Need help planning our first Spain trip
 

Hello everyone,
Me and my husband and another couple are planning our 15th anniversary vacation to Spain in mid September. We are planning to go for a week. This is an adult vacation for us, so we want to make the most of it :)
We are thinking about covering Seville, Cordoba, Granada and Marbella. One of my well traveled friend said I shouldn't miss Marbella..
We will be flying in from NJ and our friends from Dallas. I am wondering if we are planning to cover too many cities? Should we consider any other cities instead eg: Barcelona or Madrid ? Or do we skip anything from the listed towns?
We would like to watch some Flaminco shows and some nice night life as well.
Appreciate your help and guidance for planning our trip..


Thanks

Seville, Cordoba and Granada sound just enough for a week's trip, Don't even think of adding in Madrid or Barcelona unless you want to remember scenes from a train window.
You'll find Flamenco shows in & around Granada and/or Seville.

I am intrigued by the suggestion that Marbells is a 'must see'. Fine if you like to look upon the "nouveau riche" sporting themselves, otherwise pretty dull.

Bellini is right. Seville 4 nights, Granada 2 nights and Cordoba for one night (or go as a daytrip from Seville and spend one night in Malaga) is an excellent first time trip to Spain. For me Marbella is a must miss but everyone is different. I think Paris Hilton likes it there.

Agree with previous posters about focusing on Andalucia. If you can fly open jaw you could fly into Sevilla (via Madrid), then fly home from Malaga (via Madrid)or vice-versa.

Personally with only a week I'd do something like Seville 4-5 nights (daytrip to Cordoba), Granada 2 nights and Malaga 1 night. I think there is a festival in Jerez during September. If the time coincides with your trip it would make a great daytrip (in addition to Cordoba) from Sevilla - if you had 5 nights in Sevilla.

Thanks a lot for your suggestions. Looks like we are closing in on Seville, Granada and Cordoba.

What are you thoughts on Ibiza? Is it too far from everything we are planning on visiting?

And how is the weather in mid Sep ? We won't be able to go any sooner.

Honestly I just don't think you have time to fit anything else into a one week trip. If you want some beach time you could visit some beaches as a daytrip from Sevilla or in Malaga.

The weather in mid Sept should be nice - warm but not scorching hot.

For flights, check Sevilla, Malaga, and Jerez. I have been able to get good prices for flights in or out of all three (connecting in Madrid).

Thanks everyone..

Do you think it's a good time to book air tickets and hotel now for our September travel?

And also within Spain, are they all reachable via bus or train?

Thanks again !

Ideally you could arrive initially into Madrid and get a connecting flight to Sevilla. From Sevilla you could take the train or bus to Granada. Granada to Malaga by bus. Returning home you could fly out of Malaga connecting in Madrid. This works well if you're flying on a codeshare using Iberia (ie. AmericanAirlines).

If this doesn't work you could fly into/out of Madrid. It's an easy AVE (high speed train) to Sevilla. Returning Malaga to Madrid is another easy high speed train. With this approach depending on the timing of your flights you may have to return to Madrid for a final night.

If there are particular hotels you want I'd go ahead and book now. My favorites are small, usually family owned places and they can book quickly. Larger hotels usually have more availability (but IMHO are just not as charming).

Airfare is tricky. I usually purchase about 3 months in advance, sometimes sooner sometimes later. I just start monitoring the prices. The challenge is if you have a particular flight you want (I have a favorite) then you may have to just purchase. But if you're more flexibile you can probably wait longer.

No telling where oil prices will be later. I would start tracking the flight prices (all of the alternatives) at the very least. If you see one that works well schedule-wise and is affordable to you, then you can decide to book now or later. The bus and train connections between those cities are excellent.
A couple of resources you might find helpful are the Rough Guide to Andalucia, and andalucia.com.

There are direct flights from Malaga back to the US. I know a Delta flight to New York because we were on it. Definitely need to do an open jaw ticket of some type to save back tracking time.

fmpden-
Great idea. I tend to forget this option as my Andalucia trips are in the spring. The direct Delta flight from JFK to Malaga is seasonal - starts beginning of June and usually goes until the end of October. This would work for OP for one or both legs of the trip.

Great suggestions !! Thanks a lot.

CathyM, can you share your favorite family owned hotels in these cities? We would like to go that route too if possible.

Thanks !

Is there a good way of getting to/from Granada? We're also planning a trip (Sept) which will include Seville, Granada & Cordoba. No direct trains between Seville-Granada (per Renfe site), and only 2 daily Cordoba-Granada. We're looking at AVE Madrid-Seville for a few nites, then train to Cordoba (1 nite), train to Granada (2 nites) then fly Granada-Barcelona. Any other ideas for Seville-Granada?

there is a bus

http://www.alsa.es/portal/site/Alsa?...t.locale=en_GB

There are 4 direct trains from Sevilla to Granada each day. Bus is more frequent. They both take the same amount of time -approx 3 hours.

For Cordoba to Granada the bus is more frequent.

If you only have time for one night in Cordoba you may consider visiting as a daytrip from Sevilla simply to avoid having to unpack/repack and check in/out of your hotel. Especially if you only have a week.

For Sevilla my personal favorite hotel would be Casa 1800 and Hotel Alminar. I don't believe these are family run per se but they are small and not part of a large chain. Casa 1800 is traditional, charming and well run. Hotel Alminar is known for it's attentive staff. But there are many other choices.

http://www.hotelcasa1800.com/
http://89.248.97.114/$sitepreview/hotelalminar.com/codigo/inicio.asp

I haven't been to Granada enough times to give many recommendations. If you want to be in the city center (vs Albaicin or Alhambra areas) I had a very nice stay at the Palacio de los Navas

http://www.palaciodelosnavas.com/

I'd review Maribel's guides for this area as she has some excellent recommendations for places suited for a 15 anniversary. I'd also recommend looking at the hotel rankings and reviews in TripAdvisor.


maribelsguides.com

Thanks for suggestions. Cordoba overnight was only considered as Renfe website still shows no direct trains Seville-Granda, and we could only get to Granada from Cordoba. Will follow-up Renfe to clarify - did not make sense that there was no direct service between these cities. Thanks also for hotel recs - haven't gotten that far yet (making sure transportation is ok) We prefer small hotels with character to large chains - your help is appreciated.

Thanks CathyM for your detailed response.. Def appreciate it.

We are now in major planning phase :)

Thanks

Regarding Sevilla to Granada, there's also the bus (danon provided the link). It's more frequent (up to 10 per day) and takes the same amount of time.

Thanks to you both for the bus tip - that may be the answer and would eliminate that move to Cordoba for 1 nite. I've added a new bookmark to my growing Spain folder :-)