will be flying to barcelona from italy may 10th.have to fly home may 24th from paris. am thinking of three cities in spain. bacelona,valencia and madrid.i am asking for advice on length of time in each city,should i do cities only or some smaller places.also advice on travel between cities.train or drive? i plan on 9 days in spain and the remaining days in paris but am flexible. thanks

With 14 nights available, why not limit the trip to Barcelona, Madrid and Paris for 4/5 nights each?

Madrid, especially, has some spectacular day trip possibilities; Toledo and Segovia are each only about an 33 minutes and 1:45 away by high speed train.

From Barcelona, you could visit Girona, Sitges, Terragona, Figueres.

You could take the high speed train from Barcelona to Madrid (2:45 by fastest train) and keep all your Spain travel on the train. Madrid to Paris is a long haul and the only direct train route is a 14-15 hour night train, so you might want to fly that portion.

I love all 3 cities you mentioned.

3 days in Barcelona
Train to Valencia
2 days in Valencia
Train to Madrid
4 days in Madrid ...day trips to Toledo and/ or Segovia.

Please do not skip beautiful Valencia.. take a metro to the fantastic beaches!

train from Barcelona to Valencia takes under 3 hours, from Valencia to Madrid - an hour and 40 min.
We have not driven ...so I am not sure if it is a better way.

I would only drive if you are interested in making stops at off the beaten path towns. Peñiscola, Morella, etc.

If you are interested in castles, then a car will allow you to stop at Alarcon village which is very nice on your way to Madrid, and perhaps organize some other stops.

otherwise, this is a trip you could definitely do by train as mentioned.