Spain itinerary 1 month November 2018

Don't fly "in and out of Barcelona."

Fly in to Barcelona, and out of Madrid. This saves you time and money (you don't have to waste time and money circling back to Barcelona just to fly out from there).

He is not a good tourist so I want to make the trip fun and easy.

Can you elaborate on that?

We can fly direct non-stop to Barcelona at a reasonable cost while if we fly home out of Madrid it's more expensive and requires going through Frankfurt or similar.
My husband is interested in natural and historical sights but not churches or art galleries. For that reason I may do some tours on my own. He doesn't drink wine so winery tours are out. We both like beaches but it will be Nov so likely too cool.

I am doing the same thing...flying in and out of Barcelona... because the flight is direct and much better value...I think it's pretty cheap to fly between cities...I can only tell you about Barcelona...but there is so much to see and do. I did a free walking tour that provided lots of information. I also went on a vegetarian food tour and it was fantastic....the food was awesome and so were the restaurants...
I am trying to figure out my itinerary as well...from what I have seen from some of the posts it sounds like it's best to fly to Granada and take the train from there onwards.
Good luck.

You say you don't want a whirlwind trip and yet you list 9 (!) destinations (Barcelona, Madrid, Sevilla, Granada, Gibraltar, Ronda, Malaga, Toledo, Segovia) to visit in 3 weeks. That sounds pretty much like a whirlwind to me. Keep in mind that 2 nights in a place produces only one full day to see stuff there, 3 nights equals 2 days, etc.

To get some hints as to the best ways to travel between your destinations, use Rome2rio. It's not perfect but it will list the options, how long they will take and how much they will cost. Maps are included. With RT Barcelona flights, a loop route may be the most efficient. You may be surprised at how long it takes to get from one place to the other and need to prioritize.

The RS Explore Europe section on Spain lists almost all your cities and provides lots of links to information about them. Ronda is included in the White Hill Towns.

I agree with Lo that this is going to be a rushed trip. Every time you change cities, at least half a day vanishes. It might just about be doable if your husbamd has little interest in Barcelona and you see just about everything of interest before he arrives. But Barcelona is fascinating, so...

You need to dig into a guide book to see how many things there are to see and do in Barcelona (especially), Madrid, and Seville. Many of the top Barcelona sights require pre-purchased tickets to avoid very long lines. That makes putting together a maximally efficient sightseeing plan very difficult, because you don't know how long you'll want to be at each sight.

I find the Deutsche Bahn website the easiest to use for checking train schedules, but for rail fares you'll need to go to renfe.com or trainline.eu.

Most of your destinations are linked by trains, and they'll be your best choice. The fast rail line to Granada is still under construction, so to get there it's either bus, train/bus combination (see Renfe) or flying. If you opt to travel between Barcelona and Granada, flying might be best.

Gibraltar involves a bus for at least part of the trip. If you don't rent a car, I think getting to and from Gibraltar will chew up a good bit of time.

I have never been to Gibraltar, but sight-unseen I'd choose Cordoba instead.

My husband and I will be spending 23 nights. I checked out Rome2rio and found it very helpful. It looks like it will be best to rent a car in Grenada and drop it off in Sevilla. How does this itinerary look:
Barcelona 5N
Fly to Grenada 3N, rent car and drive to Costa del Sol (Nerja, Malaga or similar)
Costa del Sol 3N
drive from Malaga (or similar) to Gibraltar, tour Gibraltar, drive to Ronda
Ronda 2N
Drive from Ronda to Sevilla 4N drop off rental car, possibly take a day trip to Cordoba
Train to Madrid 5N, possibly take a day trip to Toledo and/or Segovia
Train from Madrid to Barcelona (1N)
Fly home from Barcelona

If I had a month for all of Spain ...

•Barcelona - 5 nights
•Costa Brava beaches - 5 nights
•Pays Basque - 5 nights
... San Sebastián (3), Bilbao (2)
•Andalusia - 10 nights
... Granada (2), Ronda & White Villages (2), Cordoba (2), Sevilla (4) with day trip to Jerez/Cadiz
•Madrid - 5 nights
... with day trips to Toledo & Segovia

I agree, you will probably not get much enjoyment from the beaches in November. Expect the Costa del Sol to be somewhat dull then as well. Personally, I wouldn't bother with Gibraltar. You have two choices for the road along the coast. Taking the slow road, which has lots of stops for roundabouts and traffic lights, you'll have some sea views (nothing exciting, but you'll see the water). Taking the toll road, you'll be farther inland, so you won't see sea, but you'll travel much faster - and more expensively. While Malaga is a pleasant town, I'm not so sure you'll find much to see/do there. I think Antequera is more interesting and you could see the prehistoric dolmens just outside the town. Ronda is a good base to explore the hill towns. Perhaps even 3 nights, giving you a full day to see Ronda (and its quirky small museums - more ethnography, rather than art). That gives you one more full day to visit some of the hill towns nearby, then a full day to see more on the way to Arcos, which is worth several hours. You might consider either spending a night in Arcos or continuing on to Jerez, where you could probably drop the car. Jerez has the Royal Equestrian School with great horse shows 2-3 days a week. You can also spend several hours in Cadiz which is about 1/2 hour away by train. There's a lot to see and do in Sevilla and in Cordoba (my favorite Spanish city). 5N in Madrid may be a lot for your husband. The main draws there are the 3 art museums. There's a very interesting Naval Museum (must have passports with you to enter). I don't know how nice the gardens will be in late November. Consider spending 1-2N in Toledo, another beautiful city worth exploring in depth.

And do check driving times carefully from Granada to the Costa del Sol to Ronda.

Don't miss Seville. I was not so impressed with the beaches in Costa del Sol.