Sevilla, Cordoba, Granada, Segovia or Salamanca
 

Hi everybody,
I am unexperienced and wish to have all your recommendation. I will travel to spain but only have limited time. How would you choose 3 out of 5 places above. I'd love to visit monuments, and have good food.

BTW, for which place i should spend more time than the other.

Much thanks in advance.

Seville, Cordoba and Granada are conveniently located near each other and are considered the highlights of Andalusia. As a very broad general rule, your available time could be given, in descending order, to Seville, Granada and Cordoba. In Cordoba, El Caballo Rojo, very near the Mezquita, which is the chief attraction in Cordoba, is a very good restaurant.

Segovia and Salamanca (and Toledo as a possible -- or even definite -- third) are grouped around Madrid. All three can be done as day trips, but staying overnight would be better in Toledo and Salamanca. Your base would be Madrid, though, and you do not mention Madrid as a possibility.

Have a look at the miniguides in "Destinations" here at fodors.com to get a clearer idea of what each city has to offer.

What else is on the itinerary?

Well, i did not mention Madrid because that is a must destination for me. It seems that sevilla is another must destination. My concern is how should i choose from the places around madrid and sevilla.

I don't know Segovia or Salamanca, but I'll be in Andalucia next week (for the first time).

It depends on how much time you have, I guess. How limited is your time? If you see Seville, then you may as well see Cordoba, as Cordoba is on the high-speed/AVE link between Madrid and Seville. So that makes a lot of sense. To give you a sense, I've structured my visit in a really rushed away. I'll arrive in Granada on a Wednesday evening. I leave for Madrid on Saturday from Seville (I'm planning to see Cordoba on the way), and I fly home on Sunday. I've been to Madrid once before though, so I'm ok with an afternoon and an evening there.

So, my opinion is that if you want to see Seville, add Cordoba. What you add afterwards depends on how much time you have.

As far as Granada is concerned, there're people here who claim that they can fly to Granada cheaply with Iberia. I had no such luck. Seville, as I mentioned, is accessible by a high-speed train. If you take a bus to Granada from Madrid, it will be at least five hours. The bus between Seville and Granada takes three hours. So Granada is probably the hardest to get to (but I don't know about travel time to Segovia or Salamanca).

By the way, check out Maribel's guides on http://www.maribelsguides.com . She is the resident Spain expert.

Have fun.

I would not want to drop either Granada or Cordoba as day trips, at least, from Seville. In my opinion, of the cities near Madrid, Toledo is the most interesting from the artistic and historical point of view, followed by Salamanca and then Segovia.

I agree with Eloise. Of all the places mentioned Segovia is the least interesting other than the Alcazar there. For the cities near Madrid I would choose Toledo and Salamanca. Both have lovely hotels, lots of charm and interesting sites. We especially liked the Parador in Toledo for the magnificent view of the city. As for Granada, in my opinion the Alhambra is by itself worth the trip. Especially try to schedule a night visit to the Alhambra -- you will need to book tickets in advance. Again, we stayed in the Parador that is on the grounds of the Alhambra. Expensive, but worth it for the proximity and ease of acces to this spectacular site. You must make reservations well in advance, and you can do it through the parador website.

We were in Spain the first half of June of this year.

I would keep day trips to a minimum. That doesn't don't do any but after several they begin to blend together.

We were a little surprised that Granada was a nice city. We really enjoyed eating outside on a square - bib Rambla I think it was. Interestingly, most of the restaurants appeared to be Italian.

Was slightly disappointed with the Alhambra. Not that it wasn't spectacular but it's very difficult to exceed expectations.

On the other hand, the Alcazar in Seville was more than I ever would have imagined.

I don't think Madrid is a must-see unless you're into Museums and want a choice of day trips. And of course the royal palace.

Seville and Barcelona were the highlights.

We got a very cheap flight from Granada to Barcelona. I think the trick is to start off flexible with your days and times. Do this before you have made plans final.

I checked Iberia.com and was amazed how much the fares varied from dya to day and flight to flight withing the same day. Check 2-3 days and all flights on those days.

We flew when we wanted. I just built the trip to fit what I found. We flew at 7PM after spending 304 hours at the Alhambra and then walked around the city for a few hours. We paid about 50 Euros for 2 tickets from Granada to Barcelona. The taxi to the airport cost 24E.

I have travelled all over Spain, and my ranking of cities is:

1. Barcelona
2. Toledo
3. Segovia
4. Valencia
5. Madrid
6. Seville
7. Burgos
8. Granada
9. Cordoba