KSC2003

Hello Fellow Travelers
We are planning a trip around southern Spain after 7 days in Morocco. Here's are thoughts:

After taking the Ferry over from Tangiers to Tarifa we would rent a car and:
Day 1: Cross over to Spain
Day 2: Rondo (one hour drive)
Day 3: Malaga (one and a half hours drive)
Day 4: Malaga
Day 5: Granada (one and a half hours drive)
Day 6: Cordova (two hours drive)
Day 7: Sevilla (one and a half hours drive)
Day 8: Sevilla
Day 9: train to Madrid
Day 10: Madrid
Day 11: Madrid
Day 12: Home

Any suggestions? are my driving estimates about right?

Thanks,
KSC

nytraveler

Sorry - you are giving very short shrift to the 3 major cities (Seville, Cordoba and Granada) that need much more time. and I believe that your driving times are way less than the trips will actually take - have a look at viamichelin.com to get an idea (It sows Granada to Cordoba as taking from 2.5 to 3 hours) never mind that you have to find a place to park in each place.

We have done road trips in the area twice - once 10 days and once 12 and we still have way more we want to see.

KSC2003

Hi,
would you skip anything to spend more time in the 3 cities?
Unfortunately, we don't have more days.
yes, I suspect driving will be many times longer since we will wander and linger through the drives...
Thanks for your tips,
KSC

Bedar

Yes, skip Malaga and go directly to Granada.

Bedar

Also, Day 1 you can cross over, pick up the car and head for Ronda. Skip Tarifa.

Nelson

We are into our third week in Spain, including one week driving. One piece of .$02 cent advice: plan your hotels so you don't have to drive in the old town centers. We had to fold in the side view mirrors in a couple of places to get through narrow streets (Ubeda and Cazorla), almost leading to an attack de corazón.

Same could be true in Córdoba and Granada. If you want a central hotel, then as nytraveler hinted find out where to park, preferably outside town center, then taxi and/or walk the last bit. This is what we wound up doing.

alvamo

My itinerary it would be very similar, but when you´l get to Madrid I don´t think you will have the energy to walk in such a big city so hope you enjoy Andalucia at much as possible.


Day 1: Cross over to Spain
Day 2: Ronda (one hour and a half drive)
Day 3: Malaga (one hour drive)
Day 4: Malaga
Day 5: Granada (one hour drive)
Day 6: Granada
Day 7: Cordoba (two hours drive)
Day 8: Sevilla (one hour drive)
Day 9: Sevilla
Day 10: Train to Madrid
Day 11: Madrid
Day 12: Home

kja

I agree that you are trying to fit too much into your time. I can't tell you what YOU will see as priorities, but I can say that I, personally, would limit my time in Madrid on this trip (even though I love Madrid, it is easier to reach by air than your other destinations, and so more easily woven into a future trip) and I would consider skipping Ronda (lovely as it is) and Malaga (which I did skip, so perhaps I shouldn't comment).

Ultimately, it really depends on what YOU want to see and experience. So I recommend that you get some good guidebooks (or spend some time with a few in your local library), identify the things you most want to see in each location, check their opening/closing times on the web, and mark them on a calendar. Then pencil in your transportation, add some time on either side (for getting to/from your lodging, checking in/out, packing/unpacking, getting oriented, etc.). Then see how things fit together. You might end up deciding to cut a destination or two....

Two specific things to note:
- Many things in Spain are closed all day on Monday, most of Sunday, and for a long midday siesta.
- If you want to see Alhambra, you should reserve your tickets well in advance. You might want at least 2 nights in Granada so you can visit it during the day (with LOTS of others and when you can see a large portion of the original grounds) and then again, preferably that same day, in the evening when you can see only the Nasrid Palace, but you do so with very few others. Depending on when you go, you might also be able to book an evening visit to the Generalife, in which case I would try to do that the evening before my daytime visit.

And depending on your final itinerary, you might want to consider relying on Spain's excellent public transportation system rather than renting a car. A car will not serve you well in any of the cities, and might even be an incumbrance.

welltraveledbrit

Here's a link to our Andalusia posts on our blog http://www.somuchmoretosee.com/search/label/Spain

I know you don't need further places to see but we very much enjoyed our stop in Ubeda and Baeza which we visited between Granada and Cordoba.

cdnyul

Drive from Sevilla to Madrid.

Explore the area between Sevilla and Madrid: Merida (one night), Trujillo, Guadalupe, Toledo. The parador in Oropesa in very nice.

We just came back from our third trip from Spain in the last two years, all of them driving only.

Parking was easy to find and affordable, including Toledo on the busiest weekend of the year, and Sevilla.

Side roads are infinitely more interesting than higways

We have yet to set foot in Madrid proper.

Mark

Egbert

I would skip Morocco, only kidding, well kind of.
I would take a night out of Malaga and add it to Seville. It might be the best part of the trip. Ronda might also be a stopover for a couple of hours too. Cars are a major hassle in Seville Granada and Madrid. Public transport is so good. And yes you're trying to cram too much into the trip. You will spend a lot of time traveling around but if that's all the time you have go for it.

Egbert

I would skip Morocco, only kidding, well kind of.
I would take a night out of Malaga and add it to Seville. It might be the best part of the trip. Ronda might also be a stopover for a couple of hours too. Cars are a major hassle in Seville Granada and Madrid. Public transport is so good. And yes you're trying to cram too much into the trip. You will spend a lot of time traveling around but if that's all the time you have go for it.