Planning Spain in October - Barcelona, Granada, Sevilla, Toledo, Madrid

I recommend taking a look at the My Way Spain. We went to all of these places, plus Rhonda when we went on the 11 day tour. I know they plan a day trip from Madrid to Toledo now, but we spent the night (2 nts. Madrid, 1 Toledo). The itinerary will give you an idea of how many nights to spend in each city. I will say break down of nights was enough to get a taste of each city. Looking back I wish we had more time in Madrid and cooler weather in Sevilla. Hopefully, October will give you the latter.

Excellent suggestion, Mollie. I was not familiar with Rick's My Way. Thank you!!

You can physically get yourselves to those places within ten days, but you'll have precious little time to enjoy them. How many nights will you be able to spend in Spain?

The arrival day tends to be so jetlagged that I don't count it when figuring out how many nights I want in each city.

To me, the minimums would be 4 nights in Barcelona, 3 nights in Madrid plus 1 extra for the day-trip to Toledo, 3 nights in Seville, and 2 nights in Granada. Granada's a significant problem, because it doesn't yet have fast AVE train connections. Getting to and from Granada takes extra time, so just spending two nights there will not allow much time beyond what you need for the Alhambra. As you can see, my minimums add up to a lot more than 10 nights, and if you're big art fans and want to really take in the three major museums in Madrid, you'd need an extra day there.

I think you'd have a much nicer trip if you just included Barcelona, Madrid and Toledo.

We could push it another night or two. What about flights vs trains?

Looking at the following starting in Barcelona:
Day 1 - travel
Day 2 - arr in Barcelona
Day 3 - Barcelona
Day 4 - Barcelona (3N)
Day 5 - train for fly to Seville
Day 6 - Seville
Day 7 - Seville (3N)
Day 8 - bus to Granada
Day 9 - Granada (2N)
Day 10 - fly to Madrid
Day 11 - Madrid
Day 12 - day trip to Toledo (3N)
Day 13 - fly home

I am doing similar - but in twice the number of days. That being said, I know people only have so much time to travel. Your itinerary looks doable but I might suggest to take the train Granada to Madrid, as similar time when you take in consideration of all the airport early arrival, security, etc. But the advantage is you arrive 'in' Madrid rather that at the airport. Atocha station is near all the museums and might be a good place to consider staying for ease of access to sights and train to and from Toledo. If you have an interest in art, Madrid could take up all time available. (don't let the comments about train construction to Granada put you off. They take care of all the arrangements and it is seamless)
You will need to be very strategic on every day's itinerary and pre purchase all entry tickets to expedite things.
You also need to know where you are going to be on a Monday or Sunday as many things are closed on Monday and Sunday has short admission hours.

Also, are there stat holidays or saint days you need to take into consideration? Spain seems to have more Autumn holidays that here, and saint days may be fun to watch, but they mean churches may be closed for preparation, or traffic is blocked when you need to get to a timed place. I read a very amusing blog on just these travel impediments.

Before canceling things, I would also look at temperatures for your dates in October, as places like Seville can still be hot. It is also 'high season' until Nov 1 so you will be running into limited lodgings at full prices.
Not meaning to drag out a bunch of negatives, but things you may not have considered in order to make it doable.
Once you decide, book your Alhambra tickets right away (90 days out) and then train tickets as soon as you can (usually 60 days out)

I suspect that the most efficient routing with a Barcelona start would be:

Barcelona
Fly to Granada
Bus/train to Seville
Train to Madrid (side trip to Toledo)

We spent about 10 days in Spain May-June. We did not go to Barcelona but unlike most people, I was not impressed with Sevilla. One of my favorite parts of the trip was a rest day in Torremolinos, even though Rick doesn't like it. We daytripped from Madrid to Segovia and I liked it better than Sevilla.

Very good suggestions from all, thank you! I hadn't thought about flying Barcelona to Granada. Will have to look closer at that option. I don't normally plan trips this close in, but we'll make it work.

acraven is right. The only flight in your plan that makes any sense is Barcelona-Granada. From Granada to Sevilla, there are trains but also the very comfortable ALSA buses. Look at the schedules for both. You may find that the bus time is more convenient. The later in October you go, the fewer the crowds and the lower the temps are likely to be - both are pluses.

1..Arrive Barcelona (3N)
2..Barcelona
3..Barcelona
4..Fly to Granada (2N)
5..Visit Alhambra
6..Train/bus to Sevilla (2N)
7..Sevilla
8..Train via Cordoba (for Mezquita) to Madrid (3N)
9..Madrid
10..Day to Toledo
11..Depart Madrid