We're visiting Barc, Mad, Toledo, Sev, Cordoba, Gran and Ronda in mid to late October. Will in on the ground in Spain for 14 days. Prefer to fly into Mad and out of Barc OR vice versa. Plan to use public transportation except in south where we'll rent a car among Sev, Cordoba, Gran and Ronda [not neccesarily that order but strongly prefer to pick up and drop off car in same city]. Having challenges determining the order of the trip and most effiecient/logoical modes of travel. Currently considering Bar to Seville via train. Then in Seville, rent a car and head to Cordoba, Gran, Ronda and back to Seville over about five days. From Seville, take the train to Toledo for a night and spend the rest of the trip in Madrid. Instead of a car rental, are day trips a to the smaller towns a better choice? I realize we're starting in the north, swinging far south, and then going to central Spain for Madrid. Welcome suggestions for how to best organize this trip while avoiding too many one night stays. TIA!
Posted by
below Canada / above Mexico
358 posts
In 2023 my wife and I spent 11 nights in Spain, visiting (in order) Seville (3 nights), Ronda (2), Granada (2), Cordoba (1), and Madrid (3). We used a car for the Seville-->Ronda-->Granada route, making some stops during the drives. Details are in our trip report: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/trip-report-spain-aug-sep-seville-ronda-granada-cordoba-madrid
Posted by
Salem, Oregon, USA
3890 posts
Did you look at the suggested itinerary here? https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/spain/itinerary Or the one used on the RS tour? https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/spain/best-spain-tour
You might want to fully spell out the names of the cities so people know exactly where you want to go.
Posted by
Mid-Atlantic area
8531 posts
Seven cities in 14 days, excluding Toledo, doesn’t leave much time to see anything and that’s not even taking travel time into consideration.
Write down what you want to see in each place and how much time you think you’ll spend at each site. That will provide a better idea of how much time you’ll need in each city. My guess is there’s more that you want to see than you have time for. Your plan could work, but you may end up thinking you shortchanged yourself.
Posted by
Irving
3558 posts
How many nights is 14 days?
Granada and Sevilla also have airports so you can include these cities in your multi-city search when booking flights. For example, you can fly into Granada and out of Barcelona (or fly into Barcelona and out of Granada).
If you fly into Barcelona and out of Madrid, you’ll lose a day getting from Barcelona to Granada. You may want to fly between the two cities since there are affordable nonstop flights that service this market.
Another suggestion is to take a day trip from Sevilla to Cordoba since it’s a direct one-hour train ride. Changing locations take time and day trips are simpler than settling into a new place.
The same with Madrid. Don’t sleep in Toledo since the only direct trains are from Madrid. Instead, take a direct train from Madrid to Toledo for the day (1h 15m). Besides, Toledo shuts down when the day trippers leave.
Posted by
Washington, DC USA
910 posts
If you could fly into Barcelona and out of Seville (the greatest distance), or vice versa, then the rest of your travel could proceed more efficiently, I think. Toledo could be a day trip from Madrid. For Barcelona, Mardrid, Cordoba, Granada and Seville, trains might be faster than renting a car. I agree that all 7 cities is more than I would do in 14 days I have not been to Ronda; I would be hard pressed to recommend cutting any of the others.