Spain Itinerary

As people on this site have responded to me in the past, it depends what you're interested in. I have not yet visited northern Spain so keep that in mind. I suggest that you fly into Madrid and spend one night there. The following day, either continue to see the sites in Madrid or take the 30 minute train trip to Toledo and enjoy the day there. Take the train to Sevilla late in the day or, since you have to backtrack to Madrid as no trains travel directly to Sevilla from Toledo, spend a second night in Madrid and take an early train to Sevilla the following day. Spend two nights in Sevilla. Take the train from Sevilla to Cordoba and spend the day in Cordoba then continue on to Granada by train for two nights. Take a tour of the Alhambra on one of these days then take the train back to Madrid. I agree that you should skip Barcelona on this trip. Have a wonderful trip!

Here is a suggestion: fly into Barcelona and spend the day riding the HOHO bus. You could choose to get off at a couple of the Gaudi buildings, for instance, if you wantbut you will get an overview of the city and gather ideas of what you want to see whenever you return to Spain. The next day travel to San Sebastian. There are 2 trains, early morning and afternoon, they take about 5 hrs. You see some spectacular scenery especially in the Basque Country.
S.S. is very relaxing, and there are day trip possibilities as you mentioned. There is frequent bus service to Bilbao but some other routes have infrequent service so you may need to rent a car, especially if you hope to visit someplace out of the way. You could take the train to Madrid/Segovia, or fly. If you take the train you will see a lot of the Spanish countryside, which we enjoyed. Purchase a picnic meal of baguette, cheese, etc in S.S. or Bilbao to eat on the train ride. It takes 5 hrs Bilbao to Madrid, 4.5 if you disembark at Segovia. You said that Segovia will be at the end of the trip so I don't know when you will see Madrid...hopefully you can give it a couple of days at least. While it is a huge city, many of the attractions and plazas often mentioned on this forum are located in a "swath" between the Prado museum and the Palacio Real. You can concentrate on just that area and stay busy for days.

Toledo is an easy day trip from Madrid and a must if you are in Madrid. There are other day trips from Madrid that are relatively easy. Sevilla is also a big city but I felt this was the part of Spain I always envisioned. I enjoyed it more than Barcelona.

Toledo is an easy day trip and so is Avila. If you planning on going to the Alhambra, make sure you book your tickets in advance.

We just got back from a month in Spain. Our itinerary, including day stops, was: Barcelona, Monserrat, Zaragoza, Olite, Pamplona, San Sebastian, Vitoria, Burgos, Valladolid, Penafiel, Coca, Medina del Campo, Zamora, Salamanca, Avila, Segovia, Toledo, Consuegra, Belmonte, Valdepenas, Granada, Antequera, Ronda, Gibraltar, Tarifa, Cladia-Baello, Chiclana, Cadiz, Jerez, Sevilla, Cordoba, and Madrid. I can give you thoughts on any of those. In general, I'd say stay north since a significant part of your time needs to be there. There are lots of short trip options from Segovia but it will depend on your schedule (hours at sights are limited). Flying out of Madrid makes sense. Barcelona is different than Madrid except that both are big cities, if you don't like big cities, you may not like either. Barcelona has more history than Madrid, Madrid has the Prado.