nessundorma

Double check me on this, but my recollection is that Cordoba-Sevilla travel time by train is 45 minutes.

I walked from the train station in Cordoba to the mosque because it was a pleasant day. But to save time, take a taxi. I think I spent about an hour at the mosque and another hour at its adjacent historic buildings. The truly memorable experience was the mosque.

sgerhar1

samtraveler - we will be traveling near the beginning of Oct. Because this is shoulder season, I wasn't sure how crowded the trains would be.

samtraveler

sgerhar1, I remembered you were traveling in early Oct. just after I last replied. Anyway, I would expect that would not be busy season and that you could be more flexible with your travel plans buying train tickets as you go, but perhaps someone who has been to these areas that time of year could speak to this with more certainty. One idea would be for you to keep checking renfe.com as your trip nears to see how many tickets are left on the trains you might be riding. I think you'll be fine.

spain_traveller

This thread stopped awhile ago but I am going start it back up again as
I am struggling with similar questions. My plan is spending 3 days in Madrid, then renting a car and spending a day and night in Toledo (many people recommend this as a day trip but others also suggest staying overnight helps you absorb the "ambiance" - plus, it takes us an hour closer to our next stop) then getting up early and driving to Cordoba and speding the night for similar reasons then heading to Seville and other destinations south. The other option is heading from Madrid or Toledo to Granada then working my way to Seville and doing Cordoba as a day trip. Option one also has us in Seville for New year Eve - -which I thought might be fun. Option two has less checking in and out of hotels. I am so torn!! I know when I went to Provance, my parents suggested doing everything from a base city and I was dissapointed that I had to rush through my day trips! Opininons of anyone who has done this much appreciated!!

Viajero2

I love Spain and after many visits, this is my recommendation: Spend 4 days in Madrid, which should include daytrips to Toledo and Avila/Segovia via guided visits. Guided visits minimize logistics as you will have somebody to guide you, tickets, transport, and highlights covered (those who tell you you do not need a guide in Toledo are the same ones that also miss the best sightseeing by getting lost). Again, with plenty time, sure do it on your own, but you don't have that so go for the guided visit. By the way, Toledo is one of those places on Earth we all need to see at least once in a lifetime!

Get on AVE to Sevilla and stop in Cordova for a highlights visit. If you feel like going back, day trip from Sevilla. Myers gave you the advice you need to be able to do this. At least two days in Seville. Rent a car in Estacion Santa Justa (even if just for a day) and head out to do the Route of the White Villages.

spain_traveller

It is going to cost over two hundred dollars on for the train from Madrid to Cordoba to Seville ( I just the rail Europe site)! It is only like 250 to rent a car for a week or more - even with gas and parking it seems like a better way to go - renting a car for 4 days isnt much cheaper. So now I just have to decide which way to do my loop and if I want to spend the night in Cordoba or do a day trip.

alan64

I checked RENFE and it's showing at approx. 70 Euros per person ($90) tourist class on the AVE between Madrid & Seville, so Spain Traveler's correct that a car's much cheaper if there's more than 1 traveler. A 1-day car rental from Avis is around 60 Euro w/o damage waver. Makes a car seem like it's worth thinking about.

However, the AVE travel time (w/o Cordoba stopover) is 2.5 hours. Driving is around 5 hours (4.5 hrs from Toledo) and I don't relish the idea of driving in Madrid or Seville. We'll have to think about this one more ourselves.

spain_traveller

alan64
I dont really want to drive in Madrid either - I was contemplating calling Hertz for an office close to the Highway to Toledo -- less city driving!
The hotel we are staying at in Seville has parking - and thats why a layover in Cordba sounds nice to break up the drive...

Viajero2

In Seville you can go to Estacion Santa Justa and rent a car for a day. Do not rent a car to park it in Seville.

mmyk72

Been to Cordoba (as daytrip from Seville). I stayed 6-7 hrs, and that was plenty. After I enjoyed the Mezquita, which was truely beautiful, and had a picnic in the Alcazar gardens, I walked all over the city. My opinion is that the city isn't too interesting compared to Toledo or Segovia. So if you are going to these anyways, I'd say no need to deliberately spend more time there.

Toledo is my favorite city. Yes, it is dark at night since it doesn't have as many street lamps as say in Madrid.

alan64

My issue is that we're going from Sevilla to Toledo, but were hoping to stop in Cordoba to see the Mezquita. If we take the AVE and leave Sevilla by 9 am, we'd have 5 hours in Cordoba but wouldn't get into Toldedo (via Madrid) until 7:30 or 8:30 p.m. We'd probably be pretty tired and that would defeat the whole reason for us to stay the night in Toledo (we wanted to explore the town in the evening when the day trippers are gone).

I think we're either going to:

1) Rent a car & drive from Sevilla to Cordoba, then on to Toledo.

2) Leave Sevilla a day earlier than planned and stay the night in Cordoba.

3) Skip Cordoba (I skipped it last time I was in Spain, so I was hoping to see the Mezquita this trip...).

Choices, choices...

mmyk72

If you ONLY see the Mezquita, then just plan 2 hrs for it (for a leisurely visit). Add in the time to and from the train station (~15 min each way).

It's completely do-able in <4 hrs.

alan64

After reading up a little on Cordoba we decided that there were a few things we'd like to see & do there besides the Mezquita. We decided to take one day off of Sevilla (down to 5 nights there), take the AVE to Cordoba and spend the night. The next day we'll go on to Toledo (via Madrid on the AVE). Although the trains more money than a car, we enjoy train travel and it'll be less worry for us.

We were able to book a room at Casa de los Azulejos. We hope to see the Synagogue, have some good meals, and perhaps catch some flamenco if we're lucky.

spain_traveller

That sounds good - glad you came up with a plan!
I am a little worried about the car as well - but we want a car to explore hill towns etc and we like the flexibility (my parents used a car and loved it). Our plan is Madrid to Toledo (stay the night - people say its cool). Next day drive to Cordoba, stay the night. Next day drive to Granada (the Alhambra is only open at night on Fri/Sat in the off season) stopping at Jaen and enjoying the countryside on the way. Next day spend more time on Granada and Alhambra then drive to Carmona and to Seville for New Years Eve! We will only have three or four days in Seville depending on how much time we want to go explore the HT (arcos, rhonda etc). We will see a lot driving around so maybe one day will be enough (staying in Rhonda) and then we have more time in Seville. Also, renting a car for a week is only like $250.

mmyk72

In Cordoba, the Synagogue is just a very small room (there may be more to it, but only the front room can be visited). I'll say don't waste your time to stay in Cordoba longer just for this.

I hope someone else here can confirm this for me....did I miss something when I thought I was at the Synagogue.

If there's anything I really wished I did, it's seeing the Alhambra in Granada. I didn't go because I didn't have a car and the train takes too long. To those of you going there...I'm envious.

thezanmiller

If traveling from Seville to Granada, it is faster via car than by train? I was under the impression that train was fastest. Thanks!

alan64

The drive from Sevilla to Granada should be around 2.5 hours and the train trip's around 3 hours.

happytrailstoyou

Cordoba is a great place to spend a night or two. Tour buses leave in the late afternoon, and you will have the place to yourself.

The Mezquita has free admission in the mornings (before the crowds arrive).

We stayed at the NH Amistad, which is a nice place with a great location.

HTTY

happytrailstoyou

I meant to say that we had suitcases on rollers and it was no problem because a taxi brought us right to the hotel door and picked us up there.

We would rather not take taxis, but on a month-long trip to Spain we found that taxis were the only practical way to travel between train stations and hotels. Other methods are too time-consuming, too difficult, or too annoying.

fluffnfold

We just did a stopover in Cordoba en route from Madrid to Seville. There were many sizes of lockers in the train station, just ask a guard to open the ropes surrounding them (must be a security precaution). Have your euros ready, and you will receive a code to open your locker when you return. We had a medium-sized one, which fit two rolling duffels (I think they are 28" each).

Two hours is plenty of time to see La Mezquita; add another hour to walk the windy cobblestone streets and have lunch. Something that we didn't plan on, though, was that there would be a funeral at La Mezquita on the day of our visit. We arrived right at opening time, but found that admittance would be delayed for 2 hours due to the funeral. It didn't take that long, though, which leads me to believe that they overestimated. They were, however, letting people in early that day, before the opening time (I think the set opening was 10:00, and they allowed people entry from 8:30 to 10:00--I think it was even free). No way to know this in advance, but I just thought I would pass it along.

The Cordoba train station is fairly nice, with a few shops and a restaurant. The AVE club-class lounge is excellent, with free drinks, snacks, TV, internet, restrooms. Our connecting ticket from Cordoba to Seville was barely any different in price for the club class versus first class. Well worth the difference.