Looking for advice on 2 week Spain trip in the summer

I’d say skip Marbella- it’s a mid/late 20th century beach resort town and little (nothing?) more. Mostly famous for a bygone era of jet-set fabulousness, it’s high end, but not interesting.

Personally, I’d cut from the itinerary for a slower pace/deeper dive. After Madrid, Sevilla, and Barcelona, I’d prioritize Granada and Cordoba over Malaga or Valencia.

Thanks for the advice! Yeah that doesn’t sound too good, I haven’t really heard much about Marbella and was just looking at Hyatt points I can redeem. Would you recommend Granada and Cordoba over Mallorca as well?

Madrid and--especially--the inland Andalusian cities of Seville and Cordoba are likely to be very hot in June. If that's the only month you can travel, it's hard to recommend that you skip those highlight destinations, but June isn't usually the best month for them. Just be sure you're aware of the possible conditions.

Weather graph for Seville, June 2022: https://www.timeanddate.com/weather/spain/sevilla/historic?month=6&year=2022

Seather graph for Cordoba, June 2022: https://www.timeanddate.com/weather/spain/cordoba/historic?month=6&year=2022

As you can see, Seville had 7 days with high temperatures of at least 100F this June and Cordoba had 9. You can use the pull-down menu to check other years (always a good idea). Similar data is available for the other destinations; use the search box above the graph. Granada's typically somewhat cooler because of its altitude.

In addition to being just generally unpleasant, extreme heat tends to slow down one's sightseeing activities. Your time allotments for Seville and Barcelona are extremely short as it is. I'd drop Valencia for sure and probably also Malaga to allow more time for Seville and Barcelona as well as a full day (at least) in Cordoba. I think you'll find there are flights from Granada to Barcelona.

There are beaches near Barcelona.

Mallorca does have it’s own history as a real city and provincial capitol, but it’s also another haven for very wealthy Europeans, though generally more subdued and sophisticated than Marbella. I certainly don’t think it’s worth prioritizing over Granada or Cordoba (which I was just in. Like, 3 hours ago.)

There’s an upside to the heat that Acraven mentions- the way it forces you to slow down can be pleasant. That’s time for an sitting on a bar’s terrace for an espresso over ice (Or beer. Or vermouth.) and taking it all in. North Americans can be bad to slowing down, and sometimes the external factor can be an advantage.

We avoid the entire Costa Del Sol area. For us there are too many expats and we don’t go to Spain to hang out on the beach. It’s a good place to get fish & chips or bangers & mash. If that’s what you wanted to do, then Marbella is fine. To me, you have one to many days in Valencia and I’d add that day to Barcelona, but that’s just me.

Spain is a big country, you can't see it all at once lol! I'd drop Valencia and Barcelona as they are outliers, and add Cordoba and Granada, it will make much more logistical sense. So...

Fly in
Madrid - 3 nights
Sevilla - 4 nights
Cordoba - 2 nights
Granada - 2 nights
Malaga - 3 nights
Fly out

Alternatively you could do...

Fly in
Madrid - 3 nights
Valencia - 3 nights
Mallorca - 4 nights
Barcelona - 4 nights
Fly out

@acraven
We can travel practically any month other than April and the first half of May. I just have to spend some United flight credit I have by tomorrow and we narrowed down our options to Spain. My wife is set on having time to go to the beach and that's why we picked June, she feels that the water would be too cool in mid May. That's why I included Malaga since my cousin recommended it as a good beach destination so we could have some chill days at the beach.

@Scudder
My wife is really obsessed with Mallorca now after seeing stuff on Instagram and her friend telling her about it (even though she never went lol). It does look nice but I will try to find more for her to see on Grenada and Cordoba.

@jaimeelsabio
We are thinking about Malaga because my cousin recommended it to us as a good beach destination since my wife is looking forward to the beach. I agree with Valencia, we can do two nights there and 4 nights in Barcelona (I've done 4 nights in Barcelona before).

@Carlos
Yeah I agree, lol. I also thought about the second itinerary which is basically skipping the whole south for Mallorca which might be good. As for the first itinerary, I couldn't really find any flights with United from Malaga which sucks as I have over $800 credit to use with them (should've put that in my original post). So, I guess I'm basically stuck with flying in/out of either Madrid and Barcelona.

Supez: United is starting service to Malaga this summer, and has season service to Palma Dr Mallorca. From Newark. They aren’t daily services, which maybe is why they aren’t coming up for you…?

Oh I found some, I just had to change the dates since they are only offered 3 times a week or so.

What do you guys think about this updated itinerary? I know it's not as slow paced but I think it's still pretty doable. I cut Valencia out.

• June 9-10 -> NYC to Malaga (Land at 10am)
• June 10: Malaga
• June 11: Malaga
• June 12: Malaga -> Granada (Train)
• June 13: Granada
• June 14: Granada -> Sevilla
• June 15: Sevilla
• June 16: Sevilla
• June 17: Sevilla (Day trip to Cordoba)
• June 18: Sevilla -> Madrid
• June 19: Madrid
• June 20: Madrid
• June 21: Madrid -> Barcelona
• June 22: Barcelona
• June 23: Barcelona
• June 24: Barcelona
• June 25: Barcelona -> NYC

You are in luck, you will be in Barcelona on the night of June 23 with is the Festival of Sant Joan, one of our many crazy celebrations we have in Barcelona. There will be bonfires, fireworks, dancing and lots of revelry until dawn all in honour of the summer solstice. Make sure to try the Coca de Sant Joan, the traditional food of the day, which is kinda like a sweet pizza lol

@Carlos

That sounds awesome! We're gonna go with this one.

Thanks for all the help everyone

So, flying direct to Malaga is really costly and we can get flights to Madrid and back from Barcelona with points. So, we ended up settling on this itinerary (added an extra day).

• June 8-9 -> NYC to Madrid (Land in early morning)
• June 10: Madrid
• June 11: Madrid
• June 12: Madrid -> Sevilla (Train)
• June 13: Sevilla
• June 14: Sevilla
• June 15: Sevilla (Day trip to Cordoba)
• June 16: Sevilla -> Granada (Train)
• June 17: Granada
• June 18: Granada -> Malaga (Train)
• June 19: Malaga
• June 20: Malaga
• June 21: Malaga -> Barcelona (Flight)
• June 22: Barcelona
• June 23: Barcelona
• June 24: Barcelona
• June 25: Barcelona -> NYC

There's so much more to see in Seville than in Malaga (though the latter is definitely worth a visit) that I'd be inclined to transfer one night from Malaga to Seville. Otherwise, I don't see anything to quibble with. It's a shame to miss Toledo/Segovia/Salamanca/Cuenca near Madrid and Girona near Barcelona, but you can't see everything in Spain in 2-1/2 weeks. You'll have a good reason to return at some point and pick up some of the places you've missed as well as revisit the spots you especially liked.

If your wife wants a beach, there are some OK ones in Barcelona and some very good ones within 30 minutes. I would much rather add time to Barcelona (or spend 2 nights in the likes of Sitges) to allow for beach time, than spend several days in out-of-the-way Málaga.

@acraven

I agree with the Sevilla and Malaga part from further research though Malaga may be a better place to relax a bit on the beach. There is so much to see in Spain! We are also interested in seeing the North near San Sebastian, the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands and more on future trips.

@balso
Isn't Barcelona the only out of the way destination since we're in the south? Grenada and Malaga are fairly close to each other.

I don’t think the beaches in Malaga are that inspiring. They’re city beaches. I haven’t been to Marbella but many people love it for an upmarket beach holiday. Interestingly, Marbella is also the centre of the European drug trade which brings a lot of flashy cars etc to the area.

@Helen

I agree about Malaga's beaches, we actually ended up booking Mallorca instead for a more special beach portion of the trip (had to even add another day!). 17 nights is a very long trip but should be fun :)

• 3 nights Madrid
• 4 nights Seville (1 day trip to Cordoba)
• 2 nights Granada
• 4 nights Mallorca
• 4 nights Barcelona