Itinerary for 8 days

Barcelona is a lively, very attractive city. I would certainly want to stay there more than two nights. I am not the best person to give you sightseeing ideas that would appeal to your children, but I'm sure others will have suggestions.

You could easily fill all your time with places in Catalunya, and if you're not interested in visiting Madrid or the surrounding cities like Toledo and Segovia on this trip, I'd probably stay in the northeast rather than spending the time to travel to and from a more distant destination. If you head to Seville, just as one example, you'll spend at least 5-1/2 hours on the AVE train, one-way, so you'll end up with one jet-lagged day (Day 1), five full days, and a few hours on your two remaining days. That's not a great deal of time to split between two major cities.

Thanks much. We will have 3 whole days in Barcelona! Was thinking we could take evening train out 3rd day! Is San Sebastian doable? Would the weather be ok there? Or should we go south and then fly back to Barcelona.

Nsingh, there are many, many interesting sites and things to do right in and around Barcelona, and you should get a good travel book to check out which would be of most interest to you and your family. Rick Steves Spain or Barcelona books are very good for that. In April 2016 I spent 9 days in Barcelona, including 3 day trips nearby in Catalunya, and I still didn’t get to some of the major sites and experiences. So I agree that there is no need to use up a lot of time traveling to more distant places, and then back, during quite a brief trip, especially if you have been in Madrid and are not excited about going back. My day trips included Girona/Figueres, Tarragona, and an excellent tour of Medieval Villages including Besalu, Rupit, and Tavernet. Another possible relatively-nearby city to go to for a few days would be Valencia, which I hear is great, but have not yet visited. Granada is much further to travel, but is the location of the Alhambra, the #1 site in all of Spain (which requires timed tickets to be arranged far in advance).

I spent several days each in San Sebastian and Bilbao in 2016. Both cities have attractive historic districts (Bilbao's being larger and less touristy). Unfortunately, the Basque Country is not quick to reach from Barcelona; the trip by train will take at least 7 hours unless you opt to depart very early (7:30 AM) or arrive rather late (9:10 PM), in which case you can do it in about 5-1/2 hours. Flying would be possible, but I hate hassling with airports in the middle of vacation.

The Basque Country is a particularly good option in mid-summer when central and southern Spain is often uncomfortably hot. When I visited in June, some of the folks in the sea were wearing wetsuits; many folks seemed to just be sitting or lying on the beach, trying to get some sun (on the sunny days, that is). Although it is unlikely to be bitterly cold in April, the month sees, on average, 14 rainy days. Go to wunderground.com, take a look at the actual day-by-day historical weather for the month of April in several recent years and see what you think.

Here a few sites to get you started:

http://www.barcelonaturisme.com/wv3/en/
http://www.infocatalonia.eu/
http://www.timeout.com/barcelona
http://lameva.barcelona.cat/en
http://www.barcelonaesmoltmes.cat/en/inici
http://patrimoni.gencat.cat/en/discover/search

You could spend 2-3 nights in Valencia.

Thanks so much for all your recommendations. I'll checkout the places you suggested near Barcelona,

If your 10 days includes arrival and departure days ...

1. Fly in to Barcelona, then on to Seville (3N)
2. Seville
3. Seville
4. Train to Cordoba for Mezquita, then late afternoon train to Granada (2N)
5. Granada (Alhambra)
6. Fly to Barcelona (4N)
7. Barcelona
8. Barcelona
9. Barcelona
10. Fly out of Barcelona

Thanks much David, I'll look into that option too!

For San Sebastian, better try to avoid lodging right over the ocean, it will be pretty chilly with the wind!

I would suggest flying between Barcelona and Seville and Barcelona and Granada. Flights are cheap and much faster.

Thanks All, trip is for 11 days, but taking 2 days off for travel. Thinking of flying to Seville the same day we land in Barcelona (3 nights/ 2 days) , and fly out of Granada(2 day) back to Barcelona (4 days). Ofcourse, subjective to flight availability.

Any recommendations for transfer between Seville and Granada? Maybe a car/ a guide?
Thanks.

Some idea of train timings on current timetable.

A) Direct ...
TRN13922
Dep 11:45 SEVILLA-SANTA JUSTA (Spain)
Arr 15:12 GRANADA (Spain)

B) With a stop in Cordoba on the way ...
1) AVE 3943
Dep 08:50 SEVILLA-SANTA JUSTA (Spain)
Arr 09:33 CORDOBA-CENTRAL (Spain)
Then later
2) ALT 9330
Dep 17:08 CORDOBA-CENTRAL (Spain)
Arr 17:53 ANTEQUERA-SANTA ANA (Spain)
3) TRN13077
Dep 18:11 ANTEQUERA-SANTA ANA (Spain)
Arr 19:45 GRANADA (Spain)

Thinking of flying to Seville the same day we land in Barcelona

Beware of the pitfalls of separating ticketing. If you book the Sevilla flight on its own, and you have a delay (let me count the ways . . . mechanical, weather, baggage claim to start) and miss the flight, neither airline is liable and you are on your own, without transportation and probably no possibility of a refund.

If you had the time, you could rent a car in Sevilla and spend a day or two exploring the white hill towns on the way to Granada, but you barely have time for 3 cities.