We'll be in Spain for two weeks with our daughters (ages 5 and 10). We've played around with different itineraries, but are thinking of spending the entire two weeks in Andalucia. Is that too much time for that area? Should we consider flying into one spot and out of another? Because we have the kids, we didn't want to do extremely long drives -- maybe 2-3 hours max. Gracias!

If you have two weeks you can make a wonderful loop, starting and ending whereever you want (Malaga, Sevilla, Jerez...).

Two weeks will be perfect. You can visit the great historical cities (Sevilla, Cordoba, Granada), you can visit Malaga, you can visit the caves in Jerez, you can spend some time at a beach (near Cadiz or near Marbella), you can visit some "white towns" (Ronda, Carmona, Vejer), you can do some scenic drives and see something of spectacular landscape. The distances between destinations will be less than three hours. And driving is fun in Andalusia!

Thanks, Traveller. We can get a decent price on flights in and out of Malaga, but thought it would make more sense to fly into Malaga and out of Sevilla. It's a little more money to do it that way. Do you think one way is better than the other? We'd like to rent a villa at one point for a full week (mid-trip). Any suggestions about where to do this? We were thinking a beach area for that.

We must have a different version of fum than traveller. The roads in the Costa del Sol are often crowded. It is filled with tourists and British pensioneeers.


Maybe you can move just once to either Barcelona and Madrid and get a much different view of Spain than the south.

Ronda, the Alhambra, and Sevilla are some of our favorite places in Spain but I think a week elsewhere would be welcome.

Hi, BarbaraMH -

It depends on what you want to do and experience, but 2 weeks in Andalucia sounds perfect to me!

Hope that helps!

Two weeks in Andalucia with children sounds perfect to me as well.

I think it's not worth to arrive in Malaga and fly from Sevilla. They are not so far as to make a big difference and if you can save some dollars, just spend them on something better
You have time enough to make a circle , something like Malaga-Granada-Cordoba-Sevilla-Cadiz-Malaga with stops in between.

If you think in visiting somewhere else then you can arrive to Malaga and out from Madrid or Barcelona, which is also fine. From Andalucia to Barcelona you can get cheap flights and to Madrid the Ave train from Sevilla, no need to do long drives with the girls.

Two weeks would be great for a relaxed itinerary - letting you see the cities, several of the small white towns and spend a couple of days at a beach resort.

You don;t say when you're going. Just be aware that in the summer the weather is incredibly hot (often over 100) and you need to be sure car and hotels have good AC and the later good pools.

Thanks for the great insight! We're going in mid-May so hopefully it won't quite be high-tourist season yet. Now we're having a hard time getting the flights both ways into the south, so we're pondering whether to go somewhere in the north as well, maybe Barcelona for a couple of days. Fly into the north, out of the south, something like that. But it seems like it would be a long drive or train and getting flights for 4 of us, even if they're relatively cheap, will add up. What do you think? Worth splitting the time between the north and south, a week each?

No I would stay in Andalucia which is wonderful. The weather will also be much better there than in the north at that time.

We have a 7 year old and spend our winters in Andalucia and love it.!! Spend time relaxing at a beautiful beach like Nerja and time in a gorgeous and peaceful small white village.

Get places with pools as they should be able to swim then.

We have not run into traffic on the roads at all during our winter stays. We took family all over Andalucia with two weeks last year in March....easy , pleasant driving, fast trains.

Do try to catch a festival if you can...they are wonderful in Andalucia and the people sweet and joyous.

I just got back from spending almost 3 weeks in Seville (visiting family) There is lots to do in the area..including making many day trips. Make sure to spend some time on the beach. I went to Cadiz for a day and it is just GORGEOUS...beaches are comprable to Southern Ca beaches. In fact I plan on going again in August of 2009..my family spends the month in Cadiz and I plan on joining them.

Have a great trip,
Angela

Okay, I'm convinced!! Here's our newest dilemma: Would you fly in and out of Malaga or into Malaga and out of Seville? Is there a reason to do it one way versus another?

Driving time from Malaga to Sevilla is just two hours. It is no problem to arrive and depart from the same airport. And a loop makes perfect sense:

Malaga -> Granada -> Jaen -> Cordoba -> Sevilla -> Jerez -> Cadiz -> Gibraltar -> Marbella -> Malaga

or the other way round (or start/finish Sevilla)

For beach life you must choose between the Atlantic beaches (south of Cadiz, Novo Sancti Petri is a newly developed beach resort, while Trafalgar is more primordial) or the Mediterranean beaches (Marbella is most famous). Plenty of accomodation everywhere.

We did Andalucia with our two boys (then ages 5 and 6) in October 2006. Flew in and out of Malaga (due to frequent flyer availability). We split our time between Ronda (3 nights) and Sevilla (5 nights) and stayed in Malaga only overnight to catch the morning flight. The kids loved Ronda (the bullring, the walls, la Mina, the Arab Baths, and just walking around the city) and Sevilla (Alcazar, Giralda, horse-drawn carriage, playing at the park, shopping at El Corte Ingles). If we had more time, we would've added in Granada and the Alhambra.

Also, we did not rent a car. We hired a driver from the Malaga airport to Ronda (Skybus Spain), took a bus from Ronda to Sevilla, and a train from Sevilla to Malaga. It worked great for us and we didn't have to worry about the hassles of renting a car and driving. You won't want or need a car in Sevilla.

Also, in case you're looking for family friendly accomodations, I can recommend Hotel En Frente Arte in Ronda (try for the 2-story suite) and apartments in Sevilla through Sevilla5.com (we stayed in a 1 BR Apartment San Andres and loved being right next to a plaza and Bar Santa Marta). 2 weeks in Andalucia will be fabulous! Have fun!

A month would not be too much. There is a lot to see and do in the area.

It sounds just about right to me too.

We flew into Seville and out of Granada on our 11 day trip and it worked out very well. The price was no different than entering and leaving from the same city. We dropped our one-way car rental at the airport. Everything went very smoothly.

One word of advice: Whenever your routing has the option between a major road and a less major road, always take the more major road (i.e. - choose the two digit road number instead of the three digit road number or the three digit in lieu of the four digit). Even if the smaller road seems much shorter, don't be tempted. The longer route on a more major road will always be quicker and easier than the illusory "shortcut", especially going through any mountainous areas.

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