danjfrank

Heading to Spain in November for 10 days/nights. Flying into Madrid. I've been to Barcelona and love the city though thinking of heading south. That being said I was looking for advice and thoughts on where to go and traveling to get there or Hotels/Hostels

Fly into Madrid on Saturday morning. Will be there until Monday.

Plan was to first go to Granada for three days. Al Hambra is a place I want to check and figure it may not be as crowded early in the week then later

From there head to Seville for three days. Heard it is a beautiful city

From there it will be back to Madrid either Friday or Saturday for another long weekend.

I fly out the following Tuesday.

Interested in any suggestions or thoughts. Am I leaving anything off? Recommendations?

Thank you for your help

Dan

Bedar

From Granada go to Cordoba, the third jewel of Andalucia. Do not miss it !

danon

take an umbrella and a sweater.
Two days in Granada is plenty of time.

Sassafrass

Yes. You are leaving off Toledo, only a 25 minute train or bus ride from Madrid. I admit I have been there only in Summer, but I think it would be very atmospheric even in rain or cold.

Segovia is not far either.

The Alhambra is worth visiting anytime, but the gardens will not be great then.

Agree that the Great Mosque in Córdoba is a don't miss sight.

annhig

The Alhambra is worth visiting anytime, but the gardens will not be great then.>>

Sassafrass - we went in November about 10 years ago and the gardens were lovely. I think that because the rains have started again everything greens up and they were very lush.

greg

I counted 10 nights/9 full days.
Counting days is confusing.

Unless you have a compelling reason to split your stay in Madrid, looks like 2 nights at beginning and again 2 nights are the end, if you can aggregate all your stay in Madrid in one piece at the end, you would save time and money - one of the few times where you have all gains without giving up much, if any at all. Just do a simple computation if you can eliminate one cycle consisting of 1) get from station (I am presuming you are traveling by train/bus since you mentioned hostel.) 2) check-into hotel, 3) unpack, 4) pack 5) check-out of hotel 6) make your way to a station.


I interpreted your current plan to look like this using nights.

Madrid - 2 nights
Granada - 3 nights
Sevilla - 3 nights, Cordoba as a day trip, 1 full day in Sevilla
Madrid - 2 nights

Depending on whether you are stay put or look around type, you can add Toledo and even Valencia as day trip this way:

Granada - 2 nights
Sevilla - 4 nights, Cordoba half day, 2 full days in Sevilla
Madrid - 4 nights, 1 day trip to Toledo, 1 day trip to Valencia

or

Granada - 2 nights
Sevilla - 3 nights, Cordoba half day, 1 full day in Sevilla
Madrid - 5 nights, 1 day trip to Toledo, 1 day trip to Valencia, 2 full days in Madrid

If you are arriving in Madrid in the morning, if you cannot check-in, you end up having to kill time until you can check-in or start touring the city. You can also use this time to move on to the first city, meaning, you free up that time you would have to consume later on.

PalenQ

To me 3 days in Granada could be cut to 1.5 days and put that other day into Cordoba -which as a city impressed me more and the cathedral/former mosque yes is second as a Moorish relic only to Alhambra.

PalenQ

and book trains at www.renfe.com -discounted fares are dwindling in number some say but still can be cheaper than buying once there. Also check www.thetrainline.eu -www.seat61.com sheds light on how to book your own trains online -nice to have in hand before going to be sure to get on trains that require seat reservations - for general info - www.ricksteves.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com.

Cordoba could be a day trip from Seville or a stop Seville-Madrid.

Sassafrass

Annhig, glad to learn they are pretty then. As the heat subsides, things probably do green up again. I think I was thinking of flowers, and when I went in September, most were spent. There were some blooms, but lots of stems turning dry. I asked someone working there and was told peak time was usually May. Again though, that was for flowers. The OP will surely find it all beautiful and nothing takes away from the water elements.

kja

As others are pointing out, you have a number of options, all very worthy of consideration. And as greg has noted, if you can shift all of your time in Madrid to the end, that would probably be a good idea.

You’ve been given some great ideas, and I’ll through a few comments about timing. I thought Granada easily worth 3 nights, maybe even more. I thought Toledo easily with at least 2 or 3 nights. I thought Segovia easily worth a night. Madrid itself is easily worth 4 or 5 nights. Not to mention other delightful locations in and around Madrid.

And while I agree that Cordoba’s Mezuita is among the gems of the WORLD (not just Spain), I’d wait until you can find time to also visit Sevilla – which would mean skipping some of the places I just mentioned…. JMO. (I wanted 2 full days in Cordoba and 4 in Sevilla, and then there are the other places in Andalusia one might want to visit if going to that part of Spain....)

Bottom line: IMO, it depends on what YOU want to see and experience. No bad choices, just some VERY difficult ones!

Good luck!

kja

BTW, note that many things in Spain are closed on Monday, and often for all or part of Sundays too; and many things in Spain will also be closed daily for a very long mid-day break.