meamop

Hi! I am planning a trip to Southern Spain, specifically the following places: Seville, Cadiz, Malaga, and Granada. Any suggestions on the best route? I was thinking Seville-Cadiz-Malaga-Granada, but I am not sure if I should reverse this, or change it. Suggestions welcome! Gracias!

yorkshire

Where are you flying in/out?
How many days do you have?
Public transport or car?

meamop

Also, how long should I spend in each place? Am I leaving off any place that should be on this list? I live in Barcelona and will be flying from there. Thanks!

meamop

Yorkshire: public transit. I was thinking the most days in Seville. I will probably take one week for the whole trip.

Bedar

You mustn't miss Cordoba.

TravelerKaren

Your itinerary sounds good, but I agree that you should also see Cordoba. You can do as a day trip from Seville but we stayed 2 nights and 1 whole day seeing Cordoba.

We spent 2 nights in Cordoba, 4 nights in Cordoba, 2 nights in Ronda (also seeing other white villages), 2 nights in Granada and 3 nights in Malaga (we departed from Malaga). We didn't get to Cadiz but maybe next time.

We picked up a car in Seville and dropped it in Malaga. We didn't use it while in Granada but drove from Granada to Malaga, stopping at Nerja for several hours en route.

PalenQ

Cordoba is fantastic - Cadiz to me was so-so - nice beach town though.

Jerez de la Frontera is a shorter day trip from Seville than Cadiz by a tad and has the famous Sherry houses to tour (sherry being an English corruption of the word "jeerez" and the Andalucian Riding School horse practices you can also watch - otherwise an ordinary town.

for lots of goo dinfo on Spanish trains in that area check www.seat61.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

Ronda is also a neat town visually with a deep gorge running down it - buses from Seville to Ronda pass thru the iconic white villages of Andalucia.

kja

Another voice in favor of visiting Cordoba -- the Mezquita is amazing, and Cordoba offers a lot of other interesting places, too.

One week would not be enough for me for Andalusia, but it really depends on what YOU want to see and experience. I recommend that you get some good guidebooks (always a good investment, IME, or spend some time with a few in your local library), identify the things you most want to see in each location, note their opening/closing times, 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. Note that many things in Spain will be closed for a very long siesta every day, and also closed on Sunday afternoons and all day Monday.

If you want to see the Alhambra, you might consider at least 2 nights in Granada: During the day, you can visit the entire Alhambra, but you will do so with MANY others, so be prepared for crowds. (FWIW, the audio guide met my needs.) In the evening, you can visit the magnificent Nasrid Palace (only) with just a few other visitors. When I was there, everyone who was there spoke very, very quietly, and I found it absolutely magical! I didn't need to learn about what I was seeing -- I had done that during the day. But I got to see this incredible palace with very different lighting, and to smell the flowering shrubs, and hear the fountains, and … well, I'm sure you get it. Since I was there, I believe the Alhambra also offers evening visits to the Generalife, and if I had the chance, I would snag one of those reservations, too! Do be aware that advance reservations for the Alhambra are critical.

So, to plan your route, once you decide how much time you need, you might want to check where your Monday(s) would fall and what tickets are available for the Alhambra.

Hope that helps!

meamop

Very helpful everyone, thanks! I have guidebooks which is how I found these towns to visit but I want a public opinion about what others liked and didn't like.

One other question: Malaga or Marbella? I'd love a quiet beach town to spend a day or two after the tourist attractions in Seville and Granada.

Bedar

One thing you haven't mentioned - when is this proposed trip ? You won't find any "quiet beach towns" on the Costa del Sol. Malaga is a lively city with plenty to do and beaches. Marbella is more of a resort-type place but very developed. You could stay at a beach-front hotel, say, the Hotel Fuerte Marbella and go into the Old Town Marbella for the feel of the village as it was before all the development.

MyriamC

We did 5 nights Málaga, 2 nights Granada, 2 nights Córdoba, 2 nights Sevilla, 10 nights Costa de la Luz with daytrips to Jerez, Cádiz and smaller towns at the costa. With only 7 nights I would skip Cádiz.

If I were to choose between Marbella and Málaga, I would pick Málaga. The city centre is very pretty with lots to see. We stayed just out of the city, though, in a residential neighbourhood called El Limonar (in between Málaga city and Pedregalejo).

meamop

Thanks again! My trip is scheduled for mid-November. After some more research and advice, now I thinking of this itinerary:
Seville - 3 nights, with a day trip to Cordoba
Granada - 3 nights

I might just skip the beaches altogether. I live in Barcelona so there is no shortage of great beaches by me.

Robert2533

Cadiz as a day trip from Sevilla is possible, but you would have to spend three, if not four nights in Sevilla in order to enjoy even a small part of the city.

You can visit Córdoba for a few hours while traveling down to Sevilla.

Granada takes another two days out of your seven, leaving you the possibility of spendign one night in Málaga.

Overall, not a great way to spend seven days.

Bedar

Great idea ! November isn't a good time for the beach unless you're a Scandinavian !!

kimhe

Quiet beach towns fairly close to Granada would for example be tiny Maro with an excellent beach. Pop 800 and a few small and fine restaurants/bars:
http://www.nerjatoday.com/maro/
http://www.spain-holiday.com/Maro/ar...caleta-de-maro
http://www.absoluteaxarquia.com/areas/maro.html

Or La Caleta de Velez, a little closer to Malaga city itself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xevbO5q4hhk
http://www.absoluteaxarquia.com/areas/caleta.html

My wife and I went here first time for three weeks in November 2002 (Nerja). Heat wave and some 77-82F for most of the time, water temperatures in the 70's, just a few souls on the beach. Daily routine was coffee and breakfast in the finest small beach restaurant/chiringuito (now regretfully closed down) which played Spanish radio all day long, great music, newspapers, some swimming, excellent lunch (the freshest fish and seafood, they landed the fish on the beach) in the same chiringuito, more swimming and reading and then a few glasses in the same place towards sunset before getting ready for the night. The beach vacation of a lifetime. Couldn't expect it to repeat any November, but...
http://www.spain-holiday.com/Nerja/a...el-salon-nerja
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8Kk2D6ZYO4

PalenQ

Cordona is also a good day trip from Seville - and IME a whole day can be wondrously spent thee - an ABC city - Another Bloody Church round every corner - ancient church or abbey or monastery all over the city not just the city center - You can use AVE trains are slower local trains to go between Seville and Cordoba - or hit Cordoba on the way to Seville as Robert suggest and throw your bags in the station luggage storage.

kja

While I agree that Cordoba can be visited as a day trip from Sevilla, I was very glad to have more time there. FWIW, I spent 4 nights in Sevilla, 2 in Cordoba, 3 in Granada, plus a night in Ronda and one in Las Alpujarras. Again, it really depends on what you want....