where to travel in Spain?
 

I have 10 days in Spain. Where do you recommend I go after I start in Barcelona? I would like to see Seville and Cordoba and Salamanca but I don't know if there are better destinations as this is my first trip.

Thanks.

The cities & towns you mention are a little spread out unless you fly from Barcelona to Madrid & then tracvel to Salamanca (about two hours north of Madrid) & then return to Madrid to travel south to Seville & Cordoba (via AVE). I did a trip report that included Salamanca, Segovia, Toledo, Granada (the Alhambra is spectacular). You may find it helpful. Click on my name. There are also lots of suggestions for Seville & other places from many others on Fodors. Have fun planning!

In my opinion, the most important question is :"When will you be travling?' Seasons make all the difference in Spain.

I just had a week's holiday in Andulusia and it was fab. The Costa del Sol is extremely touristy, but was interesting because of the mishmash of Europeans that go there. All of Europe seems to vacation in Torremolinos! This town has good clubbing, if you are into that. We spent a few of our days driving through the mountains of the region visiting the "White Towns"; cities perched on dramatic cliffs, which I highly recommend. Also, I agree the AlHambra is a must see and Granada is a great city for wandering around. If you are going in the summer, beware it gets extremely hot down that end of the country!

Torremolinos is absolutely ugly and vulgar.. Basically a poluted city with high-rises and a very sad beach beyond all that city sprawl, where, I am sure, was once very nice nature..It is also a fast-food haven, and unbeatable for riff-raff shops- for those days when you get up and you just know you need an inflatable device of some kind, preferably in fuscia, preferably in shape of an animal...Stay away!!

On that note, avoid the entire Costa Del Sol... I am sure at some point, maybe 50 years ago, it was a lovely place, but now it is just miles of sprawling urban development, large resort hotels, mediocre restaurants, mediocre shops (with some exception of Puerto Banus). It is just overrun with tourists of every walk of life, who basically all seem to want to do the same thing at the same time so crowds are horrendous...

If in Andalucia, stick with stunning Sevilla, Cordoba (a fabulous town), Granada...Drop by Ronda.. If you must go to coast, then go to Gibraltar- fascinating to see from top of its rock- the Mediterranean to your left, Atlantic to your right and Africa across!

But, since you are already in Catalonia, you could also go to the beach and shoot straight to the Balearic islands- Mallorca and Ibiza are nice (especially if you are young, the latter is great).

We were in Andalucia in March, and it was great. Seville is beautiful, don't miss the Alcazar. I would also recommend a few nights in the Ronda area. The scenery throughout the white villages area is spectacular, with Zahara being the most scenic, perched in a remote mountain area. As for the seacoast, most of the Costa del Sol is quite overbuilt, although we stayed in Nerja which is an easy and scenic drive from Granada, and loved it. Nerja is at the eastern end of the Costa del Sol, and the high rises haven't ravaged it (yet). Of course we went in late March when the temps were in the high 70's!

The Costa de la Luz is lovely and relatively unspoiled, with easy access to many of the white towns. The Costa del Sol is horribly over-commercialised. The Costa Brava on the North East coast is lovely as well. Seville is lovely and if you go to Madrid you could do a day trip to Salamanca, then get the high-speed AVE train to Cordoba and Seville.