We have 5 nights between our stay in Madrid and Barcelona. We hope to visit Sevilla, Grenada and Cordoba. Any suggestions with the amount of time we should spend in each town, or should we skip one of them? Also, we will be heading to Barcelona at the end of these cities, and since I don't care for flying very much, hope to take the train. Any help would be appreciated.
Cindy

How about five days in each location...don't kill yourself trying to visit each city. Pick two (I suggest Cordoba & Granada, or just Sevilla alone [maybe Sevilla four nights and Granada one]).

You can see what are the "tourist requisites" in Granada with a two-night stay...and you can stay inside the Generalife gardens if you make the right reservation...I can't recall the hotel name I've stayed at, but it's centrally-located for a day of exploring at the Alhambra.

From a train perspective, it may be easier for you to find your way to Barcelona from Sevilla.

I'm sure this has been of little help...oh that I had the sweet dilemma that you're facing!

My advice is to skip Cordoba and spend the time you would have dedicated there elsewhere. I've been there several times and always leave thinking my time could have been better spent staying in Granada another day, etc. Don;t get me wrong, there are plenty of beautiful sites to see there... just not as nice as others.

I second the suggestion for Sevilla. There is plenty to do in Sevilla with 4 days and you could also have possible daytrips to Jerez,Cordoba, Arcos, Carmona. I'd rather enjoy than rush through checking off the sites I've seen.

From Madrid, I would head to Sevilla and spend 3 nights there, but on your way, stop in Cordoba for a day. That way you'll spend 2 days, 3 nights in Sevilla and you could easily do Cordoba in a full day. You can store your luggage at the Cordoba train station and explore.

Here's a Cordoba info link that lists the sizes of the lockers in the train station in case you were worried about fitting suitcases:
(go to tips, and FAQ)
http://www.infocordoba.com/spain/andalusia/cordoba/travel_tips_for_cordoba_spain.htm

After that, you can take the train to Granada for 2 nights, or 3 if you'd like to spend more time there rather than Sevilla. However, the train trip to Barcelona from Granada is 12 hours- you can do an overnight train or fly if you don't want to suck up a whole day of your trip.

Approximate train prices would be:
Madrid to Cordoba: 55 Euro (fast AVE train, less than 2 hours, leave about twice every hour)
Cordoba to Sevilla: 14-22 Euro depending on the speed of the train, less than an hour trip
Sevilla to Granada: 20 Euro, 4 per day
Granada to Barcelona: 55 Euro, overnight train bed prices vary, but 12 hour trip...

Not too bad, all in all! I'm doing a similar trip when my family comes to visit me next spring when I study abroad, we're just doing everything backwards (starting in Barcelona) and spending another day in Granada because that's where I'll be studying. We're only doing 2 days and 1 night in Sevilla because of time constraints with my classes.

You probably already have it, but here's the link to the renfe site:
http://horarios.renfe.es/hir/ingles.html#

Happy planning!