Spain in 7 days?

7 days in Span is not bad, makes it tight, but as long as you are not expecting lots of stops in Andalucia, go for it.

Figure you land in Madrid, head to Toledo the same day to meet up, you can do a night in Toledo (great town) or you can meet up in Madrid the first day and then head South.

Realistically, you could do maybe two stops in Andalucia, then Barcelona.

You could fly into and out of Madrid, doing a little time in Madrid, or Fly into Madrid and out of Barcelona to England.

All in all, yeah you are missing a bunch, but you can't do everything. In two trips and nearly three weeks in Spain, I only hit Barcelona and some places nearby and Madrid and Toledo (Business kept me busy many days) but still found the trips fulfilling.

I actually think you are committing a common error for visiting Spain: trying to see opposite regions on a short timeframe. Spain is a very large country and Andalucía and Barcelona are pretty far apart. Plus your daughter is in Madrid/Toledo, a completely different region (in between). So in effect, you are visiting three regions of Spain in only 7 days (and not sure if that is 7 actual days or 5 full days and 2 partial days including travel).

Since your daughter will be in Toledo and you might fly into Madrid, I suggest seeing those places first, then picking either Barcelona or Andalucía and fly to London from there. That would be 3 days in each location and even that is extremely tight. If your daughter really wants to skip Madrid/Toledo since she will have already seen them, then maybe just concentrate on Andalucía or Catalunya. You can fly direct to Barcelona and have your daughter meet you there. Having a week in Barcelona and taking a few daytrips is a full agenda. Or fly into Madrid, meet your daughter and take the train to Sevilla, Cordoba and Granada. You expect you can fly to London from Sevilla. That's a only a couple of days in each place which can work if a little tight.

The key to remember is that with only 7 days (or less), time is very important. If you spend lots of time on trains and at airports, you lose valuable time seeing sites.

Your daughter will most likely fall in love with Spain and want to go back. Use that as an excuse to return.

Could your daughter just meet you in Barcelona? As in, you fly into Barcelona from the U.S., and she takes a train or cheap flight to meet you at your hotel or wherever. You spend say 3 days there, and then take a budget flight to Seville. From Seville you could do a nice day trip to Cordoba among other things. Then you fly from Seville to England.

I'd fly into Madrid and, since you aren't seeing Madrid or Toledo...get a train to Sevilla. Often, flights land early in the morning, so you can take an afternoon train and be in Sevilla for dinner. Or fly into Sevilla instead, if you can, but that can often limit your flight options. Spend 3 nights in Sevilla, then fly to Barcelona for the remaining 3 nights. If you mean 7 nights, add a night to Seville and do a day trip to Cordoba. Or Barcelona is always worth more time.

... many visitors soon discover that Spain is not a country, a least not in the traditional sense. While landscapes are quite diverse from one end of the Iberian peninsula to the other due to the different climate and the orography -yet the same could be said for many other countries (ie US)- what makes it a mere administrative union rather than a country is that you'll find very distinctive cultures, at least four of them, each one with its own language, heritage and 'way of life' and which don't necessarily share common values nor objectives and that more often than not have historically been at odds with each other. This translates into practice that those visiting the different cultures end up realizing -if they've bothered to go a bit beyond the obvious that is! :) -- that it's as if they had been visiting different countries. And visiting several countries takes its time.

In short, what I'm trying to say is that there's much to discover in each one and that combining a visit to more than one frankly do deserve much more than "two or three days" in each in order to scratch the surface , so if I were you I'd take that into account.

One week is certainly do-able. we just finished a fabulous vacation in Spain for 7 days, and we covered Barcelona, Madrid, and Seville. Spain has really fast AVE trains that make this possible.

Krish

Another logistical option, if you book a plane ticket from North America to Barcelona or Seville with a change in Madrid, your daughter could then book a ticket on the same flight from Madrid and meet you at the gate at the Madrid Barajas airport.

Most here would say you really have to make a choice.
Either, Madrid (3 nts) >> Barcelona (4 nts)
Or, Sevilla (3 nts) >> Cordoba (1 nt) >> Ronda (1 nt) >> Granada (2 nts)

This would be an incredible blur (but is doable for major sights)...
Day 1 - Madrid sights - Royal Palace & Prado
Day 2 - AVE train to Cordoba, store luggage, visit Mezquita, AVE to Sevilla - 2 nts
Day 3 - Sevilla sights - Cathedral & Real Alcazar
Day 4 - Travel to Granada - 2 nts
Day 5 - Granada sights - Alhambra & Albaicin
Day 6 - Fly to Barcelona - 2 nts
Day 7 - Barcelona sights - Sagrada Familia & Passeig Gracia+Ramblas

Some thoughts from parent whose daughter studied in Granada during the summer.
Have you already booked airfare? If so, what airport (s)?
As part of the study abroad program she will most likely have been to a number of locales within Spain. So a question becomes, do you allow her experiences to define the itinerary for your journey?

Thank you to everyone for the great and thoughtful responses. You have all given me so much to think about. It is clear that Spain is really a place to be treasured. I am so excited to experience it with my daughter and look forward to the adventure ahead.

One more thing- I'm guessing your trip will be in July or August. Seville and Andalucia get very hot in summer, highs mid- to upper 90's, sometimes reaching triple digits from what I understand. Plan to spend the hottest afternoon hours with a long leisurely lunch and a siesta.