Malaga transportation

I'm not clear on how much time you have in Barcelona. It's worth a lot. Certainly more than Valencia for most people. Perhaps you have a special reason for spending 13 days in Valencia?

There are flights from Malaga to Valencia. For those, check skyscanner. Or there's the train via Madrid, for which check Renfe. I've taken a lot of buses in Spain, but that's not a good solution for this trip.

Between Madrid and Valencia on the AVE line is the very atmospheric town of Cuenca. It has an interesting historic district on a hill with hanging houses along a ravine and a couple of worthwhile small modern-art museums. There's enough there to fill about one full day, so you could spend two nights there, though it's a pretty short AVE trip from Valencia and could be squeezed into a day-trip if necessary. The AVE station is rather far from town; you'll need to catch a bus or a taxi into the center.

I loved Teruel but didn't spend the night because I couldn't find a reasonably priced hotel at the last minute. Teruel is fairly isolated and doesn't seem to get many foreign tourists. Nice historic district with several mudejar towers and some interesting early 20th century buildings. Worth an overnight. Zaragoza, the regional capital, is a larger city with another nice historic district (quite lively) and a nicely reconstored Moorish palace. Zaragoza's bus/train station is about a 30-minute walk from the historic center, with the palace about midway between the two. There's frequent city bus service from the station into the center. There's a tourist office on the top floor of the station. This part of Spain gets very hot in the summer. Teruel, at altitude, is not quite so bad.

There's train service from Valencia to Teruel, and it would be possible to travel Valencia - Teruel - Zaragoza - Barcelona. Rome2Rio.com indicates that there's a once-a-day Samar bus between Cuenca and Teruel, but with that limited a schedule, this might be a time to make the out-of-the-way detour to Malaga.

If you're going to have a car for part of your trip, you might research Albarracin, which is not too far west of Teruel (haven't checked how circuitous the road trip might be). It sounds like a very atmospheric hill town, but I haven't been there. It seems to be inaccessible by public transportation.

From Barcelona there are a lot of good day trips:

• Montserrat (see Enric's fairly recent detailed thread on this topic)
• Girona (fast train), with its lovely medieval district, two important churches, walkable wall, and very nice small museum. Worth a couple of nights, or more if you want a nice place to relax.
• Figueres and Cadaques for Dali sites (the second is actually outside Cadaques). Cadaques itself is a striking white coastal town dripping with bougainvillea.
• Sitges, a popular beach resort with an interesting museum or two. Not as physically striking as Cadaques.
• Besalu, a small interior town with a striking fortified bridge. Easier to visit from Girona than from Barcelona.

You didn't mention the timing of your trip. If it will be during the summer, you might appreciate some time in the Pyrenees. All the places I've mentioned are likely to be pretty warm in the summer, though Barcelona shouldn't be extremely hot.

Good and appreciated suggestions. We will be there from March 7- April 9 so not too worried about weather. Have you been to Malaga? Any don't miss suggestions? Thanks