"(arrival at noon). Check in at the hotel, late lunch "
You will find Spanish eating times very different. So it will be lunch time!
"La Alhambra and Generalife in the morning (I read somewhere that you should count 3 hours + for this visit?)."
I spent a full day there. Three hours seems a little rushed for me.
"Daytrip Sevilla - Cadiz" It will be a very very long day, especially if you use public transport.

BTW forgot to say there is a Public holiday on the 1st November

Thanks for your comments ribeirasacra!

regarding Granada, you don't mention the evening tour of the Nasrid Palaces, which I highly recommend.

you could do this on the evening of your arrival - have you already booked tickets for the alhambra, because if you haven't you should do so immediately.

some of the buses that go down to the town from outside the alhambra ticket office carry on to the albercin, so if you have the energy, you could take one of those after you exit the alhambra, then walk down into the town through the Albercin - there are lots of nice cafes to take tea in on the way.

In Seville, Triana is an area to explore at night I think - lots of tapas bars there.

Thank you annhig for your recommendations!

I will look into the evening tour of the Nasrid palaces.

I wasn't aware you had to book the Alhambra long time in advance - I thought you could get ticket the day before? Will look into that also!

I was thinking to walk around (and eat) in the Albaycin area after Alhambra. When you say there is a bus outside the ticket office of the Alhambra, does it go to a particular stop you recommend to start the walk from?

I have been with some friends to Sevilla and Cadiz this late summer. If you want to go to Alcazar start early in the morning to avoid a long que. It's open at 9.30. You also should visit the royal apartments, known as the Palacio real Alto. They are open for visits when not in use by the royal family. It is a guided tour and cost only €4,- extra.
Go to the Barrio Santa Cruz with its narrow streets,it's very beautiful. And see the Metropol Parasol to enjoy the view.

Cadiz is almost 100 kilometers from Sevilla. You can see Cadiz in one day. We rented a car at Topautoverhuur.com it was almost the same price as the public transport but without the hassle off waiting and being on time for the bus. So you can spend some time on the beach, Playa de la Caleta.
For a nice view go to Torre Tavira

grendel - you can book tickets for the Alhambra a long time in advance - i hope that you are lucky and manage to get tickets for the time you want. the tickets are valid for a session [morning, afternoon or evening] but the entry to the Nasrid palaces is timed, and you need to show up there within 30 mins of the time shown.

for example, if the time shown on the ticket is 10.30 am, you can enter the Alhambra grounds as soon as they open in the morning, but you will have to get to the entrance to the Nasrid palaces between 10.30 and 11am to be allowed into that part of the site. After that, you are at liberty to stay as long as you like to see the rest of it.

re the bus, i think that you just stay onto the end - it will be obvious when you get there as you are at the top of the hill! or say to the driver - the Albercin - I'm sure that they are used to tourists wanting to go there.

Right now I am trying to get tickets on line to the Alhambra...
As for now, our day of arrival is sold out and the next day (the day I had planned for us to go to Alhambra) the booking site gives me an error message... I keep trying, but with little hope.
There are however a few tickets left for my Day 3, where I initially planned to go early to Cordoba.
If I get those tickets, that would mean to cut down on our time in Cordoba.
I know people get in line early in the morning on the actual day of the visit - is it common that the tickets sell out?

Advice anyone?

Well, now there are no on-line tickets left so getting up early to get Alhambra tickets is our only option. Anyone knows HOW early...?

Ask your accommodation to get your Alhambra tickets,(there is an allocation for the city's accommodation) provide your a.m. or p.m. and time preference for the Nasrid palaces.

It is quite possible you will be disappointed if just turning up and queueing.

I'd keep day 7 as an open day. You may end up not going to Cadiz and instead relaxing and enjoying Sevilla. Your days prior to this are pretty busy and with 3 children (well 2 teenagers) it may be a great day to not have an agenda.

grendel - so sorry you are having this problem. I'm not sure I did you a favour by telling you about this or not!

have you tried for the evening tickets at all - would be better than nothing! and do try Wombatt's idea of asking your hotel to get them.

annhig - on the contrary! Thank you for pointing it out for me (and maybe for other travellers). Last minute planning...

WomBatt, I will try with the hotel tomorrow morning, but I am not sure it is high end enough to have that kind of service. If not, one of us will have to try to get tickets early in the morning, and I will leave Day 3 open in case we cannot get tickets for Day 2, and travel to Cordoba in the evening. I can't imagine going to Granada without visiting the Alhambra!

CathyM, you are right, I will not book yet, but I imagined a daytrip to Cadiz to be that relaxing day. We will wait and see, and also look into renting a car for the day as suggested by TirzaO.

I have tickets to the Alhambra!

This is what I did:

I got us the 3-day tourist card, Bono Turistico, which gives you entrance to La Alhambra (with a choice of time of entrance to the Nasrid palaces, despite everything being sold out elsewhere) + entrance to the Cathedral, Capilla Real, Monasterio de la Cartuja, Monasterio de San Jeronimo, Museo Memoria de Andalucia, Parque de las Ciencias, Museo de Bellas Artes + 5 bus rides/pers, for 27€/adult (my youngest son, 11 years old, pays 9€).

http://bonoturistico.cajagranada.es/comprar/default.aspx

There is no fine print, and the service seems to cater mostly to Spanish residents, with the possibility for them to pick up the card in their home town or have it sent to their home address. For foreign tourists you have 5 different destinations in Granada to pick up the card, one being the main tourist office.

To me, this sounds almost to good to be true, especially after trying all other options for Alhambra (web site, phone, hotel)and always getting the answer that it is sold out.

bravo [or should that be brava?] grendel!

some real lateral thinking there - where did you hear about it, as i don't remember its being mentioned here before.

have a wonderful trip!

Annhig, I searched all old threads here on Fodors and found this comment:


http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/alhambra-tickets-sold-out.cfm#comment-6700564


The site did not accept my Visa card, I called them and they could not find what was wrong so they advised me to try later (as if I wasn't stressed out already). I decided to try with my husbands card on-line, and it worked... (???).

hooray - so pleased you are going to get to see it. We loved the Alhambra, but especially the Generalife gardens which are lovely this time of year.

also, I don't know if you are aware of this, but if you are picking up tickets in Spain, you normally need to take with you the credit card that you used to pay for them, even if you are picking them up from a person rather from a machine. so make sure your husband/you have his card with you when you go to pick up the tickets!

Only great artists at Casa de la Memória in Sevilla, but see if you manage to go to a performance when Pastora Galván dances. She is one of the greatest of the past few years and was voted best female flamenco dancer by Spanish critics 2010. She has danced at Casa de la Memória three times during the past two weeks, and it's a good chance she will perform next week as well. You'll find the November program here in a couple of days: http://www.casadelamemoria.es/eventos.htm

Clip from Andalucian tv: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2SBUcrJgeQ

Thank you kimhe for your tips on flamenco, I called to see if Pastora Galvan was dancing on one of the nights we are in Sevilla but unfortunately not.

Right now we are in Granada, we've had to improvise a bit due to a delay in our flight to Granada via Barcelona - we actually spent almost a full day in Barcelona being rebooked to a late flight Barcelona - Granada.

The "bono turistico" is working just fine or us, even if we couldn't use it yesterday because of the rebooking.