two weeks in Spain- what places to visit?

if you really want to see spain 2 weeks is not enough. after madrid and granada you just have 1 week left so you can probably cover seville, cordoba, tolado, segovia... the list is so long i'd save france for another trip.

Hi Lora-congratulations! We are going to Spain at about the same time, and I will say that after researching thoroughly, I completely agree with David's suggestions. Two weeks is not enough time to include France. From what I have learned, there is so much to see and do at this time that you won't want to leave Spain. You have 3 days each in Madrid and Granada. Add 3 in Seville (on your way to Granada) and 3 in one other place, plus travel time and possibly day-trips, and there you have your two weeks. Depending on when in May you will go, you may hit some wondersul festivals-the Feria de Abril in evilla (it's in May next year because Easter is so late), and the Patio Festival in Cordoba. These are both in early May. The trick is deciding what that "one other place" should be. We are going to spend 3 days/nights in Barcelona, but that involves a long train ride (Barcelona to Madrid) . With an open-jaw flight it works for us, but might not for you. Do you plan to rent a car for part of the time? That would increas your mobility in Andalusia if you would like to visit the white towns or coastal villages.

Sevilla for sure is worth at least 3 days/nights. Many people prefer Sevilla over Grenada but of course the Alhambra is not to be missed. Grenada is a minimum of two nights. Cordoba can be a day trip from Sevilla but is worth at least one night. Toledo can be a day trip from Madrid but is worth at least one night. Segovia and Escorial are both good day trips from Madrid. I'd do Barcelona before considering going to France. If you can fly open jaw it'd be more efficient than backtracking. Plus there's northern Spain, NW Spain and the white hills in southern Spain as options.

In April, we spent almost a month in Spain and still had to really pick what to see and what to miss. You could easily spend over a week in Madrid with lots of day/overnight trips from there. Barcelona and area are a must see and we haven't even gotten down to Sevilla, Grenada and the rest of the south. There is so much to see in Spain, we would leave France for whole other trip. Hasta la Vista!

For our two weeks in Spain, we started in Madrid for 4 nights, then flew to Granada for three nights (arriving in the evening). We left early in the morning for Sevilla by train and after lunch on the third day took the high speed train back through Madrid to Toledo, where we spent three nights before leaving for the Madrid airport. My only regret from that trip is that we didn't stop in Cordoba on the way from Sevilla to Toledo. We didn't really do much in our last half-day in Sevilla and that time might have been better spent in Cordoba. We also could have made more time for Cordoba by leaving Granada a half-day earlier. In four days, we didn't have time to do any day trips out of Madrid, but we're big museum people so the Prado took a whole day. You may allocate your time differently. I highly recommend planning Toledo as an overnight, rather than just a day trip from Madrid. It's such a romantic city that really comes into its own after dark when the tourists leave.

I would not miss Cordoba at least as a one night side trip from Sevilla. The Mezquite is fabulous (Grand Mosque, largely preserved, with the Reconquista cathedral plopped in the middle. And the Alcazar in Cordoba (free on Wednesdays, by the way) has the most fabulous extensive gardens with pools, fountains, maze, flowers, etc. We found those gardens to be much more of a treat than those at the Alhamba.

We did two weeks there over Christmas last year. We flew into Barcelona and out of Madrid. My opinion is that while Madrid is nice and the museums are great, Barcelona is amazing. The food, the culture, the architecture, etc. Here is a rough outline of what we did. 3 nights/4 days in Barcelona took overnight train to Granada from Barcelona 2 nights in Granada picked up rental car to see hill towns. Stayed one night in Olvera (amazing) and one night in Arcos de la Frontera (cool, but not as great as Olvera) also visited Ronda along the way. Drove to Seville, dropped rental car at train station and spent 2 nights there.
Took AVE train to Cordoba spend the day there and then headed to Madrid for four nights. If I had it to do over again, I'd have spent an extra day in Barcelona or Olvera. If you need recommendations on where to stay or restaurant recommendations, let me know. I'd be happy to share! We loved everywhere we stayed. Enjoy your honeymoon!

Hi there, we did a whirlwind tour of Spain in May 2 years ago. Day 1 Madrid Day 2 Day trip to Toledo via train (sleep Madrid) Day 3 Bus (very nice!) to Granada, tour Granada Day 4 Granada Day 5 rent car & drive to Nerja, swim on beach in Nerja Day 6 Nerja Day 7 Drive throught the white hill towns, sleeping in Arcos. Days 8 & 9 Sevilla Day 10 AVE bullet train back to Madrid for our departure I personally liked Granada better than Sevilla because it felt so exotic. There are lots of hippies and gypsies and impromptu flamenco music breaks out all over town at
night. We caught an impromptu North African drumming/dancing session in a park one night that was amazing. We spent hours walking through the hillside neighborhoods. Nerja was just the opposite - a beautiful coastal beach area that felt prim and proper due to the many vacationing British. I was disappointed by our little trip through the hill towns (Arcos, etc.). While beautiful, they were dead, with nothing going on. I had been expecting something more like Italy's hill villages (which are incredible), but I found those in Spain kind of boring. I wish we hadn't bothered with renting the car and trying to get out there. It is possible to take a bus from Granada to Nerja and from Nerja to Sevilla. The buses are fast and comfortable. Also FYI -when we were there in late May/ early June, the temperatures were well over 100 degrees in Sevilla. I think that put a damper on our experience there. I guess that's why so much action happens in Spain late at night. At home, we regularly go to bed at 9:30. In Spain we were out until 3:00-4:00 am almost every night. You'll see lots of tiny kids riding their bikes around the neighborhood at midnight!

Have been visiting Spain nearly every year since 1977. Nearly all the main cities are now covered by the high speed AVE trains. Barcelona to Madrid is only about 4 hours or so distance now and Madrid is about 3 hours from Sevilla and Sevilla is 1/2 hour from Cordoba. 2 weeks isn't very long and you will probably enjoy your visit if you don't try to cover so much this time. Fly into Barcelona, stay 3 days, train to Madrid, stay 3 days and take a day trip to Toledo from there. Then train to Sevilla. Stay most of a week and take a day trips to Cordoba, Ronda or Arcos. Leave Granada for another time. You will see as much Moorish architecture and palace as you can handle in Sevilla-one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Then train back to Madrid for a day or 2 before flying home. Have your travel agent book your main train trips from here as space is limited in high season. Buy a saverpass-good for 2 people travelling together for the most expensive trips and point to point for your day trips. Barcelona and Madrid are large, busy cities with museums, clubs etc. but Seville is the Spain of flamenco, fans, horses and flowers and the scent of orange blossoms will linger in you memory forever.

I also want to add that I think 2 weeks is enough! While it would be great if we could all take 1 month, 2 month, 6 month vacations, the reality is that most of us get 2 weeks at a time. I often take 1-2 week trips to Europe and love it! We saw quite a bit of Spain in 9 days. My husband and I actually prefer spending 1-3 days in a spot and then moving on Rick stlye. We note what we especially liked and sometimes plan slower trips where we revisit the places we liked the most on our whirlwind trips. Over and over again I read that 2 weeks is insufficient to see a country...I say it's plenty of time to have a great time and develop an introductory understanding of a new culture. Have a great time in Spain!

congratulations lora. got back in march from two weeks in spain for my 50th birthday. wow that sounds old. flew into madrid, spent the night. ave train to barcelona, spent two nights, saw fc barcelona vs. stuttgart. night train to granada, left 9:00 pm arrived 8:00 am. two nights granada, vist alhambra obviously. ave train to madrid, ave to toledo. two nights toledo. ave to madrid, two nights, palace, prado, etc.. fly home to seattle. i went largely to see barcelona play and really didn't know that much about gaudi, the sights, the people. i would say, barcelona is out of the way, but well worth it and different from madrid, toledo, and granada. have fun, be safe.