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Itinerary Critiques/Suggestions?

Hey all,

First time visitor to Spain here. Early 20s American Male traveling solo. I'd describe my Spanish as semi-conversational; a secondary goal of this trip, besides seeing the country, is improving my Spanish. I plan on going for a few weeks this August. I've been working on a loose itinerary, but I'd like to run it by some people here to make sure it all makes sense and I'm not overextending myself or spending too much time in transit. I'm also aware August is very hot and crowded in Spain, but there's no other time that really makes sense for my personal conditions.

I'm considering cutting Granada to cut costs and avoid travel fatigue, but the Alhambra and the food seems too good to not at least stay for a couple of days.

Ideally I'd keep the budget <$3k USD. I plan on staying in dorms and hostels, and primarily flying around and taking buses. Please let me know if there's any must-sees where I'm going, and if there's anything that you see here that stands out, i.e. bouncing around too many locations in the country, or spending too little time in a particular city. I'd like to not overbook myself, so I don't plan on pre-booking much aside from transport and lodging, maybe some tickets for sites that would ordinarily have long lines.

8/3: Depart hometown
8/4: Fly into Barcelona
8/5: Barcelona
8/6: Barcelona
8/7: Barcelona
8/8: Barcelona
8/9: Depart Barcelona for San Sebastian via bus
8/10: San Sebastian
8/11: Depart San Sebastian for Bilbao via train
8/12: Bilbao
8/13: Bilbao
8/14: Bilbao to Granada via plane
8/15: Granada
8/16: Granada
8/17: Granada to Madrid via plane
8/18: Madrid
8/19: Madrid
8/20: Madrid
8/21: Madrid
8/22: Leave Madrid for home

Thanks all for your time.

Posted by
1056 posts

Bus is the logical option from Donostia/San Sebastián to Bilbao, not the train. Spain offers a very wide variety of climates, the north is rainy and cool (think of Seattle weather).

Posted by
10042 posts

You didn't mention my two favorite places in Spain:
Seville and Toledo

Toledo was the capital of Castile and Spain 500 years ago when it was moved to Madrid. It is special, you can do a day trip from Madrid, but expect to spend a full day there.

Segovia is another city close to Madrid that deserves a day trip. It has an intact 1800 year old Roman aqueduct.
I suggest you could cut one day from Barcelona, another day from Granada and another from Madrid. Spend three days in Seville.
Also, if you want to see Cordoba, do it when traveling from Seville to Madrid.

From Barcelona consider a day trip on the train to Monserrat. Go early