Spain Road Trip and attraction ticket advice

How much time do you have? This is a long time on the road and you are mostly planning to go to cities where a car is unnecessary. Parking is never easy, you typically need to head straight to underground car parks (which you pay for).
I would consider renting two cars for this:
First in Barcelona to visit northern Catalonia (Gerona, Cadaques...)
Then train Barcelona-Madrid-Toledo-Cordoba-Seville
And rent again in Séville for the part of your route up to Granada.
Then return car in Séville and head home, Cartagena is... underwhelming and Tarragona can be a stop on the way from Madrid to Barcelona if you so desire.
Also while I've never been, Zaragoza has good reviews (halfway between Barcelona and Madrid). But it all depends on the time you have!

Just plotting out the main stops on google maps, I get 3000 kms and 11 stops, not including tootling around Catalonia or the Algarve. If you have a month, you're still zipping through. Anything less and all you're going to do is drive.

There's a reason July is low season in Andalucia - the triple-digit temps (Madrid too).

1. There's little or no parking (and sometimes no access) to the historic centers of towns like Sevilla and Cordoba. You might do best to park at the train stations and take a bus or taxi to the center, though some hotels do have on-site parking.

2. Yes, lots of spots. Spain's a big, diverse country with lots to see and do. Not sure what "relative to geography" means.

3. There are other sights in Barcelona that sell out and June/July is tourist season there for sure. Since it's low season in Andalucia, you probably don't need any advance tickets except the Alhambra, which is already sold out through mid-June. You may want to buy tickets in advance to avoid lines at attractions, especially in Madrid.

That's quite a journey, how long do you have?

Do you have to visit those particular places? For example Costa de la Luz or Costa de Almeria are more convenient than the Algarve (and nicer). Also note it absolutely isnt low season on the Andalucian coast in July, quite the opposite, and you should book accommodation well in advance. For this year, most of the best places will already be taken.

Cartagena takes you on a big diversion between Granada and Barcelona and there are only a couple of day's worth of sights at most. But if you do take this route then heading north you pass Elche, worth a stop, and Valencia, worth a couple of days (better than Tarragona certainly).

If only visiting Gib for a day, people generally park on the Spanish side and walk across the border in order to avoid the silly games of the Spanish border force.

In Granada I'd recommend staying in a hotel with car parking up by the Alhambra, rather than trying to drive in the city centre. Also avoid driving in the historic centre of Sevilla and Cordoba (both of which have car bans or restrictions and confusing street layouts). A car really isn't a good idea for the whole of you plan - I'd mix car with rail, coach and, perhaps, flying.

Thanks for the responses. There are 4 of us and we are there for 2 weeks, I know not much time but we are a bunch of broke college students trying to see as much as possible without breaking the bank, which is why we decided on rental car since the cost of that for the whole trip is cheaper than 4 one way Barcelona-Madrid train tickets, not to mention all the other trains for our other destinations, plus the added flexibility. I know we could probably spend a week in several of these places alone but that'll be for the next trip! This itinerary is very early in development and subject to change. Will definitely look into those other coasts thanks Nick!

We were thinking that driving down the east coast of Spain to see Costa Blanca would be worthwhile, but is it? Any of those western cities you guys would recommend besides Cartagena?

Which other attractions in Barcelona and Andalucia do you recommend purchasing tickets for ahead of time?

Hello, I can understand the allure of road tripping across Spain and Portugal, but with two weeks (assuming 14 nights) I would say that you can realistically do about half of your current itinerary.

Not sure about your guys' interests, but here would be my potential itinerary based on your original cities listed (overnights stops are in bold):

Option 1: "Spain: Tapas Style"
Fly in to Barcelona
Barcelona
Tarragona
Peñíscola Castle
Valenica
Cuenca
Madrid
Toledo
Cordoba
Granada
White Hill Towns
Sevilla
Fly out of Sevilla

Also consider doing a road-trip across northern Spain aka "Green Spain", summer time is the best time to visit this area and it is definitely unique compared to other parts of Spain:

Option 2: "El Camino de Santiago"
Fly in to Barcelona
Barcelona
Zaragoza
San Sebastian
Bilbao
Santillana del Mar
Potes
Picos de Europa National Park
Oviedo
Lugo
Santiago de Compostela
Fly out of Santiago de Compostela

Personally I would do the Northern Spain itinerary, I think that it is much more doable with a car. Note that having a car in the big cities will be a pain and not to mention expensive.

The more times you change hotels, the more time is wasted with checking in and out, getting oriented in the new city, etc.--not to mention the hours spent observing Europe through the windows of a moving vehicle. That means less time for sightseeing. Yes, you will set foot in more cities, but you won't see much in any of them.

Spain is large, and the car will be much slower than the AVE trains connecting Barcelona - Madrid - Cordoba - Seville. Use ViaMichelin.com for estimates of driving times along your route, keeping in mind that they don't include stops, getting lost, looking for parking, or getting from the parking place to your hotel or sightseeing target.

I trust you are planning to rent a car with a large enough trunk to hold all your luggage/backpacks out of sight. You need to have nothing visible in the car when you stop for sightseeing or a meal on hotel-change days.

Edited to add: Off the top of my heaf, these are places where you shouldn't plan to show up and buy a ticket; I'm sure I've missed some.

Barcelona: La Sagrada Familia, Parc Guell, Casa Mila, Casa Batllo, Picasso Museum; perhaps also the Palau de la Musica Catalana.

Madrid: perhaps the Palacio Real. There might sometimes be lines at the Prado.

Cordoba: Mezquita

Seville: Alcazar. See Rick's book for dealing with the long ticket line at the cathedral.

Granada: Alhambra (sells out months in advance)

Hmm, make sure everything is hidden, are car break ins common in Spain?

Are they common? They are not unusual occurrences, especially in a country like Spain with very high unemployment. Do you want to take the chance? Before you decide that a car is cheaper, you should factor in the price of gas, about double that in the US, the cost of tolls (side roads can easily at hours to your driving time), parking fees. Then consider the efficiency - on a 2-week trip you aren't going to have much time in any one place and the more places you stop, the less time you'll have in any. You can't just drive into the center of most (except in very expensive garages that may even be full) and find parking on the spot. Forget street parking. And hotels with parking are almost invariably more expensive. If you're going on a shoestring you'll be looking a hostels and/or hostals (pensions) so don't expect any on-site parking.

When you look at train prices, the cheapest tickets are "mesa" - these are seats at the end of each car that face each other. They aren't as desirable for 1 or 2 people because you have to pay for the 4 seats. They aren't so roomy, but you're friends and can get in each other's space - also you can get up and walk around. For example, Barcelona to Madrid is €43 each.

If you don't have plane tickets yet, open-jaw is usually about the same price as round-trip, unless you snag one of the occasional bargains. That saves you the time and cost of returning to Barcelona.

And as I said (nag, nag - but I'm right so listen to me :-) look at driving times. Google maps are almost always ridiculously low estimates. viamichelin.com is more reliable and will also calculate driving costs (gas, tolls). Neither includes pit stops, wrong turns (if you do get a car, make sure you have GPS), or slow traffic. If you are all 5"4 and 120#, you may be comfortable for long hours is a small car. If you're 6" you'll want a roomier (and more expensive car to rent and drive) car. Also compare those times to train times. Michelin estimates the drive from Barcelona to Madrid would take 6.5 hours (the train is about 2.5 hours) and would cost over €100 (mostly gas). You could save €25 by going an alternative route that adds an hour of driving. Add the cost of a car for 2 days (minimum stay in Madrid) and you're spending at least as much as the train would cost you.

That €43/pp fare is discounted. If you buy tickets in advance, you can get those cheaper tickets but they sell out and then you have to pay higher prices. Buying in advance means locking in, but you save big time.

I feel I should add this:

None of us is trying to discourage you from the trip. We have all been there and we just want to help you plan the best trip you can take. Some of the comments (mine especially) may sound harsh, but all are meant kindly and with goodwill. Most of us have made mistakes on past trips and we come here hoping that our experiences will help others avoid them.

There are few places in Europe where road-tripping is better, faster or cheaper than trains and buses. If you really want a road trip, Carlos's suggestion of northern Spain is excellent and the weather will be better. You'll have more scenery, quaint towns and villages, and some time on the Atlantic coast. If you want to stick to the cultural/historical highlights - Barcelona, Madrid, Andalucia - you probably won't save money with a car but you will lose valuable time.

If saving money is very important then have a look at coach ("bus"), prices as well as rail. For example, in a random test, I found a coach ticket from Barcelona to Madrid for €10. Obviously, it's a lot slower than the train - but not much slower than by car. And on longer routes such as that, there are sometimes overnight services so you sleep (hopefully), on the the coach and save the accommodation cost. I wouldn't want to do it, admittedly, and certainly not for two or more nights in a row. But you're all young, I assume, and should be able to cope with the occasional poor night's sleep. Clearly some do this or they wouldn't run the service!

Also, whilst travel costs is one way to save money, another is on hotels. Search for backpacking hostels (not hostals, which are something else), you'll find them in most larger towns (and smaller places that get a lot of students), and they can be dirt cheap. That's how our kids were able to afford to visit so many parts of the world in their gap years.

Finally, whilst I understand the desire to see it all, with two weeks I'd cut back overall but still include contrasting destinations. For example, a couple of days in Barcelona, a couple more in Madrid, and then hire a cheap car for a road-trip of Andalucia's larger & smaller cities/coast. Fit beach time into an existing destination rather than going out of your way, e.g. Barcelona is on the coast and Andalucia has lots of beaches.

You also might want to seek advice on one of the WWW forums more focused on younger, cost-conscious tourists. I think most of us on here are older and a little fuddy-duddy. I am anyway.