Barcelona/Andalucia
 

Hi,

We"re doing our first trip to Spain next May and have a total of 9 days. After that we"re off to Rome for 5 days before returning home.
We are in early thirties, enjoy getting a feel of the places we visit, taking strolls, food and a bit of nightlife, and have only recently started to enjoy history and museums.
We really wish to spend a few nights in Barcelona, Ronda (at least A night) and Seville.
Our rough plan at the minute is to start with Barcelona, stay 4 nights before flying to Granada for the Alhambra, pick up rental car and drive to Ronda the next day, stay a night in Ronda before driving through some white towns to Seville the following day and dropping the car before we check into our hotel. Stay at Seville for 3 days and then fly to Rome.
The other alternative is to fly to malaga, drive straight to Ronda/ stay the night and stay 4 nights in Seville, doing a day trip to either Cordoba or Cadiz. That saves the hassle of checking into 3 hotels on 3 consecutive days.
Now we"d definitely want a taste of the moorish architecture so very keen to Alhambra and if not, make up somewhat by doing a half day trip to Cordoba, if we go ahead with the second alternative.
We would be on a budget though not sure that should be a factor in this particular decision..
Thoughts??

Thanks in advance...

Hi wunderlad,

IMO you are going to run into trouble if you try to keep Barcelona in this itinerary. In 9-10 days you have plenty of time to see all that you have mentioned in Andalucia and at a nice pace, but once you add Barcelona into the mix, you are definitely running into trouble. in your first itinerary you are only allowing yourselves a day [if that, and a travel day too ] for Granada, which really isn't enough to allow you to enjoy not just the alhambra, but also the rest of Granada like the Albercin and the centre of the town. It is also a good idea to get tickets for the evening for the Alhambra when they let in far fewer people.

Then you want to see Ronda AND Seville - really not possible in the time you've got.

I would suggest this:

forget Barcelona and fly into Malaga. Hire a car and drive north over the mountains to Granada - stay 2 nights. Drive to Seville via Cordoba [one night] and stay in Seville [4 nights]. Drive back to Malaga via Ronda [one night] and stay Malaga [one night]. You might want to adjust this according to flight times in and out of Malaga.

if you MUST see Barcelona, spend 4 nights there, then fly to Seville, spend 3 nights, train/bus to Granada, spend 2 nights, fly to Rome [or vv depending on flights to Rome].

or - drop Rome.

you can't get a quart into a pint pot.

PErsonally, I think it's okay and either itinerary would work. I was just in Granada and certainly would not have wanted to spend more than a day at the Alhambra. There is only so much time I can spend walking around some old buildings, looking at walls. Sure, I appreciate the history and Moorish architecture, but I had no desire to spend more and more hours doing it. I did spend a little time time in Granada itself (a few hours around lunch) and don't see anything so special about that city that makes spending time in it a necessity over all the times being spent in other towns/cities during this trip.

Which is why I think it's fine. To be honest, I really enjoyed Cordoba more than Granada and the Alhambra. So I'd probably lean towards your second itinerary. You certainly don't need to go to Granada just to see Moorish architecture, you know, if you are going to be in Seville and Cordoba. Seville has some, of course.

well, Christina, that's a point of view of course, but did you see the Generalife gardens? or go on the night tour? or walk/get the bus up to the Albercin and look back over the Alhambra? or visit the cathedral?

judging by your comment about looking at walls, I suspect not.

I timetable looks possible, I'd only hire the car for the Ronda bit as the train system (and maybe a bus) is good enough to do most of this and I doubt you really want a car in most of the towns mentioned. I've had a car in three of them the first time I went and every other time I've been I've just not bothered, too slow, too hot, too expensive, too useless, like having a very old dog that stops you going on a walk.

Ronda, well I'm not impressed, but it seems to have a special attractions for Americans, so go see a bridge.

I think you would enjoy Barcelona...a great and amazing place.
Ronda is tiny ...no need to stay overnight.. Although Alhambra is unique
( we did a day and night visit), Seville is much more interesting than Granada.
Stay on one more night in Seville and make a day trip to Cordoba.

I'll throw out one more option for one reason - you state you want to see Moorish architecture. That takes Alhambra to the top of your list, with the Mezquita second. No one night stops


Granada 2 nights

Leave early the second morning to drive to Seville - visit Ronda for most of the day. 4 hours total driving - 2:10 to Ronda and 1:45 to Seville

Seville 3 nights - Cordoba as a day trip.

Now this still leaves you tight with time to visit all that Seville has to offer, but something has to give if you want to see all 4 Andalucian spots on your list.

And remember that May is serious festival time in Andalucia. Plenty of local festivals that will make it possible to blend in and get a little under the skin of things, experiencing the food, the wine, the music, the dance and fiesta spirit:
http://www.andalucia.com/festival/monthlyguide-may.htm

Cordoba in May is something very special, the Cruces festival in the beginning of the month, then into the patio festival before finsishing off at the end of the month with the flamenco/sevillanas inspired Feria: http://www.andalucia.com/cities/cordoba/festivals.htm

Cruces de Mayo: http://www.andalucia.com/festival/maycrosses.htm
Patio festival (lots of other activities, food and drink in the streets, late night concerts etc.): http://english.turismodecordoba.org/...de-cordoba.cfm
The Feria de Cordoba: http://www.cordoba24.info/english/html/feria.html

Wow thanks for your replies.. Thank you!!
And bilboburglar, am no American. An Indian (Mumbai for good measure) :)
But I still fancy that one night (and the morning after) in Ronda. That will be our slice of small town Europe we so love but aren't getting much of in this trip.
So thinking of sacrificing one of our 5 nights in Rome (maybe our day trip to Naples/ Pompeii) or one of our 4 nights in Barcelona for that extra day in Andalucia.
As we are likelier to make a repeat trip back to Italy than we are to Spain in foreseeable future..that gives us that extra day in either Granada or Seville. Extra day in Seville allows us that day trip to Cordoba which we probably wouldn't make if we only did 3 days in Seville.
Jeez, what a problem to have..

If I had the choice of Ronda or Malaga, I'd chose Malaga
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/de...tractions.html

If you drive here in Spain you will need an I.D.P. Do not leave home with out it.

Venice is magical.

You plan is way too rushed for my tastes; YMMV. BTW, no need for a car at all -- even Ronda can be visited without one.

IMHO is you go to Andalusia Seville, Granda and Cordoba are ALL must-sees - and all different. If I had to give up something it would be Ronda (or Barcelona - and really see more of Andalusia). We have been twice - once 1 days and once 12 and there is still a lot we want to see - as well as other parts of Spain we want to visit (did Barcelona once about 20 years ago and it's definitely on the list for going back - perhaps for a one-week trip.

Hi again
So we are getting that extra day now and have 3 options:
1- 2 nights in Granada, 1 night in Ronda and 3 in Seville (no day trips)
2- 1 night in Granada, 1in Ronda and 4 in Seville (daytrip to Cordoba)
3- 2 nights in Granada, stop en route Seville at Ronda and 4 nights Seville (possibly a daytrip to Cordoba), is the trains/ bus option preferable instead of driving?
We would have loved to do Cadiz and Malaga too, but the time is too little for that this time. Can't remove Barcelona either as we are not when we can make it Spain again.
I guess it comes down to whether an extra night in Granada is worth sacrificing Cordoba for; and is Ronda as gorgeous as it looks in pictures. The idea of having our morning coffee overlooking the gorge seems very tempting.
What would you do?
Thanks!!

Granada's Alhambra (for which you need 2 nights) and Cordoba's Mezquita are, IMO, among the finest sites in the world. Not to be missed. They both trump Ronda, no question IMO. (Even though Ronda is spectacularly situated.) None of your options work particularly well; option 3 comes closest.

And yes, trains/bus are infinitely preferable to driving in this part of the word, at least IMHO.

Grenada, Seville, Cordoba, Barcelona are must sees

Seville to Cordoba is 42 minutes by AVE high speed train, making it almost a perfect day trip. It is about 1:20 hrs if driving.

Cordoba was the most advanced city in the western world about the 10th Century, and the city still bears plenty of witness to it:
http://www.theguardian.com/spanish-t...-changed-world
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%B3rdoba,_Andalusia

The video "Córdoba, life and spirit" suggests a nice Córdoba (and Andalucian) state of mind: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyfGdpF55Uk

So I guess option 3 it is then...
How do you travel from Granada to Seville via Ronda in a day using public transport? Found some options but none that will get you to Ronda before noon and Ronda to Seville late afternoon