santosh_travels

We are traveling with two kids and plan to spend 6 days in andulucia region. We intend to visit Seville, al hambara and any of the white villages. As of now, we intend to use public transport. Please advise where to base ourselves and suggested itinerary

KarenWoo

How old are your children? Do you have 6 full days on the ground? What are your interests?

Six days is not a lot of time. One possible itinerary would be to spend 3 or 4 nights in Seville and 2 nights in Granada. I would not do a day trip from Seville to Granada because it would be a very long and very hectic day. The Alhambra is amazing, and you should see it leisurely and not rush through to do it justice. Also, this way you could visit the Alhambra at night, which is a magical time to visit, along with a day visit. And there is more to Granada than just the Alhambra.

If you have 4 nights in Seville, which is what we did, you could possibly visit Cordoba as a day trip from Seville. We spent 2 nights in Cordoba and loved it, but you don't have time to do that on this trip. I wouldn't try to squeeze in the white villages because I personally would find that to be too hectic. And it would be easier to visit the white villages if you have a car.

Sassafrass

Great advice already from KarenWoo.
Exactly what she suggested works: A couple of days in Granada, three or four in Seville and a day trip by train to Cordoba.
When are you planning to do this trip? Dates? This Fall? Winter? Next Spring?
Is this part of a longer trip? Before or after these six days?
Where is your arrival city or airport? Seville? Madrid? Granada? Etc?
How old are the children?
There might be other possibilities, depending the children and if you would reconsider a car since you have four people.

geetika

We visited Andalucia using the train and bus in March 2020, just before the lockdown. But we had 13 days on the ground and were able to see quite a bit. Ronda has a good bus connection from Sevilla, perhaps it could be done as a day trip. Córdoba too is a short train ride away, but we spent two nights in both these places and were happy for it.

How old are your children, even slightly older ones too don’t take very well to a rushed schedule. IMO with the time you have it might be better to limit your visit to just Sevilla with a day trip to Córdoba. Or maybe 4 nights in Sevilla and 2 in Granada, as the Alhambra is a magnificent complex not to be missed. But lots of walking to do, again you need to consider if your children can handle it, if they’re younger.

santosh_travels

Thank you every one for the detailed information. We intend to have following itinerary: Madrid- Andulucia -Barcelona with 4-6-5 days respectively. Our kids are 7 and 10. We will be travelling in December. Considering the suggestion given, we might apply for international driving license. Please advise if we should tweak our itinerary. It’s our first time visiting Spain… you suggestions are highly appreciated🙂

geetika

Madrid will be quite cold in December, Granada and the hill towns too. Plus days will be short and you can’t do as much as even in spring or fall. We were in Andalucia early to mud March 2020 and walked around and went tapas bar hopping in the evenings, this might be hard with young children, especially the 7 year old.

There’s a very convenient train from Madrid to Sevilla, also from Sevilla to Granada. The train ride to Barcelona is longer, about 5-6 hours if I remember. But you can also fly, IMO you don’t need to rent a car.

BTW, a good way to calculate available time is to count nights; 2 nights = 1 day, 3N = 2D, etc. Not clear how you are counting and how many days you’ll actually have on the ground. Also remember that you lose at least half a day every time you move locations, you need to factor this also in your plans.

I think your itinerary is fine, just keep the Andalucia part to only two places. We always try and squeeze in as much as possible, which isn’t a very good thing, especially when travelling with young children. You know them best, try and work with their likes and interests, a holiday with cranky kids isn’t much fun!

santosh_travels

Thanks geetika!!!

dreamon

The trains in Spain are very good and personally I would not bother with a car. My kids always preferred travelling by train than car too. There are some cost advantages in buying in advance but check the cancellation/change conditions of course. It does make some sense to travel Barcelona - Madrid - Seville but only if you can travel from Seville to your next destination (home?). renfe.es is the best site for train timetables but it's not the easiest site to navigate for non-Spanish speakers so you could check the seat61 website for guidance on alternative sites for purchasing tickets. Of course, the renfe site may have been upgraded since we used it and it is the real source of truth about tickets.

My daughter and I visited Spain (Madrid and Andalusia) in December 2019 and we found Andalusia weather to be quite mild. There were even a couple of days when we were in just a t-shirt and jeans. And some days with a jumper and a wind proof coat. wunderground will show you historical temperatures if you're interested.

I think 4 nights in Seville and 2 in Granada would be good. If you want to fit in a slightly smaller place and are prepared to move on more frequently, then you could consider something like Seville (3) - Ronda (1) - Granada (2) OR possibly Cordoba (1) - Seville (3) - Granada (2) but three stays might feel too rushed.

With 4 days in Madrid, I recommend a day trip to Toledo. You don't have a heap of time in Madrid but I think it would be worthwhile as it's a really interesting town. Personally I would probably take a day from Barcelona and add it to Andalusia.

millie2112

I have done this exact trip you are planning and my husband and I did this without a car.
We had 5 days in Seville, 2 nights in Granada and 5 nights in Barcelona.
Catch a train from Madrid to Seville. From Seville to Granada we took a bus. From Granada we flew to Barcelona on Vueling airlines.

In Seville we did a day trip to Cordoba. It was a long day. but very doable.

What you have planned works fine..

santosh_travels

Thanks @dreamon!!! Your post addresses most of our concerns. 👍🏼
thanks @millie- for the information