Itinterary assistance for Spain

With 12 days in Spain, you can comfortably see San Sebastían, Barcelona, and Madrid. San Sebastían, along with the rest of the Basque Country has an excellent wine culture, called Txacoli. San Sebastían also has some of the best food in Spain, albeit expensive, with all the Michelin starred restaurants. There, you'll find excellent seafood, as well as a gorgeous backdrop. You'll have temperatures in the low 70's, which will be very pleasant.

If you're into wine, don't worry about Bilbao, and go to Logroño in La Rioja. La Rioja is the home of Ribera del Duero, an excellent red, and also home to the namesake of Spanish wine. Tours are fairly cheap, and easy to do. Andalucía is home to sherry (Jerez) and Montilla-Moriles wine as well as excellent meat and olive oil, but is a long trip from the north. You could go Madrid-San Sebastián-Logroño-Barcelona easily in 12 days. Madrid will be a good mix of culture, food, and wine, and Barcelona has excellent seafood. In Madrid, make sure to try Cochinillo Asado (suckling pig) and try to get some Jamón Ibérico de Bellota Cinco Jotas, it's the highest quality.

Andalucía itself could be a whole other 12 day trip, seeing Sevilla, Granada, and Córdoba, with wine stops in Moriles (Córdoba) and Sanlúcar/Jerez (Cádiz). There, you can also tour olive oil factories, and be close to the best Jamón in Spain (Pedroches).

It sounds like you need more assistance than some quick suggestions from the forum. For in-depth, one-on-one trip-planning assistance, please consider a personalized consultation with one of our experienced travel consultants. We can help tailor your trip to your specific interests, budget and time (but please note that, as we are not a travel agency, we do not book any hotels, flights or car rentals). Our fee is $50 per half-hour for in-person consultations and $75 per half-hour by phone—we charge more for the phone consultations because your consultant will spend time before the appointment looking over your itinerary, which you e-mail to them after we schedule your consultation. If you are a registered Tour Member for the current year, we offer this service at 50% off as a tour benefit. You can find more information about the consultation service at:
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Our good friends utilized the RS consultant and rave about the value added to their trip as a result of using this expertise. No, I get nothing for the endorsement. Coincidentally they planned a trip with Spain and France as their destinations.

Thank you aagrych, just the kind of response needed, thanks again. May I lean on you in future planning?

Thank you wonderful, for your response and the info link. Yes, to using local transport or tours when needed.

Sundance - absolutely. If you need more assistance, feel free to send a PM whenever.

I too would recommend against trying to do Andalucía on this trip. But you could do Basque region (yes, do stop in Bilbao), then Madrid. You could easily take the AVE to Valencia for a couple of days, then up the coast to Barcelona. An overnight stop in Tarragona is a good idea on the way to Barcelona. That would make for a good 12 day trip.

Thank you Douglas for your good recommendations. Can you rec any accommodations for Valencia or other places mentioned?