Itererary help-first time in Spain, must go in and out of Barcelona

You could take the AVE high speed train from Barcelona to Zaragoza, which is a city about halfway in between Barcelona and San Sebastian.

Zaragoza is the capital of the region of Aragon and worth at least a few nights. The city has more than 2,000 years of history including Roman ruins of the city walls, forum, and amphitheater, as well as the Aljafería; an 11th-century Moorish palace. It's also the home of the famous pilgrimage site of Nuestra Señora del Pilar Basilica, housing the miraculous image of the Virgin Mary of Pilar. The best part, Zaragoza is relatively undiscovered as far as major Spanish cities go.

Zaragoza also has some pretty good day trips close by, like the Royal Palace of Olite, one of the most impressive medieval palaces in Europe. It was the seat of the Kings of Navarre. Another interesting day trip is Loarre Castle, one of the oldest castles in Spain, it was featured in Ridley Scott's epic film Kingdom of Heaven. The Loarre Castle is very picturesque as it sits high on a cliff overlooking the southern foothills of the Pyrenees.

Also note that April and May are at the height of the rainy season in the Basque country, with an average of 34 days of rain between the two months, I would just be prepared for some really wet weather while visiting San Sebastian and Bilbao.

Because Carlos mentioned that April and May are the height of the rainy season, would you consider going to Madrid and Andalucia? This region of Spain is extremely HOT during the summer months, so April and May would be the perfect time to visit. Or, you could divide your trip between Barcelona and Madrid, with daytrips from each city. You could day trip to Toledo, for example, or better yet, spend 1 or 2 nights in Toledo. You could day trip to Girona from Barcelona, or spend a few nights in Girona. If it were me, I would be nervous about being in San Sebastian and Bilbao during the height of the rainy season. But everyone is different. I probably worry more than others about the weather. If it is rainy in Bilbao, there are museums you could visit. Not sure about San Sebastian. Haven't been to either of these 2 cities yet. But based on my experience visiting Madrid, Toledo, and Andalucia, that's where I would go in the spring. Of course, you never know about the weather, so perhaps this spring might be drier? You should check historical weather data.

Three nights in Barcelona as your first stop is really inadequate. The arrival day is often nothing more than a sleep-deprived, jetlagged haze. It's not the time tackle actual "sights" of the sort you must pay to enter. Yes, you can walk around the atmospheric Barri Gotic and other interesting neighborhoods; the question is whether you will remember having done so the next day!

Barcelona has many sights so popular that you must buy timed tickets (though you can sometimes throw in extra money and buy what I call a "wildcard ticket") in advance to avoid ticket lines that can easily run an hour or longer and leave you with no tickets because there's nothing left when you get up to the point of purchase. This situation makes Barcelona particularly difficult for blitz visitors. You just can't run from one sight to the next; you must guess ahead of time how long you will want to be at Sight A and how long it will take you to get to Sight B. (And how long will lunch take?) Those estimates generally need to be made before you've even set foot in Barcelona if you want to see those highly popular sights.

Unless you have no interest in the modernista architecture sights, I think Barcelona needs a minimum of four nights when it's your first stop, and even then you may not have a lot of time for just walking around and enjoying the city.

It's a shame to have the hassle of checking into a Barcelona hotel twice, at both the beginning and the end of the trip. It's always a difficult decision if you try to buy arrival-day train tickets in advance, because who knows when you'll actually get out of the airport. The usual advice is to wait to buy Day 1 train tickets until you arrive. That generally takes bargain tickets off the table as an option, because they are likely to be sold out long before departure day. However, if your first travel leg is fairly short (such as to Zaragoza), the price penalty of buying on arrival day would not be so great. There is, however, a possibility that the train you'd like to take will be sold out.

Travel to the Basque Country is rather slow from either Barcelona or Madrid, so it's going to eat up a good bit of your vacation. You could easily spend eleven nights in Barcelona and Madrid, or you could peal off a couple of nights for Girona and/or Toledo. Train time between Barcelona and Madrid is very short.

11 nights equals 10 days. That's not enough time to get up north. Like the other folks, I'd recommend either Andalucia (Sevilla/Cordoba) or Valencia. 2 night in Madrid gives you only one full day there. Or concentrate on Barcelona and Madrid, with day trips.