5 nights in Spain, need help!
 

I will be coming to Spain from London during our spring trip to Europe. I am thinking flying into Seville, then want to fly out of Madrid. We have 5 nights for Spain, which we’d like to concentrate in the south.

Two ideas:
Seville 4 nights with day trip to Cordoba, Madrid 1 night.

Seville 3 nights, Cordoba 1 night, Madrid 1 night.

If there were a special hotel to warrant the one night stand in Cordoba, I might lean that way, otherwise, would probably stay put in Seville.

As far as Madrid, just want to go to the visit the Prado (open late! Yay!) and have a nice dinner, only goals there for this trip.

Opinions?

Recently, my husband and I did a similar trip. We flew into Seville, stayed 5 nights, took the train to Madrid, stayed 2 nights, flew home from Madrid. It's a good plan.

We absolutely loved this apartment in Seville:
https://sevilla.spain-select.com/en_...cio-san-jose-v

It is sparkling clean, abundantly charming, and in the perfect location for walking.

We also rented an apartment in Madrid from Spain Select:
http://www.spain-select.com/en_US/home

I highly recommend them. Very responsive by email to help us choose apartments, and you have a local contact who will meet you and show you the apartment, plus be available for questions. I emailed Spain Select contact in each city, and they arranged a ride to the train depot and the airport.

About trains - go to www.renfe.com - Spain's National Railway site - to see what kind of discounts you could get on Seville-Madrid trains or Seville-Cordoba can save a lot but then you are locked into a specific train and can't change. www.seat61.com will help a lot with that- for general info on Spanish trains also www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

1st class tickets are also discounted and at times may not be much more than 2nd class.

You could also visit Cordoba for several hours en route from Seville to Madrid by train -put bags in station locker - saves a bit of rail fare as does staying in Cordoba one day that I'd suggest a day trip over relocating and all the time that takes.

Seville 3 nights

Train To Cordoba and Day 4 for a day trip for as long as you like, then continue on to Madrid.

Madrid 2 nights

For a few night you have , a day trip to Cordova makes sense
changing hotels takes time..
Take a taxi from the train station to Mesquita..
Very few discounts are available on that line..

Aramis you may be onto something.

MoBro I read your planning thread, you should write a trip report! You said you weren’t really “taken” with Madrid. Any ideas on things to def do in Seville? With 5 nights, would you support the 4 nights Seville, 1 night in Madrid concept?

How one "relates " to a big city like Madrid varies for different travelers

I have visited Madrid ten times and plan to go again, but many here prefer
smaller, more charming and atmospheric cities.

I like the idea of spending the night in Cordoba. If you pack light, it doesn’t take that much time to check into a new hotel. You’ll save the time of the return journey to Seville. Plus, Cordoba is closer to Madrid than Seville, so you’ll save time there, too.

We stayed at Las Casas de la Juderia in Cordoba and loved it and had one of the best dinners of our trip at Regadera. Be sure to reserve in advance.

We enjoyed Madrid. Whether it’s worth one night versus two depends on your interests relative to Seville. They’re both fascinating and lively.

If you take Aramis’ suggestion of stopping in Cordoba on your way to Madrid, make sure there is someplace to store your luggage. The facility near the bus and train stations appears to have closed.

If you are willing to limit yourself to just a quick visit to the Prado and a nice dinner, 1 night in Madrid could serve you well. FWIW, I wanted 4 nights in Sevilla and 2 full nights in Cordoba (many people are satisfied with just a day trip from Sevilla), and I’d have trouble seeing enough of the Prado on a travel day to satisfy my interests (I spent the entire day there on one if the days when it was open late, and still felt a bit rushed); your interests might differ.

Good luck!

Yes Cordoba luggage storages and any in Spain are always iffy and could be closed due to terrorism threats.

passported, I didn't write a true trip report, but my recommendations for restaurants and the flamenco performance are in my planning thread:

https://www.fodors.com/community/eur...m#last-comment

We were going to take a day-trip by train from Seville, but decided against it, as we preferred to travel slowly and savor every quaint street in Seville. Besides which, it was fairly expensive to take the train for the day, as a last minute purchase.

Stopping at Cordoba on your way to Madrid is a great idea.

My comment that I was not taken with Madrid is not a real critique of it. We were only there two nights. DH liked it a lot. I was travel weary by then, and had loved Seville so much that it didn't compare to me. And our apartment in Madrid, while very nice, was not on the type of charming building and location as we'd had in Seville.

The luggage storage is at the bus station (across from the train station), but best check if it is still open .

http://www.cordoba24.info/english/ht...roviarias.html

It's open. The usual storage site, which is reporting itself as closed directs customers to the bus station for lockers.

I’ve read some reports about the bus lockers on another forum. There are a limited number and they only take change. So if you don’t arrive early enough you may be out of luck.

Thanks all for the advice so far and the sleuthing on the locker idea. I’ll look into that more!