Hello all,

I am looking for suggestions on day trips via car from Granada in late August. I see a lot of things online about day tripping to Granada, but we are making Granada our base for 4 nights and 3 days. We have planned to see the city itself on the first day and the Alhambra on the second. On the fourth day, the day we leave for Sevilla, we will be stopping in Cordoba on the way over. Once in Sevilla, we have a wedding to attend (events over a few days) and will use the free time to explore that city. No time to go anywhere else during that portion of the trip.

Question: On the third day, we were hoping to drive somewhere else. We are between one of the Costa del Sol beach towns (Nerja, Malaga, something else), Ronda, another option, etc. Any suggestions?

My husband really wants to do the beach, but it might be really hot, given the time of the year. Any beach towns that are good for a day trip from Granada? We're aiming to keep it under a 2 hour drive one way. Ronda also looks beautiful.

Appreciate your thoughts, pros/cons. Thanks so much in advance!

A lot of those beaches aren't that nice, they don't have great white sand or anything like that, not sure what you are expecting. Lots of pebbles, dark sand, rocks, etc.

Probably Herradura might work
La Herradura beach on the Costa Tropical | Andalucia.com


this article might give you some ideas
https://www.ruralidays.co.uk/travel/...es-in-granada/

Ronda is pretty far, it's probably more than 2 hrs each way, not sure. But at least Ronda itself is a lot smaller than Malaga so maybe better in that regard.

Thanks! I am leaning towards Ronda and the driving ~2 hours doesn't bother us. We've rented the car to explore the region and just take it slow. So if we leave in the morning and get back in the late evening, it's not a big deal.

All other suggestions welcome.

Even if you've already booked rooms, you might want to consider moving on to Cordoba -- IMO, 3 nights is perfect for Granada, and your plan makes a lot of sense. And IMO, 2 nights is perfect for Cordoba -- but if I understanding your plan, you're planning to stop there just for part of the day. (If you've already booked non-cancellable rooms, look up "sunk cost.")

I thought Ronda impressive, but it's not in the same league as Granada, Cordoba, or Sevilla -- the three gems of Andalusia. (And they are gems, IMO!)

Thanks kja We thought about moving to a different town/hotel between Granada and Sevilla, but we only have four nights before Sevilla and a 2/2 split would be too hectic, and 3/1 split between two places also doesn't make sense. Our Sevilla leg can't be changed and we have already paid upfront for the hotel (as it's under a wedding block).

We will definitely not miss Cordoba! I suppose one option is to do the day trip to Cordoba on day 3 of our stay in Granada? In that case, is there something else we should see on our way to Sevilla? We are in no rush to get there that day and will have the car, so can do things on our own schedule. We'll give up the car as soon as we get to Sevilla.

Well, you could "day trip" to Cordoba twice -- once from Granada and again on your way to Sevilla, and you could make a decision about that after visiting it the first time.

I forget how much non-wedding time you have in Sevilla, but I thought it easily worth 4 full nights, not counting any wedding activities. And of course, there are a lot of day trips you could make from either Granada or Sevilla. Have you checked the Michelin Green or other guide book? The better ones provide extensive coverage of such options.

That's an interesting idea. I'd be open to it, but not sure if my husband would be up for going back twice. Especially because he's been to all three cities, although it was 15 years ago!

As for Sevilla, we have a full free day before the wedding starts. And either an evening or morning event for the following three days. So we should have time to see more of the city. Is that enough time? If not, we can see Cordiba on Day 3 of our trip and get to Sevilla earlier on Day 4.

Here is our itinerary:

• Fri, 8/23: Land in Spain and get to Granada by late afternoon / early evening
• Sun, 8/25: Alhambra tour
• Tues, 8/27: Leave Granada early and see Cordoba on the way to Seville. We have a full day on Weds in Seville before the wedding starts on Thurs-Sat. Fly out Sun morning.

We stopped in Nerja for lunch on the beach on our way from Marbella to Granada. It would be an easy day trip if you want to hit the beach. It is a little pebbly, rather than fine sand, but it's not shingle or rocky. We really enjoyed having paella at Ayo's place, located on the eastern end of Playa Burriana.

Contrary to your concerns about the heat, I would think that if it is rather hot in the region at that time, you'd be more comfortable at the beach than at some inland locations, but the beauty of having a rental car is that you can be flexible and choose options.

We stopped in Ronda on the way from Seville to Marballa, and it would also be feasible as a daytrip, but you'd spend twice as much time on the road. If you don't want to do the beach, and want to see some mountains instead, it would be a good choice.

I have pictures of both Ronda and the beach at Nerja on my Spain 2018 trip report, which you can find following the link for my profile.

I'm really keen to visit the Alpujarras so if I had a car and was looking for a day trip from Granada, I'd visit there. But although it's on my wish list, have yet to visit. Worth checking it out though.

twk That's very helpful, thank you! I will check out your photos with my husband. That will help give us a better sense of what to do. I'm just not sure we need 3-3.5 full days in Granada, which is why we are keen to use the car and explore!

dreamon I will look into that! I'm not bent on seeing the beach, it just seemed like a good idea since we couldn't get in an actual stay at one of those resorts. But all other options are welcome. Thank you!

Just an FYI: One does not need to have a car to visit Las Alpujarras -- there are multiple buses from Granada. If you go, be prepared -- whether you go by car or bus -- for some absolutely terrifying roads. Maybe it's changed, but when I was there (2004), getting into the mountains required a seemingly endless series of blind switchbacks with no guardrails.

That's useful to know, kja! I'll definitely keep that in mind when I eventually get there. I did look up the timetables to visit by bus (we'll be in Granada in December), but if I remember correctly it was a couple of hours each way - too far for me to consider for the day, especially in winter with the shorter hours, and we couldn't extend our stay long enough to stop overnight. Next time perhaps?

That sounds right -- I'm pretty sure the bus I took was several hours each way. I went in fall and I went with the purpose of hiking, spending a night in Capileira. The bus ride in was so terrifying I thought I might have to hike out! I can't imagine being on those roads in the winter.

My favorite beaches in that area (well, not really near Granada) would be in the remote parts of the Cabo de Gata natural park.
Hardly any mass tourism (or any tourism at all) in that area where the desert hits the sea.
But, with reality/sanity check on, I think it would be too much driving for a day trip.

Driving the Alpujarras is probably the most obvious day trip on a hot day.
It takes less than an hour by car to get on Lanjarón (motorway A44) which is more or the less the first stop or gateway to the Alpujarras when you start in Granada. From Lanjarón you can decide by yourself how much driving you want to do on the narrower rural roads.
The roads are not exactly like real mountain pass roads as in Switzerland or Colorado as they follow old trails connecting the villages. So they may be a bit narrow, but have no steep inclines.
Here's a LINK of the "usual suspects" you can visit.

If you want a trip to the beaches, you could just make a little detour via Lanjarón and Orgiva but return to A44 to drive towards the coast.
As said before, most of the easy to access beaches on the Costa del Sol will not win prizes regarding beauty of location and sand.
There are some pittoresque coves along the old coastal road between Salobrena and Nerja. But it usually requires a decent climb down (and again up) and walk to the nearest "trail head" parking.
Parking can be a bit of an issue in the beach resort towns. It's usually paid parking everywhere, and an empty space for on-street parking along the beach promenade is really hard to find. You will probably need to use the larger public parking garages and walk a bit.

In Nerja, you can cool off visiting the caves. But you will need to buy tickets in advance for a certain time slot.

Thanks Cowboy1968 The idea of going somewhere cooler sounds great but not sure if we want to brave driving there. I've driven in Santorini and found it manageable, but thought Positano and Amafli coast was too much. Curious where Alpujarras would fall. Will look into it and try to find some photos