kja

If you haven't already done so, be sure to check for "multi city" flights, not one-way flights.

KarenWoo

Buckminster, I apologize because I should have been more specific when I suggested flying into Madrid and out of Seville. As Kja suggests, you should look for multi-city flights, or open jaw flights, which are reasonable, and NOT one way flights, which are always expensive.

Because you are flying to Chicago, you may not be able to get a flight with only one stop-over from Seville. It looks like, based on what you said, there aren’t any non-stop flights from Lisbon to Chicago, like there is to Boston.

Just curious, did you try TAP (Portugal’s airline)? Last September we flew TAP open jaw or multi-city from Boston to Marseilles (where we visited our daughter), and then Seville to Boston. The fare for this multi-city route was about $660 per person. When I said we flew into Madrid, it was on Ryan Air from Marseilles (separate reservation, additional cost). I don’t know if TAP has low fares to/from Chicago or not. And it may include 2 stop-overs, which I know you don’t want. Just thought I would mention it.

buckminster

Thank you both so much for explaining the difference. I am a bit of a novice when it comes to booking air. I think that is because living in Chicago, we can fly nonstop to so many places, and all of our out of country trips the last few years have been to Canada. So I did some more research and it still looks like the nonstop will be our best bet financially and avoids super long layovers. But I will keep this in mind for future!

kja

I'm glad you checked it out! Open jaw is rarely much more expensive that roundtrip, and sometimes, even a bit extra cost or a long layover makes sense rather than facing the time and expense of backtracking, so it's always best IME to check.

MoBro

buckminster, we did the exact same thing. We went to Madrid for two nights, so we could fly out of there. Flying out of Seville gave us two stops on the way home, but from Madrid we could get home with just one stop.

PalenQ

Seville-Madrid just two hours on AVE trains too.

buckminster

Thanks to everyone. I have booked the flight and started booking hotels. Very excited! The last question I have is for hotel recommendations in Granada. I have read through several threads, checked TripAdvisor, and consulted two guidebooks, but still nothing has sounded quite right. Would it be best to stay in the Albayzin neighborhood (or maybe Centro) since we only have two nights and we will be at the Alhambra during the day? Although I've read it's really special to go back to the Alhambra at night... Many of the reviews I've read about hotels in these areas complain about noise during the night.

kja

People have different preferences, but for what it's worth, I was glad to have stayed near the Cathedral. In contrast, I was glad I didn't stay in the Albayzin, parts of which were oddly (and rather uncomfortably) deserted in the evenings at the time that I was there.

Bedar

Lots of people here like the Hotel Guadalupe which is up near the Alhambra.

maitaitom

We loved this place...Great view of Alhambra from upstairs deck...a perfect place to enjoy a bottle vino.

http://www.apartamentosalhambra.es/en/

...here's more from my trip report...lots of photos of our lodging.

http://travelswithmaitaitom.com/chap...-the-eggplant/

buckminster

kja, thanks for the location advice. I ended up booking the Hotel Palacio de Santa Paula, which although a Marriott, looks like a cool old building (in the public spaces at least), and near the Cathedral. The apartments also looked nice, but bed sizes too small for us.

kja

I hope the location suits you!

buckminster

Regarding the Alhambra--the ticketing system seems to have changed recently so I thought I'd let everyone know (hopefully I've got it right so please correct me if not!) I ended up having to buy the Basic, 3 day Granada Card because I messed up and did not try to buy tickets until 8 weeks in advance (all sold out, should book 3 months ahead). You no longer have to pick tickets up in Granada--you can print the pdf with the QR code or have it handy on your phone. Exception is if you are using a discounted ticket, like for seniors. Reading the general info on my ticket, I see that it grants access between 8:30 am and 8:00pm. This is a change, correct? I know we have to be at Nasrid Palace at a certain time, but other than that, we are free to access the Alcazaba and Generalife all day, rather than having to do it before 2 pm. This is great, since we can go get lunch and relax after visiting Nasrid without worrying about getting in before 2 pm.

Unfortunately, the Granada Card does not offer the option of visiting at night, and those are also all sold out the entire month of April. Is it worth it to keep trying to see if any spots open up for night time?