Itinerary for 18days

Eleven cities spread over 18 days, and 1800+ miles of total travel. WOW

I think you need to reduce the number to 5 or 6. I cannot imagine how you could do any real touring or visiting of so many places in such a short time.

Meaning no malice, but it looks like an audition for "The Amazing Race"

I plotted your cities using google maps and it makes a real nice figure "8". Perhaps choose the top or bottom loop this trip and do the other on another trip.

Joe's right. That would be a memorable-in-a-bad-way tour of Spain's train and bus stations. You need to pick up a guide book to Spain and read about those cities. Jot down a list of the things you want to see and do in each one. Figure that it will take a minimum of 4 hours every time you change hotels; Bilbao/San Sebastian, Santiago de Compostela and Granada will take significantly longer. So simply getting to your 10 cities will cost you roughly five days of your trip. And your first day will likely be very jetlagged and pretty useless.

I haven't consulted train or bus schedules, but I think the trip could work if you drop the Basque cities and Santiago de Compostela. Keep them for your next trip and add Barcelona (if you haven't already been there) and some of the other interesting places in the north like Oviedo, Burgos and Leon.

This itinerary is quite busy with lots of moving about. I don't think Santiago de Compostela is possible, however.

1. Arrive Bilbao (2 nts)
2. Bilbao
3. Bus/train to San Sebastián (2 nts)
4. San Sebastián
5. Train to Salamanca (1 nt)
6. Train (via Madrid) to Toledo (2 nts)
7. Toledo
8. Train (via Madrid) to Granada (2 nts)
9. Alhambra
10. Train to Ronda (1 nt)
11. Train toSevilla (3 nts)
12. Sevilla
13. Sevilla
14. Train to Cordoba (2 nights)
15. Mezquita
16. Train to Madrid (3 nts)
17. Madrid
18. Day to Segovia
19. Depart Madrid

When are you planning to go? Madrid and Andalusia are pleasant in winter but broiling hot in summer, with temps over 100F not unusual. If you want to travel this summer, the north would be a better choice.

Seville's average high temperatures in July and August are over 100F. Those aren't the record highs, they are the averages.

If you do get to the Basque Country (not hot in summer except on rare occasions), you should take the bus between Bilbao and San Sebastian unless you're up for a very scenic train ride that takes 3 or 4 times as long. The two cities are close enough together that it wouldn't be crazy to spend all your nights in one of them and commute by bus. It would mean some extra transportation time but eliminate one hotel change (and allow time for your laundry to dry). I think there's more to do in Bilbao, but based on the number of tourists wandering around the two old quarters, not many people agree with me. Certainly San Sebastian has a lot more tourist-oriented bars and tapas joints.

Edited to add: Upon further reflection, I don't think my comment about the touristy food-and-beverage spots in San Sebastian was fair. I don't know that they are tourist-oriented, just that there are a lot of them in the historic district, an area swarming with tourists. It's possible that most of the customers are locals.

Thanks for all your feedback; very helpful.
To David in Brisbane (djp_syd):
Your suggested itinerary is interesting and am considering it. Do you think this is a bit too hectic and should I be adding a few more days?
We would be leaving for Spain in early September. How is the weather then?
Do you have any thoughts on the train/ bus transportation? Should we book ahead of time?
Again, thanks for the help.
Lakshmank

Always, always, always add more time if you can. There are so many great things to see in Spain's major cities, and it would be great not to have to run from place to place. You'll have a better trip with more time. In the unlikely event that you have time yo get tired of a particular place, there are always side-trop options.

When looking at train schedules for others, I sometimes see trains listed as sold out (it's happening tomorrow; don't kmow whether it's a Friday phenomenon or there's a holiday), but the main reason for buying long-distance rail tickets in advance is that you'll be able to snag non-refundable/non-changeable bargain tickets at about 1/3 the regular price. Obviously, you should only do this when you're absolutely certain what train you want to take. To see this pricing model in action, go to renfe.com, change the language to English by clicking on "Welcome" at fhe top and price a ticket from Madrid-Puerta de Atocha to Sevilla-Santa Justa for tomorrow. Now change the travel date to September 8. The promo fares can be as low as 41.20 euros, but those tickets sell out quickly. The full fare is at least 128.50 euros. Those fares are per-person, one-way, so you can see that a lot of money is on the line. The price variations only apply to the fast trains, not the locals.

I don't like locking down my schedule early, but it doesn't usually cost me much to be flexible, since I tend to travel from one small city to another on local trains or buses. The story is different for torists hopping from Barcelona to ro Madrid to Seville to Granada.

I believe I've seen some very good savings on round-trip tickets on local trains. Tnose don't have to be bought early.

It seems to me that there is some varuation in the priving of bus tickets, but I don't know whether it's planned in advance (8 AM buses costing more than 11:30 AM buses) or is demand-based. I've never seen huge price differences like what you can get on trains. Buses do sometimes sell out.

Wunderground.com is a good source for gor actual hour-by-hour temperatures over the past 20 or so years.

San Sebastián, Granada/Ronda, Madrid would all benefit from an extra night.
Buying long distance train tickets as soon as they are available means you can make substantial savings.
Starting in the north in early Sep and traveling southwards is good for you weather wise - into October is not as hot in Andalusia.