Madrid and Barcelona vs Madrid, Seville, Barcelona?

My husband and I have been to Spain twice. If you can, I would try to fit in Seville. It is one of the most beautiful cities in Spain. If you go, be sure to see a Flamenco performance. You will love traveling in Spain. My husband really enjoyed going to the soccer complex in Barcelona.

I love Seville but you don’t have enough time. I would give Madrid more time than Barcelona.

And there you have it: I don't find Madrid all that interesting except for the art-related sights, but I love Barcelona. We're all different. Madrid has great side-trips, though, including Toledo with its Mudejar architecture. But you don't have a lot of time, even for side-trips.

I think it pretty much comes down to how much time you want in Madrid, and you're the best judge of that. You need to dig into the sightseing section of your guidebook.

My opinion of your 3 city choices is that Seville is most interesting, followed by Barcelona, then Madrid.

The art museums in Madrid are excellent. I’m not really into palaces so that’s not a factor to me, but Madrid’s is very interesting. I like architecture (modern and historic) and find the other two cities more interesting to walk and observe buildings and street life. Madrid is a newer city (by European standards) so doesn’t have the old town area like in the others, and it doesn’t have the creative modernism of Barcelona. As for food - it’s good in all 3 so not really a draw to any one particular area.

Honestly, I would skip Madrid entirely, go to Seville after landing, then to Barcelona. 3-4 nights Seville, the rest in Barcelona.

But that’s really up to you. Look at pictures, watch tv shows on all 3 and see what draws you. As you can see it’s very subjective.

Harrison
My wife and I just spent 3 weeks in Spain.
We flew into Madrid and spent 6 nights there. It is a fun vibrant city with incredible Museums that are a must to see. We stayed near Porta del Sol and the Plaza Mayor. The location we stayed made difference since it was so pedestrian and lively . It was exciting and a worthy city to enjoy. We took a 6 hour trip to Toledo and the cathedral has amazing elements and art to see.
We took the Ave train to Seville where we spent 7 nights. Seville has so much to see and explore. in my opinion Roman antiquities are as abundant and as incredible as anywhere. the Archeological Museum of Seville is world class and outstanding in Antiquities and mosaics. We stayed in the old town near the Seville cathedral which is magical at all times.
We then took AVE train to Barcelona 5-1/2 hours.
Then 7 nights in Barcelona Barcelona is an easy city to navigate especially using the efficient metro system. Again lots to explore and see. Sagrada Familia is much more amazing in person than in photos. reserve a tower tour which was memorable well worth doing. The Gothic quarter is lively and its history walk via Rick Steves book is easy and memorable and a beautiful part of town.
We used Airbnb in each city in Spain and couldn't have been happier. Large Apartments with full kitchens and Living rooms. We were on the go and 9 am to 11 pm and it was nice to have big place to come back to and relax. My fist time using Airbnb and I loved it. in Barcelona we stayed in Eixample and it is a family neighborhood with many cafes and park benches with easy access to the main sites areas either ten minute walk or ten minute metro ride. Download Barcelona metro map app was really helpful. google maps offline is excellent also.
Our fist time to Spain and it is a fun wonderful country with very nice and helpful people. I spoke very little Spanish and my experience was that they don't speak much English. I enjoyed that since you become immersed in Spanish culture...Great time..
Spain is full of amazing art museums and 2000 years of history. dinner starts at 8:30 pm so expect to eat later.
Dont rush your trip. spend 3 or 4 days in Madrid and 4 or 5 days in Barcelona. You will really enjoy both of those cities and have great memories. Take the Ave train to Barcelona very easy and fast 2 or 3 hours.

These decisions are of course yours to make after considering all the options from my wonderful co contributors, and matching them up with your interests.

As for me, I would suggest leaving Andalusia for a more in depth future visit. Zaragoza makes a nice contrast to Madrid and Barcelona, and is an easy stop between the two.

Day
1. Arrive Madrid (4N)
2. Madrid
3. Day trip to Toledo
4. Madrid
5. Early morning train to Zaragoza (1N)
6. Early evening train to Barcelona (4N)
7.8.9. Barcelona
10. Depart Barcelona

It's hard to make a wrong choice, but Seville is loaded with good affordable food, and culture. I would squeeze in Seville if I were you.

Hopefully, this won't be your only trip to Spain - you can spend more time in Madrid on your next trip.

As you can tell, there are many differing opinions. With only 8 days, and this being your first trip to Spain, I’d stick to two cities. While Sevilla is beautiful, it would be a shame to use a day of limited vacation time going to/from Sevilla. If you get to Madrid and find out you have time for a day trip, then as acraven said, go to Toledo or Segovia.

Thanks for the responses so far!

Since I haven't officially bought the plane tickets yet, I guess there is a 3rd option : Fly in and out of Madrid. See Madrid, Seville, and Granada. Save Barcelona for another trip?

Geographically, you could do that, but do take a look at day-by-day weather stats for your September timeframe in recent years. You may find that it is likely still to be extremely hot in southern Spain. I use wunderground.com. Enter Seville, then choose History and Monthly and select September 2017. You can scroll down for daily details. Repeat for September 2016, 2015, etc. Madrid and the surrounding spots are also likely to be quite warm, but probably not as bad as Andalucia. I think Barcelona typically is a bit cooler at that time of year, but if it is humid when you're there, I'm not sure it will feel all that much cooler. So it's really Andalucia you should check on.

Andalusia alone, with Barcelona left for another time ... also a good way to go.

Day
1. Arrive Madrid. Train to Sevilla (4N)
2. Sevilla
3. Day trip to Cordoba for the Mezquita
4. Sevilla
5. Train to Granada (2N)
6. Visit the Alhambra
7. Train to Madrid (3N)
8. Madrid
9. Day trip to Toledo
10. Depart Madrid

Thank you all so much for the information.

Finally got a chance to sit down and talk to my wife about all of the details. And I think we're going to go a completely different direction. At this point in our life, our priorities are food and then beaches. So we've decided to do San Sebastian and Barcelona. We'll have time to slow down and appreciate history and monuments later in life hopefully.

So with that in mind, this is what we are thinking: Fly into Bilbao (land 9/10) and out of Barcelona (flight on 9/19). So what's the best way to organize this? Go straight to SS from Bilbao, or is it worth spending a night or two there?

Thanks again!

I liked Bilbao a lot--more than San Sebastisn, actually, not being a bar-hopper. The Guggenheim isn't the only good museum in Bilbao, and it has a larger historic district than S.S. Wandering around Bilbao's Casco Viejo is something you could do on your arrival day.

However, it's a longish trip from San Sebastian to Barcelona, which has many days' worth of sights of its own. It will be a challenge to divvy up your time.

One thing to keep in mind is that there is no guarantee of warm beach weather in San Sebastian. There weren't a lot of people actually in the water during my June 2016 visit. It is one impressive beach, though.

Thanks for the response.

It seems like Bilbao is worth spending at least a day in. Is it possible to take a day trip or two from SS to any nearby basque towns? We were honestly thinking to just fly from SS to Barcelona, although it seems like we would be missing out on a great road trip.

September
10. Arrive Bilbao (2N)
11. Bilbao
12. Bus to San Sebastián (3N)
13. San Sebastián
14. Day trip to Hondarribia
15. Fly or train to Barcelona (4N)
16. Barcelona
17. Barcelona
18. Barcelona
19. Depart Barcelona

I'd concur about Hondarribia, the most visually interesting day-trip I took. The other side-trips I did were Bermeo by train from Bilbao (extremely quiet on a rainy day; I may have hit the siesta period) and Zarautz/Getaria/Zumaia by train and bus from San Sebastian. Hondarribia is the largest place I've mentioned. The others are quite small and wouldn't take long to see.

As David indicated, the way to travel between Bilbao and San Sebastian is by bus, not train, unless you are under no time pressure at all.

I approached the Basque Country from the south and exited it to the west, so I have no idea what the scenery is like in the direction of Barcelona. The Basque Country itself is very pretty, at least the parts I saw.

I should perhaps mention that I liked the interior capital of Vitoria-Gasteiz a great deal even though I had a very rainy day there. But it's not a super quick place to visit, and I think your time is going to be tight.

At about 6 hours, and with morning and evening direct services, I would probably choose the train from San Sebastián to Barcelona.

Thank you again for all of this great information.

2 nights in Bilbao, 3 in San Sebastian, and 4 in Barcelona sounds great. Hondarribia looks like a great day trip.

Interesting that you suggest the train over flying, as I had expected flying to be the best way to use time. However, I imagine getting to the airport, security, etc. is always less than ideal. Plus seeing some of the country side would be nice.