help with a 14 day itinerary in spain, please!

Suggestion #1: start by being honest with yourself. This is not a 14-day itinerary. You have 12 days in Europe - or more likely, 11 days...your flight leaving from NYC on 9/14 probably arrives in Madrid on 9/15, right? Then your trip begins on 9/16. Believe me, you're not going anywhere or seeing much on the day you arrive in Europe after an overnight flight (no matter what time it lands), nor on the day you fly back to the US. Suggestion #2: Reconsider your flights. Why fly round-trip to and from Madrid when doing so means you lose at least one full day, maybe two? Fly "open jaws" into Madrid and out of Barcelona (or vice-versa). By flying open jaws you will save time (which, on an 11-day trip to Europe, you really don't have much of), and you're probably even save some money, too (if you're honest about the costs you will incur getting all the way back to Madrid to catch your return flight). Suggestion #3: You're going to Spain, and you're skipping the Alhambra? There are lots of reasons it's the #1 tourist attraction in Spain. Consider adding 1 day and 2 nights in Granada so you can see it. Suggestion #4: You have too many places for such a short trip (even before adding Granada), you gotta cut something. The obvious outlier (to me) is San Sebastian. And it may not be realistic to get to your side trips (Toledo, Cordoba, Arcos/Ronda). Consider letting something else go, too. Sorry, you just don't have the days to spend. You do not wake up one morning, step into the Transporter, and beam yourself instantly to the next city. When you change locations, you lose a half day at best, or a full at at worst. Given your short trip, you should probably pick a maximum of 3 locations.

David, the OP said she has already been to Granada (and perhaps her husband has no interest?). I, too, would cut something out. You basically have a travel day, then one full day, then another travel day, then a full day, etc. If it were me, and San Sebastian was important to me, I would cut out Sevilla. Yes, it's great, but you really won't be doing anything but running with this itinerary. 9/15 half day 9/16 full day 9/17 day trip 9/18 travel day, half day 9/19 full day 9/20 day trip 9/21 LONG travel day 9/22 full day 9/23 full day 9/24 travel day, half day 9/25 half day, travel day
9/26 full day That gives you about nine really usable sightseeing days. The rest of the time you will be getting from place to place. Sound like what you want?

Here's what I would consider. If I have to back track, this is what I would do, I would fly into Madrid and then get the heck out, then tag it on the end. Day 0 0 leave NYC 1 arrive madrid and get to Toledo. Stay 1 night. Chill and enjoy city and get to bed early 2 off to Sevilla, but stop in cordoba. 3 Sevilla 4 Sevilla ( side trip if you want but you may just want to stay and bask in sevillas charm 5 Barcelona 6 Barcelona 7 Barcelona 8 San Sebastián 9 San Sebastián 10 Madrid 11 Madrid 12 Madrid
13 leave NYC I'm one of those who take advantage of the first day. I always have strong plans on the first day. I'm not gonna lose a day just because I'm tired. Museums, walks, train travel, drinks, eats, I don't hold back on the first day. So getting on a train and going to Toledo and taking the city in is not a big deal. Sleep in a bit late and then be on your way to cordoba/Sevilla.

If you were to follow the previous suggestion, you need to know that in order to get to Sevilla on the train from Toledo, you have to return to Madrid first, then go to Sevilla. Unless the timing of trains is perfect for your purposes, you won't have time for much in Cordoba if you intend to get to Sevilla that night. That means you will be spending almost all of Day 2 getting to Sevilla. That leaves you one full day, then you're on the road again, for the long travel day to Barcelona (or two full days, taking that travel day away from your time in Barcelona). You really need to look at how long it takes to get from place to place (check train schedules at www.renfe.com, or road mileage at (www.viamichelin.com). Every time you change cities you lose at least a half day to travel and getting resituated, and you just aren't accounting for that. You might save some time and gain some flexibility by renting a car (and you wouldn't have to backtrack to Madrid from Toledo to get to Sevilla).

Reading nancy's post, I would then scratch going straight to Toledo immediately. I would then just go straight to Sevilla. Tack on Toledo as a day trip from Madrid, but at the end. Back tracking to stay just 1 day just doesn't make it worth it to me. Back tracking to have 3-4 nights, now I could live with that.

I think you are going to 'see the country' a lot, but not get a chance to see much more...too much travel between places and not enough time to enjoy them. Toledo is a 25 minute AVE ride from Madrid. Sevilla is a 2 /1/2 hour AVE ride from Madrid. Cordoba is on the way to Sevilla, about 2 hours from Madrid. Barcelona is 2 /12 hour AVE ride from Madrid. Each of these cities are filled with sights to see and history to enjoy, but at a measured pace. As for the other places you mention "the white hill towns like acros or rondha from seville? could we squeeze granada in too or should we?" I think it would leave them out for this trip, or if they are 'must sees' then omit something else. My personal preference would be to omit the last places and spend more time in the others = even with an overnight stay in Toledo, a most fascinating city. But, do what you want and enjoy it all!!!

We only had about 5 days in Spain a few years ago. I am really glad we saw Granada and Toledo. The train ride from Sevilla to Granada was fascinating. Hilly and mountainous Spain has unique charms.

Thanks so much everyone! Based on the feedback I think we're going to skip Andalusia on this trip and have our itinerary confined to madrid, Barcelona and Basque Country/San Sebastian. We would have loved to see seville, Granada, cordoba etc but we don't want a hectic trip and want to enjoy the cities and really get a feel for them. Considering I've been to Andalusia before, I think Basque Country will be new and exciting. I guess my husband will have to experience Andalusia on another trip to Spain (hopefully!). Thanks again! Any suggestions on the new itinerary would be very helpful!

See my prior "Suggestion #2: Reconsider your flights." Your trip is very short. It would be unwise to waste a significant portion of it circling back to Madrid to catch your flight home. Fly into Madrid, then fly home from Barcelona or somewhere closer to the Basque region.

I second David's advice about flights. With a change in Madrid, you can get from any airport in Spain back to New York. This will save lots of your precious time. And, booked as a single open jaw ticket rather than two one-way tickets, it may not even cost any more than a round trip to Madrid. To find these flights, use the "multi city" option on Kayak, Iberia, Orbitz, etc. If you find that leaving from another city requires you go get up too early (a common issue), try reversing your itinerary. Start in Basque country (so you make the flight connection on the way in), then work you way toward Madrid and fly back home from there.

It's hard to get both north and south in two weeks. I personally like Madrid least and would skip it to the greatest extent possible (but that's just my preference). I'd suggest flying directly into Barcelona (there is a direct flight from Newark). Start with three nights (really only two full days) in Barcelona. From there you can rent a car to stop at some combination of Montserrat, Zaragosa (stay a night there), Olite (a very nice castle there), Pamplona (worth a quick look), and San Sebastian, then back down through Madrid area toward Toledo and south. San Sebastian is a nice town with a nice beach but really only a great visit in full summer. We were there in April and the weather was pretty miserable. I'd suggest not making reservations and make a decision to either go or not based on the ten day forecast when you're in Barcelona. If the weather isn't that great, you could drop the northern loop and train straight to Toledo. If the northern loop is out, you have more time to see Cordoba and Seville. I'd suggest side trips to Arcos and Jerez (both very convenient to Seville by car or bus, Ronda's a little out of the way if you aren't going to Granada). After Seville, you can close your trip by training back to Madrid.