Rate My Spain Itinerary

Rating for your itinerary - 6/10

What we call in Spanish school system, an "aprobado", passing grade but could use improvement like:

• Drop Salamanca and Ronda, reinvest those days to Sevilla and Granada
• Fly open jaw, so not to backtrack to Madrid
• Cordoba train to Toledo goes through Madrid anway, so best do Toledo when you are in Madrid
• Needing to travel to Madrid Barajas from Toledo for noon flight is very risky, I'd stay closer to airport
  
• Day trip to Segovia from Madrid

Make those changes and your itinerary will be at least a 9/10!

You’ll have to go thru Atocha to and from Toledo
I’m not sure I’d want to be 2 train rides away from airport on departure day

Could you move all of Madrid to the end?
How late do you arrive? Could you go to Toledo first 2 nights?

If you’re only in Salamanca 2 nights( 1.5 days) there’s not really time for a day trip to Segovia.
That’s the outlier-I’d drop both and add to Granada and Sevilla or Cordoba ( Cordoba was our favorite)

Bus from Ronda to Sevilla is quicker and cheaper

Have you researched trains and buses?
You might find a different order works better
We ended up with this order due to train/bus schedules

Toledo
Sevilla
Ronda
Marbella/Malaga
Granada
Corboba
Madrid

Seconding Carlos' comments.

If you have a later arrival in Madrid that suggests you're making a connection from eyewear in Europe. I'd try to make that connection into Sevilla and work your way up to fly out of Madrid.

Your allocated times are kind of 'bare minimum' for each city. I'd cut and slow it down, enjoying the places and not just the sights.

8 of 10 with following recommendations:

move Toledo (17 & 18) to day 7 and 8
Go from Toledo to Granada. Yes, a bit of a backtrack to Madrid to get to Granada.
Return to Madrid evening prior to flight. Noon departure means you need to be at airport three hours prior so no time for morning jaunt via train to arrive in Madrid.

If you haven't booked flights yet, I was able to i get an open jaw that took me to Granada via Madrid. But it was on Star Alliance and one of my Canadian carriers. I think it was about another $110CAD, but worth avoiding the hassle of getting to Atocha from the airport and then facing a train ride after a red eye flight to a new(for me) country.
Then work your way north.

Ok, after doing a bit more research and your responses, I've revised the schedule slightly based on our interests. We like to be busy, so we don't have time for lingering this trip. Unfortunately, flying in and out of Madrid isn't changeable. Please rate my updated itinerary out of 10:

• Day 1: Madrid- late flight in, sleep in Madrid
• Day 2: Segovia- train to Segovia
• Day 3: Segovia
• Day 4: Toledo- train to Toledo
• Day 5: Toledo
• Day 6: Madrid- train to Madrid
• Day 7: Madrid
• Day 8: Madrid
• Day 9: Granada- Train to Granada
• Day 10: Granada
• Day 11: Ronda- train or bus to Ronda?
• Day 12: Ronda
• Day 13: Seville- train to Sevilla
• Day 14: Seville
• Day 15: Seville
• Day 16: Cordoba- train to Cordoba
• Day 17: Cordoba
• Day 18: Madrid- train to Madrid
• Day 19: Noon departure from Madrid

:)

Good adjustments. Recommend bus to Ronda, bus experience in Spain is far superior to what is found in the USA.
Book your Alhambra tickets asap!
Enjoy!

I agree with all the great advice you’ve received thus far.

What time do you arrive to Madrid?

Your revised itinerary is better, but this is what you’re looking at if you decide to keep it:

• One full day (plus few hours) in Segovia
• One full day in Toledo
• 2 full days in Madrid
• One full day in Granada
• One full day in Ronda
• Two full days in Sevilla
• One full day in Córdoba
• Overnight in Madrid before flight home.

I strongly agree with Scudder’s comment:

Your allocated times are kind of 'bare minimum' for each city. I'd cut and slow it down, enjoying the places and not just the sights.

Here are my cents:

• Take train to Córdoba, or Toledo, on day of arrival (2-3N)
• Train/bus to Granada (2-3N)
• Bus to Ronda (consider dropping)
• Train/bus to Sevilla (4N)
• Train to Córdoba (if not visited at start of trip) (2-3N)
• Train to Madrid/Toledo ( if not visited at start of trip) (2N)
• End your trip in Madrid (4N) - day trip to Segovia

Do consider adding at least an extra night to Granada & Sevilla.

And… Book your Alhambra tickets soon!

Enjoy your trip!

You've got 3 separate stays in Madrid for a total of 5 nights- - I would try to combine those nights and eliminate at least 1 stay.
Either stay in Madrid at start of trip for 4 nights, then 1 night at end. Or 1 night at start and move rest of Madrid to the end.

You'll be passing thru Madrid multiple times -- from Segovia to Toledo changes in Madrid, etc.

Take the bus from Ronda to Seville. It takes 2 hours where train takes at least 3 with a change in Antequerra. I think you'll find more bus options than train options on that route.

Ok, let's try this one more time. :) We don't mind just seeing the sites for our trip. We have limited time, and we can slow down once we retire. We took your suggestions and moved Madrid to the end, and added an extra night in Granada, unless we should add that extra night somewhere else? Madrid, Seville? Here is the updated itinerary, please rate it. Hoping to end up around a B+.

• Day 1: Madrid- late flight in, sleep in Madrid (flight arrives at 8pm- we won't have time to train anywhere)
• Day 2: Segovia- train to Segovia
• Day 3: Segovia
• Day 4: Toledo- train to Toledo
• Day 5: Toledo
• Day 6: Granada- Train to Granada
• Day 7: Granada
• Day 8: Granada
• Day 9: Ronda- bus to Ronda
• Day 10: Ronda
• Day 11: Seville- train to Sevilla
• Day 12: Seville
• Day 13: Seville
• Day 14: Cordoba- train to Cordoba
• Day 15: Cordoba
• Day 16: Madrid- train to Madrid
• Day 17: Madrid
• Day 18: Madrid
• Day 19: Noon departure from Madrid

B+ or 8.5/10? :)

Now I'd say it's a 7.5/10 at most, a "Notable" grade as we say in Spain.

Too much moving around for my taste, you are doing 8 different hotel check-ins in 19 days, going to be a lot of packing, unpacking, reorienting etc. I'd drop Ronda to add more days to Sevilla, which is very lacking in time. I'd also do Segovia as a day trip from Madrid, not sure it merits an overnight, as much as places like Toledo or Cordoba.

So for me a 8.5/10 could look like this:
Madrid (4 nights) - day trip to Segovia
Toledo (2 nights)
Granada (3 nights)
Sevilla (5 nights) - day trip to Cadiz
Cordoba (3 nights) - day trip to Medina Azahara
Madrid (1 night)

Hope this helps :)

I'd give it a B+--it is better.
I have not been to Segovia so don't know that it merits an overnight but I don't think I would want to travel that next am after a late arrival. I'd move Madrid nights to beginning- then you do have option of a day trip to Segovia and put the 1 night stay at end.
That frees up 1 night to add to Granada or Seville or Cordoba

We had 4 Seville, 4 Granada, 3 Cordoba.
We were fine with just 4 in Seville and 3 could have worked as well. Granada 4 was too much
Cordoba 3 was just right, we liked it a lot better than Granada
I would not drop Ronda as everywhere else you are in big touristy cities, it will be a nice break.

Madrid- 4 nights late arrival, with option of day trip to Segovia
Toledo 2
Granda 2 or 3
bus or train to Ronda- I think train to Ronda is better choice here- bus goes thru Malaga with a change I think
Ronda 2
bus to Sevilla
Seville 3 or 4
Cordoba 2 or 3
Madrid- 1 train to Madrid
Noon departure from Madrid

I've been to all these places, and I will make this unpopular statement: we didn't love Toledo. Sure, it is a lovely city, the cathedral is beautiful - but despite all the suggestions to the contrary - we wished we had just day tripped there and taken a evening train back to Madrid. My suggestion is based on day tripping to Toledo rather than overnighting.
Night one - sleep Madrid. Travel to Granada next day.
Night two - sleep Granada
Night three - sleep Granada (book Alhambra for this day or next)
Night four - sleep Granada
Night five - sleep Ronda
Night six - sleep Ronda
Night seven- sleep Sevilla
night eight - sleep Sevilla
night nine - sleep Sevilla (consider day trip to Cadiz or Jerez)
night ten - sleep Sevilla
night eleven - sleep Cordoba
night twelve - sleep Cordoba
night thirteen - sleep Cordoba
night fourteen - Madrid
night fifteen - Madrid
night sixteen - Madrid (day trip to Segovia)
night seventeen - Madrid (day trip to Toledo)
night eighteen - Madrid

This is way less moving around, and more time to enjoy the incredible architecture, art and FOOD!

Kathleen-
We didn’t love Toledo either, we found it rather dull
We started there with 2 nights so it worked as a “get over jet lag place” but we could have skipped entirely

Everybody is different, we could have done just 3 nights in Seville as I said above but many here insist on 4 or more nights.

Anyway- your suggested itinerary is very nice