Two-week itinerary, Barcelona + Madrid + Andalucia
 

A friend and I are planning a two-week trip to Spain and we're a little bit at a loss as to how to allocate our time. We want to visit Barcelona (with a day trip to Figueres, I'm a Dali fan :)), Madrid (with day trips to Toledo and Segovia), then head south to Andalucia (Seville, Córdoba and Granada). We're both in our late thirties and we're interested in history, culture and art. Not into clubbing and we want to plan our trip without too much 'slack time', but also without hurriedly running around to see the attractions of interest to us.

So far I've come up with the following:
Check-in in Barcelona (early afternoon, after a relatively short flight from Cairo, Egypt) then spend four nights.
Four nights in Madrid (with day trips to Toledo and Segovia, as well as visit El Escorial)
Two nights Seville
One night in Córdoba
Three nights in Granada
Then fly domestic from Granada to Barcelona to catch my afternoon flight to Cairo.

Would really appreciate any insights on this itinerary. The trip will be in the second half of August (bad timing re heat, but we couldn't fit two weeks elsewhere in our busy schedules)

As a first responder, good luck...planning is fun. A bit much with Barcelona, Madrid, Andalucia...although you are limiting destinations in southern Spain. See various discussions.

This itinerary would allow you to see some wonderful things, but it would be FAR too fast-paced for me, leaving me too little time to enjoy thing things I would want to see. You might want to play around with some options for JUST Barcelona (and Figueres) and Madrid (with Toledo and Segovia and El Escorial), keeping Andalusia for a time when it won't be so very hot. There is, IMO, plenty to do in those two parts of Spain to easily fill two weeks. Just something to consider.

It is a bit rushed but doable.

...I would spend 3 nights in Seville and 2 in Granada.
Also, with 3 day trips you are not leaving any time for a great city like Madrid.

I visited Spain in the second part of August and survived!

@Ozarksbill Thanks!

@Kja Yes, but the visa process is tedious, so I'd rather do Spain in one go. I agree that Barcelona and Madrid have a lot to offer, but c'est la vie.

@danon Hmm, you're the second person to recommend three nights in Seville, beginning to see that there may be a point to that :) You're also confirming my suspicions re Madrid. Maybe I can leave Seville at 2 nights, and take the third night from Granada and add to Madrid? What do you think? Haha, glad to know that August is survivable there. I live in Cairo, which gets as hot as Seville, but then again I don't go sightseeing.

I would also suggest to spend a little more time in Madrid and Sevilla. Sevilla is the undisputed queen of the cities in Andalucia. Perhaps leave out one of the day-trips from Madrid, and take one night from Granada? http://www.andalucia.com/cities/sevilla.htm

Just to get you in the Andalucia - and especially Cordoba - mood: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyfGdpF55Uk

And two more things:

- A great flamenco homage to the granaino Federico Garcia Lorca in the spectacular Generalife outdoor theater up at Alhambra. Poeta en Nueva York by excellent flamenco dancer Rafael Amargo, also from Granada, plays every night at 10 pm through all of August (except Sundays and Mondays): http://veranosflamencos.com/FESTIVAL...el-Generalife/

Trailer to the performance from Sadler's Wells in London, one of the most prestigious dance theaters in the world. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgWJmqzybZQ

The Generalife theater: http://www.granadafestival.org/en/es...alife-theatre/

- Thursday 20. August there is a flamenco night inside Antoni Gaudi's spectacular Casa Mila/La Pedrera (The Quarry) in Barcelona. Could be an event to experience the "duende" of flamenco in the surroundings of Gaudi's masterpiece: https://www.lapedrera.com/en/activit...-at-la-pedrera

@kimhe I'm partial towards adding one day to Madrid. That video is amazing, makes want to fly to Córdoba tomorrow! Thanks for the heads up re the flamenco night in Barcelona!

Although there is more to Granada than Alhambra, you can do it in one night
( arrive early in the day, get tickets for Alhambra ahead of time)
Definitely more time in Madrid ...it is a big city
with world class art museums( if you are Dali
fan, Museum Reina Sofia is not to be missed)