Hi there,
Any and all help is truly appreciated. We are a family of 5 with three teens (youngest 15). This is our tentative itinerary keeping in mind that the family does not prefer a fast pace and instead prefers to enjoy the place, the space and the people. We have just started to plan and would appreciate any advice of sights and places to see in Madrid and Seville in particular). Also, if you have any suggestions of places to stay that are safe and budget friendly I would appreciate those as well.

Day 1 Madrid--get in relax and get settled
Day 2 Madrid (Prado, Royal Palace and Retiro Park are all possibilities)
Day 3 Day trip to Toledo
Day 4 Day trip Segoria
Day 5 Madrid
Day 6 Leave Madrid --Train to Seville --
Day 7 Seville (Real Alcazar , Flamenco Show)
Day 8 ? Day trip to Cordoba
Day 9--back to Madrid and fly home

We have intentionally left of Granada and the Alhambra as I don't think the kids would really appreciate it and may likely be bored.

Thank you!!! Appreciate you reading and commenting. Have learned so much from all those on this site already.

Are you actually departing from Madrid on day nine?
If so, I would reverse things, go straight away to Seville and end back in Madrid to be there the night before the flight home, and you would want all the time in Madrid to be together, not broken up into two stays.

I would take a day from Madrid and definitely make sure to use it for Cordoba!
You could stash luggage at the station in Cordoba and do some sightseeing there on your way back to Madrid from Seville. You could also do it as a day trip from Seville by train, might be just as easy.

Personally, having taken teens on educational trips to Italy, France and Spain, I think they would love the Alhambra if they knew the history and stories. However, it really takes time to get to Granada and the current pace of your trip is good, plus your day trips to Segovia and Toledo are also great for teens. You would not have time for those plus the Alhambra, so your trip should be quite wonderful with what you have. Sounds like a great family trip.

If your trip is in Summer, try to get a hotel with a pool in Seville.

There is so much to see in Toledo so make sure you have a plan for the sites you want to see. I just read someone’s TR who lost out on a great day since they had no plan. I spent 3 nights there and could have used at least one more! Enjoy!

I view Granada/Alhambra as a must-have. I think your kids will find that more enjoyable than the art museums (generalized statement i know). I also think I would spend more time in Seville at the expense of days in Madrid if possible.

Personally agree with this opinion 100%, would absolutely choose Granada and the Alhambra over the Royal Palace in Madrid. Once you see it, it is a visual image forever. I do love the Prado, but that is because I love Art and the Prado collections are so amazing, so many pictures I studied in Art History.

Jeanette, I hate to say this but if your family dislike moving at a fast pace they are not going to enjoy this very much. Firstly, I would lose one of the day trips from Madrid. I've only been to Toledo, and not Segovia, but Toledo would be my choice. A stunning little city. And instead of the Prado your kids might prefer visiting the Reine Sofia [which is where Picasso's Gernica is which they may be interested in]. That potentially frees up another day for Seville which your kids will love and will give you time to squeeze in Cordoba if you really want to.

And i agree with Sassafrass that you should really consider reversing the trip, which also means that you spend a lot of your arrival day in the train which is no bad thing. That gives you an itinerary that looks like this:

Day 1 Arrive Madrid--train to Atocha station, train to Sevilla [about 2 ½ hours] -Santa Justa
Day 2 Sevilla - Real Alcazar, Plaza D'Espagna, Cathedral/s etc
Day 3 Sevilla - as above.
Day 4 Train to Madrid via Cordoba.
Day 5 Madrid
Day 6 Explore Madrid
Day 7 Day trip Toldeo
Day 8 Explore Madrid
Day 9 Fly home

Itinerary reversed works very well.

Though I do not usually like one night stays, I would strongly consider spending the night of day 4 in Cordoba for dinner and a leisurely walk rather than arriving late in Madrid. Perhaps even a hotel with a pool in Cordoba. OTOH, even if you get to Madrid late, you could have a full day there by continuing on after a few hours in Cordoba. No wrong choice.

You can play it by ear about Segovia, adding it last minute, but the teens I took loved it. It is very different from Toledo. You are outside a lot, the views are beautiful, the Roman aqueduct is amazing, the cathedral is stunning, the central square is pretty and Isabel’s real castle is unique and unforgettably romantic. It is an easy day trip and you still have two days in Madrid, which is enough, IMHO, to see some major sights. I also think Segovia makes for a more interesting day than another day in Madrid for teens. I recommend a walking tour to get the most out of your day there.

Do really plan your time in Toledo (and Segovia) so you see the most interesting things.

Thanks so much for your input. I have actually looked into a multi-city ticket where we fly into Seville and leave out of Madrid. I love that idea. I will take the advice of ditching a day in Madrid and do like the idea of squeezing a trip into Cordoba. I do have potential itineraries for Toledo as well as Segovia.

Please note that for squeezing in a trip to Córdoba via a stop in Córdoba on the Sevilla-Madrid high speed AVE train, you will need to purchase separate tickets, Sevilla-Córdoba, then Córdoba-Madrid.
And also please note that there are no luggage lockers in the Córdoba train station. But there are lockers across the street in the bus station, open daily.

The train trip from Madrid to Seville is not that long (2&1/2 hrs), so landing in Madrid and going straight on to Seville per Annhig works just fine.

You will not need a car for any of this trip.

Making Cordoba a day trip from Seville works fine.

My stays were either groups I had booked, odd places or not recent enough to be reliable. Others can give better advice on that.

It does not seem to affect everyone the same, so take this as just my personal experience. I love the cathedral in Toledo. The transparente with sculptures clinging to the rim just blows my mind. The choir and altar are so ornate, you can hardly focus. The El Greco paintings are a spiritual experience. The Synogogue is very interesting, especially for the history and how different religious people worked together in Toledo. Do check hours that things are open.
https://travelpast50.com/toledo-spain-cathedral/.

If you decide to make a day trip to Córdoba from Sevilla, the train ride on the Avant takes only 43 minutes and is the least expensive. I would catch the 9:13 Avant train that will get you to Córdoba at 9:46, then taxi to the Cathedral-Mosque before the crowds gather, so that you can enter the Cathedral Mosque (Mezquita) with relative peace. You can see the schedule on https://www.renfe.com/es/en

And the Mosque-Cathedral web site here:
https://mezquita-catedraldecordoba.e...as-y-horarios/.

Thank you all for the suggestions. As a follow up:
1) Would you recommend purchasing a tourist transit pass in Madrid?
2) Should I be purchasing my train tickets for day trips to Toledo/Cordoba way ahead of time or is the day before sufficient? Also, what app would you depend on to purchase those tickets?
3) In your mind, what would be the difference with flying into Madril then taking the train to Seville verus flying into Madrid, staying in Madrid, going down to Seville and then catching train back to Madrid and flying home? It seems the same to me but a couple of you have mentioned this option which makes me wonder...

Thanks again to all of you who have taken the time to respond. Truly appreciated.

Toledo is so popular that tickets for “ good hours” often sell out.
Keep checking a few days ahead of visit.
If your family is up for it, going to Seville right away , it might be an option. Take a look at RENFE for schedule for Seville and various types of tickets ( refundable , exchangeable…? )
Our day trip to Cordoba was ,more or less, as Maribel described, except we took a later train from Seville.
Madrid is a great ( big) city , focusing on what your family likes might help..: art ? parks ? main attractions , people watching?
On your tight schedule I would skip Segovia.
Although train travel time to places may not be long, when getting to and from station is included, it adds up.
Not sure what time of year you are traveling but Madrid and Seville
can be extremely hot.

1) I think you'll find that most sights you'll want to see in Madrid are walkable from a centrally located hotel or apartment if you stay in the area of the Literary Quarter (Barrio de las Letras), an inner area whose approximate limits are the Sol, Sevilla, Antón Martín and Atocha metro stations.

Travel cards for the bus and metro can be purchased from ticket machines at any metro station and are a significant savings off the regular 1.50 euro bus/metro fare. They can be shared by your party. My advice would be to see how many sights you can see that are walkable from your lodging before purchasing a "multi card" for the bus/metro.
Read about the "multi card" here:
https://www.metromadrid.es/en/travel...tro/card-types

2) No need to purchase your train tickets for your Toledo/Córdoba day trips way ahead of time. A day or two before is "usually" sufficient, except for travel during a major holiday season (Christmas, Holy Week). ( We don't know the dates of your trip.)
Toledo is a very, very popular day trip destination and also within workers' commuting distance of Madrid.
If you wait to purchase those tickets the morning of departure, you may find that your desired train to Toledo and your desired train to return have sold out. And lines at the ticket counter can be frustratingly long. This happened to me twice in the summer, so I now purchase tickets a day or two in advance.
I just attempted a dummy purchase for tomorrow and tickets are available for the 9:20 am departure and 5:25 pm return. Round trip fare: 22.20
I use the Renfe app. The trains to Toledo depart from Puerta de Atocha rail station. Trains to Córdoba depart from Seville's main Santa Justa station.

3) The advantage of flying into Madrid and going directly to Sevilla (either on the 11:25 am Iberia Express flight from Barajas or an hourly high speed AVE train from Puerta de Atocha) is that since this is essentially a "wasted" travel day, you will be in Sevilla at the end of the day, can enjoy a bit of sightseeing and a nice dinner and the next day start your full explorations of the city. But whether you should do this will depend on your stamina, and how many hours of flight time you've already endured upon your arrival in Madrid. ( We don't know your departure city.) Will you be coming in to Madrid on a transatlantic flight or from Europe? If coming into Madrid after 1 or even 2 lengthy flight connections, you and your family may be too tired to push on.
Just some thoughts.

I have a similar itinerary for October. I thought about going directly to Seville upon landing in Madrid, but my issue with that is that we will have already been traveling for 17 hours (assuming no delays), and the thought of landing and then getting on a train for 2.5 more hours is just terrible. Plus, we have an 8 hour time change. I need to walk and walk after traveling that long.

kureiff,
I know exactly how you feel. We travel from SEA to MAD with a change either at LHR, DFW or PHL, and by the time we arrive at Barajas, we're wiped out. Plus we have a 9 hour time change. The last time we pressed on to Sevilla was when we arrived on a non-stop flight from PHL, which used to be my home airport. I understand exactly your issue. When we came home to Seattle on March 31, it was a 21 hour journey from the door of our hotel to the door of our home.

Ugh...similar for us as we're flying in and out of Montana, which always means we have a stop in Salt Lake or Denver before connecting at one or two more airports. Sometimes I just want to cry during that last flight home from SLC or DEN...I just feel so over it by then.