Traveling to Spain
 

Hello I'm a traveling to Spain in August with my wife and two children. Approximately 3 weeks. Flying into Barcelona for 4 nights and flying out of Madrid. Looking for recommendations on where to go in between and the best modes for transportations. Also not sure how long I should spend in the cities below of if there are any other cities I should be visiting. Below is what I was thinking. Any thoughts or recommendations would help.

Fly into Barcelona- 4 nights
Fly to Seville- 2 nights
rent a car and drive to Granada- 2 nights
drive to cordoba - 1 night
fly to Bilbao from Cordoba- stay in Bilbao 2 nights
rent a car and drive to san sebastian- 3 to 4 nights(drive back to bilbao)
-Fly out to Madrid(1 nights)

Here's how I did it in less time. All travel by train.
Barcelona to San Sebastián ( day trip to Bilbao from there by local bus). You don't need 4 days in San Sebastián unless you are going to spend time on the beach.
San Sebastián to Salamanca
Salamanca to Toledo
Toledo to Seville
Seville to Granada
Granada to Madrid.

I think the longest train ride was from Barcelona to San Sebastián approx 6 hours. All the rest were shorter. It was nice to sit and relax on the train in between all the sightseeing. You also get to see the beautiful countryside.
I would also spend at least two night in Madrid.
Keep in mind that the weather is probably going to be hot!

I guess you could say Cordoba has an airport, but it's not use by commercial flights, so you'll have to go to Madrid to catch your flight to Bilbao.

I would also just take the bus from Bilbao to San Sebastián-Donostia unless there was somewhere you wanted to stop along the way. Parking in SS can be difficult unless your hotel provides parking.

This trip sounds very rushed to me. Examples: Only 2 nights (= 1 day) in Sevilla? No time in Madrid? If you haven't already done so, I recommend that you get some good guidebooks (or spend some time with a few in your local library), identify the things you most want to see in each location, note their opening/closing times, and mark them on a calendar. Then pencil in your transportation, add some time on either side (for getting to/from your lodging, checking in/out, packing/unpacking, getting oriented, etc.). Then see how things fit together.

And I agree that using Spain's efficient and comfortable high-speed trains would make much more sense for much of your journey than using a rental car.

Good luck!

Thanks everyone for you input.

I hate to be discourgaing butyou need to know that the weather in Andalusia in August is generally absolutely brutal. Daily highs of 100 are usual and it can e tup to 120. To visit then you need to confine sightseeing to early morning and evening and plan onspending the afternoon indoors or in your hotel pool.

We have been twice - in April - and by then it was already beach weather, with highs in the 80s.

As for travel - we prefer rental car to have more freedom of movement. But then our trip was more confined - 10 or 12 days in Andalusia - with another 5 days in Madrid or to/ in Lisbon in addition.

The heat is extraordinary everywhere but the North coast. You won't see the Moorish architecture of Andalucia but the North coast has world class beaches and amazing food. Santiago, A Coruna, Santander, Picos de Europa, Bilbao and the most beautiful city in Europe, San Sebastian.

Spain can get hot. It has never recorded a verifiable (and scientifically accepted) temperature of 120 (49C). It is also not as reliably hot all the gawdam summer as Phoenix or North Texas. If you have handled either, you should be ok.

Also, there's a lot of criscross in your itinerary. Consider reducing that. My rule of thumb is that if I draw it on a map and cross paths, I fouled up.

It looks broadly OK, except for the Cordoba to Bilbao leg. As Robert says, Cordoba doesn't have flights to Bilbao, but I'd be more tempted to fly from Malaga. It's closer and easier than dragging all the way up to Madrid.

If you end up in Granada, you can fly from there via Madrid to Bilbao. That would make this leg:

Seville
Cordoba
Granada
Bilbao
Although the flights stop at Madrid from Granada, it's obviously much quicker and easier.

Cordoba to Bilbao. As Rubicund suggests you can fly from the huge airport in Malaga to Bilbao: Cordoba - Malaga is only 50 minutes on the high speed AVE Train. But also Cordoba-Madrid is quick and easy, 100 minutes on the high speed AVE train.