We are traveling after Easter and are staying 4 nights in Granada and 4 nights in Sevilla. We have 2 boys (8 and 5) and an infant. I'm looking for some side trips that would interest us. Hiking? Castles? Caves? Mines?

In Granada we will have car. I'm thinking:
- Nerja Caves
- Las Alpujarras:Trevelez or Pampaneira
- Zuheros or Priego de Cordoba
Any recommendations or other suggestions?

We will drive from Granada to Sevilla via Ronda.

I'm hoping to ditch the car then. So our side trips from Sevilla would need to be by public transportation.
- Jerez to see the horse show
- Cordoba (not sure the boys' would enjoy)
Any other suggestions or recommendations?

Thanks for your help!

Your boys will probably love the caves in Nerja. There are also caves in Ronda, but that might not be as exciting--the ones in Nerja are more spectacular.

Good thing you'll have a car. We were in Spain over Easter and half the country seemed to be travelling by train.

I think they'll enjoy La Mezquita in Cordoba as well.

Not sure about some of the other places, but I'm sure others will have good suggestions for you.

Have a great trip.

My husband and I were just at some of the places you are considering. Trevelez and Pampaneira are on very windy , mountainous roads from Granada. It takes several hours to get to Trevelez because of the mountains east of Lanjaron. If your kids tend to get car sick, you might not enjoy it. I loved the area but I am the kind of mother who would freak out to have 3 little ones to corral in that area. There are lots of deep canyons and overlooks. We were also in Zuheros and the area. There are beautiful views there and the area is not quite so dramatic. At Rute, near Zuheros, there is a donkey refuge. Your kids might enjoy seeing the donkeys. You can also hike at the refuge. Part of the hike is on a gravel road, easy for kids. We also saw goat farms are in that area. For the adults, there is an anise distillery in Rute. Near Nerja, we saw some beach areas that were not so terribly developed. One was at Salobrena which is east of Nerja. There is a development there on the beach but not a big one. There were lots of families eating at the restaurants and people fishing. ( This one is January.) It looked like a nice beach for kids.

artlover - Thanks for the confirmation about the Nerja caves! We'll put those on our list.

susieiowa - Sounds like those towns might not be for us. Is this the donkey reserve? http://www.elrefugiodelburrito.com/

I looks like there is a cool flamingo lake nearby. Did you go there also? Maybe we could do Zuheros, the donkeys and the flamingos on one day trip from Granada.

Also, it looks like we would not be able to go to the horse show in Jerez on a Tuesday or Thursday. Any other suggestions for day trips from Sevilla using public transportation?

Thanks for your help!

Looks like it is not the same donkey refuge (believe it or not). The one we saw was probably smaller and it was right outside the town of Rute. I don't believe it was as "organized." We just drove up and looked at the donkeys and the man there tried to tell us a little about them in Spanish. I looked for a web site but found only
www.citsubbetica.org and
www.rural-andalucia.co.uk
We got information from the tourist office in Rute. But it was all in Spanish. We stayed in a little hotel that was very nice and inexpensive. It has a web site: www.miradorderute.com
There are a couple of tourist web sites but I had some trouble using them.
www.subbetica.es
www.citsubbetica.org
Your web site looks like a good prospect.

Another suggestion I got from this forum is El Torcal National Park for a short hike. Has anyone taken their kids there?

Thanks!