Seeking help from Spain experts - family trip over winter break

[Anonymous]

We're thinking of taking a 10 day trip to Spain over winter break. Family of 5.

Would it be best to fly directly to Madrid, stay 3 or 4 nights to see Segovia & Toledo as day trips, then rent a car to head south to Cordoba (stay overnight), Granada (stay overnight), and then Seville for the last few days?

Does this sound doable and fun? Should we rent a car for the Cordoba/Granada/Seville portion of the trip, or just get about by trains and buses?

Thanks for any guidance.

[Anonymous]

This was our itinerary, but we had 3 weeks and added Portugal after Seville.

We took the train to Toledo and got *stuck* there for about 5 days because the car rental place was shut for the holiday.

By the time we got to Sevilla we were tired of cathedrals. Portugal was a nice break from the hustle of spain. Granada was a nice break from the endless cathedrals and palaces and museums.

Our rental car was broken into in Sevilla.

It was colder than I was expecting. There was snow in Granada.

I can't imagine doing this with 3 kids. I did it with my mother after graduating college.

[Anonymous]

Spain has some fantastic high speed trains (much nicer than ours), and I'd suggest using them at least for Madrid to Cordoba/Seville (with advance purchase they are pretty cheap too).

We did a few days in Madrid, then took a train to Seville for a few days, then flew to Barcelona for a few days (there are cheap internal flights), then flew home from Barcelona.

We considered Cordoba but didn't make it there (it's an easy day trip from Seville by train) and Granada. We decided to skip Granada because logistically it seemed too much to add, but honestly I am not sure if that was the right decision (at least, I hope to go back some time and spend more time in Andalusia).

I would check the weather. Seville will be the warmest but even there it may not be warm (in March it was very nice, but more spring than summer temps).