FFU Editorial Note: Train times verified against Renfe May 2026 timetable. Hotel pricing in shoulder season (May/Sept). Distances confirmed against Google Maps. Festival overlay dates from Turespaña. Last verified: 8 May 2026.
Spain is too big for one 10-day trip. The mistake most first-timers make is trying to hit Madrid + Barcelona + Seville + Granada + the Costa Brava + the Balearics in one go. You spend half the trip moving and arrive home knowing nothing about anywhere. Below: the route we actually recommend — three core cities, two short side trips, deep enough to feel like you understand Spain rather than just photographing it. With trains, hotels, and a plan B for travelers who hate Madrid.
Part of the FFU Spain cluster: Spain overview · 30 things to do · Best time to visit · Where to stay
The route at a glance
Days 1–3: Madrid · Day 4: Toledo day trip · Days 5–7: Seville (with Córdoba day trip on Day 6) · Day 8: AVE to Granada · Days 9–10: Granada + the Alhambra → fly home from Málaga.
Total ground covered: ~1,100 km, almost all of it on Spain’s excellent AVE high-speed rail. No rental car needed.
Days 1–3: Madrid
Day 1 — Arrive, settle, walk Centro Histórico
Land Madrid Barajas (MAD), take the Metro Line 8 + Line 10 (40 min, €5 with city ticket) or a taxi (€30 fixed rate to Centro). Check into a hotel in Sol, La Latina, or Malasaña neighbourhoods — anything walking distance to Plaza Mayor is the right zone.
Afternoon: shake off the flight with a Plaza Mayor → Mercado de San Miguel → Plaza de Oriente → Royal Palace exterior walk. Don’t tour the palace today — save it for daylight rested. Two hours of walking; ~3 km.
Dinner: Casa Lucio (book ahead) or Bodegas Rosell for huevos rotos and old Madrid atmosphere. Madrileños eat at 9–10 p.m.; bookings before 8:30 p.m. mark you as foreign.
Day 2 — The Prado morning, La Latina afternoon, flamenco evening
Morning (10 a.m. opening): the Prado. Plan 3 hours. Hit Velázquez (room 12 — Las Meninas), Goya’s Black Paintings (basement), Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights (room 56A), and El Greco’s The Knight with His Hand on His Breast. Skip the rest unless you’re a painting person.
Lunch: walk to Mercado de San Miguel for a vermouth and a tapa, then continue down to La Latina for a real lunch — Casa Lucas, Lamiak, Taberna Tempranillo. Order cocido madrileño (winter) or gazpacho + croquetas (summer). Three hours, ~€30/person.
Afternoon: walk Calle de Toledo down to El Rastro market (Sundays only, otherwise wander instead). Or visit the Reina Sofía for Picasso’s Guernica.
Evening: flamenco at Corral de la Morería or Las Tablas. Reserve 2 weeks ahead. €45–€85 with or without dinner.
Day 3 — Royal Palace + Retiro Park + Salamanca shopping
Morning: Royal Palace tour (€14, 90 min). It’s still the official residence (king lives elsewhere but state functions happen here). Combine with Almudena Cathedral next door if you have time.
Lunch: cross town for Salamanca neighbourhood — Madrid’s elegant 19th-century quarter. Lardy + Estado Puro + 30 other classics here. Or for a proper food experience, book Sacha (€80–€120 menu, the chef cooks at the bar; reserve 2 weeks ahead).
Afternoon: walk Retiro Park — Madrid’s Central Park. The Crystal Palace (free, glass-and-iron 1887 conservatory) hosts rotating Reina Sofía installations. Boats on the lake (€8/30 min). Two hours.
Evening: rooftop drinks at the Círculo de Bellas Artes (€5 entry to the rooftop, walk-in). Dinner at La Bola for cocido or Sergio Arola Tapas if you’re celebrating.
Day 4: Toledo (day trip from Madrid)
Take the 8:50 a.m. Renfe AVANT high-speed train from Madrid Atocha to Toledo (33 min, ~€14 each way, book 1–2 weeks ahead).
What to see in 6 hours: Toledo Cathedral (the El Greco Sacristy is the masterpiece — 90 min), the Sinagoga del Tránsito (Jewish quarter, illustrating Toledo’s three-faiths history), Iglesia de Santo Tomé (one El Greco painting, but it’s The Burial of the Count of Orgaz), the Alcázar of Toledo (rebuilt military fortress, museum of Spanish history). Lunch at Adolfo or Tito Yarey for traditional perdiz (partridge) or carcamusa (pork-and-tomato stew).
If you stay overnight: Hotel Eugenia de Montijo or Parador de Toledo (the parador has the famous balcony view back to the city). Toledo without day-trippers after 6 p.m. is a different, better place. Catch the 9:35 p.m. AVANT back to Madrid the next morning.
Days 5–7: Seville (with Córdoba day trip)
Day 5 — AVE Madrid → Seville, afternoon orientation
10:00 a.m. AVE Madrid Atocha → Seville Santa Justa (2 h 30 min, €40–€80 depending on lead time). Travel light — the AVE has a one-bag-per-passenger size limit strictly enforced on packed routes; check your dimensions.
Check into a hotel in Barrio Santa Cruz (the old Jewish quarter, walking distance to everything) or Triana (across the river, more local energy).
Afternoon: orientation walk — Plaza de España (the Game of Thrones / Star Wars filming location, 1929 Ibero-American Exposition pavilion), María Luisa Park, then Triana across the river for a bull-and-flamenco-soaked dinner at Casa Cuesta or Las Golondrinas.
Day 6 — Córdoba day trip
8:30 a.m. AVE Seville → Córdoba (45 min, €25 each way). Book 2+ weeks ahead.
Morning: walk to the Mezquita-Catedral (10 min from Córdoba station). Free entry 8:30–9:30 a.m., Mon–Sat — go in this window. The Christian cathedral built into the centre of the 8th-century Great Mosque is one of Europe’s most powerful interior spaces. 90 min minimum.
Lunch: in the Judería (Jewish quarter). Bodegas Mezquita or Casa Pepe de la Judería for salmorejo (Córdoba’s thick gazpacho), flamenquín (rolled fried pork), or rabo de toro (braised oxtail).
Afternoon: Patios of Córdoba walking tour — flowering courtyards in the old town, peak May (the Patios Festival is the first two weeks of May). Then the Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos and the Roman Bridge.
Return Seville on the 7:30 p.m. or 8:30 p.m. AVE. Long day, big rewards.
Day 7 — Real Alcázar + Cathedral + Triana
Morning (book 9 a.m. timed entry online 2+ weeks ahead): Real Alcázar — the still-active royal palace, mudéjar-Christian-Moorish architectural masterpiece. €15 base. The gardens alone deserve 90 minutes. Plan 3 hours total.
Late morning: Seville Cathedral — largest Gothic cathedral in the world, Christopher Columbus’s tomb is here (allegedly). Climb the Giralda bell tower (the converted Moorish minaret) via the ramp — the original sultan rode up on horseback. €13.
Lunch: tapas crawl in Triana. Cross the Puente Isabel II to El Rinconcillo (Seville’s oldest tapas bar, 1670), Casa Morales (one of the great old taverns), Bar las Golondrinas for cazón en adobo (marinated dogfish — better than it sounds).
Afternoon: Setas de Sevilla rooftop walkway at golden hour (€5, 90 minutes before sunset). Then Plaza Salvador for evening drinks with locals.
Evening: Casa de la Memoria flamenco show (intimate, intense, the most authentic in Seville). Reserve same-day; €22.
Day 8: AVE to Granada
11 a.m. AVE Seville → Granada (3 h 15 min, €45–€60). Book 2+ weeks ahead.
Check into a hotel in the Albayzín (Granada’s Moorish quarter — narrow stone streets, white houses, atmospheric) or near the Cathedral. Avoid the modern outskirts.
Afternoon: walk up to the Mirador de San Nicolás for the postcard view of the Alhambra (peak around sunset, very crowded; arrive 30 min before for a spot at the wall). Then dinner in the Albayzín — Bar Aliatar, El Trillo, Restaurante Ruta del Veleta.
Granada tapas tradition: every drink ordered comes with a free tapa. Bar Avila, Los Diamantes (Pescaderia), Bodegas Castañeda for the classic experience. €2.50 for a beer + tapa per round; six rounds = dinner.
Days 9–10: Granada and the Alhambra
Day 9 — The Alhambra (book 3 months ahead)
The Nasrid Palaces require a separately-timed entry. The 9–10 a.m. slot is the best: cool morning, golden light through the latticed windows, fewer tour groups. €19 base ticket; pay for the audio guide at the entrance — €6, worth it.
Order to walk through: Generalife (the gardens above the palaces) → Alcazaba (the original military fortress, oldest part) → Nasrid Palaces (the masterpiece — Hall of the Ambassadors, Court of the Lions, the Daraxa garden). Plan 4 hours total.
Lunch: walk back down to the Plaza Nueva area. Restaurante Chikito for traditional Andalusian; Damasqueros for modern.
Afternoon: the Capilla Real (Royal Chapel) and the Cathedral. The chapel houses the tombs of Ferdinand and Isabella, the Catholic monarchs who finished the Reconquista in this very city in 1492.
Evening: a flamenco zambra in the Sacromonte caves — the gypsy quarter above the Albayzín. Cuevas Los Tarantos, Venta El Gallo, or Cueva de la Rocío. €30 with a drink.
Day 10 — Sierra Nevada glimpse, fly home
Morning: a relaxed Albayzín wander or the hammam Al Andalus (Arab baths) for 90 min of marble pools and steam (€38, book ahead). Or, in winter, drive 45 min up to Sierra Nevada ski resort for a coffee at 2,500 m elevation looking back at the Mediterranean.
Lunch: tapas one last time in the Albayzín.
Afternoon: 1-hour drive (or 1 h 30 by bus, €12) to Málaga airport (AGP) for a direct flight home. Most major European cities have direct flights from Málaga; long-haul typically requires a Madrid or Barcelona connection.
Variations on this route
If you don’t love big cities — substitute Andalusian villages for Madrid
Skip Madrid + Toledo (4 days). Fly directly into Málaga or Seville. Spend 2 nights in Ronda (cliff-edge white town) and 2 nights in a small Andalusian pueblo blanco (Vejer de la Frontera, Arcos de la Frontera, or Setenil de las Bodegas). Pick up the Seville → Córdoba → Granada main route from there.
If you want Barcelona + Costa Brava — different trip
Don’t try to cram Barcelona into the south route — it doesn’t combine well with Andalusia in 10 days (the train is 6 hours, the cultural shifts are too big). Plan Barcelona as its own 7-10 day trip: 4 days Barcelona, 2 days Costa Brava (Cadaqués, Empuriabrava), 2 days Girona, optional 2 days in the Pyrenees.
If you want the Basque country and Madrid + Andalusia — extend to 14 days
Add 4 days at the start: fly into Bilbao, drive or AVE to San Sebastián for 3 nights of pintxos and the Guggenheim, then take the AVE down to Madrid (5h, €60) and pick up the 10-day Madrid → Andalusia route from there.
Trains, tickets, money
Renfe AVE high-speed: Spain’s bullet trains. Madrid–Seville, Madrid–Barcelona, Seville–Granada all under 3.5 hours. Book at renfe.com 2+ weeks ahead for the best fares — €40–€80 typical, can hit €120 last-minute. Renfe also runs the cheaper AVANT (medium-distance) services.
Local transit: each city has metro + bus. Madrid’s 10-trip Metrobús ticket (€12.20) covers most of a 4-day stay. Seville is walking-distance once you’re in Centro/Triana. Granada is walkable too, with buses up to the Alhambra.
Daily budget per person: Mid-range — €180–€280 in May/September, €230–€350 in July/August. Budget — €90–€120 (hostels, two coffee-bar meals, one trattoria dinner). Comfortable — €350+ (4-star hotel, no thinking about cost on meals, all skip-the-line tickets).
Tipping: Spaniards round up €1–€2 per meal, no more. Service charge is typically not added; if you see it, the included service is what you pay.
FAQ
Should I rent a car for this itinerary?
No. The AVE network connects every major city on the route faster than driving, and parking in Madrid/Seville/Granada centros is a nightmare. Each city has a ZTL-equivalent (limited traffic zone) where rental cars trigger automatic fines if entered. Rent a car only if you’re substituting Andalusian villages for Madrid, in which case rent it in Málaga or Seville.
Is 10 days enough for Spain?
Enough for one slice — Madrid + Andalusia, or Madrid + Catalonia, or the Basque + La Rioja loop. Not enough for “all of Spain” — that’s a 3-week trip minimum. The mistake is trying to do Madrid + Barcelona + Andalusia + the islands in 10 days. You’ll spend the trip in transit.
Should I learn Spanish for this trip?
English is fine in Madrid hotels and tourist-facing restaurants. In smaller cities and especially in Andalusia, basic Spanish makes the trip much warmer. Learn 10 phrases — buenos días, hola, gracias, una mesa para dos por favor, la cuenta por favor, ¿dónde está…?, perdón, lo siento, hasta luego, and ¡salud! Locals will meet you halfway and the trip changes.
Holy Week (Semana Santa) overlap?
If your dates fall in the week before Easter and you’re heading to Andalusia, you’re either going to have an extraordinary cultural experience or pay triple for a hotel and queue 3 hours for everything. Decide deliberately. If you want Holy Week in Seville, book 6 months out. If you don’t, dodge the week entirely.
Best time of year for this exact route?
Mid-May or mid-September. Andalusia is walkable (not summer-brutal), Madrid is in shirtsleeves, all the major sights are open and not absurdly crowded, prices are mid-range. Avoid the second half of July through August for the Andalusian portion — the heat makes the cities largely unwalkable from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Continue planning: Spain overview · 30 things to do · Best time to visit · Where to stay