Hi: My husband and I are planning a car trip to Andalucia for mid to last two weeks April 05. For sure Granada and Sevilla. Want to minimize drive time to 2-3 hours day. Rhonda, Cordoba, Jaen all possibilities? Saw Madrid and central plain to Salamanca 6 years ago. I was a student in Granada 20 years ago so can communicate in Spanish. Don't need beach time- emphasis is tapas, wine, and historical. Thanks in Advance- Annie

I'm not sure what your question is.

Where are you flying into and out of and where do you plan to stay?

Thanks nytraveler. I am looking for suggestions for hotels, bars, restauraunts and or "interesting sites". Also any tips for driving. Any small towns in particular that are fun along way to bigger cities?

Thanks Artlover: most likely we are flying to Madrid as we depart from SFO. I had initially thought Sevilla but no real direct flights from West Coast. We'd rather spend time in car traveling than time in airport waiting.

Tentative Itinerary: Fly into Madrid- 1-2days, then Coroda (2 days) Jaen (1 day overnight @ the parador)-Granada (2-3 days), Ronda (1 day) then onto Jerez region ending up in Sevilla. My husband would rather drive back to Madrid then take flight from Sevilla to Madrid. I'd like people to audit (second guess) time spent in each place- also the fair in Sevilla last week in April- how much time should we spend there? Again any suggestions or thoughts/impressions are appreciated.

pearchica,
We live on the West Coast too, so I know it's hard to get direct flights, but you might check and see what you can find out of Malaga. This way you could fly into Madrid and out of Malaga and not have to backtrack.

From Madrid you could easily do Toledo or Segovia as day trips.

From Sevilla, you could do Cordoba. From Malaga area (Marbella or Nerja might be good bases) you could do Granada, Ronda, white villages.

Check out distances in mappy.com to give you a good sense of distances.

pearchica writes: "... I'd like people to audit (second guess) time spent in each place- ... also the fair in Sevilla last week in April ..."
Where did you get that info?? By my calcularion (because Easter is very early in 2005) Sevilla's Feria de abril will be the week of 12 April. So it should be ended by the time you get there, if you adhere to your schedule.

I, personally, like to 'get where I'm going' before I rest, especially after such a long trip. So, I would either take a flight from Madrid or take AVE from Madrid to Sevilla immediately on arrival from the U.S. You could pick up a rental car at either Santa Justa station or Sevilla's airport.

I think el Santuario de la Virgen del Rocio is worth a visit. It's west of the Donana, just south of Almonte in Huelva Province.

Hi,

If you like to hike, I'd spend 2 days in Ronda. It is small but has lots of places to explore if you hike. Also, you can visit some of the other white towns from Ronda, if you want to use Ronda as a base. Grazelema and Arcos are cute. Try the Hotel San Gabriel in Ronda - it was my favorite on my 2 week Spain trip.

In Sevilla, I stayed at the Hotel Alcantara, which is basic and very reasonable and only a few blocks from the more upscale (and very popular on this website) Hotel Amadeus. So that gives you 2 hotels to look at based on your budget.

There are lots of fun tapas bars in Sevilla in the Barrio Santa Cruz, which is the old town where the hotels mentioned above are located (and where the cathedral and alcazar are).

Hope this helps a little.

Karen

We loved Seville and I would suggest spending at leat 4 days there. Try to spend some time in the white villages - while Ronda is wonderful, we also enjoyed Arcos, Grazelema (from which you can take some spectacular hikes), and a very small town called Gaucin, where we stayed and from which you can see Africa on a clear day. In Seville, we loved Hotel Amadeus and in Gaucin, we stayed at El Nobo with breathtaking views.

Hi Pear!

And fellow Bay Area neighbor! I agree with NED.... fly into Madrid, rest after your flight, enjoy the city. Then take the AVE to Sevilla (with a stop in Cordoba if you like)....explore Sevilla, pick up a car on your way out of town (you do NOT want a car within the city); explore the "white Cities" (Rhoda's lovely even if you don't hike!)and then either fly from Malaga back to Madrid, or continue onto Granada and fly back to Madrid from there.

Regards,

Melodie
Certified Spain Specialist