Thanks to some excellent advice I have now refocused our family 8-day Thanksgiving trip to southern Spain - Sevilla and Granada. I am reading Maribel's wisdom on both places and getting excited because I've never been to either city!

Very tentative itinerary for us and our two sons: fly overnight to Madrid, stay for two nights (and catch a Real Madrid match), then AVE to Sevilla for three nights, then train to Granada for three nights, then fly from Granada back to Madrid for flight home.

Is this a sensible way to break up the trip? I'm thinking we might try to do a day-long biking trip in the countryside around Granada. Also, I think that Granada might have more of interest to my 8 and 10 year old boys. So would it make sense to do two nights in Sevilla and four nights in Granada?

Anything else we should consider adding to the trip? Any hidden gems along the way that we should plan to see?

Thanks!!

No I don't think you should spend 4 nights in Granada. I think 2 nights is good and it's one of my favorite cities in the world. It will probably be very cold in Granada. Make sure you read up on Washington Irving's "Tales of the alhambra" it is a fascinating fairytale palace full of stories, legends and ghosts and kids should love it. Seville also has a great palace, the Giralda tower to climb, and don't miss a tour of the bullring, flamenco show, La Isla Magica park for kids etc. it is the best city anywhere for eating tapas and people watching. You can easily pass 4 wonderful nights there. Why not spend the lasy night in Malaga? They also have the old Moorish fortress right on the Mediterranean and is a great place to spend an afternoon exploring. Then head down to the beach for some seafood. Then take the high speed train back to Madrid. The Real Madrid game should be awesome.

Agree with PP. We stayed 3 nights in Granada - it was a bit too long. Alhambra is a lovely place, but other attractions in Granada would not do much for the kids.
Granada is cooler then Seville ( Sierra Nevada mountains!).

sorry.. than Seville. Also, not a place for cycling

Malaga, now that's an interesting idea. That could work - let me look into it!

You could fit the beautiful town of Ronda in there, easily accessible by bus from Seville. From Ronda, you can catch the train to Granada.

Agree with Egbert, I would focus on fabulous Sevilla on this trip. Apart from the obvious attractions in the city, you might want to visit the ruins of the Roman city Itálica, some 20 mins by bus outside Sevilla. The amhitheater from the 2nd century AD was the third largest in the Roman empire (could hold 25 000 spectators). You can walk around in the quite well kept ruins.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italica
http://www.andalucia.com/cities/seville/italica.htm

And perhaps a visit to the Moorish bath-house Aires de Sevilla, in the midst of the central Santa Cruz district:http://www.airedesevilla.com/

A couple of tapas/bar restaurant recommendations in Sevilla from excellent azahar-sevilla.com:
http://azahar-sevilla.com/sevilletapas/category/eslava/
http://azahar-sevilla.com/sevilletap...rique-becerra/

and Rinconcillo from 1670, the oldest existing tapas bar in all of Spain: http://azahar-sevilla.com/sevilletap...l-rinconcillo/

This site is very informative on Sevilla:
http://www.exploreseville.com/

Be sure not to travel too much.

But...

Málaga is an awesome city, and in late November you might still have a nice day on the beach in town or in Pedregalejo, just east of the city center. Pedregalejo is also known for great and affordable seafood beach restaurants. Very popular with locals.

A newly excavated Roman theater, the Moorish fortress and the 16th century Cathedral are all within 300 metres in Málaga city center. Unbeatable atmosphere. The article "Málaga: Authentic charm of an overlooked treasure" will give you an idea:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/ci...-treasure.html

Ok, well we might have a problem staying in Malaga (or anywhere else other than Madrid) the last night.

We have an 11:30 a.m. flight on Sunday morning. The train from Malaga wouldn't get us to Atocha until 9:30 a.m. Is there any chance that we could reasonably expect to get to the airport in time for our flight home (we wouldn't be checking any luggage)? (Keeping in mind that we are not the sorts who like to get to the airport 3 hours early.) Is that just too crazy/risky?

You need to get from the train to the taxi stand, then to the airport ( even on Sunday traffic is unpredictable) check in (not all airlines will let you print boarding passes) , and go through the security.
Better to spend a night in Madrid (IMO).

You're right. It was a crazy idea.

How about spending the last night in Toledo? We could probably rent a car in Granada, drive to Toledo for the night, then drop the car at the Madrid airport the next day . . . .

Some poster have recommended a night in Toledo (called in magical!) .
I can not comment on the ride to the airport, but at least you can control the timing.

We spent our last night in Toledo on a simlar itinerary, it was an easy drive to the airport and easy drop off for the car.

Thanks for the linkage, kimhe!

Agree with others that 2 nights in Granada is enough, though I also love the place. In Seville there is plenty to see and do for a four-night stay, and a day trip to Cádiz by train is also possible if you want to see the coast.

How about going to Granada first and then Seville? You might be able to get an early connecting flight from Seville on your last day (it's an hour-long flight) and it would save you having to get to the airport from central Madrid.