Spain in 9 days

Spain is a very large country. Have you done any research? What are your interests? I recommend purchasing some good guidebooks, such as Michelin Green Guide, Rough Guides, Lonely Planet, and Rick Steves.

November is a good time to visit Andalusia (southern Spain) because the temperatures should be comfortable. Andalusia is very, very hot during the summer months. So, typically, the spring and autumn are good times to visit. If you are interested in Moorish history, beautiful Moorish architecture, great food, and flamenco, then Andalusia is a good place to start. The 3 cities that are the most important historically and culturally are Seville, Granada, and Cordoba.

What airport are you flying into and out of? That info would shape your itinerary.
I would get a guidebook also that way you know yourself what you would recommend. All the same stuff you will read here is in the guide books.

We found Andalusia quite lovely in November. Weather was close to perfect. Sevilla 4 nights (visit cathedral, alcazar, plaza de espana, much more) Cordoba 2 nights (Mezquita, stroll beautiful Jewish quarter/patio gardens and river) Granada 2 nights (Alhambra, stroll albacin and sacramonte). Other options close by for the remaining day or if you add days--Segovia, Toledo, pueblos blancos, brief taste of Madrid.

I highly recommend watching the RS videos on this website to see what catches your eye

Before we can give you any good advice or suggestions we need to know:

1. Where are you flying into and out of?
2. Are you arriving from the US . . . will you be jetlagged on arrival?
3. How many nights do you have on the ground?
4. What are your interests? food and drink, art, architecture, history, nature . . .

It would also help a lot to know if you've been to Europe before and why you decided to go to Spain.

Will you be renting a car or using public transportation?

Thanks for the replies. We have decided to fly into Madrid and out of Lisbon and use the railway system for transportation. We're flying from the US and will have 9 evenings on the ground. This is our first trip to Spain, but we've been to Australia and several countries in Europe.

Nine nights is eight full, non-jetlagged days, which is extremely short if you intend to see part of both Spain and Portugal. What's going to make it even more difficult is that there is shockingly little ground transportation between the two countries. It may come down to a choice between an overnight train (which some folks find not at all restful) or a flight, which I would normally discourage in the middle of a short trip like this.

I think I'd plan this trip backwards, starting with what you want to see in Lisbon (maybe including Sintra). Figure out how many nights you'll need to spend in Lisbon to accomplish your goals there.

The time you have left over is what you can spend in Spain. I'd recomnend sticking to one base there, and it needs to be a city with non-stop flights to Lisbon unless you prefer to take the Madrid-Lisbon night train.

I'm more confused now. Do you have 9 nights in Spain before going to Portugal or do you have 9 nights for Spain and Portugal.

If you have only 9 nights for both and you want to spend time in Lisbon (why else would you fly home from there?), that gives you at most 5 days in Spain and 3 days in Lisbon, using the night train option. If you split your nights in Spain you use a 1/2 day of your 5.

If your whole trip is 9 nights, stick with one country. As you can see from acraven's post, there are no fast train connections between the two countries.

As for Spain, I go back to my first post - what are your interests? Madrid is great for European painting, but Andalucia is much better for most everything else.

Sorry, I am going to bluntly say 'not well planned. Spain and Portugal don't play well together for ground connections. Bite the bullet and plan a flight from Seville to Lisbon. 3 cities....Madrid, Seville, Lisbon. How you split it up is up to you. Madrid will give you numerous day trip options.

9 days is enough for a fraction of the country.

I first visited Spain in 1984 and had a guidebook that stated there were two places that you must see if you go to Spain. Those two places were Toledo (just south of Madrid) and Seville in the south of the country.

I have been all over Spain, except for the Basque region in the north central near the French border.

Here is my list of places to visit in priority:
1) Madrid (including day trips to Toledo and Segovia)
2) Seville
3) Barcelona
4) Granada
5) Cordoba
6) Salamanca (near the Portuguese border and the Douro River Valley)
7) Santiago de Compostela (in Galacia- NW Spain)
8) Malaga

Yes, there are more places that what I have listed, such as the Basque region.

To do the entire list, you would need about three weeks. I suggest doing 1 and 2 with 4-5 days in Madrid and 3 days minimum in Seville. Perhaps you could make Cordoba or Granada as well. Geographically making Granada may require a short flight to save time.
Number 6 and 7 are best done if you visit Portugal and Porto/Douro River Valley.
Malaga can be done in connection with Granada.
Barcelona is high on my list, but geographically more distant, yet it has a high speed train from Madrid to Barcelona. Still, you need 4 days in Barcelona and you can't do the Madrid area, Seville and Barcelona in 9 days.

How fast do you like to move around? We're slow/lazy tourists and I know I have difficulty appreciating others prefer to be more "on the move".

If it is nine nights, arriving in Madrid and leaving from Lisbon, then I'd split it four in Madrid (with a day trip), one night in Toledo, back to Madrid for the sleeper service to Lisbon and four nights there, with a day-trip. But if you want more variety, you could do Madrid, train to Seville (incl. Cordoba), fly to Lisbon, perhaps splitting three-four-three.

Can't thank you all enough for your comments and advice! We have reworked our schedules and are looking at flying into Barcelona, staying 2-3 days and then heading for southern Spain. Cordoba, Seville, Granada and then Madrid before we fly home. We actually have 11-12 days in total now.

Does it make sense to use the train service or rent a car and drive ourselves? We're not into art to speak of, but architecture, historical sights, local lore, food, nature, etc.

We would love your recommendations on favorite things to do, places to stay, places to eat, etc.

Thanks so much!

Since you list decent sized cities, I recommend public transportation. Cars are great when visiting small towns and out of the way places. Finding parking in cities can be a pain and isn’t cheap.

I would use the wonderful train system. For those cities, there is no need for a car.

Transportation-wise, after Barcelona, I would actually fly down to either Sevilla or Granada, and then use the AVE high speed rail to travel between cities in Andalucia up to Madrid.

However, even with 12 days (11 nights?) I would probably drop Barcelona, for being there only 2 nights, and then just fly in/out of Madrid, exploring Madrid and surrounding areas and then down to Andalucia. It will minimise needing to find a way (flying/train) from Barcelona down to Andalucia. I'd probably do something like this:

Fly in to Madrid
Madrid (3 nights) - day trip to Segovia or Toledo
AVE to
Sevilla (3 nights) - day trip to Cadiz or Jerez
AVE to
Cordoba (2 nights)
AVE to
Granada (2 nights)
AVE back to
Madrid (1 night)
Fly out of Madrid

To fit many of Spain's major cities in just 11 nights, I'm afraid you will zip by Spain like a marathon race, I know it's tempting to want to see everything the first time, but it's best if you leave Barcelona for another time. Hope this helps :)

Although I'm a huge fan of Barcelona, I agree with Carlos. You have too many places for too few days, and Barcelona is the geographical outlier. Even with generally fast train links, your hotel-change days will not offer a great deal of sightseeing time. It takes time to get packed up, get your stuff to the train station, wait for the train, ride the train, get to your new hotel, get checked in, and get oriented to the new city. By the third day somewhere you sort of know you way around and can be pretty efficient in you sightseeing.

I really cannot imagine an architecture-lover going to Barcelona for less than four nights, and even that will mean painful cuts to the itinerary. You can see what happens to the rest of you trip if you spend four nights in Barcelona.

The trains between major cities cover the miles a lot faster than a car, and you don't have to waste any time looking for parking.

Count the number of nights in Spain, subtract one and you have the number of days for touring. Your first day is mostly lost just getting through the airport to your hotel and then walking around in a jetlagged haze until it's late enough to go to bed. Your last day is just packing and getting to the airport.

You then lose about 1/2 day each time you change locations - packing, checking out, getting to the train station with enough time to find your train and go through security, then getting to your hotel and checking in.

If you have 11-12 nights and 10-11 days, you have time for 4 locations comfortably. I think you have a choice between Madrid and Barcelona. If you love European painting, you'll want 2 full days in Madrid for the art museums. If not, drop Madrid and go with Barcelona. In that case I'd fly into Madrid and out of Barcelona, unless you can find a good alternative with Sevilla or Granada (which are much smaller airports) and Barcelona.

It's most likely that you'll land in Madrid in the morning and you'll be able to take the train to Cordoba for 1-2N, then Sevilla for 2-3N, and Granada (either bus or train) for 2N. From there fly to Barcelona for the rest of your stay. Once you have your dates for Granada, get your Alhambra tickets. They always sell out. A couple days in November are already sold out.

Since you are in your 60's, you can buy the tarjeta dorada (gold card) as soon as you get to Spain. It's €6 each. With that, you can book the fast trains with 25% or 40% discounts on full fare, unrestricted tickets. You may be able to save more by buying well in advance, but the tickets are no refund/no exchange and you can't choose seats. Use renfe.com for schedules and prices. To compare fares, check the "gold card" box below your selected route.

Madrid is pretty, but unless you are really interested in art, I would reduce the Madrid days from Carlos's itinerary. I would add a day to Sevilla and stay in Toledo which is wonderful when the day trippers leave and you will find more reasonable accommodations in Toledo. I agree that for your length of time, Barcelona is too far out of the way of your other city choices.