Spain and France 22 days suggestions

How are you intending to travel? Rental car, train, plane, combination?
It's looking as though you may be spending a lot of time in transit.

Also, in addition to the good questions already asked, what made you choose an itinerary into Madrid and flying out of Paris; what about those two cities drew your group to choose them? Similarly, what are your group's interests? Art, history, museums, culture, local cuisine? I'm focusing on those kinds of things because you mentioned cities specifically.

Do you want to split your time evenly between Spain and France, or not? Your tentative list includes only Spanish locations.

Do you intend to visit only cities, or do you want to spend time in the countryside?

Lexma has asked excellent and relevant questions about your interests.

Keep in mind that Andalusia will be extremely hot in July. I love, love Andalusia and have visited Seville, Granada, Cordoba, and Malaga, but I personally wouldn't go there during the summer months. Expect temps to be in the high 90's into the 100's. When I was planning our trip, I read trip reports from people who talked about being drenched in sweat after 10 minutes while visiting during the summer months. Make sure you stay in hotels that have pools, stay hydrated, and plan your sightseeing for the early morning and then late afternoons/evenings.

Regarding the France part, you could easily spend a week in Paris, with a daytrip to Versailles, if you want to slow down a bit. Or combine Paris with the Loire Valley to see the gorgeous chateaus.

Do you have any guidebooks? In addition to Rick's books, I recommend the Michelin Green Guide and Rough Guides. Lonely Planet was my favorite, but I don't like their new format.

Hi Maria and welcome to the forum.

to get a better answer it would be good to provide some more info, as pointed out in the other posts. I would say it is important to say if you plan on taking a train/bus or renting a car. Also, you've got two teenagers with you, what do they like and/or want to see. Is beach time something that might be liked?

As mentioned, Andalucia will be hot in July. Have you thought of going north? After Madrid, maybe Segovia. Stop in Burgos, it is really underrated. You could go to Zaragoza, with the end of you Spanish leg in Bilbao then San Sebastian. If you have a car, you can leave it there and take the train from Hendaye to Paris. It can be done as a direct trip, or you could spend some nights along the way, in Bayonne and Bordeaux, and other places as you have time and interest in.

Originally, when I thought about my trip, I just knew we wanted to go to Spain and France. What made me choose these cities for lending and flying out is the cheapest price for flights, so now I’m trying to build around it. When I was booking this, I didn’t think about the weather, but July is pretty much the only time we can go with the kids because there is no school. We like to be closer to the ocean for some beach days and also see some historical sites, food is also the big one. As far as France. I always wanted to see Paris, Nice. Would love to do some hikes in the mountains. We are big nature lovers and love to hike.

Forgot to mention we will be taking high speed trains are possible I guess some buses in the mountains most likely and flights to minimize on travel time and have more time to explore

I never looked into the north option of Spain only because when I was researching it on Instagram mostly, I only seen the south portion of it. Maybe I should reconsider it then, since it’s going to be so hot.

If you're doing trains, a simple route would be Madrid, high speed train to Zaragoza. Then go to Barcelona. From Barcelona you can get trains to Nice.

Southern Spain will probably be deathly hot, as others have said. Madrid and the surrounding area are also problematic in July. Zaragoza, though well north of Andalucia, is another really hot city.

Seville weather -- July 2025

Weather can vary from year to year, so you should check additional years. Use the pull-down box at the right, just above the graph, to do that.

Use the Search box at the upper right to check out other cities.

Places on the coast, like Barcelona, are usually not as hot, but humidity can be a problem. I had one notably unpleasant day in Barcelona (summer 2016) and was shocked to see the temperature was only 82F; it felt like it was over 90F.

I haven't spent time up in the Pyrenees Mountains, but places at altitude would be a lot more pleasant; I don't know much of anything about public transportation in that area, but we have a few people on this forum who can probably help with that.

The Basque Country and other locations along/near the northern coast of Spain are typically cloudy/rainy and cool even in mid-summer. That's a great area to visit if you don't want to deal with extreme heat day after day; however, it's important to recognize that this area doesn't offer reliable beach days. I am not a hiker, but I found nice scenery in the Basque Country, and the Picos de Europa area to the west is also lovely. The Basque Country is known for good food.

It is possible to cross the border from Spain to France by train after visiting the Basque Country. You can do the same along the east coast, north of Barcelona.

There is quite a bit of information here on the website. You might start looking at the AT A GLANCE section for the 2 countries to see what appeals to your family.
https://www.ricksteves.com/europe

Malaga will certainly fit the bill for beach days and some historical sights. We love Malaga, and I think it's an underrated city. The Malaga Cathedral is beautiful; there are many small art museums, such as the Picasso Museum. We loved our uphill walk to the top of the Alcazaba, with stunning views of the Mediterranean, the port, and the city. Along the way, there are exotic flowers, fountains, ruins, and then a small Nasrid palace at the top. There is the Atarazanas Market. There is a seaside promenade where you can have drinks and watch the sunset.

If you combine Paris with Nice, you can either fly or take the train (about 5.5 hours) between the two. If you do this, it makes sense to travel to Nice first after Spain and then fly or train to Paris where you will fly home from.