Spain 18 days in September- critique my itinerary!

If you're arriving in Madrid on the 10th and leaving on the 28th, you've really only got 16 days on the ground...that's an average of 2 days/stop, not taking into account travel time. Probably too much. I would chop off Lisbon this time around, since connecting from Sevilla is not easy, and will consume most of a day. Add in that time somewhere else, maybe an extra day in each of Barcelona and Madrid, especially since you plan taking two day trips out of Madrid. Or you could opt to spend those two extra days in Salamanca.
Your idea of making the swing in the other direction to take in the Festa San Merce in Barcelona is a good one. But before doing so, check on accommodations....with only eight weeks to go, hotels and hostels are already likely to be jammed...and prices usually rise as well.
Also, check on trains before committing, especially the overnight train between Barcelona and Granada...it is very popular. To check and see what's available, go to www.renfe.es/horarios/english/index.html (don't enter any data here) and click on "Buy Tickets" at the top center. In the new window that opens up, enter your trip data. You can, if you're lucky, get heavily discounted tickets...but the sooner you book, the better off you will be, including the expensive daytime runs Madrid-Barcelona and Madrid-Sevilla. If nothing is left for Granada-Barcelona, check with Spanish discount airline Vueling, which flies that run...again, the sooner the better.

We do have 18 full days (we land at 8 am in Madrid on the 10th, and I'm not including our departure day). Although we know we'll be tired our first few days, we have traveled that far and are pretty good at sleeping on planes and dealing with jet lag, so we're still planning on doing things our first day. We're considering using night trains or flying to travel either quickly or while we sleep. Cutting out Lisbon seems to be a good possibility. What about adding any of the San Sebastian or Bilbo area?

Just for starters, I'd remove the Tarifa/Tanger leg. Unless you have some sort of burning need to visit the 3rd world, I think that you'd be better off using that time to more thoroughly explore Andalusia (i.e. Cordoba, Medina Sidonia, Alpujarras, etc.)

La Merce is not really all that interesting -- for a good local flavour fiesta, you really want to look at Andalusia. You can find a list of all local "fairs" here: http://www.famp.es/famp/varios/listadofiestas.php3 (Timewise, I'd recommend either Alcala de Guadaira or La Algaba 09/21. Both towns are within 30min of Seville and are easially accessable by bus.) Enjoy!

Edit: Looks like the famp site does not accept a direct link to a querry. To generate a calendar, go to the main site: http://www.famp.es/famp/varios/fiestas.php3 and hit the "mostrar" button. (It'd sure be nice to be able to search by date, but it seems their PHP guy wasn't up to the challenge. Maybe I'll port it this weekend.)

Hmmm...I liked La Merce! Is it because I'm getting old? ;)
Don't add San Sebastian and Bilbao....it'll take too much time out of the itinerary in travel time.
Plan like you're going to be back...because you will.
And, as I said earlier....book ASAP for cheapest fares and accommodations.

This is not a leisurely pace, but it's not crazy either. I would not add (e.g. Lisbon) without also removing something (e.g. Tarifa and Tangier).

You might consider if you can do this open jaw--start in Barcelona, end in Madrid? Or vice-versa. Otherwise you might consider ending the trip not in Madrid but in Toledo, which is a nice place to spend the night, among other things.

If you do re-prioritize to end in Lisbon, save a day for Sintra.

Norm, I'm always open to a new perspective. Next time you're around, I'd love to have you show me the Merce. In exchange, I'd be happy to squire you around one of the small town ferias in the South, (my personal faorite is Camas)which I think gives a better appreciation of local social interaction, hospitality, fun, etc. In any event, there's no such thing as a bad Spanish party, so Karyn can't really go wrong either way, can she?

Saludos

Andynata....there's no doubt the town fairs are better...I liked the San Isidro festival in Nerja, But the big fair in Barcelona drew me if only because of the crowds....huge, but not "Sevilla Semana Santa" madness. If they have a chance to do the trips outside of Sevilla, that would be good use of their time....maybe both there are Barcelona could be fit in. If they do drop Tarifa-Tangiers, I would also maybe suggest a stop in Cordoba.

I'd save Lisbon for another trip.

You should also add at least one day for Cordoba, though two would be better. It's a short trip from Seville.

You guys have been awesome so far. We're still deciding on Lisbon (with Sintra for sure), but here's a more detailed itinerary if we drop it. I hear the suggestion to drop Tangier, but we're intrigued (and it could still get dropped to go to Lisbon instead):
arrive 8 a.m. Thurs Sept 10 Madrid. Stay in Madrid 4 days (day trip Segovia?). Sunday Sept 13 night train to Barcelona. Stay in Barcelona Monday thru Thursday (side trip Monserat?). Night train Thursday night to Granada, Friday and Saturday in Granada. Sunday to and in Ronda. Monday and Tuesday to Tarifa/Tangier Wednesday and Thursday in Seville. Friday to Cordoba to Madrid. Saturday to Toledo. Sunday back to Madrid. Fly home Monday 12.

I'm thinking of locking in the first chunk of the trip's hostals and transportation in the next day or two, and the rest of the stuff that would save $ in the next week and a half. Interested in the festivals mentioned earlier, but the link did not show anything for me. Will do some more research, but open to suggestions for good sites.

I too think you should drop Lisbon from this trip and stay in Spain instead. With all the cities you are already visiting, you will probably be all citied out anyway! Give yourself that time to slow down the pace of your trip. It is no fun doing "fly bye's of exceptional sights. PS. I'm in France now ending a 6 week trip; we did an overnight in Arles, but after a week of two nighters at various hotels we were literally too tired to leave the hotel room to see the roman arena just outside our hotels door.
PS. The Alhambra in Grenada is my favorite sight in Spain and the Generalife Gardens incredibly beautiful. I also loved the enchanting Albayzin neighborhood. Toledo is very cool as well.

OK, all - down to the last final decisions. I think you (and the rising cost) have talked us out of Tangier. Here's what we have so far: Thurs 10 Sept - arrive Madrid 8 am. Thurs, Fri Madrid, Sat Madrid or possible day trip to Segovia or overnight to Toledo. Sun Madrid (bullfight). Sun night overnight train to Barcelona. Mon-Thursday Barcelona. Overnight train Barcelona-Granada. Friday and Saturday Granada. Sunday Ronda. Monday and Tuesday Sevilla. Overnight bus Tues night to Lisbon. Wednesday and Thursday and Friday Lisbon and Sintra. Friday night overnight train to Madrid. Saturday either Toledo overnight (if not done earlier in trip), Segovia, or More Madrid. Sunday more Madrid, etc. Monday am flight home.

Any more thoughts? A few questions - Do we need 2 full days in Granada (is that a good time to budget). Will we miss out by missing Cordoba, and if we need to do it, how do we fit it in.

And the biggie - are we better off staying in Spain and adding either more Andalucia or perhaps Salamanca than going to Lisbon.

Thanks everyone for your advice so far!

I hate that word "need," as in "do we need two days for Granada." I don't think you will regret two days there. I think two days there is more justified than all that time you are spending in Madrid. But tastes vary.

We also arrived in Granada on a night train in Septmeber, very tired. We spent the day seeing the old city, including a siesta and the Albaicin and sunset at St. Nicholas Place with its magnificent view of the Alhambra. Then we took a cab to the Alhambra for night time admission.

This only gets you into the Nasrid Palace and some of the grounds, but it is magical under the stars and worth seeing twice. Your ticket will have a specific time to see the palace; you are admitted at the same time with a group. If you move quickly, temporarily passing by the treasures on the way, you can have the Patio de los Arrayanes to yourselves for five or ten whole minutes. Afterward you can backtrack, as long as you don't leave the palace.

The next day we spent most of the day seeing all the Alhambra, including the Nasrid Palace by day. Obviously tastes to vary, but this was the highlight of our trip in Spain and well worth the time.

For me the highlights of my Spain trip were Granada and Bilbao. We barely fit in Bilbao but it was worth it! We did it as a "day trip" from Madrid by taking a cheap flight (which ended up being about 100 dollars round trip). We left in the morning, spent all day in Bilbao and then left in the evening to go back to Madrid. We were also on a shoestring budget but the extra expense to fit in Bilbao was worth it. And by taking the plane we got to see the airport in Bilibao which was designed by my finacee's favorite architect, Santiago Calatrava. I'm not sure about two days in Granada, we only did one, took the night train from Barcelona and spent the morning at the Cathedral and the rest of the day in the Alhambra then left the next day for Sevilla.

I loved Nerja!

Well, here's the final(ish) itinerary as we leave in just 3 days:

Thurs Sept 10 arrive Madrid 8 am
Fri Madrid (we're art lovers)
Sat Madrid (poss Segovia)
Sun Madrid
Sun-Mon overnight train to Barcelona
Tues Barcelona
Wed Barcelona (poss side trip depending on how we're feeling about Barcelona at this point)
Thurs Barcelona
Thurs-Fri overnight train to Granada
Friday Granada (Alhambra)
Sat Granada
Sun train to Ronda
Monday Bus to Seville
Tues Seville
Wed Seville (probable van tour of hill towns - Any advice on "the other Spain tours")
Thurs train or bus to Cordoba
Fri Ave to Madrid then Ave to Toledo
Sat Toledo
Sun train back to Madrid, get ready to leave, cry
Mon fly back to U.S., cry, get home after midnight U.S. time
4 hours later... go to work

2 towns have me indecisive as to rooms:
Grananda - Pension viena or Britz? (or Nuevas Naciones)
Seville - hostal buen dormir or Pension Bienvenido.

other than that, looking forward to the trip.

We stayed at Pension Britz last year in Granada. Great location but the rooms at the front have some noise in the evenings. It is close to the Alhambra. Very inexpensive and we would stay there again.