Itinerary Advice / Suggestions

If you’ve never been to any of those cities, I think you have the number of nights about right. I’d leave Barcelona for a separate trip as it merits more than 4 nights. For me, since I use rental cars, the wild card is with the public transportation. I’ll leave it to others who have used it, to comment on how easy it is to get to the places you want to visit.

The public transport is fairly easy, though I believe you have to backtrack to Madrid for Toldeo at least. Check renfe.
Andalucia is so lovely in May--I'd also stick with this and save BCN for a return visit.

Looks good to me, I agree you could potentially add Barcelona for 4 nights in the end, it just depends on how "in depth" you want your trip, but it should not disrupt/rush your current itinerary. Salamanca and Ronda are not essential, but do make for nice add-ons.

I think that’s a great itinerary actually. I’ve been everywhere on this list except Salamanca, and I wouldn’t change a night. You’ve got it just right.

Barcelona has its ardent admirers, and rightfully so. However, a common comment or criticism is that it’s a big, bustling city. Even Madrid has a more compact, comfortable tourist-accessible center. I think you’ll enjoy the authenticity and character of places like Ronda and Salamanca instead. Just an opinion.

GregP, I like your original itinerary, flying in and out of Madrid, and the amount of time you allocate for each stop seems reasonable. I have been to all of those places on your list using public transportation, except Ronda, so I can't speak to getting there. Busses in Spain are very convenient and comfortable so please consider both train and bus when looking for your transportation options. Try to include a daytrip to Segovia using one of your Madrid days.

As others have said, I would also save Barcelona and surrounding areas for a future trip with more time, unless you think that you will not return to Spain for a long time. Barcelona would certainly fit all your interests. Then your plan B, switching out Ronda and Salamanca for Barcelona is certainly doable, flying into/out of Barcelona and Madrid.

May I suggest an Option C? I have been to Spain many times. I would personally drop Salamanca and a day from Madrid and add those three days on to Andalucía. I like Salamanca and I have been there twice but I like Andalucía (and Extremadura) even more. Given your interest in art, architecture and photography, take a look at these two absolutely beautiful little Andalucian towns, Baeza and Ùbeda. They would fit in your general route between Granada and Córdoba. These two neighboring towns are surrounded by millions of olive trees in the Guadalquivir River Valley. Scenery is gorgeous. Both towns have beautiful Renaissance buildings, churches and palaces with very compact, fascinating historical centers filled with narrow little streets and alleyways. Both are UNESCO World Heritage sites. Both seem to be off the foreign tourist radar. We got there by train to the Linares station and then took a taxi over to Baeza where we stayed for three nights. We took the public bus to Úbeda (a very short ride) and spent a day there. Both towns were great.

No matter what you choose, there are no bad options. Enjoy Spain.

Thank you for all your advice. We usually stay in each location longer than the 3-4 days that I have scheduled for this trip. I plan to finalize my lodging for the first 4 nights in Seville and the last 4 nights in Madrid / Barcelona soon - leaving the rest of my time open to allow some flexibility in case I chose to stay longer than currently planned in a location. Would this be a mistake? Would last minute lodging choices be very limited?

I'd definitely want to have some kind of booking app on my phone for expediency. It's a popular time of year--I'm too picky to wing it that way.

I thought that Ronda was very pretty but 3/4 of a day was more than enough. I also think that you have more time than you need for Granada and I think you will be happy with that amount of time in Cordoba. You could visit Ronda on your way to Granada or from Granada. Barcelona is lovely, I could spend a week there. You could save it for another trip or get a taste of it on this trip. I think you could eliminate Salamanca, and perhaps some days from Ronda, Granada and Madrid and see some of Barcelona. I would want to fly into Madrid and out of Barcelona. In the end, you have a pretty solid trip planned and whatever you decide will make for a great time. That said, I haven't been to Salamanca though have plans to visit at some point. If you think you might get to Portugal or have plans to go to that part of Spain on another trip, you could save it.

Feria de Sevilla is from April 28 to May 3. Feria del Caballo in Jerez is May 9-17. May is a popular time for festivals in Andalucia. You can avoid them (high season rates, crowds) or embrace them.

I havent been to Salamanca. Toledo is on a rail spur line, so you have to change trains in Madrid to get there, well worth 2 nights. I'm on the fence about Ronda because it's a schlep to get there. 2N gives you one full day, plenty of time for the highlights and more. There are some quirky museums that I enjoyed. If you think this is your only trip to Andalucia, save Barcelona for another time, when you can spend 2-3 weeks in that part of the country.

If you are allowing 1.5-2 days in Madrid for the art museums, 4N is good, otherwise 1 or 2 too many.

I travel to embrace the local culture. Unfortunately, we will miss Feria de Sevilla but won't miss the Cordoba courtyards festival. We would not miss the museums in Madrid. Prado was the reason we started planning this trip.

My wife and I are 60. We have spent 4-6 weeks a year traveling for the past 30 years. This, however, is our first trip to Spain - a "highlights" tour. I would like to minimize travel time. I found fast train connections everywhere except Seville - Ronda - Granada. current plans are Seville - Ronda by bus and Ronda - Granada by local train. Would renting a car for this leg of the journey be a better option?

Greg, We rented a car from the Sevilla Santa Justa station and drove through the white villages stopping at Arcos de la Frontera and stayed at Grazelema and day tripped to Zahara and Ronda. I think you would enjoy the drive to Ronda, perhaps stopping at one or more of the villages. Sentinel is close to Ronda so if you find you have extra time in Ronda that would make a nice little trip. You'd have to find a place to stay in Ronda that has parking. We returned the car at the Granada train station. You would be driving through mountains and it is quite pretty. A car offers you flexibility and makes sense for that piece of your trip. The village roads can be tight. If you do rent a car I'd recommend full coverage insurance.

Yes, a car is an excellent idea. Pick it up when you leave Sevilla and drop it when you get to Granada. I'd go through Arcos to Ronda. Park at the bottom of the town in the large lot and walk up or take the free shuttle. The RS book has a self-guided walking tour. You can use your full day in Ronda to see its sights or you can use part of it to explore some of the hill towns. On the way to Granada you can stop at the prehistoric dolmens at the base of Antequera (closed on Mondays). You could also stop for a hike in El Torcal. Or you could see more hill towns or more of Ronda. The drive from Antequera to Granada is on a modern divided highway, so it's easy. GPS will be useful getting out of Sevilla and into Granada.