I'm taking my first trip to Spain next year, from the end of May to early June. It's also my first time traveling solo, and my first experience of Europe. I found a great round-trip deal from Canada to Madrid, and I've been looking at travel guides, TripAdvisor, and travel blogs and tourism sites to put together some sort of loose itinerary that starts and ends in the capital.

My initial plan was to spend a few days in Madrid, taking a couple of day trips to Toledo and Segovia, then taking the high-speed to Barcelona and spending a few more days there. But I would also love to see Andalusia, particularly Seville and Granada (or at least Seville), and particularly while it'll be warm enough to enjoy some early-summer beach time without too many crowds. The problem is that Madrid is the hub, so it seems like I'll be doing a lot of backtracking if I want to hit both Seville and Barcelona, and Madrid, and then go home. Or maybe I'm overthinking this.

Any suggestions for a realistic timetable? I want to spend enough time in each city/region to relax and appreciate them, and not feel like I'm on a tight schedule. I plan to stay in hostels for basically the entirety of the trip (this won't be a luxury getaway), unless something comes up where a cheap hotel or AirBnB is available if I want to change plans for a day or two. I'm aiming for a (mostly) culturally-minded trip - less beach-bumming and Ibiza clubbing, more museums, parks, live shows and good (not too expensive!) food. But again, I want to keep things loose and allow room for any spur-of-the-moment plans in case I do want to shake things up.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.