Anonymous wrote:No love for San Sebastian, Bilbao, or Picos de Europa?

From me! I love San Sebastián but agree with others that if this is OPs one trip to Spain, I would do Madrid and south.

We didn’t rent a car. We trained to Seville from Madrid and hired guides for day trips. In Seville we stayed at Hotel Tayko (great stay, fabulous location!) and in Madrid for our flights in/out, we used points at a Hilton.

Anonymous wrote:We just did this and chose Seville, Cordoba and Grenada. It was fantastic!

Did you rent a car?

Also did you stay in a rental or hotel, mind sharing which properties if hotel?

Agree you need to pick a region for just 7-8 days. I haven't been to the Andalusia region though it's on the someday list. Agree with others than San Sebastian is beautiful.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just did this and chose Seville, Cordoba and Grenada. It was fantastic!

We did these three but flew in and our of Madrid and did the last few days there. Museums were great.

PP here and yes, we did the same.

Unfortunately many of the galleries we wanted to see in Madrid were closed for refurbishment (Picasso for example) so that was a disappointment - check the websites in advance.

Anonymous wrote:We just did this and chose Seville, Cordoba and Grenada. It was fantastic!

We did these three but flew in and our of Madrid and did the last few days there. Museums were great.

I’d have to think about how to compress these into 7 days but my favs in order were:
Segovia
San Sebastián
Barcelona
Sevilla (not in summer)
Cordoba

Did not care for Madrid or Toledo.

Anonymous wrote:I found Madrid to be really soulless, a lot of it reminded me of Midtown Manhattan. Our itinerary was fly to Madrid, a few days there, train to Seville and then fly on a low-cost carrier to Barcelona. Flew home from there. The last two stops on our trip were by far the most interesting.

Couldn’t disagree more. I don’t see families out in the squares at midnight chatting, eating, dancing and playing in Midtown Manhattan. Madrid also has incredible museums. El Greco, Goya etc..

Anonymous wrote:No love for San Sebastian, Bilbao, or Picos de Europa?

Beautiful part of Spain and so much more pleasant in June than the south. But Basque Country is worth its own trip.

I found Madrid to be really soulless, a lot of it reminded me of Midtown Manhattan. Our itinerary was fly to Madrid, a few days there, train to Seville and then fly on a low-cost carrier to Barcelona. Flew home from there. The last two stops on our trip were by far the most interesting.

Anonymous wrote:I’ve never been to Spain but Granada is on my “someday” list because of the Alhambra… https://www.nationalgeographic.com/premium/article/alhambra-inside-look-muslim-fortress

It’s absolutely worth the visit. We did it as a day trip out of Seville.

I’ve never been to Spain but Granada is on my “someday” list because of the Alhambra… https://www.nationalgeographic.com/premium/article/alhambra-inside-look-muslim-fortress

Anonymous wrote:No love for San Sebastian, Bilbao, or Picos de Europa?

We did a trip to the Basque Country, Madrid and Segovia. Great trip but just those 3 took a week. OP needs to pick a region of Spain and focus on that.

I’ve been to Barcelona 3 times and like it, but would probably put it lower on the list than other places. Also been to Madrid several times and would not skip that. Spend at least a day/night there. We also loved Toledo.

We are doing the Alhambra, etc on our next trip, probably next year.

Granada, Córdoba, Seville, Madrid/Toledo and San Sebastián were my favorites when I studied abroad in Spain.

I wouldn’t only go to Spain once for 7 or 8 days. Santiago de Compostela, San Sebastian, Grenada, Cordoba, Seville, Barcelona, Madrid, Girona, as well as little towns like Pals, are all worth seeing.