My boyfriend and I will be visiting Spain in August 2011 (far in advance, I know) and have 13 days to work with (not including the arrival and departure days). We want to go to Seville, Cordoba, Ronda, Granada and Barcelona. We'll be flying into Seville. Our tentative itinerary is:

Seville - 4 nights
Ronda - 1 night
Cordoba - no idea, how long would you suggest? 1 day, 1 night, 2 nights?
Granada- 2 nights
Barcelona- 4 nights

None of this is set in stone(except ending in Barcelona), so anything can easily be changed right now. Other than being uncertain as to how long to spend in Cordoba, we also aren't sure in what order we should visit these places. I'd rather not have to do a lot of back tracking and waste time if we don't have to. One thing is certain - we have to end in Barcelona, because we are leaving Barcelona to go on to the second leg of our trip in Italy.

Also, keep in mind that we will not be able to take any buses, at all. I'm in a wheelchair and finding accessible buses between cities in Europe is usually ridiculously challenging. Even if a company says they have them, it doesnt mean they do (know from experience), so we're just avoiding that hassle completely. Instead we plan to take trains, and rent a car (to go to Ronda). We could always use the car to go to the other cities as well, but we aren't sure how easy the routes between these cities are for tourists - so right now the plan is mainly trains. So my main questions are : does the itinerary look alright concerning the # of days in each city, and how long to spend in Cordoba? What order would be most efficient for the itinerary? And any suggestions on the best way to get to all of the places I listed between Seville and Barcelona?

Please be honest. If you think that this itinerary is too much to do in 13 days, then we don't have a problem scaling back and ditching one or two of the cities - we can always go back and see those another time.

Lastly, I know it will be sweltering in August, but it is the only available time for us to go. Also, we both just recently graduated college in Austin, Texas so we're pretty acclimated to 100+ temperatures.

Thanks!

You can take the heat, but it is also an issue that lots of places shut down in August.
But as far as the itinerary, you could visit Cordoba as a day trip from Sevilla, which may make more sense to do before you drive (or train, but I think that might involve a train change--check renfe) to Ronda (and then fly to Barcelona from Granada--option is an overnight+ train). I would want more than one night in Ronda.

I do wish we could make the trip during a different month, but its August or not at all (work schedules & graduate school are getting in the way), so we'll just have to deal with it.

I was considering 2 nights in Ronda, but from what I've read in most of the posts on here it seems that everyone says 1 night is plenty -so thats what I based it on. I guess I'll have to do more research on it to determine what would be most appropriate for us. Thanks!

I preferred Ronda over Sevilla and Cordoba, so it definitely boils down to personal preference. I saw some of your Italy posts, so I know you will determine the best places in terms of mobility--that could be a challenge in Ronda, but possibly less so than Cordoba and Granada. A lot of people will say consider northern Spain instead, but if you are itching to see Andalucia, you know what you want. Good Luck!

I was in Seville and Granada in August many years ago.
Although it was extremely hot (over 100 F) , I was young and not bothered as much as I would be now.
An older lady feinted in Alhambra. ( an not easy place to get around). Seville was totally dead until the evening because of hot weather.
One day in Cordoba is enough.IMO