Greetings. I usually do basic research prior to requesting Fodorite input, and I will check out the postings and Maribel's guides but... this is last minute for me in terms of planning. We have decided to visit our daughter who will be studying in Alicante this coming semester. We plan to spend 3+ weeks in Spain in mid-to-late October with Alicante either at the front or back end of the trip. Our interests are hiking and wine tasting. We have not yet booked our flights. We will rent a car for parts of the trip, but are open to train/bus/plane for long distances. We would like to go to Sevilla, Cordoba, Granada, Ronda, possibly Cadiz. We prefer to spend at least 3 nights in any one place and are willing to forgo seeing something rather than having to touch base with every site.

At this early point I am looking for advice as to what makes the most sense in terms of where to fly in and out of and the most efficient route to take and by what means.

Thanks.

How long do you want to spend in Alcante visiting your daughter? It's a perfect time to visit Andalucia.

We were thinking of spending 4-5 nights around Alicante, but our daughter just said that she would prefer joining us wherever we happened to be on her 3-day weekends. If so, we will probably just plan in a quick visit so that we can meet/thank her host family.

My wife and I spent almost two weeks in Spain last spring - our first trip to Spain. We flew in and out of Madrid but spent most of our time in Andalucia. We loved Granada, Ronda, and Sevilla, but my favorite area was Las Alpujarras - an area east of Granada in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas.

We stayed for several nights at a great B&B called El Paraje. They serve dinners in addition to breakfasts and it serves as a great base for hiking and for touring the area. While on one of our hikes, we happened upon a shephard, his dogs and his flock of sheep.

Check out their website - it has some good links for additional information about the area.

www.elparaje.com

Thanks for this. We always have fun when we get off the beaten path a bit. I will definitely check this out.

Hello, we go often to Spain. I agree that you cannot miss Sevilla, Cordoba and Granada. THose are the basics in that region.
I have found out that there are many other places that are not included in the "must go" of most tourists and nevertheless they are fascinating and have the plus of being out of the path everybody does.
In that area both Ubeda and Baeza ( two next door towns)
come to mind. We stayed in the Parador in Baeza, took
walking tours on both cities. They are such a wealth of untouched Renaissance buildings and both are fun to be in. However there are very nice smaller hotels some with pool in both cities.
I often wonder why many persons feel differently and must visit to the dot what is in the" everybody goes list". Maribel knows both Baeza and Ubeda and has written about them, I took my inspiration from her. She is also my main source of inspiration.

Sorry I made a mistake we stayed in the Parador in Ubeda the old palace of a Bishop but they were building like an annex in front of it. In Baeza there is no Parador as far as I know.

Thank you. These are the types of tips I love! One of our favorite trips to France included a week's stay in an area called the Drome. I happened upon it because there was a bed and breakfast that I wanted to stay in. It was so off the normal tourist track that I couldn't find any info at all in the guidebooks. Turned out to have incredible food, scenery and hiking.

Hi, PJTravels -

If you want to hike, I second the recommendation for Las Alpujarras. I enjoyed the Poqueira gorge and its tiny villages.

Enjoy!

If I had 3+ weeks in Andalucia I'd probably base myself in these cities (not in any particular order) with daytrips to nearby cities:

-Cordoba 2
-Sevilla 4
-Priego de Cordoba and Las Sierras Subbéticas 2
-Cadiz/El Puerto de Santa Maria 3-4
-Ronda 2
-Malaga 3
-Granada 3
-Osuna 2
-Ubeda 2
-Aracena 2

This would just be my starting list based on my personal experience. I'm not a traveler that likes to move quickly and could easily spend 3 nights in all of the places above doing daytrips. I indicated how I'd plan my nights at least as a start before diving into more reading on potential daytrips. I've never personally visited Las Alpujarras but I have read very favorable posts on this area near Granada. I haven't visited the provinces of Almeria or Alacante so I can't help much there. Most people fly or take the train into the city of Malaga and then head immediately for the Costa del Sol resort cities. I just spent 4 nights in Malaga in March and loved this city. It has a wonderful old town and beautiful wide main streets. Great food too!

You can fly into Malaga directly now on Delta from JFK. It the prices are right it may be your best bet. If not, there is an AVE now that goes between Malaga and Madrid in under 3 hours and the AVE between Sevilla and Madrid is 2.5 hours.

I hope this helps. You still have a couple of months to put together an itinerary and plan the hotels so you should be able to come up with something very memorable.

Thank you CathyM. Our plans are actually beginning to take shape - based on what I already knew I had to see (The Alhambra) and the posts here. Your info regarding where to fly into is helpful. As our daughter is now saying she would like to meet up with us, we may not have to jamb Alicante into the itinerary. I hope to have a preliminary plan put together in the next few days.