Spain Itinerary Question for 2 adults with no children or car for 12-14 nights

You can't see the whole country in two weeks.

Do not miss Seville and Toledo.
You can do Toledo on a day trip from Madrid. Also, do Segovia north of Madrid on day trip from Madrid.
Also, spend a couple of days in Madrid. Suggest 3-4 days in Seville.

Barcelona is great, but you must decide between Barcelona and doing more in the south of Spain. If you do Barcelona, take the high speed train from Madrid. If you do the south of Spain, Granada, Malaga and Rhonda are good.

it all depends on what you prefer to see and do. i didn't care much for madrid and barcelona, except of course specific sites like the art museums of madrid and the sacrada familigia in barcelona. in my opinion, 3 days in madrid is enough and 4 days in barcelona is too much. I prefer smaller art and architecture-rich places like avila, caceres, segovia and teruel.

i loved toledo and wish i had stayed there and cut my time in madrid. i enjoyed sevilla and granada equally but granada has the alambhra.

Whatever your final itinerary turns out to be i am certain you will love spain!

We would really need to know more about your interests and what you like to do to advise on number of days. Don't be afraid to include details of what you intend to do and see in each place. Otherwise, you just get input on what others would do--FWIW, I would also choose the smaller towns of Andalucia over Barcelona, but it ain't my trip!
I think this looks fine, but rarely do we see anyone doing a deeper dive in Granada, so I'd mull over what you want out of that area.

Thank you for all the input. My wife and I are not huge museum or art gallery people. We love checking out cities and towns and local restaurants. We love going to local restaurants in the hidden alleys and local markets. Day trips are great. We just did a few train day trips from Lisbon.

1. Pick either A. Madrid + Southern Spain (Sevilla, Granada, Cordoba, etc), B. Madrid + Northeastern/Eastern Spain, or C. Madrid + Northern/northwestern Spain (trickier). Doing Southern Spain, Madrid AND Barcelona on the same trip using mostly high speed rail just isn't the easiest with the system as it is.
   https://www.renfe.com/es/en/travel/informacion-util/mapas-y-lineas/ave-y-larga-distancia

2. Don't skip Sevilla if you're going to Southern Spain. Many of these cities are a bit lacking in having both a tourist zone/medieval old town and great city attractions, restaurants, non-touristy areas worth going to. Sevilla has both, the incredible Alcazar and tons of walkable city neighborhoods with amazing restaurants and bars. It's criminally underrated as a European city.

3. My pitch would be Madrid + Sevilla + Granada + Back to Madrid to fly out (you have to connect to Cordoba on the AVE to get to Granada so maybe a day or two there). Or, just Madrid + Madrid side trips, and Sevilla + Sevilla side trips (Cadiz ++++). Barcelona is a bit over touristy for me personally with all of the cruise ship people, etc.

If you prefer small and fun and scenic you may want to check out Ronda and the White Hill towns, Arcos, etc. It may be easier by car for two or three days on a drive between Sevilla and Granada. Cordoba is also very charming and the old section is much lower key than Sevilla or Granada.

We just returned from 16 day trip to Andalusia which included Granada, Cordoba, Seville and Cadiz. Traveled by bus and train which was very easy and well organized and very timely. We spent a day and a half in Madrid to fly home from there. We loved Spain and loved our itinerary and travel pace. We used RS Spain guidebook and it was great. I enjoyed the smaller cities more than Madrid but we made the most of our short time there. Enjoy your planning and your trip.

Thank you. All of this information is very helpful. Sounds like we may be wise to skip Barcelona and do that on a subsequent trip and focus on other areas.

There are lovely smaller towns near Barcelona too, so I think the real takeaway is the consider the broader horizons and maybe not just big cities *if that is not your primary interest (if you had revealed a passion for art, I might urge you to stick to what you planned).
Do note that early September could be quite warm, so just be aware if you are sensitive to heat.

Yes Thank you I've been to Europe10+ times so you are so correct about the heat. I always wear a hat and bring sunscreen

We didn’t visit Barcelona until our fourth trip to Spain. We concentrated on Madrid, Sevilla, Cordoba. You should do both Sevilla and Granada.

My personal opinion is that with 12-14 days you should do no more than 3 destinations.
All 4 cities you suggested are great so it's a matter of what you really want to see.
If you are flying home from Barcelona then the schedule you have is good to me.
I'm partial to Granada with a day trip to Cordoba.
Do the daytrip to Toledo, you'll enjoy it.

That makes sense. You cannot "do" most countries in 12 nights (apart from Malta, perhaps) and your plan makes sense to see a nice variety of Spain without too much regularly changing.

Assuming you can fly direct from your home airport to either Madrid or Barcelona, it seems a good idea to split equally-
- 4 or 5 nights in Madrid and since you're not so keen on art, including day-trips to Toledo and Segovia for other elements, then rail to
- 4 nights in Granada for the Moorish, Plateresque and later Renaissance parts, then fly to
- 4 or 5 nights in Barcelona for a change

You can always see more of the bits which interest you (or cover the great bits you are missing such as the Basque area) next time.

Personally, I think if you don't focus on just three cities then you'll end up spreading yourself so thin that you won't really enjoy any of it. Bear in mind that Spain is about six times larger than Portugal.

Madrid-Toledo-Cordoba-Seville- Granada-Madrid
Is plenty for 12-14 nights and daytripping to Toledo from Madrid and Cordoba from Seville.
Madrid is mostly about art museums—since you’re not into that, 3-4 nights in Madrid with a daytrip to Toledo is plenty. Seville for 4-5 nights with daytrip to Cordoba.
Granada for 3 nights. 1 final night in Madrid before flying home.

Save Barcelona and Catalonia ( Girona, Sitges, Tossa de Mar, Figueres, Besalu) for another 12-night trip in the future.

All these suggestions are fabulous. Thank you. I'm definitely leaning now towards saving Barcelona for a future trip (when we go back to Paris for example) and just doing Madrid, Seville and Granada with day trips to Toledo, Segovia, and possibly Cordoba. I assume that 3-4 nights is sufficient in both Seville and Granada? We will probably do something like below

Fly from Newark into Madrid stay 5-6 nights (2 of those days we will be day trips)
Train to Seville for 3-4 nights
Train to Granada for 3-4nihgts
Train back to Madrid and fly home (may do 1 night in Madrid before flight near airport or in city if airport close)

Fly from Newark into Madrid stay 5-6 nights (2 of those days we will
be day trips) Train to Seville for 3-4 nights Train to Granada for
3-4nihgts Train back to Madrid and fly home (may do 1 night in Madrid
before flight near airport or in city if airport close

Nice plan. If you arrive early in Madrid, I would head to the train station and take a fast train to Sevilla, allowing you to work your way back to Madrid and not have to do the one night stay (which would be recommended--Madrid airport can be a beast). If you don't want to press on to Sevilla, Cordoba is closer and you could squeeze in a one night there maybe.
Andalucia.com has always been helpful to me, along with the Rough Guide.

Seville is a lot larger than Granada, with sights more scattered, so I'd tilt the time that way. Allow over half a day for the Alhambra, however, and buy the Alhambra tickets way in advance so you're sure of getting the date and time you want. The Alhambra sells out well ahead of time.

Cordoba is a great destination. It's worth multiple nights but enjoyable as a day trip if that's all the time you have. The day trip is fastest from Seville. Alternatively, the express train will take you through Cordoba on the way from Madrid to Seville--probably also on the way from Seville to Granada and from Granada back to Madrid. In other words, you can slot Cordoba into your itinerary nearly anywhere if you are traveling by train. Bus is also an option in and out of Granada since there aren't a lot of fast trains going there; the buses don't necessarily go through Cordoba.

There are lockers at the Cordoba bus station (very near the train station0, but I'm not sure you can be guaranteed of finding free ones if you don't arrive rather early. Cordoba's a popular stop-over option due to the geography.

Note that it may still be very, very hot in Andalucia in September. Seville can be uncomfortable, with days in the 90s.

Seville weather -- September 2024 to date

Thank you for all the fantastic assistance. Yes we are very familiar with the Europe heat in September. I think we are going to settle on the following. Looks like Segovia is a worthy day trip from Madrid along with Toledo of course.

Direct fight from Newark to Madrid
6 nights in Madrid (2 day trips one to Toledo and I think the other will be Segovia or Segovia and Avila combined).
High speed train To Granada for 3 nights
High Speed train to Seville for also 3 nights (maybe 4)
Train back to Madrid (stay 1 night either near airport or in city)
Fly direct to Newark

Another option - when you land in Madrid continue on to Granada or Seville and work your way back, ending with all your nights in Madrid. That extra night you were giving to Madrid at the end with your current plan I would add to Seville.

Here's my trip report from last year that you may find helpful https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/trip-report-spain-november-2023

Thank you Mary. Yes I have been thinking of that. We will be tired but may be better in the long run (we can just sleep on the train)

If you add your extra night to Seville, I would use it to daytrip to Cordoba from Seville. Normally, I would recommend spending a night or two IN Cordoba, but that might be too hectic with your allotted number of nights. Cordoba has the magnificent Mezquita along with the Alcazar gardens, Roman Bridge, and Palacio de Viana. The Juderia is a lovely area with narrow lanes, white-washed buildings, patios and flowers. It really would be a shame to miss Cordoba.

Or, you could stop in Cordoba on your way from Seville to Madrid, but you have to store your luggage at the bus station lockers. You may not be guaranteed a locker.

OR, another option would be to add your extra night to Cordoba instead of Seville. So that now you would spend a night in Cordoba when you leave Seville on your way to Madrid, if you do what Mary suggests.

Possible itinerary could be:
when you land in Madrid go straight to Granada - 3 nights
Seville - 3 or 4 nights
Cordoba - 1 night
Madrid - 6 nights

Another vote for Cordoba! For us, the Mezquita was more impressive than the Alhambra, and Cordoba more enjoyable than Granada.

We are heading to Andalucia next February, our first visit to Spain. We are flying into and out of Malaga and don’t have time this trip for Barcelona or Madrid. Those will have to wait for our next visit. We are doing; 5 nights Seville, 3 nights Cordoba, 4 nights Granada, 2 nights Ronda and our final night in Malaga, close to airport.

Thank you everyone. Great suggestions and feedback. Only thing left to do now is book the trip Does anyone know how much in advance they sell train tickets from Renfre? I will need tickets form Madrid to Granada and then Granada to Seville and of course Seville back to Madrid. I know in some countries they start selling them 60 or 90 days in advance.

RENFE used to nominally release tickets at set times such as 90 days for the express "AVE" services. But they often missed those deadlines. Now it is more confusing - with competition- and it can be anywhere from a few weeks to 11 months. It's basically part of RENFE's "have a guess" approach to selling tickets. For two of your routes, I'd start looking three months out for the cheapest, but if not shown keep checking back. For the Sevilla to Madrid route they might already be on sale.
Also, when it comes to paying, it is often easier to use one of the resellers such as Trainline.

For Sevilla to Madrid, both Iryo and Ouigo run that route as well as RENFE.
For Granada to Sevilla, you might look at the Alsa coach as an alternative. The departure times might fit better and it is roughly the same journey length.

Thank you yeah i was also going to look at Raileurope.com

You might take a look at www.TheTrainline.com to first see train schedules and fares ( Rail Europe tends to be more expensive and does not offer tickets for all the available trains). Trainline is contracted to sell train tix for IRYO, Renfe, and Ouigo Espana. IRYO sells tickets up to one year in advance of the train’s departure date and IRYO has trains between Seville and Madrid.
Trainline will give you an overview of what trains are available. You can check direct ticket prices at www.IRYO.eu and www.Renfe.com

Have a great trip!

Thank you I never heard of them before today. Will do. Ill need a few tickets so that will work out great.

Madrid to Granada
Granada to Seville
Seville back to Madrid

If the (limited) train schedule between Granada and Seville doesn't fit well with your plans, consider taking a bus. Quite a few posters have ended up doing that. It may not be significantly slower because the train route isn't a straight shot between the two cities. Spanish inter-city buses are usually very comfortable.