Yes, Spain is one of the easiest countries in Europe to backpack on your own, with trains and buses between every major city, hostels in every tourist town and online booking in English.
Dorm beds cost about €20 to 40 in
Barcelona and
Madrid and €15 to 25 in
Granada or
Seville outside peak season, and a careful daily budget lands around €50 to 80. Book the
Alhambra and
Sagrada Familia several weeks ahead, since they sell out. A few Spanish phrases help in smaller towns, and expect dinner to start after 9 p.m.
Two weeks is the ideal length for a first trip to Spain, enough for three or four cities without rushing.
With 7 days, stick to Andalusia: 3 nights in
Seville, 1 in
Cordoba and 2 to 3 in
Granada. With 14 days, add
Barcelona (3 to 4 days),
Valencia (2 days) and
Madrid (3 to 4 days, with day trips to Toledo or Segovia). With 21 days, add the Basque Country, giving
San Sebastián 3 days and
Bilbao 2. Fast trains keep the gaps short: Madrid to Barcelona takes about 2.5 to 3 hours.
Yes, you can travel all of Spain’s main highlights without a car, because high-speed trains and intercity buses link every major city.
Madrid to
Seville takes about 2.5 hours by fast train and Madrid to
Barcelona about 2.5 to 3 hours, with fares often €20 to 60 if you book a few weeks ahead with Renfe, Iryo or Ouigo. Buses cover the gaps:
Seville to
Granada is about 3 hours for roughly €20 to 30, and San Sebastián to Bilbao about 1 hour 15 minutes. A car only becomes useful for the Andalusian white villages or the
Picos de Europa.
The four places most worth your time in Spain are Barcelona, Madrid, Seville and Granada, with San Sebastián close behind for food.
In
Barcelona (3 to 4 days), Gaudí’s Sagrada Familia and Park Güell lead the list.
Madrid (3 to 4 days) has the Prado and easy day trips to Toledo, 33 minutes away by train.
Seville (3 days) has the Alcazar, and
Granada (2 days) has the Alhambra, which you should book weeks ahead for around €20. Add 2 to 3 days in
San Sebastián for pintxos at €3 to 5 each and a swim at Playa de la Concha.
If time is short in Spain, skip the big Mediterranean resort strips and the theme parks, since they look much like beach resorts anywhere else in Europe.
Places like Benidorm and most of the Costa del Sol can go, as can
PortAventura Park and the
Santiago Bernabéu Stadium Tour unless you love rollercoasters or football.
Zaragoza is a pleasant stop but easy to drop from a 7 to 14 day trip. On a one-week visit, choose either Barcelona or Andalusia rather than both: crossing between them costs most of a day, about 5.5 to 6 hours by train from Barcelona to Seville.
Yes, our itinerary-planner does exactly that. Set your trip length in days, give your interests and travel style, optionally give start- and end location and/or some mandatory stops you would like to include and the itinerary planner creates your personalized routes for Spain in seconds. Try it out!
Try the itinerary plannerv2.webp){kind=logo}
Best Backpacking
