My Way tour

First - are you sure you can get tickets? Next - do you have more than 11 days for your trip?

I found it very easy to travel by train independently. It's not difficult to plan that itinerary, though I would probably not spend a night in Ronda if I only had 10 nights to work with.

Hi Rebcat,

I don't know of any other companies offering a similar tour to our My Way tours, but as Chani suggested, it would be fairly easy to do this on your own, especially if you skip Ronda. I suggest a slight alteration in the route for ease of travel and time.
Start in Barcelona, then fly to Granada (Vueling airlines has inexpensive flights if booked ahead, see www.skyscanner.com for options). Spend a few days in Granada, then take the train or bus to Sevilla for a few nights. Then train to Toledo (via Madrid) for a night or two, then train back to Madrid for your last few days, flying home from there.

You can use the Spanish national rail website for finding schedules and booking tickets - www.renfe.com. Schedules are currently only loaded until early December, but they rarely change much. You can use the site to get an idea of schedules and ticket prices. Tickets for purchase are usually available 60 days ahead. Other travelers have reported issues buying tickets through Renfe with an American credit card. The easiest way I have found around this is to use PayPal, which is an option on the Renfe site. You can also just wait until you are in Spain and buy them at any train station or travel agency, maybe during your first few days in Barcelona. The flight should be booked ahead to get the best price and I'd book hotels ahead as well. Rick's Spain guidebook will give you everything you need to know to do this yourself - hotels, restaurants, details on sights, etc.

Just some additions to Rich's excellent post.

To learn how to book on the Renfe site, you can't beat the help file on TripAdvisor: http://tinyurl.com/cu48wk5

If you don't use PayPal to buy tickets on the Renfe site, your transaction most likely won't work. Save time and stress - just use PayPal from the start (set it up before you go to the Renfe site, so it's all ready).

If you are following Rich's advice to go from Seville to Toledo, you will indeed have to change in Madrid. Two wrinkles I learned about this:

1) For my trip, Renfe didn't show all schedules for connections in Madrid. Instead, look at schedules on Bahn (German Rail) website http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en, following Rick's tutorial: http://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/transportation/trains/online-schedules. If you want to take a connection that won't book as one ticket on Renfe (like I did), book it as two separate tickets - Seville to Madrid, and Madrid to Toledo. Round trip on this last route saves a few euros over two one ways, so you may want to do this anyway - book Seville to Madrid one-way, then Madrid to Toledo round trip. Just triple-check your dates before booking.

2) You have to go through security to get to the tracks for fast trains in Spain, and at Atocha station, there are two levels of tracks. Trains to Toledo use the lower level of Atocha station; trains to Barcelona use the upper level; I don't remember which level trains to Seville use. If you have to change levels, don't leave the secure area. Instead, ask for the elevator connecting the two levels within their secure areas (it's near the high number tracks). This way, you don't have to go through security again, and you also won't have to find your way through the confusing station.

You're right, figuring out these logistics can be tricky. When I bought my train tickets, I initially thought "that wasn't too hard." Then I realized that, in one way or another, it had taken FIVE websites to make it "easy" - Rick Steves, TripAdvisor, Bahn, PayPal, and Renfe! So, don't hesitate to come here for more assistance. That's what's different in the age of the Internet - you don't have to figure out things alone.

Good advice from Rich and Harold. I would add that the main reason for buying train tickets in advance is the truly huge savings, well worth the time you'll invest and the possible frustrations you'll encounter. The actual travel is pretty simple and the trains are very comfortable. It's usually easier to take a taxi from the train station to your hotel rather than try to figure out the logistics of local transport. Taxis are not expensive.

I am in Ronda right now staying on the gorge and our hotel room window and balcony look over the gorge,I would definitely include Ronda on a trip to Spain,absolutely breathtaking.
Mike

Choose 'Spain My Way' either May 26–Jun 5 or Jun 23–Jul 3
https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/spain-portugal/my-way-spain

UEFA Euro 2016 is being hosted by France, 10 June – 10 July 2016.
Try and get some tickets for international matches, either before or after your tour.
http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro/finals/ticketing/