efarr99

Hi all! I'd like your help and comments about our trip to southern Spain next March. My husband and I are both about 70 and in good health. I was able to book award travel and-we'll arrive in Granada and depart from Madrid for a total of 20 days. Here's what I've come up with so far. We'll travel by train except out of Granada.

Granada- 4 nights
Rent a car and spend 2 nights Antiquera and 2 nights Ronda on our way to Seville Drop off car.
Seville-7 nights
Cordova-1 night
Madrid- 4 nights ( we've been there before)

What do you think? More time Granada or Madrid?? Any thoughts would be helpful! Thanks s lot.
Ellen

danon

March can be cool in the hills.
I would cut the time in and around Granada and add Malaga to your itenerary.

kja

Should be nice!

It all depends on your interests, of course, but FWIW, 2 nights in Ronda would have been 1 too many for me, and I thoroughly enjoyed 2 nights (with 2 full days) in Cordoba.

Have you been to Toledo? Easily worth 2 nights (or more) IMO...

Bedar

Yes, take a day off Seville and put it to Cordoba.

PalenQ

Granada for 4 nights - Cordoba 1- I'd reverse that in my subjective take after seeing both. Maybe there are day trips around Granada I'm not familiar with. But for the city alone 2 days IMO.

Yes so many neat places around Madrid - all easily accessible by train -Toledo exquisite - Salamanca - Avila - Segovia all neat.

We'll travel by train except out of Granada.>

Book tickets early at www.renfe.com for possible discounts - for lots on Spanish trains - www.seat61.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

Jerez-de-la-Frontera makes a super day trip from Seville by train -sherry tours and practice sessions of famous Andalusia Equestrian school many days.

efarr99

Thanks everyone for your thoughts and suggestions! Ok here's revised itinerary:

Granada- 3 ( recover from jet lag)
Antiquera and Ronda 3 or 4 nights
Seville- 6 ( day trip to Jerez de la Frontera)
Córdoba- 2
Madrid-5 with day trips

I'd like to include Malaga but I'm afraid that's one too many stops. I'm nit sure how cool Granada and the hill towns will be in mid March but we are certainly used to cool in San Francisco!

Ellen

kja

Even better!

I spent close to 3 full days in Granada and wish I'd had more time. And I didn't have jet lag when there.

You have many options for day trips from Madrid, but some nearby locations might be best suited to an overnight or two. For example, many of us are glad to have spent a night or two in Toledo or Salamanca -- I certainly am!

Be sure to book your tickets for the Alhambra well in advance.

efarr99

Thanks again- so much to think about! We did spend a day in Toledo a few years ago and loved it. It definitely would have been great to spend a night but we only had four days in Madrid before heading up to Barcelona and the Costa Brava. I didn't expect to love Madrid as much as I did so looking forward to going back. I have to think about maybe cutting back on Antiquera and Ronda and going to Salamanca or Segovia instead!
Ellen

kja

No bad choices there! FWIW, I far preferred Salamanca and Segovia to Ronda. And comparatively speaking, your time in Sevilla is generous. (Not that you might not want every minute there! Just noting the discrepancy in case you are looking to free up a day.)

indyhiker

Obviously it can change from year to year, but we had pleasant weather in Andalusia this past March. Most days were warm. Some nights were cool. We brought light down coats that packed easily. They did prove necessary at times (not just in Granada). Dress in layers and you should be fine.

We had a couple of rainy nights, too. Bring footwear that can withstand some rain.

PalenQ

You could even pop by El Escorial on a day trip Madrid to Segovia or Avila as I did once - not much there besides palace for foreign tourists.

debinthepeg

I think you could easily drop another day from Seville if you had to. We had about 3 1/2 days there and it was enough for us. We also spent 2 nights in Córdoba and 1 night in Ronda so we didn't do any day trips from Seville. We really enjoyed our time in Córdoba and Ronda and were glad we chose to overnight in each.

efarr99

Thanks for your input! Now I'm thinking of changing our itinerary a bit. What do you think?
Granada-4 ( recover jet lag)
Malaga- 3. Rent car on way out-drop off on arrival Seville
Antiquera-1
Ronda-1
Seville-5 (day trip to Jerez de la Frontera)
Cordova-2
Madrid-4 with one day trip

Too many stops for these old bones?? I got kind of exhausted on our big trip through Italy last year. Had a bad cold and pretty much missed out on Sorrento although enjoyed our beautiful hotel room with crisp sheets and a killer view of the cliffs lol.

kja

Sounds good!

danon

Well.if you feel tired, skip day trips or something else
Nothing is written in stone.

kimhe

When in Antequera, I highly recommend the terrace and restaurant in the corner of the peaceful Escribano square. My favourite spot in all of Spain.

Here you have the Real Colegiata de Santa María la Mayor, the first partly Renaissance-style church in Spain (built 1514-1550). Total peace and quiet up here, next to the recently excavated Roman baths beneath and looking up on the 13th century Moorish alcazaba/fortress. Great views over unique landscapes (the spectacular Torcal limestone mountain, the Peña de los enamorados (Lover's leap) etc. http://www.wild-about-travel.com/201...ing-antequera/

Antequera is something special. Here you'll find dolmens (some 5000 years old burial chambers), Roman baths, the Moorish Castle, Gothic churches, Renaissance fountains and Baroque bell towers. Antequera was the first of the Granada emirate towns to fall to the Christians in 1410. https://www.lonelyplanet.com/spain/andalucia/antequera

Antequera is in the Málaga region and a 30-40 mins drive north of fabulous and 3000 year old Málaga city itself.
https://www.lonelyplanet.com/spain/andalucia/malaga

Fine video intro to genuine and laid-back Málaga city with all the world class museums, historic sights right in the heart of town and an excellent both traditional and cutting edge food scene: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/de...pt-secret.html

efarr99

Thank you for all the information kimhe! I'm very excited about visiting Antequera! I think we will need to add an extra night there since our trip seems city centric. I can take a day from Granada, Seville or Madrid- hmmm. Will have to think about it. We've been to Madrid before so maybe cut a day there. So much to think about! This forum has been so helpful to me-thanks fidorites!

MinnBeef

I'd go 3 nights for Granada which gives you 2+ days for this really cool city. There is much more to it than just the Alhambra which can easily take up the better part of a day.

Completely agree with kja about Toledo. From what I know from my first trip (one overnight but heading back there next spring for 2 more nights), I'd even consider giving it 3 nights to ensure 2 full days. As much as I loved Sevilla (it was my favorite stop in Spain, albeit also during the height of Semana Santa 2015), 7 nights might be a bit much if you are referring to the city itself. You could take a night from Sevilla, a night from Granada and night from Ronda and give those 3 nights to Toledo.

PalenQ

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...ada-spain.html

You can spend a lot of wonderful time in Granad!

kimhe

And glad to see you ended up including Málaga for three nights, pretty sure you will not regret. My favourite city in the region after much traveling around Andalucía the past 15 years. Here's a fine NYT intro to the city, "A Guide to the Ancient, Now Thriving, City Where Picasso Was Born":
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/25/t...aga-spain.html

The recently reopened Gran Hotel Miramar from 1926, right on the Malagueta beach, is now perhaps the finest hotel in Spain: http://www.granhotelmiramarmalaga.com/en/

If you don't stay at the hotel or have a lunch or dinner in one of the five so called "gastronomical spaces" within the hotel, I highly recommend a lunch in one of the typical chiringuitos/beachfront restaurants in Málaga. The freshest fish and seafood, affordable and very popular with locals: https://www.spain-holiday.com/Malaga...nt-restaurants

El Cachalote is excellent and almost just in front of Gran Hotel Miramar: http://chiringuitoelcachalote.com/

And when in Málaga, you should also see the Atarazanas food market, top quality produce, long history, relatively small, very popular with locals and fabulous no fuss tapas bars. https://eastofmalaga.net/2014/07/25/...ry-perception/