Have you purchased airfare yet?

Honestly I'd probably focus on Andalucia and save Barcelona for another trip with such a short time. Even if you just see Sevilla, Cordoba and Granada it will take 6-7 nights once you factor in jetlag. And if you need to be in Madrid your final night then this would be the entire trip. If your trip is during the Patio festival in Cordoba it would be a real shame to miss this and not have enough time for Cordoba.

You could spend 4 nights in Barcelona and 4 in Sevilla. But you'd be very pressed to see much else -0
Either way I'm not sure I'd rent a car - you won't need it for the cities and the trip is too short to do alot of exploring by car.

Thanks so much for your reply. So your suggestion is to see Seville, Cordoba and Granada? I haven't purchased our airline tickets yet. I'm hoping June is a good month to travel or even middle of May. How would we travel between the cities if we didn't rent a car? I assume by train?

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If you wish to see Barcelona and Seville, why not visit those two wonderful and very different cities.
May is much better time IMO.

You might want to consult a good guidebook or two -- those by Fodor's or Frommer's might help you decide what you most want to do in just a week. Enjoy!

What is best way to get from those 2 cities? Train? If we just stayed in those 2 cities, can anyone recommend a good place to visit a winery? My husband loves wine so I thought he would really enjoy that. We also wanted to rent mopeds for a day and sight see.. Had done that in Italy and loved it!

Thanks for all your suggestions.

Save Barcelona for another trip. The time spent to get from the south over to the east coast will eat up your time. Seville, Granada, Cordoba and Malaga are good choices.

The reason why I suggested dropping Barcelona is that with only 4 nights in Sevilla and 4 in Barcelona once you get between the cities (I'd fly) and factor in jetlag you won't have time for a day to rent a moped (which may be a little dicey in these cities), or visit a winery or really do much more then see these cities. Also, it seems a shame to be in Andalucia and miss Cordoba and Granada. Cordoba can be done as a daytrip from Sevilla but you'd be hard pressed to squeeze this in with only 4 nights in Sevilla (which would probably end up being 3 since you'd need to fly home from Madrid). Granada, at 3 hours each way, is too much for me as a daytrip from Sevilla. Thus, I suggested a focus on Andalucia for the limited time you have and also the ability to see more than just a big city - and time to visit a sherry bodega and see some countryside.

Alternatively you could spend the 8 nights entirely in Barcelona or 6 nights Barcelona and a couple in Girona or Tarragona or along the coast. This would give you again time to visit a winery and enjoy the countryside outside of the big city.

If you want to visit Sevilla and Barcelona in 8 nights it's certainly doable but you won't be able to meet your other trip expectations. You'll need to weigh what is most important.

Totally agree. I'm going to pass on Barcelona and focus on Seville and Grenada . I believe the plan is to fly in and out of Madrid while renting a car to get to the other places. Any recommendations on what sights to focus seeing ( I'm sure there are a ton of great ones!). Also a good winery?

Thanks a ton!

We plan to leave middle of May.

Are you by any chance going to be in this area from May 8-19?

Have you purchased airfare already? You may be able to purchase with connecting flights (via Madrid) arriving into Sevilla and returning home from Granada especially if you're traveling American Airlines as they're affiliated with Iberia. The positive is you'd save time arriving into Sevilla and also not have to backtrack to Madrid. There is a little risk though in that Iberia has several strikes scheduled in Feb/March - so I don't know how that will be in May.

I agree concentrating on Andalucia is a good idea. We did a trip to Granada, Cordoba and Seville last March and had a fabulous time. I would also suggest trying to fly into one city and out of the other. We flew into Granada and out of Seville, we still had to fly through Madrid but just had a layover there, didn't need to worry about rental cars or trains to get to our first destination.

We stayed in Granada for 2 nights, Cordoba 2 nights and Seville 4 nights. We just took the train from one city to the next. Very easy. Here is a link to my blog with my trip report and lots of pictures. You can get an idea of what the highlights are to see. We decided to spend the two nights in Cordoba rather than do as a daytrip from Seville and we were not disappointed. I had read there that the food was really good there, so I knew I wanted more than just one quick lunch there. It was fabulous!!

http://www.fromhometoroam.com/category/travels/europe/andalucia/

jgg-
If the OP is able to get flights into and departing from Andalucia as you were this was exactly going to be my suggestionn - 2 nights Cordoba (especially if the trip is during the Patio Festival), 4 nights Sevilla w/a daytrip to Jerez to visit a sherry bodega and 2 nights Granada.

However if the OP is not able to do this and has to return to Madrid the final night this is where it could get tricky in terms of balancing # of days with a reasonable pace for such a short trip.

In either case, a car won't be necessary and will just be a hinderance with parking and navigating unknown city centers. If the OP had 3 days or so more then a car between Sevilla and Granada for exploring the white villages would be great - but there's just not enough time.

All great info and lived the blog! Pics are amazing. I'd there another hotel you would recommend? We are heading to Spain May 15-23. I assume that is during the festival mentioned above? I think the itinerary has us flying into Madrid ( easy non stop flight from Philadelphia) taking a train to Seville for 4 nights then to Grenada for 3 nights but also renting a car.. I may switch to doing the 3 towns you mentioned. Below is suggested itinerary with hotels. Not sure I like it.

.Rail from Madrid to Seville -
Car Rental - - 7 Days - pick up Seville, drop off Grenada Rail from Grenada to Madrid
Novotel Sevilla Marques Del Nervion, Seville
Melia Grenada,
Husa Pasaeo Del Arte Hotel, madrid


Ps
What does OP stand for?

Glad you liked the blogs and pics. For those three cities I wouldn't bother renting a car, it will be unnecessary and a pain in the cities, and very easy to do the trains. For hotels I suggest you read reviews of hotels on TripAdvisor.com and Booking.com. You can put your dates in Booking.com and see which hotels are available and read the reviews. Cross reference with TripAdvisor reviews.

OP means Original Poster - which in this case would be you.

OK - so you basically have 7 days for Andalucia and a final night in Madrid.

Here are the options I'd consider:

1) 5 nights Sevilla, 2 nights Granada
Do a daytrip from Sevilla to Cordoba. You may be able to squeeze in a daytrip to Jerez and visit a Sherry bodega.

2) 2 nights Cordoba, 3 nights Sevilla and 2 nights Granada
If you don't mind moving around a little more this will put you in Cordoba for 2 nights during the Patio Festival, a great time to visit Cordoba. With 3 nights in Sevilla you may be able to squeeze a daytrip in to Jerez for a sherry bodega visit.

For either of these options you definately do not need to rent a car. The car would basically sit and not be used as you just have enough time to visit the cities and any daytrips could be done quicker and easier by train. Train from Madrid to Cordoba/Sevilla. Then train or bus from Sevilla to Granada.

I'd also rethink the hotel choice in Sevilla. Nervion isn't the best location - not within walking distance (30 minutes on foot) of the city center and not exactly a charming old town feel. You can get a bus from Nervion to the old town but why?

3) 4 nights Sevilla, 1 night Ronda, 2 nights Granada
If you insist on renting a car then the only way I'd consider this is just renting between Sevilla and Granada exploring the area for one day and spending the night in Ronda. Rent the car in Sevilla and drop off on arrival in Granada. This just leaves you with 4 nights in Sevilla which will be tight to be able to squeeze in a daytrip to Cordoba and recover from jetlag. You'd also give up the possibility of a daytrip to Jerez to visit a sherry bodega. Personally I'd not choose this option as I'd prefer to enjoy the Patio festival in Cordoba and a sherry bodega versus just one day of driving from Sevilla to Ronda and exploring the white villages. But it's an option.

Any thoughts on Vallidolid? My itinerary so far is flying into Madrid on the 16th AM, then a quick flight to Seville for 4 nights ( TA recommends flying instead of train). Then renting a car to travel to Vallidolid for a night or 2, then taking a train from Seville back to Madrid for 1 night before we fly home (apparently return flight is very expensive). I also thought about doing a day trip to Cordoba and seeing the Patio festival that people were talking about. I really haven't heard of Vallidolid so i waa just wondering if anyone has traveled there..

Thanks!!

D

Would you give up Granada to visit Vallidolid? Why? It's not exactly a top tourist destination and doesn't fit into your tight itinerary.

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Do you mean you'd give up Granada to visit Vallidolid? Why?
Vallidolid isn't exactly a top tourist attraction.

I'm not sure why you're giving up Barcelona to visit Granada.

Look: international flights go to and from Barcelona so why you're setting everything up through Madrid is curious. You could fly to Madrid and home from Barcelona with little difficulty if you haven't purchased tickets yet.

Seville and Barcelona for four nights each is not bad. The flight from one to the other is only about 2 hours. Right now, CathyM is wondering why you'd go to Valladolid instead of Granada. But in the first place, why would you go to Granada over Barcelona? This isn't a close call. And if you fly cross-country, it's only slightly longer to go from Seville to Barcelona (two-hour flight, plus 75 minutes of airport nonsense) than it is to take the train from Seville to Granada (three hours).

Hi, I am flying in and out of Madrid because of direct flights from Philly and the cost was much lower than doing Barcelona. I've already purchased my airline tix and the hotel in Seville so I can't make any changes. I though it might be nice to see a country town since it appears Seville is more city. I could choose my remaining 3 nights and fly to Barcelona? I checked airfare and its pretty cheap. I could also just stay down south and do Cordoba or Grenada? I had wanted to see a winery one day. Deciding on my last 3 days is the last part of my trip that needs to be finalized. I fly out of Madrid the 23rd. The Ritz looks amazing there!

Thanks do much for all your advice!

If you have 7 days for Andalucia I'd spend 5 in Sevilla w/a daytrip to cordoba and 2 nights in Granada. You can visit Jerez if tou'd like to visit a sherry bodega. Valladolid has a population of over 400,000 and is the 13th largest city in Spain - so I'm not sure how you are defining a "country town". If you want to visit a smaller city there are plenty of daytrip options from Sevilla (Jerez, for example, is a city of about half the population of Valladolid). I'd personally advise Granada versus Barcelona since with only 3 nights you ally don't have time for Barcelona once you factor in the transportation time. You do have time for an overview of Andalucia and ve Barcelona for a future trip when you can see it correctly. For other itinerary options in Andalucia you can see my previous post.

I was in that area from June 10-20 last year and we hit Granada, Ronda, Seville & Barcelona in that time. I had pressed upon my travel companions that it was too much...and it was! We spent 2 nights in Granada, then picked up a rental car, one night in Ronda, next afternoon drove to Seville and returned rental car, 3 nights in Seville and then flew to Barcelona for the last 3 nights. While I love Barcelona, I agree with the other posters to save it for another trip and just focus on Andalucia.

In mid-June it was HOT in Seville (95ish). Didn't stop us from doing things, but made the concept of a siesta very enticing just to get out of the heat for a few hours, then go back out for the evening. I absolutely LOVED Seville. We loved Granada too, I think CathyM's advice is very good. I wish we had cut out Barcelona and had more time for a day trip to Cordoba, etc. But that just makes me want to go back!

Meant to add, I would think May would be quite lovely weather-wise.

Hi, does anyone have any excursion suggestions for Seville? We will be there 4 days. We are doing a wine tour in Cordoba so I was looking for something else to do.

Thanks for all your help! Trip is pretty much finalized except this.

Deanne

I would take the train to Toledo and spend a few days there. Gerona is also quite lovely. Both are walled cities with great views. If you can, go in late September, early October. It is still really hot there. Can't imagine going in the summer. It's hot everywhere. We spent three weeks in Greece, Italy, Spain in early October and I wore sleeveless shirts all day and night

If you have 4 nights for Sevilla and are arriving after a transatlantic flight you'll arrive likely in the afternoon but will be jetlagged. Then if you do a daytrip to Cordoba, which I recommend, I don't think you're going to have time for another daytrip. But in the off chance you do then considering your interest in wine I'd visit Jerez and a sherry bodega. Another easy daytrip is Carmona.