I will be joining and traveling with my 29 year old daughter who will have already visited Barcelona and Valencia. We would like to see San Sebastian, Seville, maybe the Rioja wine country and Madrid, with a side trip to Segovia. We only have 9 days. Does this make sense? We enjoy exploring on our own, trying tapas and a bit of nightlife, and don't need to do every tourist attraction in each town. (Granada, Toledo, Jerez and Avila have all been recommended, but they all seem too out of the way.) Should we fly directly from San Sebastian to Seville and end our trip in Madrid? It seems like a lot of ground to cover. I am not sure about the quality of travel (trains, planes) within Spain, and am worried we will spend all our time on the move! Please help us!

9 days for San Sebastian, Sevilla, La Rioja and Madrid - you will be moving constantly if you try to cover this geography.

9 days would be good for La Rioja and San Sebastian (including the Basque country) OR Madrid & Sevilla. But I wouldn't try to do this all.

When is this trip?

End of September thru Oct 7. What if we just stay and enjoy San Sebastian, and fly directly to Seville and skip La Rioja. Is it still too much? We won't see anywhere fully, but we'll get a taste for where we want to go when we return!

Your problem is not the quality of the transportation - it;s trying to go to too many places in so few days.

I'm not a big fan of Madrid - but if you want to see it and have 9 days I would do Madrid and Seville - for two VERY different perspectives on different parts of Spanish culture. If you bounce around to 4 places there's no way you'll see much of anything.

OK, if you only have 9 days and you can go anywhere besides Barcelona and Valencia, where do you go to get the best taste of Spain?

Madrid (Toledo) and Seville

I'd agree - if you're trying to get a taste of Spain in 9 days I'd do Madrid (w/daytrip to Toledo) & Sevilla (w/daytrip to Cordoba). Depending on the time of your flights you may be able to add in Granada.

As much as I love San Sebastian it's not at all a taste of Spain - it's a totally different flavor (aka the Basque "country").

Do you recommend Toledo over Segovia? And Cordoba over Granada if time is an issue? Thanks for all your input!

When people ask for a taste of Spain, they often do not realize that Spain is maybe seven different countries. Many think of southern Spain as representative of Spain, but it just one distinct area of several.

The Alhambra is truly one of the great tourist attractions that has earned that distinction.

Segovia is beautiful but Toledo has more to see.

Cathy is right. If you like art it's Toledo because of the El Greco museum. If not the answer is Segovia. The other answer is Granada because everyone should see the Alhambra once. If you want the "authentic Spanish trip" I would land in Madrid, head directly to Seville for 3 nights, Granada for 2, Malaga for one and take the high speed train back to Madrid. Now if you were going in July or August I would spend all 9 nights in San Sebastian because the rest of Spain is too hot.

Madrid, Seville, Codoba, Granada are the highlights.

Toledo and Granada.

San Sebastián is out of this world, hands down my favourite city in Spain after some 25 years of extensive travelling in the country. I also love Andalucía, but SS is something compeletely of its own. The best food in Spain if not in all of Europe, a culture that people take great pride in, beautiful landscapes and some of the finest city beaches on the continent. New York Times about San Sebastián less than a week ago: http://travel.nytimes.com/2011/08/07...tin-spain.html

.. And San Sebastián and Sevilla is perfectly doable and a great plan for å nine day trip. Two fabulous and very different cities. Fly from Bilbao, a huge airoprt with much more frequent and more affordable flights to Sevilla than from the tiny San Sebastián/Hondarribia airport.

Direct bus from San Sebastián to Bilbao once an hour in 70 mins.

This site gives grat info on Sevilla:
http://www.exploreseville.com/

WIth 9 days, I would visit Seville and Granada for sure with 6 days and then Madrid for 3.

San Sebastián (Bilbao airport) to Sevilla four times a day with either Vueling or Iberia in 80 mins for some 50-75€.
http://www.vueling.com/EN/
http://www.iberia.com/

From central Sevilla to central Madrid in 2 1/2 hours with the high speed AVE train. You save a lot of money if you buy tickets online in advance, expect some 40-50€.
http://www.renfe.com/

And I repeat, direct bus from San Sebastián to Bilbao airport in 70 mins. Every hour on the hour from the bus station with the PESA bus company. 16€. http://www.pesa.net/pesa/documentos/...recto_Loiu.pdf

Oh kimhe now you make me want to go to San Sebastian after I had decided against it! I will check flights and that may help me decide... thank you all for your input. What a great resource this is!

Honestly, I'd save San Sebastian for another trip when you can combine with La Rioja. The Basque Country/La Rioja combination is a great 2 week trip. The problem is I think you really have 2 great trip combinations: Madrid & Andalucia and Basque Country/La Rioja. Choose one for this trip then take the other combination the next trip!

This May, we flew from LAX non stop to Madrid stayed 4 days and then trained to San Sebastian and spent 4 nights. We have spent time in Barcelona, but I had not been in Madrid for many, many years and really enjoyed it. A big city that has wonderful art, interesting buildings and neighborhoods, great food and really nice people. And very walkable. We chose to visit San Seb because of the outstanding food (Tony Bourdain's No Reservations episode on the area will make you want to go there), interesting Basque history and culture, beautiful seaside location and interest in seeing the Guggenheim in Bilbao. We loved both places.

Next May we are going back to Madrid, then traveling to Sevilla and other still undetermined locations. I am very excited about this trip, but for me I had to got to San Seb before I went to Sevilla and surrounding area. I think you need to make two trips

ttt