22 Days in Spain
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Rick's favorite itinerary
Day 1: Arrive in Barcelona, sleep Barcelona
Day 2: Barcelona, sleep Barcelona
Day 3: AVE train to Madrid, sleep Madrid
Day 4: Madrid, sleep Madrid
Day 5: Day trip to El Escorial/Valley of Fallen, sleep Madrid
Day 6: Toledo, sleep Toledo
Day 7: AVE train to Sevilla, sleep Sevilla
Day 8: Sevilla, sleep Sevilla
Day 9: To Arcos, sleep Arcos
Day 10: To Tarifa, sleep Tarifa
Day 11: Day trip to Morocco, sleep Tarifa
Day 12: To Nerja via Gibraltar, sleep Nerja
Day 13: To Granada, sleep Granada
Day 14: Granada, sleep Granada
Day 15: To Segovia, sleep Segovia
Day 16: To Salamanca via Ávila, sleep Salamanca
Day 17: Salamanca, sleep Salamanca
Day 18: To Santiago, sleep Santiago
Day 19: Santiago, sleep Santiago
Day 20: To Cantabria, sleep Cantabria (Santillana or Comillas)
Day 21: To San Sebastián via Bilbao, sleep San Sebastián
Day 22: San Sebastián, sleep San Sebastián
This itinerary is designed to be done by public transportation, but can be done by car with a few variations. Spain's long distances make the option of flying for at least a portion of the trip worth considering. If you rent a car, it's best for the White Hill Towns (southern Spain), El Escorial/Valley of the Fallen (northwest of Madrid), and Cantabria (northern Spain), where sparse public transportation limits the efficiency of your sightseeing. To mix car and train transportation, consider getting a Spain Rail & Drive pass.
If you're a fan of Salvador Dalí's art, or if you want to make a pilgrimage to the holy site of Montserrat, allot an extra day for Barcelona for day trips. If you want more Moorish sights, stay another day in Sevilla to make a side-trip to Córdoba (45 min on AVE high-speed train). If you're not interested in day-tripping to Tangier, Morocco, you could skip Tarifa and go to Ronda instead. To allow time to explore Gibraltar, add an extra day between Tarifa (or Ronda) and Nerja. If you're exploring the Camino de Santiago by car, consider reversing the above itinerary to start in San Sebastián, and figure on adding several days to a week to your trip.
The above plan assumes you'll fly "open jaw" into Barcelona and out of San Sebastián. If you're returning to Barcelona or Madrid from San Sebastián, it's roughly a five-hour train ride or a one-hour flight. Or you can cross into France and take the six-hour TGV train to Paris for more adventures!
Two-Week Itineraries: You can end the three-week route (described above) a week early by returning to Madrid from Salamanca and saving northern Spain for another trip.
Here's another alternative, which could include a few car days in southern Spain near the end of your trip: Start in Barcelona (stay two days); train to Madrid (stay five days total, with two days in Madrid and three for side-trips to Toledo, El Escorial, and Segovia or Ávila); train to Granada (two days); bus to Nerja (one day, could rent car here); both Ronda and Arcos for drivers, or just Ronda by train (two days); to Sevilla (drop off car, two days); and then train to Madrid and fly home.
Sightseeing Priorities
Depending on the length of your trip, here are my recommended priorities:
3 days: Madrid and Toledo
6 days: Sevilla, Granada
10 days: Barcelona, Andalucía (White Hill Towns)
13 days: Costa del Sol, Morocco
15 days: Salamanca, Segovia
17 days: Santiago de Compostela
21 days: Basque Region (San Sebastián and Bilbao), Cantabria (northern Spain)
25 days: Add Camino de Santiago (by car)
Updated for 2010. For lots more information, check out our best-selling Rick Steves' guidebooks — or join us on one of our free-spirited Spain tours!