Andalucia - Small towns
 

We will be in Andalucia 8-10 days, we want to go to Gibralter(my LH's idea, not mine) Granada, Cordoba, Ronda, and Seville. We would like to spend some time in some of the small towns in the area, maybe overnite or base in the small towns. Any suggestions? We will be driving and our time is flexible. Thanks for any ideas.

That is not a long time to see the 3 major cities in Andalucia plus Ronda plus Gibralter. Gibralter is horrid in my view but I only say that now I have been.

Other small towns - Grazalema near Ronda is lovely, Estepa is nice and smaller than the others you mention. Nerja perhaps if you want to see a coastal town.

But I honestly don´t see how you will do this in the time.

Eliza is right on. 8-10 days is not enough for your plans.

I would skip Gibralter, and visit Cordoba on the way from one place to another. That way you can concentrate on Granada, Ronda and Sevilla.

On our trip in 2001, we spent 3 nights in Granada, 2 nights in Ronda, and 4 nights in Sevilla. There's a whole lot to see in Sevilla.

Check out my web page on this trip. Maybe it will help you in your planning:
http://www.travel.stv77.com/andalucia/andalucia.html

We spent 11/12 days for Andalucia and wished we had more.

Started in Madrid for 1 night then Seville for several nights, then drove through Jerez, Arcos de la Frontera, Overnighted in Ronda for a few days with day trip through Grazalema and Zahara (highly recommend the high road), then leaving Ronda to Marbella, Nerja and up to Granada for overnights.

We were very laid-back and didn't plan too much as we didn't know what the drives would bring us. I absolutely loved Seville (could spend a week there and not be enough), also really enjoyed driving to Grazalema and Zahara (beautiful!! especially the drive between them).

We skipped Gibralter, too, and glad we did so we could see more of the small towns.

Don't shortchange Seville. It is an exciting city!! And stay in the parador in Ronda if you can. It is on the gorge and has breathtaking views. Also, there is restaurant located across from the Alhambra that has a magnificent view of it lit up at night. Sipping sherry and that view is pretty spectacular. (I'll get back to you on the restaurant.)

Advice: rent a small car that the mirros can fold in so you can make it through the small alleys of the white villages.

Near Seville, I have visited and enjoy Cormona with a very nice Parador, Osuna between Cordoba and Seville, ...and between Cordoba and Granada., Baeza and Ubeda are fascinating. I have also stayed in Jaen.

if you like history, then go to Santiponce. there you'll find the roman ruins of italica. you can walk the 2000 year-old streets and walk thru most of the massive roman amplitheater. italica is a short bus ride from the main bus station in seville.

Definitely spend enough time in Sevilla. Cordoba is wonderful. Also look at Cádiz: not as nice as Cordoba but a quaint non-touristy seaside town.

Marycang-- your itinerary is definitely doable; you certainly do not have the time to dilly-dally, but 8-10 days should certainly give you a good sense of the cities you listed. An important question, however: WHEN are you going? A Nov trip to Andalucia is a very different trip than, say, a July one.

Gibraltar is a 2-3 hours in-out; go in, head out to Europa Point (great views of the Med- Africa Coast). On to Granada (The Alhambra). Stay overnight, so you can tour very early the next day. In the aft, head out to Ronda, take on the Route of the White Villages, which includes Grazalema. On to Cordova, allow at least two days for Seville.

Tons of people who have posted over the years have done a similar route; certainly not enough time anywhere, but definitely doable (I have done it, including a day in Tangier--).

The old Moorish town of Frigiliani up in the mountains is a nice escape while in Andulcia

There is no Frigiliani in Spain...there is a Frigiliana, however. Same goes for Gibralter GibraltAr)...

P.S. anybody familiar with my posts knows that I, obviously, have no OCD issues with grammar, but names of towns are critical for travel planning....come on.

Viajero,

You missed 'Andulcia'

YIKES!! :-D

Thanks for your help. Even you anal-retentive persons. Who cares how it is spelled? Google will always ask is this what you meant. This is the best forum on the internet. Thanks everybody.

Still planning, might ask more questions.

Mary, I couldn't have done it without poster Maribel. She's helped so many of us she now has her own website www.maribelsguides.com.

If you have searched her name on this forum, do so. You will get so much helpful information.

Another vote for Carmona.

We stayed in Carmona for four nights because Sevilla was fully booked but finally ranked Carmona (as a place for overnight stay) over Sevilla.

Carmona offers really authentic Andalucian feeling - with old churches, narrow lanes, stork nests, a charming plaza and lots of bars and restaurants. You find also a Roman archeological site in town.

From Carmona, it is a very short drive into Sevilla and about an hour to Cordoba.

We did not stay at the Parador in Carmona (though we had a drink there) but in the Alcazar de la Reina which we liked a lot (good food, excellent bar, pool, beautiful courtyard, beautiful rooms).

www.alcazar-reina.es

You may have already received sufficient replies for your purposes, but I thought I'd add my two bits.
My last four trips to Spain I rented a house and stayed in a small village halfway between Granada and the coast. It was right off the main highway from Granada to the coast and a half hour drive into Granada and to the coast. We spent whole days seeing the Alhambra, walking around Granada, and walking around some of the coastal towns. We could easily drive over to the Alpujarras and spent a whole day going from small village to village, with utterly amazing views.
We broke up our stay with an overnight in Cordoba one year and a couple of nights in Seville another year. You could easily just add those on to the end of your trip and just get a one week rental. The advantage of renting a house is the sense of being a part of a community for a short time, going to the local grocery store, buying fish from the fish van and bread and pastry from the bread vans that careen through the village daily, etc. The village I stayed in was surrounded by orange and lemon groves which made a fantastic walk most days.
The best advice I ever got was from a friend who was teaching in Spain before my first trip who advised me to cut down the number of towns I wanted to visit and stay longer in each one to savor the experience.
My research suggests skipping Gibraltar is in your best interests but do a search on this forum for "Gibraltar" and you'll see lots of opinions.
You don't have to stay in the parador (muy costoso!) in Ronda to have a great view. I stayed in a hotel on the edge of the cliff with a stunning view for much less than the parador cost.
Buen viaje.
Gail

Again, thanks for all your ideas.

To Gail....What was the name of the hotel in Ronda?

Were still planning. We leave 4/21, will be in Spain Apr.22 to May 7

Mary

Sorry: I wasn't paying attention for a few days.
The hotel in Ronda is the Don Miguel. We had a room overlooking the gorge that was, at the time anyway, considerably cheaper than the parador and was perfectly nice. It was a little hard to drive directly to but the hotel staff took our car and parked it once we got there. It's listed in the Karen Brown guide.

gail, we ate at the Don Miguel on the terrace and the food and view was spectacular! What a great find it was for us. Thanks for listing the name as I've been unable to find my Spain trip report since they changed formats.

Grazalema was mentioned above. I would also consider visiting Trevelez in the National park of Sierra Nevada.
Trevelez is in the comarca of Alpujarra, some 45 minutes from Granada by car.