Barcelona-Bilbao trip
 

Am a first-timer looking for suggestions. Appreciate any help in advance.
My wife and I will be visiting my dtr this fall(early Nov)in Bilbao- she will be doing a semester abroad in Bilbao. We will have about 10-12 days with travel. We would like to come into Barcelona for 3-4 days. We would like to consider flying to Sevilla to meet our dtr, spend 2-3 days, come back to Bilbao for 2-3 days then fly out-thru Bilbao or thru Barcelona. Are we trying to do too much? Dtr would like to see some of southern Spain and this may be her only chance.
The alternative is simply to go from Barcelona to Bilabo and stay in the Northern part of Spain. Thoughts on whether to drive, fly, or train between cities? Is car rental helpful in Bilbao or can you get around easily on public transport? We would like to see some of the surrounding areas and not just stay in the city.
We have some(not a lot)int'l travel under our belts and feel comfortable with maps. My wife is fluent in Spanish.
Have gotten some idea re this looking at posts in the past year(which I have found delightful and helpful to read) but not enough to make travel choices yet.

Southern Spain, Andalucia should be very nice in November, and would be worth exploring. If you arrive in Barcelona, then you can take a flight to Sevilla. There are one-way flights as low as $47 USD.

After a few days in Sevilla, you can then take a flight to Bilbao. Spanair has one-way flights for as low as $156 USD.

Following this itinerary, which you can do in 10 to 12 days, you would fly home via Bilbao and not have to return to Barcelona.

You will not need a car in any of the cities, especially Bilbao, which as an excellent public transportation system. The only reason you would need a rental car would be to explore some of the areas outside of the cities. This you could do with a local one-day rental.

You will want to check out some of the following web sites for information to plan your visit.

http://maribelsguides.com
http://exploreseville.com/
http://www.barcelonaturisme.com/

I would definitely try for the 12 as opposed to 10 days, and try to leave from Bilbao if you are arriving to BCN to begin with. Do BCN for 4 days, fly to Sevilla and do a little Souther circuit, then up to Bilbao to deposit daughter, explore and then fly home.

If your daughter is studying abroad as a college student, this will not be her only chance to go to Southern Spain, as most students travel on the weekends and she could easily fly down to Sevilla or Malaga for a couple of days. This might, however, be your only chance to see it and I think as a family it would be a nice trip.

Don't overlook intercity busses as a way to visit surrounding areas and towns. They are quite good. The station in Bilbao is close in town and convenient. Parking is such a problem I only use cars as a last resort.

Overnight trains run between Barcelona and Bilboa.

thanks to all for the comments. at this time, we like the idea of doing Barcelona to Sevilla and back to Bilbao with dtr then home.