Heading to Spain in January.
Leave Canada on the 7th.
Barcelona - 8, 9, 10, 11
Girona - 12, 13 (we realize this is a slight deviation from the rest of the Spanish "loop" but it looks amazing and we are dying to try El Celler de Can Roca)
Madrid 14, 15
Toledo 16, 17
Cordoba 18, 19, 20
Seville 21, 22, 23
Is it worth doing 4 days in Cordoba and 2 in Seville or vice versa?
Barcelona 24
Fly back 25th.
El Celler de Can Roca closes from Dec 21 to Jan 14, 2026. Our Christmas vacation is longer than in other countries, as the big presents day is on January 6, and business is much slower after these very busy dates.
Oh damn, thanks for the heads up about El Celler. Understandable though...
The other option we thought of (esp if we don't do Girona) was doing this backwards so... Barcelona to Seville and then back up and around... Cordoba - Toledo- Madrid - Barcelona. The disadvantage of this is that we lose half a day in Seville.
If you end up going backwards and losing a 1/2 day in Seville, then definitely take a day from Cordoba to replace it.
Doing it all in reverse seems to make sense. Agree with @TexasTravelMom that if the switch takes a half day from Seville then trade for a day in Cordoba. But, Cordoba is lovely, food is great and the Mezquita is incredible! You will enjoy two days there.
Have a great trip!
Cordoba is great; I was happy to spend 3 nights there. However, Seville is a lot larger and I consider 3 nights a bit short for that city.
Barcelona presents scheduling challenges because many of its sights are so popular that you must pre-purchase timed tickets if you want to see them. Conservative planning will result in allowing what sometimes turns out to be more time than you really need at a sight, potentially leaving bits and pieces of hard-to-use time scattered throughout the day.
Agreed @acraven. We're doing 4 nights in Seville now and 3 in Cordoba. We've heard great things about Cordoba and really want to keep it at 3 nights minimum. Here's the updated itinerary. Note: We love Barcelona (been there before for our 25th and are aware of the need to book in advance for Gaudi) and we're super excited to continue making our way through the city.
Leave Canada on the 7th.
Barcelona - 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
Madrid 13, 14
Toledo 15, 16
Cordoba 17, 18, 19
Seville 20, 21, 22, 23
Barcelona 24
Fly back 25th.
Besides the January closure El Cellar de Can Roca gets booked out a year in advance.
Add more to Seville.
For your stay in Toledo, I highly recommend Medina Mudejar. It is a hotel built on old Arab Baths which have been beautifully refurbished. With each night stay, you get one free hour in the baths. This was definitely a highlight for me on my last trip!
It sounds like you have a great trip planned - enjoy!
@Dawn That place looks amazing, thanks for the rec! :)
