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January Itinerary - Please poke holes

Ok, so we're heading to Spain for 17 days in January. I'd love for you all to poke holes, suggest some gems, agree, disagree and most of all pass along your best advice. Our priorities, like most RS travellers are History, Art, Food. We prefer to savour our time in most places although with just under 3 weeks (17 nights in Spain, 2 travel days)we will have to hurry (a little bit). Anyways... looking forward to your comments.

January 8 -Arrive in Barcelona from Canada
January 9 - Barcelona
January 10- Barcelona
January 11 - Barcelona
January 12 - Barcelona

We want to head to Montserrat as a day trip...

January 13 - Madrid
January 14 - Madrid
*We'd love to see Toledo but don't know if we'd be forcing it to pop over for a day? Maybe allocating a third night in Madrid and less in Barcelona or spending one night in Toledo? Gah, so much to see.

January 15 - Sevilla
January 16 - Sevilla
January 17- Sevilla
January 18 - Sevilla

January 19 - Cordoba
January 20 - Cordoba

Note: Before heading back to Barcelona we'd like to allocate a few nights to see more in the area. We've talked ad nauseum about Granada and would love to go but it seems far out of the way of every place on our trip without great transportation options? Suggestions here would be great. Would trying to do the 21-23 in Granada be too rushed? Or is it worth it? I'm not asking if Granada is worth it as a city as we all know it's amazing but more asking about if it's too rushed and will end up creating an experience that is a net negative.

Other city options... Cadiz?

January 24 - Barcelona (fly out next morning)

Anyway, we haven't booked any hotels etc yet so nothing is in stone so we'd love your suggestions. Thank you!!

Posted by
530 posts

If this is your first trip to Spain, will it be your only trip?
Also, you said three weeks but actually you have 15 nights in Spain. So you are trying to fit in a lot. You won't have much time in Madrid
However, if you don't plan on returning I'd include Granada for the Alhambra even if it is a rush. It's unique.
This is what we did on a longish trip last January but we had already spent a week in Granada a few years ago
https://slowtravelitalyspain.blogspot.com/2025/05/spain-in-winter-madrid-toledo-sevilla.html?m=1

Posted by
8540 posts

Could you fly back home through Sevilla, Granada, or Malaga? In other words, purchase a one reservation multi-city ticket, so you don’t spend a day going all of the way back to Barcelona.

I would reverse the order of Cordoba & Sevilla. I like Cordoba, but I love Sevilla, so I prefer that progression going south. I will add the link to my 3 trips to Spain just for some possible helpful ideas.

Have a great time!

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/a-widow-s-trip-southern-spain-february-trip-report

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/feb-2024-3-week-southern-spain-trip-report

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/1st-time-to-spain-trip-report

Posted by
108 posts

Hi Jean. Yes, I see your point about flipping Seville and Cordoba. Flights are booked but I could look into it.

Tinac, it's our 3rd time to Spain. We've been to Barcelona 2x, Madrid 1x, Valencia 1x, Mallorca 1x for 3 weeks. It's actually 17 days as I didn't include the 2 days flying. 19 all together.

Posted by
93 posts

You've been to Madrid twice. Is there something specific you plan to do there? Eliminate that stay and you have plenty of time for Granada. Make sure you book the Alhambra tickets early!