Who this itinerary would appeal to
Those who are flying in and out of Barcelona, but want to see the full variety of what Spain has to offer.
This itinerary is self-guided. If you'd rather have everything arranged for you, see this list of Spain Tour Packages, with itineraries ranging from two to 81 days!
For more on travel from Barcelona, see Barcelona Transport - Arriving & Departing from Barcelona.
Budget
For details on how much money you need in Spain, see this article on How Much Money You Need in Spain.
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Cities Visited on This Itinerary:
- Day 1-3: Barcelona
- Day 4: Valencia
- Day 5-8: Madrid
- Day 9-10: Granada
- Day 11: (Cordoba)
- Day 12-14 Seville
- Day 15: Salamanca
- Day 16-18: Bilbao
- Day 19-21: Barcelona
*Cities in parentheses can be omitted from your itinerary if necessary.
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Total Travel Time:
- By Bus 39h15 (169€)
- By Train* 37h45 (216.50€)
*Not all journeys on this itinerary are possible by train. Where necessary, bus times have been included in the above calculation. -
Longest Journey Time:
- By Bus Seville-Salamanca and Bilbao-Barcelona are both 7h long.
- By Train Bilbao-Barcelona 9h15
- Travel Details:
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- Barcelona - Valencia
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- By Bus: 4h45 (23€ with ALSA)
- By Train: 4h (32€)
- Valencia - Madrid
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- By Bus: 4h (21€ with Auto Res)
- By Train: 3h (40€) Book this ticket (book direct)
- Madrid - Granada
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- By Bus: 6h (15€ with Continental Auto)
- By Train: 6h (32€) Book this ticket (book direct)
- Granada - Cordoba
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- By Bus: 2h30 (12€ with Alsina Graells)
- By Train: *No direct route*
- Cordoba - Seville
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- By Bus: 1h45 (9.50€ with Alsina Graells)
- By Train: 45m (7.50€ - prices vary throughout the day and can be as high as 27€) Book this ticket (book direct)
- Seville - Salamanca
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- By Bus: 6h30 (28€ with ALSA)
- By Train: *No direct route*
- Salamanca - Bilbao
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- By Bus: 6h30 (23€ with ALSA)
- By Train: 6h (27€) Book this ticket (book direct)
- Bilbao - Barcelona
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- By Bus: 7h15 (38€ with ALSA)
- By Train: 9h15 (38€) Book this ticket (book direct)
- Notes & Variations:
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- This trip is not ideal for InterRail travelers as there are two journeys with no direct trains. In fact, the journey in general favors bus travel, with several bus journeys quicker or at least a similar duration as the train, but considerably cheaper.
- To break up the Seville-Salamanca journey, a stop-off in Caceres is possible. Caceres is a sleepy UNESCO world heritage site that is worth a few hours stopover.
- Cordoba can easily be m
