US to Madrid, Córdoba, Sevilla, Granada & Barcelona (10 days)

Your date are confusing - you say arriving Saturday morning in Madrid but your date Sept 26 - is a Monday, It will make a huge difference on opening days & trains.

Not sure from where you are flying in but jet lag on your first day might be an issue.

The Mezquita is closed on Sundays from 11:30 to 15:00 - keep that in mind. There are luggage lockers in the bus station across from the train station. If you arrive in Cordoba at 15:00ish that is 4 hours for the Mezquita and put you arriving in Seville about 20:00.

With a schedule this tight double check your opening times and train schedules

Nine nights in Spain and you plan to include Madrid, Córdoba, Sevilla, Granada AND Barcelona. This is incredibly ambitious given your limited time.

I would forget Granada, and spend 3 nights in each of Madrid, Sevilla, Barcelona.

Sep 24 - Arrive Madrid - 3 nights
Sep 25 - Madrid sights
Sep 26 - Day trip to Toledo
Sep 27 - AVE train to Seville - 3 nights
Sep 28 - Seville sights
Sep 29 - Day trip to Cordoba
Sep 30 - Fly (Vueling) to Barcelona - 3 nights
Oct 01 - Barcelona sights
Oct 02- Afternoon to Montserrat
Oct 03 - Depart Barcelona

Christi, thank you. I meant we arrive in Madrid Saturday, September 24 (not 26).

David is right, you only have nine nights in Spain and are trying to cover a lot of ground. If you haven't already bought airline tickets into Madrid and out of Barcelona, then I would give up one of those cities and for me it would be Barcelona, and keep your trip limited to Madrid and Andalucía. Do Barcelona and daytrips in that area on another trip. As you have it planned right now you have only one night in Granada and you arrive there by train and leave the next day by plane for Barcelona. There is so much to see and do there. Make sure you order your Alhambra tickets and that you coordinate the time with your arrival and check in at your hotel. Personally, I don't see how you can adequately see both the Alhambra and the cathedral on that same day. Your visit to Córdoba is also very tight because you are sandwiched in between your train travel from Madrid to Sevilla. Can you eleminate Córdoba or Granada if you are set on seeing both Madrid and Barcelona? If you keep this schedule you are going to spend a lot of time more time traveling than actual siteseeing.

You are proposing covering a huge chunck of geography in a short period of time. Please consider:
Madrid, seville and barcelona offer three diverse perspectives of spain and each have a wide range of opportunities to explore.
Cordoba offers an alternative experience in the same genre as granada.
Advise: two nights in Madrid,
Train to seville w a day trip stop in cordoba (ez to accomplish)
Three nights in seville
Fly to barcelona for four nights
Travel really lite in order to avoid the adverse impact of being a luggage mule
Do an excellent job on learning how to preorder entry tickets and how to avoid lines

My husband and I just returned from a 10 day trip to Madrid and Andalucía. We also wanted to visit Barcelona, but decided it was too much for this amount of time and I am soooo happy that we decided to leave that off. We flew into Madrid, immediately took the train to Cordoba for one night, next day took the bus to Granada (no direct train route right now between these cities, and the bus is faster), spent a couple days in Granada, then took the train to Seville and spent a few days there, and then back to Madrid for a few days before we flew out of Madrid.

For me, Barcelona would have been too much but it all depends on how you travel and what you want to get out of it. I have a friend who just went to Italy and Greece, she saw about 5 cities but spent no more than a day and a half in each one. I prefer to have some time to just see the cities that I visit and to get a sense for the people and culture (and even the time I spent in each city was not a lot of time for that). I spent one night and afternoon in Cordoba, saw the Mezquita but that's the one city that I visited that don't feel like I can really comment on because the ONLY thing I saw was the Mezquita, some streets, and a restaurant.

Obviously the Alhambra is the big draw in Granada, but that was one of my favorite cities. I enjoyed walking through the Albayzyn and getting a feel for the Moorish culture there. We spent one evening going from Restaurant to Restaurant and just having tapas and drinks. During that time, we met a wonderful family that taught us how and what to order and gave us their own recipes for the dishes we really liked. This was one of my favorite and most memorable experiences from my entire trip. I will also say that we spent a day in Madrid seeing the Royal Palace and Prado and I was EXHAUSTED. I felt like it was too much to do in one day and I felt that we rushed one to get to the other in time and then didn't give the other enough time because we were both so tired.

I don't like to tell anyone what's too much for them because I realize that people travel differently and want to get different things out of their trips, but these are my experiences....Good luck with your plans!

Two things to add to the above responses:
- yesterday I saw a 'Consigna' counter open in the bus station. That means left luggage, though when I looked in the items seemed more like things shipped by bus awaiting pick up. So, maybe one can leave luggage.
- In Barca, Las Ramblas would be a terrible apartment location (and for all other tourist related needs) unless you want wall to wall tourists and tourist traps.

Less is more.

If you are locked into your international flights and can't skip Barcelona, consider dropping either Madrid or Granada. You can go to Sevilla from the airport by train (changing in Madrid), then day trip to Cordoba while in Sevilla.

By "museum" I assume you mean the Prado. It is huge and somewhat maze-like (lots of "dead-end" rooms that you have to walk back through). Be realistic about what time you'll be able to start sightseeing in Madrid. Allow time to get through passport control and baggage collection, then time to get from the airport to your hotel - there will be wait time for a train or bus, then transfer time to your hotel, check in and baggage drop. Then you have to get to whichever sight you start with and wait in line for tickets (you don't want to have a timed ticket because you don't know what time you'll be able to arrive there). Even if you know in advance exactly what you want to see at the Prado and have mapped out your route, it will take 2-3 hours at least once you're in the museum. The Palace visit is at least a couple of hours too. And all this after a red-eye flight and with jetlag.

First, thanks to all for your thoughts and suggestions.

We've modified the plans to the following:

• Sept 23 -leave USA FLY TO MALAGA, arrive there early Saturday morning, take train directly to Seville -arrive before noon.

• Spend 3 nights in Seville (Saturday, Sunday and Monday) with a possible (train) side trip to Córdoba for one of the days.

• Then take the train to Granada for 3 days (Tuesday, Weds, Thursday) to see Alhambra, etc.

• Fly early Friday morning to Barcelona to spend Friday, Saturday, Sunday (including Sunday night).

• Fly back to USA Monday.

Basically, we will omit Madrid from this trip as it was just too much to fit in. Does this sound reasonable and not too frazzled? I have to start practicing packing so I can travel light.

Sept 23 -leave USA FLY TO MALAGA, arrive there early Saturday morning, take train directly to Seville -arrive before noon. Spend 3 nights in Seville (Saturday, Sunday and Monday) with a possible (train) side trip to Córdoba for one of the days. Then take the train to Granada for 3 days (Tuesday, Weds, Thursday) to see Alhambra, etc. Fly early Friday morning to Barcelona to spend Friday, Saturday, Sunday (including Sunday night). Fly back to USA Monday.

Much better. I would visit Cordoba on the way to Granada. You can either stay overnight or put your bags in storage at the bus station across the street from the train station. It's about 45 min. from Sevilla to Cordoba, and about an hour less to Granada from Cordoba than from Sevilla. And I would take a night from Granada and add it either to Cordoba or Barcelona. The trains from Sevilla to Granada are at 6.35 a.m. (way too early) or at 11.45 a.m. so the morning is wasted and you get to Granada after 3 p.m., so just the evening left there. There are frequent trains from Sevilla to Cordoba (at least a couple every hour), and more normal times from Cordoba to Granada (9.02 am arriving 11.15, or 7.35 pm, arriving 9.35).

Sevilla, 3 nights (Sa,Su,M), 2 full days (minimum for seeing the sights)
Cordoba visit on the way to Granada (Tuesday)
Granada, 2 nights (T,W), 1 full day (fly to Barcelona on Thursday)
Barcelona, 4 nights, 3 full days

There are variations. You could add a day and night to Sevilla (you'll be jetlagged on arrival). Or you could spend 2 nights in Cordoba with one one day - get in on an evening train from Sevilla, then after the 2nd night, take the 9 am train to Granada. 1.5 days in Granada is all you need to see the Alhambra and the cathedral and Albaicin.

Much much much better than your first itinerary!

I think skipping Madrid makes sense, not because it's not great (I like it more than others seem to), but because it's the largest airport with the most flight options. So, if you ever return to Spain, it will be easy to see Madrid at that time.

Eleven visits to Spain and I still have places left for 'next time'. This new trip plan works well, you'll have a great time. Enjoy.

Wow, I just got back from doing a Madrid, Sevilla, Granada & Barcelona trip with 11 days on the ground and we still felt rushed. Glad you shortened it and are concentrating on one major area (plus Barcelona). Save Madrid for another trip and you can head the opposite direction and see Basque country and San Sebastian :)