First time in Spain. 2 well traveled couples in their 50's. Please suggest an ideal itinerary for mid-April 2006. We like good food, walking, museums, good food, shopping, beautiful scenery and oh yes...good food!

Madrid, Segovia, Avila, Toledo. You might need to leave out one of the provincial towns, depending on your mode of travel and the time it takes between towns. By car, Avila is a day's outing from Segovia.

That early I would not suggest the centro high plains of Spain---too chilly..
I would suggest you spend all 10 days in Andalusia, using Seville as your hub and including Ronda, Nerja, and Granada.

April is the perfect time of the year to visit Extremadura if you really like good food and wine, walking, a lot of history, shopping and beautiful scenery. And let's not forget about the food. Restaurante Atrio (http://www.restauranteatrio.com/) in Cáceres is on a par with the best in Spain.

oh, you must visit barcelona!!! spent two glorious weeks there in oct a few years ago. has all of what you desire!

"mid Aprilquot; Is that before Easter (16 Apr) or after?? Semana Santa in Sevilla peaks on Good Friday (14 Apr); it's something to witness! The Fiesta season in Andalucia after Easter will 'kick off' with Sevilla's Feria de abril (25 April?). In el Puerto de Santa Maria there's another; but you will probably be baack home by then.

NED brought up a good point--- Holy Week starts with Palm Sunday on April 9, 2006 and ends on Saturday, April 15, 2006. Easter Sunday is April 16, 2006. A great time to be in Spain, specially Andalucia with gorgeous weather and the unique Holy Week celebrations. However, you need to plan well in advance if you want to stay in Seville that week. So, it makes a difference if you are referring to the first half of April or the last. Could you be more specific?

Off the bat, I would say stay four days in Madrid to include a day trip to Toledo and another day trip to Avila/Segovia. Get on the AVE train (out of Atocha Station) to Seville, stay in Seville for a couple of days. Rent a car at Seville's Estacion Santa Justa and head out to Cordova, visit, and proceed to Granada, explore the region at leisure. You can drop the car back to Santa Justa or just proceed back to Madrid Barajas Airport (no drop off charges). If dropping the car at Barajas, you can visit Toledo on your way up from the South. This is the vacation I took with Mom/Sis a couple of years ago. We dropped the car at Barajas the night before departure and took a shuttle from the car rental to a nearby hotel High-Tech Barajas Hotel ($110/quadruple). Have a great time!