Southern Spain Experts
 

My daughter is going to be in Grenoble for a year. We'd like to visit her for Christmas and thought we could all vacation somewhere warm over the break - probably a week to ten days in length. We're thinking of southern Spain but we weren't sure where would be best. Also open to any other suggestions -- perhaps Tenerife?

We like exploring towns, villages, anything historical/cultural and of course good food and drink!! We would consider renting a house or apartment as there would be 4 of us.

Looking forward to hearing your suggestions.

Tennerife is an island near to Africa than Spain...are you sure you want to visit there?

Check out Ronda, Seville and Granada (not in that order). All are unique and in my opinion, the best places to see in southern Spain.

I have some additional information on my site Bombastic Life http://www.bombasticlife.com

What's wrong with visiting Tenerife or any of the other Canary Islands around that time? Fodorites seem to be very anti the Canaries for some reason.
Around Christmas and New Year many tall ships visit the Canaries, and spend a few days in harbour. You are often able to go on board them also.
You are more likely to get warm weather in the Canaries than in mainland Spain at that time.
Do be aware that both Southern Spain and the Canary Islands are popular destinations for Europeans escaping for Christmas.
Southern Spain is also popular with retired people from Northern Europe who go there for the winter. renting places cheaply

I agree with hetismij. Nothing wrong with going to Tenerife or the Canary Islands in general. It just might be expensive during that time of year.
There are many interesting places to visit on Tenerife, impressive nature/mountains, and also many historic towns like La Laguna.

When looking for a house, I would recommend to keep two things in mind:
1. The South of the island is dryer and sunnier than the North, but not "green". The North gets regular, almost daily rainfalls or mist, which is needed to keep the paradise-like vegetation alive.
2. Take a good look at the location of any potential house for rent. Tenerife's villages spread into higher elevations, which can be chilly and damp in winter.

bombastic gave some good advice. A town like Granada is best for a first visit. Its not a toursit trap like the coastal towns or islands, but still offers enough to see and do to make your trip enjoyable.

Kiddo,

Is everybody in your family sure so early in the game they want to head south for a visit?

My concern would be that southern destinations in Europe in December really aren't truly warm, and sometimes places very accustomed to warm weather most of the year don't bother to do much in the way of heat and insulation for their brief winter. If you are thinking of a rental house, you want to make sure it's adequately heated.

I've never been to the Alhambra in the winter, and while I'm sure it's better than the burning sun, I would think the gardens are less impressive, and they are a huge part of the importance of the Alhambra (and I'm not a garden addict).

If you really want sun and heat, instead of toasty interiors and fireplaces, I'm sure you can find it if you go far enough south. But any chance by next December your daughter will want to show you around her neck of the woods, or that you all might like to pile into Paris?

Thank you for all your replies and helpful information.

My concern with Tenerife would be that there might not be enough to keep us busy for a week or ten days. I must confess that I have little knowledge of this area so I need to do some homework!

I thought by basing ourselves somewhere such as Granada, we would be able to do day trips to other towns and villages.

That is great advice Zeppole regarding ensuring that our accommodations will have adequate heating. I understand your point that our daughter may want to show us around Grenoble, but truthfully, we are wimps and do not like the cold -- especially on vacation. We did consider staying in Paris but we have all been to Paris previously so we thought this would be a good opportunity to see and experience a different part of the world.