Spain Itinerary- any thoughts?

The coast is very touristy (Rick Steves describes most of it as "grotesque"). Consider skipping the land of wall-to-wall concrete condos and transplanted northern europeans roasting in the sun, and head for the best, real part of Spain: Andalucia. I'd trade the Costa del Tourismo for Granada (the Alhambra), Cordoba, Seville and the white hill towns any day. Also consider skipping "Morocco" if all you have time for is a day trip. The good stuff is inland and needs a few days.

We were there those same dates in 2011. We flew into Barcelona and back from Madrid, and also visited Sevilla, Cordoba, Granada, and Toledo. No beach towns, for the reasons David says. It was a wonderful trip.

Your best bet for less crowded beaches is to avoid the Costa del Sol completely (please forgive me if I get the word genders wrong, this will give you the idea). Which leaves several options. - Costa Brava north of Barcelona to the French border. It's definitely populated but not all tourist resorts. - Velencia area (Costa Blanca?). I haven't done much research for the area because we're not planning to make it part of our trip. - The north coast, along the Atlantic, from the French border westward. We'll visit San Sebastian in early April - most say the weather isn't reliable here until full summer months. - Costa de la Luz, on the Atlantic from Tarifa up to the Portuguese border. We're going to visit this area. We don't plan to go north of Cadiz so I'm thinking something in the area of Conil de la Frontera as a place to get some time at the beach. I'm expecting it to have more wind and surf than Costa del Sol but, hopefully, the weather will be comfortable in late April and not too crowded.

Thank you all for the suggestions. I know that to really see Morocco would take much longer than a day, but I am excited about a small glimpse and think it will be worth it since we will be on the coast anyway. At least it might give some indication regarding whether to make it a longer trip in the future. Brad- I think the Costa de la Luz that you mention is exactly where we want to be, between Cadiz and Tarifa. If you don't mind me asking, where are you guys making your stops along this area. Have you heard if it's easy to get around via trains/buses or are you renting a car? It doesn't look like there are direct train routes along the coast, and I haven't been able to find much so far regarding the bus system. Has anyone else been along this area of the coast? Also, do you think that 2 nights for Barcelona and Madrid and 3 nights for Sevilla is appropriate? We could probably sneak another night in there for one of the cities. Again, any suggestions are greatly appreciated. These forums have really helped me in planning trips over the years!

Lindsey, We're renting a car. I think it's the best approach for the area. Second best would be bus. We opted for a car because it wasn't that expensive and allows us to move on our own schedule, stopping where we like. Our plan for the area is to stay a night at Castella de la Fontera after visiting Gibraltar for the day. In the morning we'll start up the coast. Canos de la Meca will probably be one of our first stops. I read a British news article reviewing beaches in the area. Of the group Conil de la Frontera sounded good. There were also a couple up by Chiclana de la Frontera, including La Barrosa, which sounded good - but they're next to a fairly large city, so I'm thinking they may be more crowded. After working our way up through the area, we'll visit Cadiz for one night then head to Seville. We will more than likely skip Jerez and Arcos because we will have seen other white towns, as well as other Bodegas (and I've already seen the horse show), before we get there.