payment glitches. For security also

Use trainline if Renfe give you issues. It's only about $1 difference.

I have been to Barcelona 3 times now. I recommend staying near the Placa de Catalunya, but NOT on the Las Ramblas. for our RS tour we stayed at the Hotel Catalina Portal de 'Angel. The other time we stayed at a nice hotel on the Passeig de Gracia at the Hotel Royal and the other time was the Hotel Jazz. All very nice hotels and good locations. Staying near P. de Catalunya, you can take the aerobus from the airport and from P. de Catalunya, walk to your hotel(s).
Most tourists will visit Sagrada Familia, (need timed tickets in advance), Parc Guell (need timed tickets in advance to enter the monumental area- which is what you need to see here, otherwise it's just a park), Take a walking tour of the Bari Gotic area, Visit the Cathedral if that interests you or the Basilica de Santa Maria Del Mar (the Cathedral by the sea) if you are familiar with the novel. There's the Picasso Museum (timed tickets needed in advance). At some point, you will walk down the Las Ramblas. We love the Gaudi architecture, so we have also visited the Palau de la Musica Catalina, Palau Guell, Sant Pau hospital, Casa Battlo, Casa Mila (La Pedrera). Do a day trip to Monserratt. In Barcelona, take the funicular up to Montjuic and visit the Miro museum, skip Montjuic Castell.
Eat dinner (reservations needed) at the El Quatre Gats- (read up on the significance). Take an evening Tapas food tour. (we did one in the poble sec neighborhood - not touristy at all) There's also the beach in Barceloneta. Use public transportation to see everything in Barcelona. What are you interested in seeing or doing?
Take a high speed train from Barcelona to Madrid
In Madrid, (been there three times ) stay near the Puerta del Sol (but not on the Puerta itself). I have stayed at the Hotel Europa. With RS we stayed at the Hotel Moderno. I've stayed at the Hotel Urban. From these locations you can walk or metro to the Reina Sofia, the Prado, the Royal Palace. Take a walking tour. Do a food tour with Devour tours. We did a Segway tour of Retiro Park, and one time I rented a bicycle and toured Retiro Park. Take a day bus trip to Toledo, or to El Escorial. The museum visits will take up 2+ hours each (for planning purposes)
Taxis from Madrid to Airport are a fixed price. (I think it was €30). Well worth it with luggage.
In both cities, as with most large European cities, watch out for pickpockets. But don't let that diminish your enjoyment of both these cities.

I REALLY appreciate everyone's suggestions! They have been extremely helpful for our trip's planning.

One question about Sagrada Familia: is it better to visit on a Saturday or a Sunday? Thanks!

Recommendations of hotels in the USD$200 range in Barcelona, Madrid, Granada and Sevilla? Thank you!