The two of us are planning a 5 week Europe adventure in Spain and Italy during September 2012 - however could be joined by a 3rd traveller. We had the pleasure of visiting Barcelona this year for 3 days and were addicted. We have a lot more to see in Barcelona particulary Gaudi buildings but also wanted to see other parts of Spain before flying to Pisa and the Italian leg of our journey. Please note we have no alternative but to start our trip in Madrid and our research has shown that flying from Barcelona to Pisa is our cheapes/quickest option however this cannot happen on a Thursday due to lack of flights on this day.

I have a draft itinerary (below) for the Spain component after reading all your wonderful advice and reports.

Sat Sept 1 - Arrive in Madrid @ 2 pm (Night in Madrid)
Sun Sept 2 - Day in Madrid (Night in Madrid)
Mon Sept 3 - Day trip to Toldeo (Night in Madrid)
Tues Sept 4 - Day in Madrid (Night in Madrid)
Wed Sept 5 - Train to Seville via Cordoba (Night in Seville)
Thurs Sept 6 - Day in Seville (Night in Seville)
Fri Sept 7 - Hire Car to Ronda via Arcos (Night in Ronda)
Sat Sept 8 - Hire Car to Malaga (Night in Malaga)
Sun Sept 9 - Hire Car to Nerja (Night in Nerja)
Mon Sept 10 - Hire Car returned in Granada - night visit of Alhambra (Night in Granada)
Tues Sept 11 - Day in Granada - day visit to Alhambra (Night in Granada)
Wed Sept 12 - Spainair Flight to Barcelona in morning (Night in Barcelona)
Thurs Sept 13 - ½ day tour to Montserrat (Night in Barcelona)
Fri Sept 14 - Day in Barcelona - Evening Flight to Pisa

Any suggestions/alternatives/improvements re itinerary?

I am not sure about the extra day (Sept 4) in Madrid being our best alternative. Could it be better used? Whilst we will visit Prado we are not really into a lot of art however do love architecture and history.

Are the days of the week that we are in the locations going to enable us to see the sites?

Your help will be really appreciated!

I'm not in general negative to people trying to cover much ground and get a feeling for the diversity of Spain in a relatively short time, but this seems extremely rushed.

Madrid is full of both old and new architecture and history (Moorish and Habsburg Madrid (Madrid de las Austrias), early 20th century and modernistic Gran Vía, Civil War history, the 11M terror attack memorial just to begin with). A wonderful and diverse city with local feel, almost village-like, districts/barrios right in the city center.

Consider that early September will normally be very hot (not unusual with some 100F in the inland: the Madrid, Toledo, Córdoba, Sevilla, Granada part of your suggested itinerary).

You should prioritize and come back for more on a later trip. Based on your architecture and history interest I would suggest focusing on Madrid and Andalucía (Córdoba, Sevilla and Granada, also allowing for cooling off with a couple of R&R days in Nerja at the Málaga coast).

Too many stops; I think you should reconsider.

I agree that you're trying to push too much into 13 nights. 4 nights is adequate for Madrid w/a daytrip to Toledo. But it's way too rushed after this - 2 nights in Sevilla but a daytrip in between Madrid & Sevilla to Cordoba means you only have 1 full day for Sevilla which is about 3 too few. 3 1-nighters in a row after that (Ronda, Malaga & Nerja). 2 nights for Granada is adequate. But 2 for Barcelona will be extremely short.

If this is part of a 5 week trip it will be quite exhausting.

I'd rethink and add another week to the Spain portion of the trip OR drop one area (Madrid, Andalucia or Barcelona) from your current itinerary.

andtrev -

you say that you have 5 weeks for Spain and Italy but you are giving Spain only 2 of them. is that set in stone? Taking kimhe's point as to the weather you may expect in Andalucia in September, my choice would be to go north to San Sebastian &/or the Galician coast before perhaps flying [from Bilbao?] to Andalucia. An extra week could make all the difference to a pleasant trip or a rushed one.

and where in Italy are you going? might it not be better to concentrate on Spain [you could add Portugal to that] and leave Italy for another time?

I am one of the very rare Fodorites who does not mind relocating every day or so, but only if I can see and do what I want to see and do before moving on. I must agree with the others - I don't think you are allowing enough time in many of these wonderful places!

And I believe you are right to think about days of the week - as I recall, many places in Spain are closed on Mondays and close early on Sundays (if they are open at all). You would do well to list out what you want to see (or at least your highest priorities) , check the opening days, and make sure your itinerary makes sense in light of that information. And keep long siestas in mind, too - some places may well close for several hours during the middle of the day.

Hope that helps!

Thank you all for your feedback. It is very unlikely that we will get the opportunity to go back to Spain after this trip thus even though it may be a little rushed we feel it is worth it. Thank you for educating me re the weather but we are Aussies and used to those temperatures - although will need to build a few siestas into our itinerary. I have tweaked the trip a bit following your suggestions by adding an extra night to Seville and an extra 1/2 day to Barcelona and removing Nerj.

Sat Sept 1 - Arrive in Madrid @ 2 pm (Night in Madrid)
Sun Sept 2 - Day in Madrid (Night in Madrid)
Mon Sept 3 - Day trip to Toldeo (Night in Madrid)
Tues Sept 4 - Day in Madrid (Night in Madrid)
Wed Sept 5 - Train to Seville via Cordoba (Night in Seville)
Thurs Sept 6 - Day in Seville (Night in Seville)
Fri Sept 7 - Day in Seville (Night in Seville)
Sat Sept 8 - Hire Car to Ronda via Arcos (Night in Ronda) or visit white towns from Seville as a day trip - not sure?
Sun Sept 9 - Hire Car to Malaga(Night in Malaga) OR second night in Ronda if decide not to go to Malaga.
Mon Sept 10 - Hire Car returned in Granada - night visit of Alhambra (Night in Granada)
Tues Sept 11 - Day in Granada - day visit to Alhambra (Night in Granada)
Wed Sept 12 - Spainair Flight to Barcelona in morning (Night in Barcelona)
Thurs Sept 13 - ½ day tour to Montserrat (Night in Barcelona)
Fri Sept 14 - 1/2 day in Barcelona - Late afternoon flight to Pisa

Any further comments?

Just a couple of comments:
*As much as I like Malaga if exploring the white villages by car is important to you then I'd probably just spend the 2 nights in Ronda. Otherwise you have 2 1-nighters back to back and not really alot of time in Granada or Barcelona to relax and recover. If you were willing to forego renting the car and exploring the white villages an alternative would be to take the train from Sevilla to Malaga and spend 2 nights in Malaga. You could take a daytrip to Ronda or Antequera from Malaga. You could also daytrip to Ronda or Arcos from Sevilla by bus (if you do this I'd add time in Sevilla). This would give you a taste of the white villages but not in depth - it's a trade off....
*As you know 2 nights in Barcelona is very short. I wouldn't visit Montserrat for 1/2 day given the limited time in Barcelona. The good thing is that you can always play this daytrip by ear and decide based on your energy and/or desire to see more of Barcelona.

Thanks heaps CathyM for the options you provide. I will do a bit more reading and then make a choice. I am not too concerned with lack of time in Barcelona as we already were lucky to spend 3 nights this year.