Traveling from US to Madrid landing May 13 and returning to US from Barcelona May 26. Looking for advice on other places to visit and how long to stay at each including Madrid and Barcelona. Will not be renting a car. Skipping the Andalucia region due to limited time. Open to any suggestions. Likely staying at airbnbs. Please don’t suggest Seville - Cordoba - Malaga etc as we will likely be back. Not doing that this trip.

Husband would like to catch a football match as Real Madrid/Atletico Madrid/Barcelona and Valencia all play around this time.

Rough thoughts.. start and end cannot be altered. The in between are just thoughts and not all are must dos they are just places we stumbled across based on interests.
Madrid - how many days?
Day trip to Toledo? Overnight?
Valencia - how many days?
Possibly Peñíscola - we can skip this if out of way
Girona and one of the costa brava towns like Tossa de Mar - should we overnight in Girona and day trip to a town?
Barcelona how many days

Any advice appreciated on how to travel from one place to next as far as the trains and how far out to book as it seems much different than Italy! Thanks!

With only about 12 days I would concentrate on Madrid and Barcelona with possible day trip to Toledo or Segovia. For me that would be more than enough to fill your fairly limited time.
MAYBE a day or 2 in Valencia but if, as you say, you will be back, Madrid and Barcelona are so large, and so fascinating, that you would have more than enough to fill your days with just those 2 cities.

Have you considered any places actually between Madrid and Barcelona? The Province of Aragon. for example. Here is their website, which might give you some ideas:

https://www.turismodearagon.com/en/

Also, trains are not the only form of public transport. You can also use buses. They travel to more places, more often. You are not limited to walking around cities. You can choose your adventure.

Agree with eks…there are number of trips one can make from either city…( a friend and I took an early train and spent a day in Valencia. It was a long day, but doable Better if you can stay longer));Beautiful Salamanca is also1:40 minutes from Madrid.
Cuenca , Aranjuez, Escorial, Alcala de Henares and some other destinations around Madrid are less popular/ crowded. than Toledo and Segovia , but worth a visit.
From Barcelona : Sitges, Girona Tarragona are easy to reached by train. Liked them all.
We don’t drive, A good spot for a stop between the two cities is Zaragoza. All possible by train .
I book trains on Renfe..for some popular destinations the early trains sell out a few days ahead.
May is a busy tourist season in Spain.

Honestly we aren’t too keen on spending much time in Madrid. We aren’t big on art museums which is what it’s known for. We will likely visit parque del retiro but other than that not so sure. Mainly flying in there due to proximity to Toledo and a possible soccer match. We might be back but that’s not certain. The places we listed are what got our interest this time. We did look at Zaragoza but weren’t sure there was much there we were interested in either to warrant a visit over the other places. Sounds like we should knock off Peniscola and maybe shoot for Madrid - Toledo perhaps try to spend a night - Valencia - Girona and or Tarragona - Barcelona.

Will check out Cuenca. Trying to nail down how many nights needed in each place now. It seems train travel is the quickest in between the places except day trips

Valencia may be a good place for you..nice walk and bike paths, long beach ( May weather 85+) and hardly any well known museums.

You don't have to spend time in Madrid if you don't want to; there are tons of other places to go in Spain. And you don't have to go where everyone else is going. Since you are the best judge of what you like, just inform yourself on what's out there. Provincial websites have all the info. See what inspires you, and then if you have a question on how to get there, maybe someone on Fodor's can help.

Toledo is one of my favorite places: the intriguing history, the cathedral (IMHO) one of the most beautiful and amazing I have ever seen, and the town itself, which is wonderful at night (mysterious and local). We did an overnight and was so glad we did. We took the little train through the mountains to have views at night. It was an immersive experience. A few years later, we did a day trip with friends. Except for the cathedral, it just did not compare with spending the night.

Segovia is also pretty and was a lovely day trip from Madrid. Great place for walking.

While Zaragoza is interesting, and beautiful, we did it as a stop between Barcelona and Madrid, most of the way by bus. No, just no to a bus! It was looong and boring and tiring. If you want to go there, stay overnight. TBH, though, I have developed a bias against busses, hate them all, from HOHO to local to tours to commercial to long halls, though if needs be, I will do a mini-van local tour rather than drive. You might enjoy them, just a heads up about the trip between Madrid and Barcelona.

I've taken the bus in France for several day trips where the train didn't go. Each time was a completely positive, convenient, and comfortable experience.

Suggested area in Madrid: Las Letras. Map:
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer...44-O7qs6UDH4aM