Hi all, myself and my partner are planning a 14 day trip to Andalusia in May and are struggling to figure out how to split our days between the cities of interest. We will be flying into Seville and back out from Malaga, and we're both primarily interested in exploring the history, architecture, religious sites and food of the region. We both want to visit Seville, Cordoba and Granada, and since my partner has a bit of a more relaxed holidaying style than myself, we're thinking of scheduling a few beach days in Malaga at the end since we'l be flying out from there anyway. Our itinerary looks as follows:

Seville: 5 nights

Cordoba: 2 nights

Granada: 4 nights

Malaga: 3 nights

We've decided to spend 2 nights in Cordoba since the Cordoba fair will be taking place during our time there and we've been told it's not one to miss out on. Ordinarily I would have made it a day-trip or a one-night stay. While I'm not overly interested in Malaga, I've scheduled 3 nights in there at the end as normally when we're travelling I tend to get travel fatigue around day 10 or so, so this will give us 2 full beach days to unwind, though our schedule doesn't look too intensive outside of this so maybe it's a bit overkill? Is there enough in Malaga outside of the beach that will keep us busy? I'm primarily looking to ask how we should split our remaining nights between Seville and Granada. Should we spend 6 in Seville and 3 in Granada or leave our schedule as it looks now? (5 and 4). We'll be travelling by public transport so that's why I've decided to stick to the main cities which have good transport links. I know Ronda is a favourite but maybe we could do a day trip to there from Seville at a stretch. Does this seem like a lot of travelling and luggage hauling for 14 days? Are there any changes you would make to the itinerary? Thanks for reading!

It looks like a relaxed itinerary to me. I like your time allotments for Seville, Cordoba, and Malaga. I might decrease Granada to 3 nights, unless there is something you want to do outside the city. If you are very interested in Ronda, you could spend a night there. (We didn't visit Ronda). But you would probably need a car for Ronda and other white hill towns. If you want to visit Ronda as a daytrip from Seville, then spend 6 nights in Seville and 3 nights in Granada. We had 4 nights in Seville (no daytrips), and I wish we had an extra night just for Seville.

Good choice in spending 2 nights in Cordoba. That's what we did. I think you miss the essence and beauty of the city by seeing it as a daytrip from Seville. We visited the Mezquita, Alcazar and its gardens, Palacio de Viana (a hidden gem and not very crowded), Roman Bridge, and enjoyed wandering around the Juderia with its narrow lanes, white-washed walls, patios and flowers. Have you made hotel accommodations yet? It might be very busy because of the patio festival.

There is plenty to do in Malaga. I think you will be surprised. We spent 2 nights there, and I wish we had a 3rd. The tastefully restored historic center is wonderful with narrow pedestrian streets, marble walkways, and pretty architecture. We visited the following:

Catedral de Malaga
Museo Picasso Malaga
Alcazaba - there is a meandering pathway to the top. You will pass lush greenery, exotic flowers, patios, fountains, and a small Nasrid palace-fortress at the top. Stunning views of the Mediterranean and the port.
Castillo de Gibralfaro - located high on the hill overlooking the city. You can walk around the ramparts
Mercado Atarazanas - shop, browse, eat
Very pretty seaside promenade where you can have drinks overlooking the harbor and watching the sunset.
And there are a lot more art museums that we didn't visit.

Ronda is very beautiful. I reccomend spending a night in Ronda and one night less in Seville. I went from Seville to Ronda by bus. Damas has 4 daily buses between Seville and Ronda. It is a bus ride about two to three hours.

Cordoba is a fascinating and exquisitely beautiful city with a lot of great features. Even without the patio festival, I spent three nights there.

I agree with shelemm!

We spent three nights in Cordoba and could have used one more. Two nights in Ronda, it’s a short bus ride from Sevilla, less than two hours. We enjoyed both places, in different ways, in Ronda our Airbnb was right on the gorge, with a large terrace where we had breakfast and a drink in the evenings. The parador was just across the bridge from us, so we basically shared the same view, absolutely stunning!

I recently stayed in all the cities you’re planning to visit, I like the layout of your trip a lot, but like others I would take a night away from Granada and give it to Cordoba.

What studenttobe, shelemm and Karen Woo have told you about Córdoba. Last spring I spent 4 nights there with plenty to do and am returning this March for another 3.
And if you have any interest in dining, it has a fine restaurant, tapas bar scene.