Spain 17 days

We spent 17 days in Spain in October 2017 and loved it. We flew into Madrid, then took the train to Seville, and then took the train to Barcelona, flying home from there. We spent more time in Barcelona than anywhere else, mainly because we used BCN as a base for day trips to Tarragona, Priorat wine country and Girona and the Costa Brava.

I'm thinking that Tarragona or Sitges would be a great place for your beach fix.

Your kids sound awesome.

17 days is enough to get a nice taste of Spain at a reasonable pace, if you're careful not to try and go everywhere.

First...Valencia? Valencia (since you mentioned it as a "must") wouldn't make the cut for me. Certainly not before a long list of other places that I would put way, way higher on my list of priorities which you didn't mention: Granada, Cordoba, Toledo, Segovia, the White Hill Towns, even Avila...there goes 17 days easily.

Be aware that much of Spain is going to be brutally hot in August - so hot I would not consider going there at that time (I'm just not built for that kind of heat).

My suggestion is to watch all the Rick Steves Spain videos, get the book, do some reading. You have enough time to do your homework before you start planning your detailed itinerary and booking flights - don't do that until you get a better sense for what's really "a must" (because if you say Valencia is a must but don't mention Granada...I think you need to get a better picture before you go much further in your planning).

Hope that helps.

Thank you both for your input. You are right, I need to look at this more carefully. The only reason I mentioned Valencia is because it's near the sea. I haven't done the research to fully make final decisions, just getting the taste of what to do. We did Greece and my kids fell in love with Ornos beach in Mykonos, So swimming in the sea is a must for them... They are extremely happy travelers, even after a 17 hour flight. They love planes, trains and ferries. August is hot, I agree, but we did Greece and it was ok for us. Perhaps I'll see if we can do it earlier in summer..... I will also look into all the mentioned places....

I agree with the other responses but come down even harder on the inadvisability of going to Seville and other places in Andalucía in the summer. Are you aware that Seville's average high temperature in August is 100F, and the record is 117F? And those stats are based on a time period ending in 2010. I'll bet if you included 2011-2018, those figures would be higher.

Edited to add: Those figures for Seville are 6 degrees higher than the more-recent data for Athens and 16 degrees higher than more-recent data for Mykonos. Plus islands tend to be a lot breezier than interior cities. [Edited to change "coastal cities" to "interior cities", which is what I meant to say.]

Madrid and surrounding are also very hot in mid-summer. Barcelona is cooler but can be quite muggy. I had some low-80s days in August 2016 that felt hotter to me because of the humidity. It wasn't unbearable, just less than ideal. There are lots of beaches in Catalunya, but I can't provide specifics since I don't care for beaches. I think Greece's Aegean islands tend to be quite dry in the summer, so I think Spain's weather could suffer by comparison.

Aside from the Pyrenees, which I'm not sure about visiting without a car, the most pleasant part of Spain in mid-summer is along the northern coast between Galicia in the west and the Basque Country in the east. That area tends to have very moderate temperatures and is frequently cloudy, so I cannot promise that you will have beach-time opportunities every day unless yours is a very hardy family. Although a car would be handy in that part of Spain, I spent a lot of time there and depended on trains and buses, so I know it can be done. Unfortunately, there's no AVE rail service between Barcelona and the Basque Country, so traveling back and forth takes about 6-1/2 hours each way.

I urge you to pick up a comprehensive guide book to Spain that covers a lot more places in the northern part of the country than Rick does. Valencia wouldn't be on my 17-day itinerary, but that is based on trip research rather than personal experience. I've spent 4 - 5 months in Spain over the course of several trips, and there have always been lots of places I preferred to go.

My top choice would be a visit to the Mezquita in Cordoba. It can be done as a day trip from Madrid or Seville, but it is IMHO the single most wonderful thing in Spain.
https://janettravels.wordpress.com/2013/09/27/the-mezquita-at-least-the-catholics-had-the-good-sense-not-to-destroy-it-when-they-desecrated-it/
Another must is the Alhambra. Both of these will be memorable for the kids. The gardens at the Alhambra are particularly wonderful, although if you don't head there, the Alcazar in Seville is close.

We Really enjoyed Ronda as well and personally loved the great museums of Madrid, particularly the Prado -- but for young kids, a little of that may go a long way.

With both Valencia and Barcelona you can include some beach time as well as the city sights.

With 17 nights on the ground ...

Day
1. ARRIVE Madrid (4N)
2. Madrid
3. Day to Toledo
4. Madrid (or day to Segovia)
5. Train to Valencia (3N)
6. Valencia
7. Valencia
8. Train to Barcelona (4N)
9. Barcelona
10. Barcelona
11. Barcelona
12. Fly to Granada (2N)
13. Visit the Alhambra
14. Train to Seville (4N)
15. Seville
16. Day to Cordoba for the Mezquita
17. Seville
18. DEPART Seville

Spain is great.
The must see places are Barcelona, Madrid, Segovia, Toledo, Seville, Granada and if possible Cordoba.

We did three days at Costa del Sol and were very disappointed by the quality of the beaches. I lived in Europe for four years and every beach that I have visited in the MED was disappointing, except in Mykonos, Greece.

You can go to the beach in the USA.