spain

We really like to stay in one place for a week and do day tours, coming back to our place in the evening for relaxation. We usually eat our big meals during the day when travelling and have something light near our apartment or villa. We're looking for a good location in Andalucia where we would get the most "bang for our buck" - ability to visit the white villages particularly and also train it into Seville a couple of times, visit Ronda, Nerjas, Mijas. Can we make all these trips by staying put for a week in one place and if so, which place would you suggest? Ideally we would be somewhere where in the evening we could look out at the sea! Too much to ask for?

topper

I'd like some answers to this question as well.

spanish

TTTTTTToooooo the TTTTTTToppppp!

Vera

It probably is too much to ask to stay near the sea. We thought we could cover a lot of territory from a condo on the Costa del Sol, but discovered that driving up into the mountains and back down each day took up so much time, that are trips covered a more limited area than we planned. Also, when you leave the coast in the morning, by the time you get to a mountain village it is about siesta time, and if you stay until things re-open, you're driving back in the dark.<BR>Therefore, I would suggest staying at either Carmona, just outside of Seville, and a charming town; or Arcos de Frontera. You may not get to Mijas from there, but there are plenty of white villages you can see. The main problem is that Granada would be more than a one-day trip. But you'll probably want to spend more than one of your days in Seville.<BR>Vera

Chad

You might want to try two "base camps" instead of one. The roads through the white villages aren't the best, so travel times can be long. If you are set on staying in one place, Arcos would probably be a good bet. Of course, that would not give you an ocean view at night. Otherwise, an East/West strategy might work well. Perhaps Ronda for the eastern half followed by Cadiz for the western.

spain

Thanks...what about staying in Malaga or Marbella? Would we be able to drive to white villages from either of these places? On my mapfinder it shows that Ronda is just over an hour from Marbella and I thought there were a lot of white villages in that area?

Lisa

It will take much longer than an hour to get to Ronda from Marbella. We did it from Estepona (outside of Marbella) and I can't remember how long the drive was, but remember that you are driving on a two lane, winding road, through the mountains. Some describe it as treacherous.<BR><BR>While both Marbella and Malaga are centrally-located, I think Marbella has more "character." Stay in the old part of the city, not in touristy Puerto Banus.

Robert

Casares is a wonderful place to stay if you want to take daytrips to either the coast (I like the OLD Part of Estepona) or to Ronda. It is a little too far to day trip to Seville and back and besides who wants to drive in Seville! Seville is a wonderful place to be at night anyway (Hosteria Del Laurel!!!!)<BR>We did drive to Granada and back in one LONNNG day from there.<BR>You can visit many small towns from there to the west, east and north.<BR>I found a place to rent for two weeks through andalucia.com<BR>Have a great time.

zee

I will be based out of marbella for a week. Are the roads to Rhonda that dangerous? and the trip to Granada tooo long? Please advise. thanks

Jo

Just did these drives in March. Marbella to Granada is far and you won't have time to do much. Marbella to Ronda is not that treacherous but you do have to drive slow. Marbella to Seville is way too far for one day. I agree with one other that you should have two bases. You'll enjoy yourself much more. I was personally disappointed with the coast. Just looked like an overgrown Virginia Beach. The one nice spot appeared to be Nerja.<BR>Beware that the truly treacherous road is the highway drive along the coast. The on ramps are basically non-existent and people drive as if they are on the autobahn.

np

Staying in one place simply doesn't work. You'll spend all your time travel needlessly. <BR><BR>If you insist, stay in Seville. Forget about Costa del Sol, which isn't that great anyway. You'll have one long trip to Granada and a few shorter ones to Cordoba, Ronda, Carmona, Arcos, Cadiz, etc. <BR><BR>If you quiter places, stay in Carmona instead.

geez

I've been planning our trip too and although we plan to base ourselves for a week in Andalusia we wouldn't dream of daytripping to Seville. I am a little disconcerted by the remarks from np saying we'll be driving all the time. We were going to base either in Nerja or Marbella and do day trips to Ronda, Mijas, white villages. I thought I'd done my homework so could someone please verify if np is correct saying it won't work?

Mary

Hey JeezLouise, We are going to Spain in October and staying in a condo in Mijas Costa for a week. We were going to leave 1 or 2 days early and stay in Seville, but I heard the same song on this web site. Trying to do too much and will spend too much time traveling. I don't know. From all the guide books it souned like we would definitely be busy, but we could do it. A few people here said with a few adjustments it sounded okay. Since we're not on a tour and can plan as we go, we've decided to cut out 1 or 2 towns and still try to do the rest. I'm sure if we get somewhere and the drive proves all these guys right we'll find somewhere to spend the nite. Think of all the conflicting advice you read here. They all can't be right-right?

Paula

We stayed at the Marriott in Marbella for a week in March and did day trips to Granada, Nerja, Ronda, as well as the old town n Marbella and Mijas and had a fantastic time. Then we did a another week splitting the time between Serville, Madrid, Toledo, and Barcelona. Next time we plan to spend more time in Seville and Barcelona, but I would easily stay at the Marriott again as it was right on the beach,the staff was amazingly helpful, and the day trips were easy and fun. However, if you have only one week, I would suggest you spend more time in Seville asit really is incredible (but so is Barcelona).

geez

Paula..curious as to how you managed a day trip to Granada and how you timed your Alhambra (I assume you went for this?) visit etc. Did you drive right to Alhambra and how long did it take etc. Do you know if there's a bus tour that from your Marriot that would have done all the work - driven, got passes etc. I read somewhere where you could do that from Nerja but wonder about from Marbella. Even tho we have a car, with the traffic alerts, crowds etc. we would like someone else to do the driving etc. to Granada for the day.

Paula

We had no problem driving from Marbella to Granada. It's a good, wide road the entire way. It took about 1 1/2 hours each way. We tried parking in town in a garage, but that was a mess, but it was easy and inexpensive to park right outside Alhambra. (Don't let the young men who flag you down on the road and tell you the lot is full mislead you--check it out for yourself.) We had plenty of time (our tickets were for 2:00--you can get tickets in advance on the Internet).

Linda

We were in Spain and Portugal for 3 weeks in April. We stayed for a week at an RCI condo near Marbella (Barratt Playa Leila) with a terrace and a view of the Med. Easy day trips are Nerja, Mijas, Gibralter, and Tangiers. You could even do Granada in a long day-it is about 1-1/2 hrs on the toll road.

Linda

If you only have a week would recommend 5 nights on the Costa del Sol and 2 nights in Seville. On the way you travel throught the Ronda, Arcos and the while villages. It is not a bad road-just a little slow. Be sure and see a flamenco show in Seville (El Arenal or Los Gallos)-a highlight of my trip. <BR>

spain

Which white villages are accessible easily from Marbella (other than Ronda) that you enjoyed visiting? We will go to Seville after our week in Andalucia so will stop at Arcos and Jerez on our way there. But we are interested in visiting quaint villages from Marbella.

Maribel

spain,<BR>From our rental above Puerto Banus, these were some of the picturesque white towns that we enjoyed visiting before going on to Ronda/Arcos/Grazalema/Zahara:<BR><BR>Right above San Pedro de Alcantara (about 6 km, but on a secondary road, not the one to Ronda), the very prosperous little village of Benahavis- very easily accessible and has some very nice dining spots. <BR> <BR>Also blindingly white, quaint Moorish Ojen, directly north from Marbella on the A 355 road to Monda (we've actually stayed up there at a little hunting lodge 10 km beyond Ojen, the Refugio de Juanar, where DeGaulle finished his memoirs-terrific mountain cuisine, too).<BR><BR>To the west, there's Casares and then Gaucin on the A 377 up in the Sierra Bermeja. Both are worth a visit.