Your thoughts on this Spain itinerary. We have been to Barcelona, so not on the list this time.

Probable dates would be starting last week in April 2024. Our best option for flights seem to be round trip Madrid.

Madrid 3 nights
Pick up car rental
Segovia to Salamanca
2 nights Salamanca
Toledo 2 nights
Consuegra , and Camp de Criptana day visit to windmills
Ubeda 2 nights
Cordoba 3 nights
Ronda 2 nights
Cadiz 2 nights
Return rental car in Seville
Seville 4 nights
Transport from Seville to Malaga suggestions
Malaga 3 nights
Transport to Granada suggestions
Granada 4 nights
Flight from Granada to Madrid with overnight at Madrid airport before flying home.

Does this make any sense at all?
We are trying to avoid having a car in the largest cities, so thought returning it prior to Seville might work best. Having the rental car up until then would give us flexibility to see the smaller areas that don’t have the best public transport options.

I also found out that Iberia Express airlines is a low cost option to get us back to Madrid quickly and cheaply. Any thoughts on that?

Our interests are hobby photography, architecture and historical sites. We will visit a few museums, but that is not a major interest. We are not into the nightlife scene, but appreciate good food. One in our group is vegetarian, so any help on restaurants that include that would be appreciated.

i would love feedback on the allotment of days, the route chosen and the itinerary in general.

Apart from Consuegra (not sure about that) you don't actually need a car to travel between or in any of these places. If you want a car because you plan leisurely drives with diversions between stops, then that's different.

Salamanca is your outlier. I think I'd travel by train to Segovia (or even Salamanca) on arrival in Spain. Or possibly Toledo if you don't need a car to visit Consuegra. Then cluster your time in Madrid to the end of your trip.

I think I'd also reverse things a bit and end up in Seville (or Cordoba), which has fast and frequent trains back to Madrid. Even if you end your Andalusia stay in Granada, I'd take the train to central Madrid instead of flying, as I would find that more relaxing, definitely more scenic and I worry about the environmental impact of flights. And if you count the door to door time, short flights are often no faster than trains. The easiest way from Granada to Malaga, we found, was bus. There are also buses from Ronda to Jerez and Cadiz but they don't run frequently (but it is scenic). Both trains and buses in Spain are excellent, in our experience.

Rome2rio is a good starting point for transport options. It doesn't have every route and you should click through to the transport providers website for accurate timetables but it's a very useful resource.

My suggestion would be:
Madrid 3 nights
Toledo 2 night
Return to Madrid, pick up car.
Keep car for the rest of the trip,
go wherever you want when you want to.
Return car in Madrid.

Thanks for the replies.
I like the idea of reversing the trip. We will be traveling with another couple so the expense of a rental car would be split. We do want a rental car so as to visit the windmills and as you said a leisurely drive with diversions whenever we like. As photographers, we often see something in route and it would be nice to have the option to stop. Of course the rental car is something that will need more investigation for cost effectiveness with the expense of gas and parking.

Do you think the days allotted for the cities seems right, or would you cut or add. What are you thought on Malaga. Leave it in, or cut it altogether? I have read some comments that Malaga is not that interesting.

After more thought, I have a revised route. Madrid 3 nights
Pick up car rental
Segovia to Salamanca
2 nights Salamanca
Toledo 2 nights
Consuegra , and Campo de Criptana day visit to windmills
Ubeda 2 nights
Granada 4 nights. mabey cut to 3
Malaga? More research to determine how many nights or cut out altogether.
Possible stop in Antequera?
Ronda 2 nights for White Villages before and after
Cadiz 2 nights
Return rental car in Seville or possibly Cadiz with train to Seville
Seville 4 maybe 5 nights
Train to Cordoba 2-3 nights.
Train from Cordoba back to Madrid for flight home.

Would love thoughts on this revised route?

I would spend two nights in Segovia, cutting somewhere else.

There are countries where taking a car makes sense over trains. Spain? Nah.

biloburgler, It appears that a lot of the smaller places we would like to visit such as Consuegra, Campo de Criptana, and The white villages are not very accessible by public transport. Am I missing something when I try to search for that?

No you are not missing anything.

Having been to both to Antequera and Ronda I would drop the two nights in Ronda faster than last period French.
Fotr the life of me I don't understand the attraction of Ronda.

The parador in Antequera is very nice and it just as covenient for visiting the white villages.

In Salamanca we stayed at the Grand Hotel Corona Sol, thay share the carpark with a Mercadona. Easy walking distance to the interesting stuff.
As an added bonus the hotel is near this place for great chocolate and churros


We stayed three nights at the Manzanares parador recently (Feb), in the middle of nowhere but easty drive to the windmills and Valdepenas, where we spent a plesant afternoon.

Ubeda looks more interesting, though.

Added info:
Bambú Tapas y Brasas is a great place to eat, it is popular with students if you are over forty you will feel ancient yet optimistic.
https://www.bambubrasas.com/

As you can tell we loved Salamanca.

In 1985 we did a tour of Sapin starting in the French Pyrenees because that's where our friends were who lent us one of their cars. We were three to travel. Together we saw Segovia and Avila. The our friend decided to go to Madrid and Toledo while we continued to Salamanca and then drove down the Extramadura to Seville, Cordoba and Granada. Our friend rejoined us in Seville. We drove back north, dropping our friend off at a train station to go back to Madrid while we continued on our trip back to France. The point of this narration is that Toledo is close enough to Madrid that it can be included as part of the Madrid visit (we have not seen it yet) by public transportation rather than as a detour by car. We drove by Campo de Criptana, which at that time did not need more than a brief stop.


For a sense of what we saw on our loop, here is the entire album, of which the first (before Segovia) and last (after Campo de Criptana) part is irrelevant to your planned itinerary:

https://flic.kr/s/aHsjp5co3q

With the car hire decision, I would be thinking both about the time you have in each destination and the journey between them. I always prefer to stay in the centre of towns like these and often the hotels I choose (small, local and attractive) don't have parking and street parking if often very challenging. These towns are invariably best explored by walking, not driving (unless you have serious mobility issues of course). Given that most of your destinations are linked by good transport, you could just hire a car for a few days here and there to explore places like the white villages of Andalusia (yes you can visit some by bus but more convenient by car). You would also avoid one way drop off fees.

With regard to your revised itinerary, I always prefer to be in my departure city before any important flight so I recommend at least one night in Madrid before flying home. To avoid another hotel change, I often prefer to cluster my time there rather than stay at the beginning of my holiday and again at the end. In respect of Malaga, I think some of the negative comments you may hear are about the built up beach locations outside of Malaga. I've only ever been to Malaga once, for a short stay and it was in December (with all the Christmas lights) but we liked it and enjoyed our stay there. fwiw, we also enjoyed Ronda and wished we'd had longer there. There is lots to enjoy in Seville, Cordoba and Granada so I would stay longer rather than shorter, when picking number of nights.

loukay,
I wrote to studenttobe the reasons why I love Málaga here in posts 12 and 13, in case it helps.
Assistance w/bases, order, # nites in each-13 nites Andalucia (1st time), late Nov.

Will your Salamanca to Toledo trip be by car? It will be a 3 hour, 15 to 30 minute drive w/o stops. I believe you are planning to do this by rental car and if so, you'll enjoy a stop in Avila to photograph the medieval walls and even walk them. The route, Salamanca, Avila, Gredos, Toledo is the best one.

dreamon, I will have to investigate parking in the places we plan to have the car and see if parking is available. We will definitely add our nights in Madrid to the end of the trip. That makes much more sense. We will also look into dropping the car when we arrive in Granada, take the train to Malaga and then maybe pick a car up again for the drive to Ronda and on to Cadiz. Maybe drop the car in Cadiz and then train to Seville. The idea of having the car from Malaga to Cadiz will give us the opportunity to do the white villages en route to Ronda, and the from Ronda to Cadiz. Does this make sense.

Maribel, would picking up the car at Madrid airport, then on to Salamanca, Segovia and then on the Toledo make more sense? It will be a shorter drive to Toledo from Segovia. I also think you have convinced me to keep Malaga in the itinerary.

I like the freedom of car travel. Especially for a serious photographer. Especially for four people. We definitely got to see different things among the white villages, for example, and do it at our own pace. In cities, we always found places to put our car. A hotel can usually help you if needed. Just realize you can't drive anywhere you like in historic pedestrianized zones.

Cordoba is one of my favorite places in Europe, and I believe there is more to see there than Granada, so I will always tell people more nights there than Granada.

louky52, will you be coming off a long haul flight where you will have missed sleep? That would influence my decision about hiring a car immediately upon arrival in Spain.

loukay,
Wrote a long reply but haven't been able to post it (maybe too long?), so I sent it via a PM to you.
Hope it helps.
I'll try again later to post it here.

we will be coming off a long haul, but my husband is usually able to get some shut eye. Since the drive to Salamanca is only about 2 1/2 hours we figured it would be doable.

I always am able to sleep on the plane, but I certainly wouldn't trust myself for a 2 1/2 hour drive after an overnight flight. It's not only the lack of sleep. Your body hasn't had time to adjust to the time change, and your reaction times are slower even if you don't feel sleepy.

Ávila is a beautiful small city with massive walls, certainly worth a stop.

I would also recommend a stop at the Castillo de Coca, a massive castle not far from Segovia.

How long of haul?

Drives I have done right after landing in MAD after flying YUL-PHL-MAD without any problems;
Oropesa, Cuenca, Zaragoza, Salamanca, Manzanares.

Anyway, your plan is three nights in Madrid, more than enough time to get ovet jetlag.

Our flight will be from Nashville, probably with connection in JFK or PHL, so about the same as you. We are now thinking of revising the plan and picking up the car upon arrival and directly to Salamanca. We would then put Madrid at the back end of the trip so we would be near the airport for our flight home. We are also thinking of changing up the itinerary to leave Cordoba for after Granada so as to have a shorter train ride back to Madrid.

Here is the reworked plan...
Flight into Madrid
Pick up car rental
2 nights Segovia
2 nights Salamanca
Stop in Avila
Toledo 2 nights
Consuegra , and Campo de Criptana day visit to windmills
Ubeda 2 nights
Return car prior to Granada?
Granada 3 nights.
Malaga 3 nights
Seville 4 maybe 5 nights
Cadiz 2 nights
PIck up rental car
Ronda 2 nights for White Villages before and after
Return rental car in Cordoba
Cordoba 3 nights.
Train from Cordoba back to Madrid
Madrid 3 nights
Flight home