Talal

Hi, we're planning a trip to Spain and towards end of the trip we are left with 2 days to cover Granada and Sevilla. Would you recommend we spend 1 night in each city and cover as much as possible or spend the entire 2 nights in either one city and take it easy. If you'd advise us to spend both nights in one city, please advise which city to choose from. Regards,

iris1745

Select one city, but that's for you to decide. A little info on each city. www.maribelsguides.com

skibumette

I too vote for one city -- if you try to cover both, you have to deduct travel time between cities; that won't leave you time to see much in either location.

walkabout

I agree--choose one city. I personally preferred Sevilla to Granada, but Granada has the Alhambra, so either city is a good choice.

harrisonJ

I suggest you choose one city and stay there for 2 days. Although it might be possible to have 1 day for each but the travel time might take long. Instead of traveling, you could enjoy those hours in traveling the rest of the city.

annhig

definitely one or the other.

The alhambra in Granada is of course one of the world's must sees, but we were pleasantly surprised by the Real alcazar in Seville , which is nowhere near as popular, and therefore you get to see more, in more comfort.

On balance, i would opt for Seville.

kimhe

Beautiful Granada has got the Alhambra, the Cathedral, the Capilla real and the Albaycín district to start with, but I would definitely choose plain fantastic Sevilla for a two days first stay.

The Reales Alcazares in Sevilla is a totally different thing than Alhambra, but there are abundant architectural similarities. Most of it was constructed in Arab style by Christian rulers in the 14th Century (Sevilla fell to the Christians in 1248), and the Real Alcázar thus stands as one of the best example of mudejar architecture in all of Spain. Stunningly beautiful. You could easily spend several hours here, and you could completely loose yourself in the gardens. It's now the residence of the king and queen when in Sevilla.
http://www.patronato-alcazarsevilla.es/index.php?ver=-1

Sevilla is tons of Roman, Moslem, Jewish, Gypsy and Christian history and culture and the queen of the Andalusian cities, if not of all Spanish cities. http://www.andalucia.com/cities/sevilla.htm

Azahar lives in Sevilla and has got excellent tips on tapas bars and restaurants by district: http://azahar-sevilla.com/sevilletapas/

Be sure to visit places outside the Santa Cruz district close to the Cathedral/Giralda and the Alcázar etc. I very much like the local feel Arenal area north-west of Santa Cruz, the San Lorenzo district in the center or Triana, a cradle of flamenco culture, just across the bridge over the river Guadalquivir. Some examples:
Enrique Becerra in Arenal: http://azahar-sevilla.com/sevilletap...rique-becerra/
Eslava in San Lorenzo: http://azahar-sevilla.com/sevilletapas/category/eslava/
Bodega Dos de Mayo in San Lorenzo: http://azahar-sevilla.com/sevilletap...a-dos-de-mayo/

... and the oldest in the country, El Rinconcillo from 1670: http://azahar-sevilla.com/sevilletap...l-rinconcillo/

Sevilla is flamenco, and you can experience real deal flamenco at Casa de la Memória in the Santa Cruz district. Popular with tourists, but some of the finest flamenco artists perform here on a regular basis. Would at least give you a glimpse of how wonderful the art form can be: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractio...Andalusia.html

Late at night, I can recommend the flamenco/Sevillanas club El Rejoneo in C/ Betis 33. Often Samara Amador, the singer daughter of living flamenco dance legend Manuela Carrasco, gets into action here. No need to come before midnight: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPZT3ADgWsw

Perhaps go to the Arab bath house Aire de Sevilla, a friend of mine went five times in a week: http://www.airedesevilla.com/

A great variety of sights (the Cathedral/Giralda, the Alcázar, the old tobacco factory (now the main building of the university), the Indian archives (Sevilla was the "center of the world" after Columbus' discovery of America), Torre del Oro, Plaza de España are some of the most obvious), but one of my favourites is the ruins of the Roman city Italica, some 25 mins by bus from the Plaza de Armas bus station. A great little restaurant in front of the entrance to Italica. http://www.andalucia.com/cities/seville/italica.htm

All the info you could dream of: http://www.exploreseville.com/

The great Andalusian poet Manuel Machado sums it tellingly up in his homage to the southern provincial capitals. Each of the cities are poetically described until it comes to Sevilla. The poem just ends "... and Sevilla":

“Cádiz, salada claridad; Granada

agua oculta que llora.

Romana y mora, Córdoba callada.

Málaga cantaora.

Almería dorada.

Plateado Jaén. Huelva a la orilla

de las tres carabelas

…y Sevilla.”


A translation would be something like this:

“Cádiz, salty clarity, Granada

hidden water that weeps.

Roman and Moorish, silent Cordoba.

Singing Málaga.

Golden Almería.

Silvery Jaén. Huelva on the borders

of the three caravels

…and Sevilla.”

isabel

Where else are you going on this trip?
When?
For how many days total?

Granada and or Seville are not 'add on' places. They are destinations. One day each would be a total waste of time - too much trouble getting there, finding the hotel, etc. You'd have no time left to see anything. So in that respect I agree with the others that you should pick one or the other. But I'm inclined to wonder if you can't 'steal' a few days from the rest of the trip so you could actually enjoy Seville/Granada. And if not, then maybe you could add the days to your other destinations and save Andalucia for a future trip. It really 'deserves' more than a couple of days tacked on to something else.

Talal

WoW thnx for the wonderful insights...so it seems I'm now a bit more inclined towards Sevilla, but I'll share my itinerary just in case... 2 nights in Madrid, drive to Barcelona where we spend 3 nights, drive to Valencia where we spend 2 nights, and now for the tough choice as to how we decide to spend the last 2 nights between Granada or Sevilla? last day we drive to Madrid to catch our flight back home.

kimhe

I would cut the car in the start and at the end of the trip. The high speed AVE train takes you from Madrid city center to Barcelona city center in 2h 50mins for some 70€. Sevilla to Madrid would be some 2h 30 mins and 50€.

If you drive it will take more than double the time and it would be a lot more expensive having a car parked for some three days in Barcelona and a couple of days in Sevilla/Granada (and a hell to drive in the center of these cities). The Spanish high speed train network is super-efficient and very convenient. Buy tickets on renfe.com (much higher prices if you buy the tickets on the train station).

And when in Valencia, be sure to visit the food market: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ds8ryWd5aFw

iris1745

Based on your itinerary and with only two days, you will be better off going to Granada. Much closer than Seville. Check your milage between Valencia and both cities. Then decide.

spiral

Checking on Google maps (I find their drive times for long journeys in Europe pretty good)

Madrid to Barcelona - at least 6 hours non stop driving
Barcelona to Valencia 3 1/2 hours
Valencia to Granada 5 1/2 hours or Valencia to Sevilla 7 1/2 hours then
Granada to Madrid 4 and 3/4 hours or Sevilla to Madrid 5 1/2 hours.

So if you visit Granada you will spend about 20 solid hours of your time in Spain sitting in your car seeing no more than you would see on Google street view and if you visit Sevilla it will be even longer!

Driving is fun but unless you want a road trip I feel this is too much in a trip of 9 nights. I love Granada and southern Spain but my advice is do not do this. Add the extra nights to Madrid or Valencia or stop off on the way to Barcelona.

Sue_xx_yy

"The last day we drive to Madrid to catch our flight back home."

I ran your itinerary past google maps/directions.
Kimhe is right, the train is going to be a lot faster, because the driving is awful:

Madrid-Barcelona: 7 hours driving time - 3 n
Barcelona-Valencia: 3.5 hours dt- 2 n
Valencia-Seville - 7.5 hours - 2 n (or Granada
Seville - Madrid: 5.5 hours - for flight home (I hope you have an overnight there on the return before the flight, to allow for unforeseen delays.)
Total: 23.5 hours driving time, excluding stops and traffic jams.

For a 9/10 night itinerary, this seems a tad rushed.

I would cut both Seville and Granada this time, and just concentrate on Madrid-Barcelona-Valencia-Madrid.
This would cut your total driving/commute time almost in half, to 13 hours. If you can arrange to fly home from Barcelona, even better.

Best of luck.

Sue_xx_yy

oops, spiral, great minds think alike (or fools....) but you were faster on the submit button.

iris1745

spiral and Sue have given you great advise. Very good day trips from either Madrid or Barcelonia.

walkabout

I agree with the recommendation to cut the car at the beginning and end of the trip and take the train. I wouldn't skip Seville/Granada, though, unless you are absolutely sure you will make it back to Spain. If this is a once-in-a-lifetime trip, and you really want to see one of these cities, I would bite the bullet and go for it.

When I travel, I don't know if I will ever make it back to a particular country, but I know that I am there now, so I try to see all I can. Not everyone agrees with this philosophy, and I respect that. But there have been times when I was sure I would make it back to country XYZ, and never did, or didn't make it for several years.

I rarely do whirlwind travel anymore, but if there is someplace I really want to see, I go, even if it means a bit longer travel times. Whatever you decide, I hope you have a wonderful time in Spain.

Cowboy1968

While we all seem to agree that 5 destinations is too much for 9 nights, I'd probably skim the itinerary slighty differently:

Madrid - train - Barcelona - fly - Granada (or Sevilla) - train - Madrid.
While Valencia sure deserves a visit, one of the two in Andalucia would add a somewhat more distinctive "Southern" flavor to the itinerary.

Actually, with just 9 nights, I'd probably focus on just two destinations. Madrid and Barcelona can keep you more than busy for that amount of time, and are the two big ones connected best by highspeed trains (2 per hour).

Thinking about it, I'd probably put the nights in Madrid at the end of the trip - just with regard to logistics. So you "waste" your arrival day (which is usually wasted anyway) with traveling to Barcelona, and have little hassle at the end of the trip to get to MAD airport.

In case you will land at/ depart from Terminal 4 in Madrid, the new rail connection to the city center and Atocha rail station will make changing from plane to train quite easy.

Have a great time in Spain!

P.S.
After just having returned from two trips to Spain, one of them including a 3 day car trip from Madrid to Barcelona via Cuenca, Teruel and Southern Catalonia, and having driven a car also in Sevilla, Valencia and Alicante, I must admit that nothing beats driving a "comfortably sized" (i.e. quite large) car through Barcelona:
A gazillion of scooters, buses and other cars -- racing through Eixample's checkboard pattern 4 lane (would be 3 lanes if adjusted to actual car or bus widths) one-way streets with 60-70 kph whenever possibly and through unmarked 6-8 lane roundabouts was probably the most demanding drive time I ever had in Spain.

Taking a car from A to B, and leaving A in the morning, usually means that you will arrive at B at some time during the rush hour. Which will add a BIG deal of time to the calculated travel time. Especially on Sundays with half of Barcelona returning from weekend or day trips, the freeways into the city are jammed up to 30kms from the city center.

isabel

Don't mean to be critical here but what you have outlined would be a terrible trip for most people.

As pointed out the driving is way too much. Those distances are long and there isn't that much to see between your destinations - and with your amount of time you wouldn't have time to stop anywhere anyhow. Renting a car is great if you are going to a fairly small geographic area and there are numerous towns/cities within that area. Then you do save time over public transportation. But not in your case.

Madrid and Barcelona (and even Granada and Seville) are quite large with a lot to see. They are not small towns that can be 'seen' in a few hours. I do see the value in a trip that skims the surface/gives you a taste of places. Not everyone is a 'slow traveler' and that's good. BUT, what you have planned would be frustrating and tiring for even the most energetic traveler.

If it were me I'd completely forget about the car and stick to trains. And I think each of your destinations requires at least 3 days. So I suggest you pick your three most important cities and do three days in each and go between them by train. I would personally do only two of them, maybe with day trips. Either do Madrid for five days (day trips to Segovia or Toledo) and Barcelona for four. Or do Madrid for three days and then Seville for 3 and Granada for 3 (and you could work in a day trip to Cordoba (from Seville, or between Seville and Madrid, it's on the way). Or Madrid for more days with day trips and then just do Seville (and Cordoba).

But basically I'd do no more than two regions.

kimhe

Trains will definitely be best, fastest and most affordable. From city center to city center in no time. No hassel, no stress.

Perhaps do it this way and allow 2-3 days in each city, will give you a real taste of three very different and fabulous cities in av VERY diverse country:

Fly into Barcelona.
Barcelona - Madrid: 2h 45 mins with the AVE/AVANT
Madrid- Sevilla: 2h 30mins with AVE/AVANT

I use to have lunch in one city and dinner in the next.

Fly out of Sevilla or go back to Madrid by train on the last day.

If you are two, the total travel costs would then be 240/340€ depending on wheter you fly out of Sevilla or take the train back to Madrid.

Robert2533

If you're going to spend a few days in Madrid, you might have time to do a day-trip by train to Valencia. You can go down for lunch and be back in Madrid in time for tapas.