Starting from scratch - Spain itinerary
 

Hi, I'm planning a 10-day trip to Spain for the end of September or early October, and I was wondering if I could get any input or thoughts on my following wish list of places to visit. I'll be traveling with my boyfriend (both in mid-20s) and we tend to do quick sightseeing:

Barcelona - 2 nights
Palma de Mallorca - 1 night
Madrid - 2 nights
Granada - 1 night
Ronda - 1 night
Seville - 2 nights

We like cities and towns with charm. I'd rather sit in a piazza in Rome for a day than a beach in Hawaii. This trip is to get an overview for our next visit. :)

Any ideas or accusations of my being crazy?

personally, I'd cut out ronda and granda - add days to Seville and barcelona. will you be driving, flying or taking trains between these spots? It just looks like a lot of quick hits. We did 3 nights in Madrid, 4 in Seville, 2 in Malaga (yuk) and 5 in Barcelona on our trip. Added Barca at the last minute and it was incredible!

I would cut out Palma and Ronda and add that nights one to Barcelona and the other to Madrid. If you really want to do quick sightseeing then change the Palma night for a night in Valencia and the Ronda one for Toledo or Segovia :)

Thanks for the quick response. I guess Ronda's gone now, which gives me an extra night in Seville. If I'm in Barcelona and really want to stay longer, I can cut the trip to Palma and stay in Barcelona instead. Would this confine me to sailing there for a day trip (if I decide to proceed there), since last minute air travel will likely be expensive?

I saw the posts recommending Iberia flights, and I can't believe how inexpensive they are! I hadn't figured out the transport end of things, but I know that driving is definitely NOT an option for me. I kind of like trains because of the scenery, but air travel is very tempting on the time and money front.

My main purpose for Granada is really to see the Alhambra and just get a quick feel for it. If I thought there were a chance I'd go back, I'd cut it from this trip.

I'll have to look into Barca, Valencia, Toledo, and Segovia. At the rate I'm going, I may need to extend my trip! I think I'm moving in the wrong direction here... :) Thank you!!

we took a train from Madrid to Seville but flew from malaga to Barcelona and Barcelona back to madrid. Iberia was great - cheap, on time, clean. It was cheaper for us to fly than take a train on the last legs of our trip and much much faster.

If you book early enough the one-way flights Barcelona-Granada on Iberia can be very economical; the flight time is about 1 hr and 10 minutes.

Train from Seville to Granada takes three hours; bus may be faster.

For cheap internal flights in Spain you could also try www.vueling.com. They fly from Valencia to Seville in about 1hr at a cost of around 35euros.
Valencia is a lovely city - like a 'baby Barcelona'!