four old ladies in spain
 

My three sisters and I, all 60ish but in good shape, plan to visit Seville, Spain for a week to 10 days in October. I'm the travel planner, and I thought it would be nice to keep Seville as our base, but take a road trip to Lisbon and stay one night mid-week, plus take a day trip by bus and ferry to Tangier. Is this too much to try to include?

Way too much for 10 days for people of any age. There is much to see in all three countries.

Stay in Spain. Get a guide book and then also consider Malaga, Granada, and Ronda. That will be a rewarding, if not a bit hectic 10 days.

From Seville you should visit Cordoba and Granada - all of which are fascinating with their unique moorish heritage. If you hve time to a day trip to Ronda or one of the other White villages.

Beyond that - will be too much time spent in travel versus time actually doing/seeing anything.

Thank you both. After I wrote my post, I read some others (a it backwards, I know), and I kind of gathered that might be the case. I prefer to really get to know a place rather than popping in and out, so I'll take your advice.

I'm always amazed at those who claim to be "travel planners" who have so little knowledge of where they plan on going.

I never understood the charm of seeing more than one pueblo blanco.

I agree with nytraveler -- Sevilla, Cordoba, Granada, and maybe Ronda. And I agree with IMDonehere -- a good guidebook should prove extremely useful.

When in October? there is a public holiday which could affect your plans.

Robert - how is your comment helpful to the OP? Seems to me she is in the middle of planning a trip and doing her research - asking questions here on Fodors is part that. Isn't that what the forum is for?

Plenty of options for great daytrips from Sevilla to for example Ronda (with the gorge and spectacular landscapes), Cordoba (once the most advanced city in the western world), Jerez de la Frontera (famous for sherry (Jerez), flamenco and horses), Cádiz (3000 year old Gadir by the sea and fabulous seafood), Antequera (the first of the Granada emirate towns to fall to the Christians in 1410 and as genuinly Andalucia as it gets. Plaza de los Escribanos is my favourite spot in all of Spain.) and Carmona just outside Sevilla (the Roman gates still stand).

Ronda: https://www.dosomethingdifferent.com...and_tajo_gorge
Cordoba (42 mins with the high speed AVE train): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyfGdpF55Uk
Antequera (80-90 mins by bus): http://www.andaluciacoastandcountry....era-spain.html
http://wild-about-travel.com/2011/07...ing-antequera/
Carmona (30-40 mins by bus): http://www.andalucia.com/province/se...rmona/home.htm
http://www.sanpedrocarmona.es/

And Sevilla itself is the undisputed queen of the cities in the South of Spain.

Thank you all for such in-depth information. I really need it, since I have very little travel experience. I'm only the "travel planner" because the trip is my idea.

I will definitely get a guidebook, but I wanted to hear from someone who's actually been there before downloading guidebooks. Too much of a good thing...

kimhe, Thank you for the detailed information. I'll be combing through it all.

ribeirasacra, Thanks for the warning about the holiday. That will change my plans.

debinthepeg, Thanks for being nice.

Robert2533, Thank you for your post. It served as a warning not to visit your profile page.

Better to go to the library for a look at guidebooks. Then choose one and buy it in paper or on a Kindle, if you must.

I agree with using the public library. Request any and all guidebooks they have and bring them home.

When I'm researching a new place I find the internet can be overwhelming (plus not always the best information). I start with hard copy guidebooks to get a general plan for the trip.

Then you can drill down for hotels or specific activities using travel forums.

I agree with the recommendation to use your library to look over some guidebooks before buying any, because different guidebooks serve different purposes. And guidebooks will cover things you never even thought to ask....

We might be going to Rota and I have been looking at Cádiz. Just beautiful. I think a trip with your sisters will be great. Are you looking at an apartment or hotels in Seville? Planning a trip is fun if you can get everyone on the same page. I have a trip coming up with just my gfs and we all live in different states so we find things and email back and forth. One year eight of us went to Italy and we did a private facebook group and posted all the info. We picked four apartments/ linked them to facebook and voted. Same for tours and hotels for other places we went. I did a cooking class by myself and it was good to be on my own. They loved shopping and I am not a huge shopper. Have fun planning and am very interested in what you decide. The train system? I think is good.

Never been to Rota as it comes across an an American military base. Can any one convince me otherwise...and help the OP?

Yes, Rota has a major naval station (Spain and the US), and has been active since the mid-50's, but it also has a great beach, and is close to Sanlúcar de Barrameda and El Puerto de Santa María. Rota itself is considered a resort town with a long history, dating back to the Phoenicians.

I like to do day trips, it's much less hectic, also. I have gone to other countries for the day, also, but they were only an hour or two away, of course. So I think visiting Lisbon for a day would have been fine IF it weren't so far away, that's all. Now I don't know that route, if it were really scenic, even that wouldn't be that bad. It's only about 4.5 hours by road. But for a big city like that, having a car for a day trip isn't what I choose -- I do train or bus for day trips to big cities. Cars are better for more rural areas where you can easily park, or smaller towns/cities. And unfortunately, there isn't a good train/bus route from Seville to Lisbon, it takes 8 hours that way.

So I agree with dropping that and Tangiers, also. There are so many places to see in Andalucia. But for 10 days, I could see adding another major city in another part of Spain that works out well for the flight home, for example -- which would probably be Madrid -- and is easy to get to from Seville. There are often good flights from Barcelona, also, but it's not as easy to get to from Seville, at least not by train.

Dating back does not mean it is now a typical Spanish urban disaster.