Happy New Year everyone!
My husband and I are planning a trip to Spain in early September. We have about two weeks and are trying to figure out the best places to visit. We prefer places on the water, great views, pretty beaches, charming towns, beautiful small to midsize-size hotels and great food. These are the places we are considering but would love your input as well as the best way to do this. So far getting from place to place has not been intuitive. Happy to rent a car and drive to nearby locations from a home base. If you have favorite hotels would appreciate your recommendations.
The first four places below look best to us.
Are we missing any of your favorites?
1. Barcelona
2. Mallorca
3. San Sebastián
4. Malaga - Cadiz
5. Madrid
6. Valencia

These choices are all quite a long journey apart. Personally I'd focus on a particular region (or maybe two) if you have two weeks. Public transport in Spain is pretty good but not always super frequent between smaller places. rome2rio will give you an insight into possible routes and frequencies, with links to service providers. Renfe is the main train company.

Because early September is likely to be very hot down south, I'd choose the north, but that depends on your own preferences of course. You can check historical weather at wundergound if you wish.

And, of course, you'll have to take coronavirus into consideration.

Understand I love Barcelona but I wouldn't call the beaches pretty. Valencia I guess has nicer city beaches but Barcelona's beaches are fine to spend the day but not what I would fly around the world to see. I hope that makes sense.

Obviously Madrid isn't a beach location but it does have some great museums and the castle. If that matters. If you're willing to look at Madrid I'd think about Seville. Also not a beach location. I like Seville better than Madrid but Madrid has it's own draws.

I agree with the other comment that you could make your life easier picking one region but Barcelona to Madrid is a fast train ride. The line from Madrid goes to Valencia and Seville Or from Barcelona you can take the train to San Sebastian. You tend to need a car for smaller off the track places but none of your choices are really that small.

Malaga has nice beaches and lots of museum and of course, wonderful food.

Southern Spain could still be very hot in early September. I've been to Valencia twice now, ditto Madrid and Barcelona once; you could do a very nice trip doing the triangle between Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia which i love.

Barcelona - great city but the beach is not the main reason to go there. It is walking distance from the center. Going to be very crowded whenever you go
Mallorca - very under rated. Doesn't have everything Barcelona has, also doesn't have the crowds and there are great beaches nearby and views of the water from the city center
San Sebastian - the view of the bay from the hills on either side city is nothing short of spectacular. Beaches all along the city center. Charming city. But its in the north so sun is not guaranteed
Malaga - has nice enough city center and beaches but I didn't think either were as interesting/nice as some of the others. Much of the coast west of there is perhaps good beach but ugly towns
Madrid - has none of the things on your list (except food). I personally like it but some people don't. Definitely not the charm of any of the others
Valencia - Very under rated. Absolutely lovely city, but the beaches are not visible from within the city (short bus ride away)

Agree with the others that you certainly should not try to do them all (I don't think that's what you were asking, but just in case you were). Agree Barcelona-Valencia-Mallorca could be a nice combo. I did do that once.

Here's my photos of Spain which includes all those places. https://andiamo.zenfolio.com/f855477163

All depends on your interests. If you are into arts, yoou may easily spend a week in and around Madrid. The best sandy beaches can be found at Formentera island (ferry or plane to Ibiza plus local ferry).
San Sebastian is complety out of the way.

I agree you are trying to do too much in 2 weeks, and you should focus on one region. If you can move your trip dates to starting in mid-September, I would recommend Madrid and Andalucia (to include Malaga). We did just that in 2017; we started around September 17 in Madrid and ended up in Seville by late September/early October. We found all the places to be tolerable regarding heat; Seville was the hottest, mid to low 90's. If you like art, Madrid has some wonderful museums. We LOVED Andalucia; there is so much history and culture there, and the food was delicious. You can visit Malaga for the beaches. We really enjoyed Malaga and believe it is under-rated. If you wish, you can click on my name to read my trip report. I think Andalucia in early September could be uncomfortably hot, but I guess that depends on your tolerance for heat.

We really enjoyed Barcelona, too, so Barcelona, Madrid and Valencia makes sense. (we haven't been to Valencia.) I think Barcelona and San Sebastian/Bilbao could be another logical combination.

Thank you all. I truly appreciate your feedback!
I am going to start another thread with a little more information.

Hi -- its often better to tack new ideas/questions on to the original thread. Otherwise it can end up with people responding/cross-posting on multiple threads and not seeing the discussions on the other thread(s). Maybe even ask the moderators to combine your two threads.