How's our plan look? Seville/Granada
 

I had posted a couple of months ago and we finally narrowed things down.....

We are flying in and out of Madrid. Two adults and two boys (9 and 10). We arrive on Friday 2/22 and will immediately go via train to Seville. We are going to wait to buy train tickets until we get there. I know it's more expensive, but I don't want to risk being delayed and missing our train. Our Seville lodging is near Casa de la Memoria. We will be there for four nights.

Friday - arrive Seville, get groceries, just wander.

Saturday - Alcazar, Cathedral, Plaza de Espana, Maria Luisa Park

Sunday - day trip to Cadiz. Most people seem to recommend Cordoba, but I have to give the kids a day for them and water always wins. I know it won't be beach weather, but we will be coming from New England, so we can handle upper 60s at the coast.

Monday - Bull Ring tour, Triana, evening flamenco at Casa de la Memoria.

Tuesday - bus to Granada. We are staying in an apartment right in the center of town. We may book an olive oil tour for 4pm

Wednesday - Alhambra. Arrive at opening. 11am Nasrid tickets. No definite plans for the afternoon. Maybe do the olive oil tour this day at 4pm instead.

Thursday - bus to Madrid. Staying at the Plaza de Espana. Arrive early afternoon and just wander.

Friday - fly back to the US

Thoughts? All lodging can be changed without penalty if you think locations are poor.

Looks OK to me. I understand about the kids, but depending on the weather, you might want to keep your options open on Cadiz vs. Cordoba.

You can buy advance purchase tickets for the Alcazar in Seville, and I would recommend doing that.

Sevilla Granada
 

" I know it's more expensive" The train tickets will be a lot more expensive. I'd advise purchasing your Madrid-Sevilla tickets departing late morning or early afternoon as you're flying in from the States. Most of those flights arrive before 9:00 am and you should have no problem being at Atocha station by noon. We usually take the 11:00 am AVE to be in Sevilla in time for lunch.

Hmmm, I'll need to ponder this. When I looked at booking today for February vs booking today for today, the difference was about 100 Euro. We are non revving in, so there is always a chance we get bumped from the flight. That's why I'm hesitant to purchase tickets.

Looks good. gives you enough time. The Alhambra is really special, and you will spend quite a while there.
Cadiz is a better day trip with kids than Cordoba.
enjoy.. you will love it... The tapas in Seville is so good.

I think it's a grand itinerary. Enough leisure time and enough time to wander.

I think it's just personal taste as to what is a lot more expensive. The train tickets are about 15-20 euro more expensive at the last minute versus promos a couple months in advance. You can just look, it tells you and you can see that date, so I think you are correct. YOu don't have to compare versus today, although probably the same thing, just compare the promo fare versus the flexible.

For train info and booking our own current discounted tickets online if you can set your trains in stone check www.seat61.com - and for general info on trains like first v 2nd class, etc also www.ricksteves.com and BETS-European Rail Experts. And buses sometimes are about as quick or quicker than trains on some routes and are always cheap even for walk up fares.

Why do you recommend buying tickets to the Alcazar ahead of time? We will be in Seville for Semana Santa 2019 (6 days there) and I am wondering if it is necessary to get the tickets ahead of time. We like to be spontaneous, but of course don't want to miss this site. We can always come back later or even another day if the lines are too long, or if the tickets are sold out. (We are also going to be in Granada later on this trip and I have bought tickets to the Alhambra in advance, because I understand they sell out. But the Alcazar in Seville, too?)

Definitely buy your Alcázar tickets in advance, especially during Semana Santa. Everywhere will be extra busy that week. You will be asked to choose a time. Since you will want at least two hours there best not to go between 1 - 4 pm, as that is when tapas bars and restaurants are open for lunch.

Do you think your kids will enjoy this?

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1Q...loS253M3pYbEp3

I reccomend buying Alcazar tickets in advance because I don't see standing in line for a long time to buy tickets as a good use of time (and, during much of the year in Seville, it's a hot and unpleasant way to spend your time on top of the wasted time). Maybe there are times when the lines are shorter, but when I was in Seville in October, the line to buy tickets was always ridiculously long. If flexibility is more important to you than the time lost standing in line, then that's fine, don't buy in advance.

We were in Seville in late September/early October in 2017. We did not purchase tickets before we left home. On the day we arrived in Seville, we noticed extremely long lines to buy tickets at the Alcazar. So we promptly ordered tickets online for the next day so we wouldn't have to wait in these long lines. Even with having our tickets in hand, we still had to wait awhile to get in, but not nearly as long if we were in the ticket purchasing line.

We were in Seville at the end of August 2018 which is a very busy time and we did not purchase tickets on line.
On our first day there we went past Alcazar after lunch and there was a really big line. The next day we got to Alcazar at around 9.30am , and it was a 10 minute wait to get in. and only because there was a large tour group they had to get through first. The plan that morning was that if the line was too long we would then buy on line.

I think we'll hold off on buying the tickets ahead of time. We have six days in Seville, so we can always buy tickets online for the next day if it seems as if the lines are too long when we decide to show up. I don't want to over-schedule us in case there's something else we find interesting at a particular time.