Spain Itinerary Help: Taking my 21-year old Brother

How lucky for you and your brother! Regarding bullfights, you won't find them in Cataluyna (The region where Barcelona is located) because they have been banned. There are still bullfights in Madrid and many other Spanish cities. Generally, they are on Sunday nights in the summer.

Have you already booked your flight? If not, consider an "open-jaw" so you don't have to backtrack. Fly into Barcelona and out of Madrid or Lisbon.

There are many places within easy distance from Barcelona to explore. Are you renting a car? If not, there is convenient train and bus travel throughout Spain. You could look at the city of Girona and the Costa Brava. Last summer, we went to Barcelona and arrived via train from San Sebastian. My 17 year old son said that San Sebastian was his favorite of the cities we visited. Pamplona (where they have the "Running of the Bulls" in early July is located not far from San Sebastian.) You could also take the train to Madrid where there is lots of art, architecture and cute cities within close proximity.

I think no matter where you go, it will be a tremendous experience.

I took my then 18-year old son to Madrid, Toledo and Barcelona in 2012. We stayed 3 nights each in Madrid and Barcelona and took a day trip to Toledo from Madrid. The armory at the palace in Madrid is pretty cool. We walked all over both cities and really enjoyed. it. We fortunate enough to see Team USA take on Spain in basketball just before the Olympics. Since your brother is into sports, check out Real Madrid and FC Barcelona for matches in May. There are some on the schedule for both, but they are limited. We took Ryan Air from Madrid to Paris Beauvais airport and went to Bayeux (Normandy) to see some WWII sights and then went to Paris for 4 nights. If you want to see the French Riviera, you can probably take the train up the coast from Barcelona. Since most of this area will consist of smaller towns and villages, you should consider whether or not your brother would really enjoy that. Monaco is really cool, but it's a long way from Barcelona!

Girona, an easy hour by train or car north of Barcelona, is a college town with an atmospheric old town, with narrow, winding passageways and great architecture. It's where many of the US and international pro cyclists live and train during the bike racing season when they're not riding the Tour de France and other races.

Further north, Figueres, Cadeques, and Port Llegat are where Salvador Dali lived and created his surrealist art, and you can visit his museums and house.

San Sebastian and other towns in the Basque region that straddles the Spain/France border are where Jai Alai (the "fastest ball sport in the world") originated.

Provencal bullfights in southern France don't kill the bull, but contestants try to pluck a ribbon off the bull's forehead without getting gored, for an alternative or in addition to attending a Spanish toreo.

Segovia, a town an hour or less northwest of Madrid is worthwhile.

An alternative to train/bus/rental car is flying to some places. Vueling Air (and easyJet and others) can jet you quickly and often very cheaply around the region, although you have the usual airport issues (early check-in, going thru security, etc.), and some of the budget airlines have strict luggage policies, so check the fine print. Spanish trains require a metal detector screening of all luggage, but that's quick compared to most airport screenings.

Between Lisbon and Spain, the major ground transportation options are bus to Seville (7 hours), bus to Madrid (8-9 hours), or overnight train to Madrid. Flying can easily be both the cheapest and fastest way to hop between countries, including to Morocco (Fes or Marrakech); see www.skyscanner.com. Before you get down to detailed train schedules, Rick’s Train Travel Time & cost Map gives you an overview of faster train travel times in hours, as well as regular (full-price) 2nd-class fares.

The cities you've mentioned are mostly large and each needs a minimum of three nights and two full days to see several highlights. You get more "value" out of each long transportation leg if you add in some smaller towns nearby; outside of the aforementioned two days; whether you sleep in the smaller towns or see them as daytrips.

You can see Rick's itinerary priorities for Spain at http://www.ricksteves.com/europe/spain/itinerary; these are fleshed out in his guidebook, which also covers Tangier and a few towns in the Basque part of France.