Hello fellow fodorites..I have been off the board for a while and it is a pleasure being back. I have booked my airlines to Barcelona for arrival April 14 and departure April 24 out of Madrid.I would like to spend at least 4 days in Barcelona and 3-4 days in Madrid. We love gardens, museums, shopping, and getting lost and finding hidden treasures. I am hoping for suggestions as to what to do in between Barcelona/Madrid. I will have a rental car for a portion of the trip and we have never had much of a problem driving anywhere. We prefer the car as we like to stop anytime the mood hits us. We had considered doing a 1-2 night excursion to Marrakech but I "think" I have talked myself out of that.I really look forward to any suggestions.Have a great day..
Gary ( now in Asheville)

Topping for fellow Floridian...

What portion of the trip would you have the car? Crtical info to be able to help you with logistics. That said, 10 days is not a lot of time for Barcelona-Madrid and Marrakesh. As a matter of fact, I would arrive to BCN, fly/train to Madrid, explore Madrid and then rent a car to explore Salamanca, Avila, Segovia, Toledo. These cities offer more of the type sightseeing you seemed to prefer and you can home base in Madrid with an overnight in Salamanca. Again, the car is not a must (only in Andalucia a car is a must!), but I can certainly understand your preference for a car.

Hello again,
We have decided to spend 5 nights Barcelona and 5 night Madrid. We will get the car the last two days in Barcelona dn keep it for the first two days of Madrid. We can do our driving trips those four days. We would like to visit Sitges and Toledo. Hopefully we can find at least one more place in each location to day trip. Any ideas on these changes?

Toledo has some wonderful things to see! Although many people visit it as a day trip from Madrid, I was glad to spend closer to 2 days there. Viajero2 has mentioned some other delightful options. There are SO many places woth seeing in Spain! Hope that helps.

Just some advice but you may want to post this again with a new title. 10 days could easily refer to 10 days in anywhere in Europe. Retitling your post to include Spain or Barcelona/Madrid would probably generate more responses.

Good luck and happy planning!
Tracy