Do you arrive on 9/21 and depart on 10/1 - all from Madrid? If so that really only gives you 9 nights for Andalucia assuming you have a morning flight on 10/1 out of Madrid.

My suggestion would be to leave the car and take the fast and very convenient high speed AVE train to Sevilla from city center to city center in 2,5 hours (half the time of driving). The undisputed queen among the cities in the South.

From Sevilla it's close to Ronda and also a 1,5 hours bus ride down to Cádiz with some of the finest beaches in the country (Costa de la Luz/ Coast of light). You can stay in Cádiz itself or in some of the smaller places close by.
http://cadiz.costasur.com/en/beaches.html
http://www.spain.info/en/reportajes/playas_de_cadiz_sol_y_mar_todo_el_ano.html
Video intro to Cádiz: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33JUrGwZQLY

And Sevilla is something very special. This site has got always updated info about the city: http://www.exploreseville.com/

You can also catch one of the performances in the world's most prestigious flamenco festival. Goes on in Sevilla theaters around town every day through all of September and ends on the 30th. All artists performing at the Bienal de flamenco are very authentic and well worth seeing. Light years away from what most tourists expect and usually are presented with. Mostly a local and knowledgeable crowd at these events, could easily be the experience of your trip.
http://www.flamenco-world.com/noticias/bienal23052012.html
program and tickets online: http://www.labienal.com/

Good advice from Kimhe.

Always follow Kimhe's suggestions where Spain is concerned. We flew into Malaga, rented a car there, drove east along the shore to Nerja. There are beaches all along. Then north to Granada west to Ronda and on to Seville. We took a day trip to Cordoba from Seville. Then south to Gaucin and finally back to Malaga. We had the car for the entire time and had no trouble parking anywhere. Our hotel in Seville (the Amadeus) directed us to a parking garage that they use.

I recommend that you reconsider going to Gibralter. As someone on this forum said recently, it is just a lot of rocks with nasty monkeys and not worth the trip.

Enjoy Andalucia, it is spectacular.

Hi
I appreciate the advice. I mentioned to my wife that I would take her to the zoo to see the monkeys when we get back. Besides Sevilla and Ronda, any suggestions as to an itinerary. I have a bunch of guidebooks, but I thought I would inquire on Fodor's forumn since there are usually very knowledgable travelers here. We arrive at 8am on 9/21 and would arrive at our first destination that day. Would it be advisable to start in the west or the eastern side of Andalucia work our way west. I am planning this trip because my wife planned our trip to Ireland last year and she had me drive 1500 miles in 9 days. I want to take it slower in Spain, but we do tend to stay less time in a town than most tourists.

From Madrid head to Granada, Cordoba, Seville, and Ronda (if you must). From there back to Madrid. You could drop the car in Seville and train back to Madrid.

Make sure and allow time for Cordoba. We loved it - and were glad we had an overnight. We also did Seville (3 days/4 nights), Granada (2 days/ 1 night), Nerja (2 days/2 nights) and Ronda (2 days/2 nights)

Hi
As a rough itinerary
Fri sleep cordoba
Sat & Sun sleep Granada
Mon & Tue sleep Nerja
Wed & Thu sleep Ronda
Fri & Sat sleep Seville
Sun sleep Madrid

Is Nerja a good choice for the beach? I know that this is probably less time than most Fodorites would spend in these places, but compared to our last trip this is leisurely traveling. Any comments on the allocation of the days?

As an aside, I have been using economycarrentals.com to rent cars on the last 4 trips we took and they are very cheap. The price for a Citroen C-1 with full insurance is $163 all in.

I think you might want to check out driving distances and times between some of your destinations to avoid the constant upheaval of moving from hotel to hotel, even if you do move along at a rapid clip normally. I've stayed in a village halfway between Granada and the coast (near Nerja) and it was only half an hour into Granada and not much more than that to the coast. You could perhaps stay in Granada for a couple of days, do a day trip to the coast to see Nerja. Then move west, and see Cordoba from one hotel (staying in Seville with a day trip to Cordoba, for example). Just a thought.

I am all in favor of changing hotels less often. That would be great. I do not mind driving if I can stay awhile once I get to a destination.

You will have an easy trip. The roads are fabulous, even the tertiary ones. Much changed since '77 !

Go to Salamanca.

As I recall, Gilbralter is not full of monkeys, they are baboons, and jump on the hood of your auto, are everwhere, and when the bare their long fangs, are vewry intimidating. Granada, as I recall, is not worth the effort. A very British immitation, stuck out there amid the rocks and rills. Not British at all, but just sort of dumpy, in my opinion..I'd say, while travelling in, don't venture out of your car, better yet, don't get out.

I am refining my itinerary
Fri sleep cordoba
Sat & Sun sleep Granada
Mon sleep Ronda
Tue & Wed sleep Tarifa
Thu & Fri sleep Seville
Sat & Sun sleep Madrid

So, it appears you have 9 days and want to visit Sevilla and Granada along with doing some exploring. Personally, here's what I'd do:

4-5 nights Sevilla
2 nights Granada

2-3 nights in between Sevilla and Granada exploring the white villages and the coast. I'd only rent a car for this part of the trip. I'd train from Madrid to Sevilla as you wont' need a car in Sevilla. I'd daytrip to Cordoba from Sevilla - yes, you could overnight your first night but starting a trip with a 1-nighter is difficult. I'd train, bus or even fly between Granada and Madrid. You could also do this in reverse but given you'd only have 2 nights in Granada after a long flight it may be better to start somewhere where you have more time to recover from jet lag.

In my opinion your last itinerary has 2 1-nighters and 4 2-nighters. It would be alot of moving around and you really are shortchanging Sevilla. I'm not sure I'd spend 2 nights in Tarifa for a first trip to Spain since 1977 if it meant cutting time in other places.

Hi
I have revised my itinerary to include Cadiz for Tarifa. Our itinerary might change after Granada. That I need to set so I can book entrance to Alahambra. I am considering putting Toledo first.

Madrid Fly in Fri AM
Granada Fri & Sat
Ronda Sun
Cadiz Mon & Tue
Seville Wed & Thu
Cordoba Fri
Toledo Sat
Madrid Sun
Fly out Mon AM




Any Comments?

Its looking rather too busy although its good to see Cadiz on there and Gibraltar off it. Id bung a couple of days on Seville at the expense of one less night in Granada and the other by taking out either Ronda, Cordoba or Toledo

I'm sticking w/my original recommendation of 4-5 nights Sevilla and 2 nights Granada. You can rent a car between and overnight in Ronda. Dump the car when you're in Granada and Sevilla. With 4 nights in Sevilla you'll have time for a daytrip to Cadiz. I'd daytrip to Cordoba between Sevilla and Madrid. This leaves you 2-3 days for Madrid. With 3 days you may have time for a daytrip to Toledo.

Your current itinerary IMHO has way too much changing of hotels and locations. If you stick with more bases it gives you flexibility to decide if you really want to take the daytrip as planned or stay put. You can't do it all in 10 days. What appears to be doable on paper may be very ambitious when you're actually on vacation and trying enjoy yourself versus keeping up with your itinerary.

Your itinerary sounds just fine as is. You might want to hit Toledo first, as you mentioned, because of it being a short drive after a long plane trip. If you need to eliminate a place, strike Ronda which is of minor interest. Enjoy and have fun !

We did put Toledo first. I figure this might be a lifesaving decision. We booked a hotel in Toledo and Granada and did not book any other hotels. We will book those over there. We like to stay flexible. I figure if we like Seville we can add a day. Does anyone know of a relatively uncrowded beach town with a sand beach? If the weather is nice/warm we will go to the beach for a day or 2 and if it isn't we will skip the beach.
Thanks for all your input. I hear what you are saying about limiting our moves but this is a big improvement over our past trips. I am doing the planning as opposed to my wife because otherwise we would stay nowhere more than 1 night.

Cathy's advice is the best. Stop in ronda on the way to Seville from Granada. I get bored there quickly. Spend 3-4 nights in Seville. I like Cadiz and Cordoba too. Cordoba can be enjoyed as a daytrip from Seville.

Go with Cathy and Egbert's suggestion.

Guess it would depend, to me, on what you are interested in and your energy level. Spain has a magnificant history and I personally enjoyed Cordoba and granada the most, for their significant contribution to history. Running from place to place takes time and we have found that you need one day to more less get there, get settled, fed and rested, then one or two at the least to see the signts next day, then one more to get checked, oriented and off to next place. When we were there, roads were not like they are here, signage is ofen misleading and getting lost was routine. I'd advice to either slow down, or make a longer trip.

For a relatively uncrowded beach town with a sand beach, you might try Los Canos de Meca which is near Vejer de la Frontera and Barbate. Michelin's Tourist and Motoring Atlas of Spain & Portugal is a wonderful resource for the byways, not to mention the highways, of the peninsula.

.. and remember the flamenco Bienal in Sevilla, gives you a unique opportunity to get under the skin of a very influential part of Sevillan and Andalucian culture.

The Bienal is now well underway, and this event will fill Sevilla through all of September. Daily reviews and updates: http://www.flamenco-world.com/magazine/about/bienal2012/resenas/arcangel04092012ing.htm

Hi Kimhe,
I've just been to the Peña Juan Breva flamenco Friday, a very nice show with one guitarist, two female singers, two female dancers, young people, the real thing. All locals but my two english guests. Beautiful. Just to let you know that I thought you'd enjoy it.

Glad to see you are putting in Toledo, my favorite place in Spain: cathedral is simply "mind-blowing" beautiful.

Two nights are just about a must in Granada.

Easy to day trip from Seville to Cordoba (on the train) and well worth it.

Like Cadiz for the history and location, but wouldn't travel too long to make it a point of going there. Several other nice beach towns in the area.

Gibraltar only if I had seen absolutely everything else I wanted to see. If you should decide in the end to go to Gibraltar, you can park on the Spain side and walk across. Saves a lot of time crossing back at the end of the day. Also, if you should ever decide to go, take the easy way out and hire a van/driver to haul you up and show you around - faster easier.

By the way, they are (large) Monkeys. Though they are called Barbary Apes, they are Barbary Macaques (part of the monkey family) to be precise, and there are about 300 of them, the only ones in Europe. They are thriving, and I did find them lovely (to my mind) and interesting. The difference between seeing then in a zoo and here is that they will sit on your shoulder, take your glasses, snatch your purse, backpack, etc. If your wife is an animal fanatic, as I am, she will enjoy that. If not, skip it altogether - many other more beautiful and interesting places to visit, IMHO.

Josele,

Peña Juan Breva is serious business as you say, and I'm sure I would have enjoyed the night. Young female artists represent in my opinion the most interesting flamenco these days. Do you know anything about the new Liceo flamenco project in Calle Beatas, nº 21? Sounds and looks promising!
http://www.liceoflamenco.com/jl/

Thanks for all the input. Taking a trip is like shopping online. There are so many choices that is is difficult. Canos de Meca looks interesting. If the weather is hot and sunny, we might spend a night there. I am negotiating with my wife. My eldest daughter is very well traveled (66 countries at last count) and she said that Ronda was very beautiful at sunset. Her description of Andalucia was "charming".