Suggested Itinerary - 6 nights in Andulusia
 

Hoping some here might be able to offer some suggestions for an itinerary for 6 nights in S. Spain in mid-June.

We will be in Barcelona but want to fly down and later back up to Barcelona. I'm thinking given our very limited time of flying into one city and out from another. Of course, we had Cordoba on our list, but I'm thinking we will need to cut it out given our limited time. But maybe someone here will have a better suggestion to of something else to cut and reinstate Cordoba.

Here's roughly what we were thinking...

Day 1 - flight to Grenada, p/u rental car?
Day 2 - Visit Alhambra, second night in Grenada
Day 3 - Depart early for scenic drive to Ronda via coastal detour?
Day 4 - Explore Ronda, spend second night there
Day 5 - Drive to Seville (suggestions for place to stop along the way?) - return rental car?
Day 6 - Explore Seville, spend second night there
Day 7 - Fly back to Barcelona mid-day

Advice? Thanks in advance!!

Oh, and if anyone has suggestions for options for car rentals. Is there a place in Granada we can rent on our way out of town and then drop the car off on our way in to Seville? I'd really love to avoid having a car in either city.

You won't need a car until you leave Granada, and it is a liability in the city. There is good bus access to Alhambra.

Given you extremely tight timeline and desire to see the big four hotspots of Andalucia, I will suggest something;

Drive from Granada to Cordoba, and then on to Ronda. skipping the coast. The total drive time is a little more than 5 hours, so if you leave Granada early, you could be in Cordoba by 11:00 and leave by in mid afternoon to arrive in Ronda by 5;30 or so. All in daylight.

Absolutely drop the rental car in Seville - same scenario as Granada.

Thanks Aramis!

I'm not 100% certain I can convince my travel companions to skip the coast. But we will be in Barcelona earlier, so it's not like they won't get to see the Mediterranean.

Is there any good way to avoid having a car at all? Can one easily get from Cordoba to Ronda by bus or train? I'd love to avoid a car for the whole vacation.

We did a similar trip a few years ago although we had 8 days which made it a bit more manageable. We flew into Malaga and took a coastal drive east to Nerja where we spent the night in a lovely inn on a hill overlooking the sea. Then turned north to Granada. We spent 2 nights in Granada, drove to Ronda for one night and then to Sevilla for 3 days and then to Gaucin where we spent two nights overlooking the sea (we could see Africa). Thrn back to Malaga to fly out.

If you fly in to Malaga, go directly to Granada via the coast for 2 nights, to Ronda for one night and to Seville for 2 or 3 nights then return to Malaga for your flight, you will see the Med. and have time for everything else. You could do a day trip to Cordoba from Seville. We planned that but found too much to do in Sevelle and never got to Cordoba.

Granada to Cordoba is about 2;15 by train, so that is doable. Ronda is not easily accessed via rail, however. I don't know much about bus access, but taking the train to Cordoba, for a stop, then switching to a bus to get to Ronda would be a worse prospect than renting in Granada and driving. The drive through the area, especially around Ronda, is spectacular in spots. This, for me, makes the case for a car even if it is only for 2-3 days of your trip.

> we had Cordoba on our list, but I'm thinking we will need to cut it out given our limited time.

Personally, I would find a way to include Cordoba if at all possible. The Mezquita is truly wonderful. Unfortunately, your trip is tight under any circumstances, so you have some difficult choices to make. For what it's worth, I enjoyed my time (a bit less than a day) in Ronda, but would definitely skip it in order to include Cordoba, particularly because it will take a chunk of time to get to and from Ronda.

Hope that helps!

I'd skip Ronda for Cordoba. In Spain , travelers have all raised about Cordoba and the Mosque. Disappointed I'll have to miss it do the the strike.

Driving from Granada to Ronda via the coast is quite a long detour that'll take you most of the day driving.
If you really insist on it you can drive down to Motril from Granada, and then head west, or you can drve the A-92 to the detour to Montefrio/Alhama, and visit Alhama, a quaint and nice town; then continue to Viñuela and Velez Malaga and take the coastal highway direction west, avoid Malaga and continue direction Cartama, Pizarra, Ardales, Ronda. Check a map.

My advice is to not rent a car, don't spend time making the coastal drive to Ronda, you'll get to see the Med in Barcelona. Seville deserves three nights, I would skip a night in Ronda and add to Seville or Cordoba. You could also rent a car on the way out of Granada, spend a night in Malaga, drive through Ronda on your way to Seville, drop off car immediately. Cordoba is a great daytrip from Seville and the Mezquita is worth seeing if you're into amazing architecture, you'll never forget it.

Thank you all for your advice. I'll pass it along to my travel companions and see what they think. Any more advice is appreciated! Thanks!

A couple of notes;

IMHO Cordoba is about 10 times as interesting as Ronda (which is a cute village - but doesn;t hae the completely different culture you will see in Cordoba

The coast is nothing to look at. Unless you are going to spend a couple of days there, realxing by the pool, visiting the casino etc - the coast is a waste.

Is there some reason you have to go back to Barcelona? Can you do open jaws flights and buy yourself another day in the south (We have been twice - one 12 days and once 12 and still have a ton of things to see/do.)

Agreed Cordoba is a must.Ronda overrated.
http://theartichokeadventures.blogspot.com.es/

I went a week in Andalusia in February without renting a car and had to fly in and out of Madrid.

Wanted to fit in Ronda but was just too inconvenient so I skipped it in favor of Cordoba, which I'd visited before.

There are direct buses and trains between the 3 cities as well as to Madrid. But it would have taken two separate buses from Sevilla to Ronda -- Sevilla to Cadiz first and then to Ronda IIRC.

Buses are fine for transport. But also the AVE is available between Sevilla/Cordoba and Madrid, which is faster than car or bus. Not sure if there's AVE to Barcelona from Andalusia.

Ronda is one of the most spectacularly situated towns anywhere. Getting to it, if driving, is a good part of the attraction. The Sierra de Ronda is beautiful. It might not fit if you don't want to drive any part of the trip, but since it offers something entirely different than Cordoba, a straight up comparison of it's "worthiness" is somewhat presumptuous.

Aramis,you're right Ronda and the Sierra de Ronda are indeed lovely but Ronda's fame is really because it is the nearest picturesque town to the costa and has been the classic day trip for beachgoers for 50 years and so is little touristy!I agree it is diffuclt to compare with Cordoba and I wasnt trying to be presumptious(sorry!) just giving an opinion.If you like Ronda then you probably like Cuenca,Albarracin,Cazorla which in my opinion are just as nice or better and are a bit more off the tourist route.
http://theartichokeadventures.blogspot.com.es/

I went on a trip to Andalucia in February this year and I visited all the places you mention. We rented a car from Granada and drove to Cordoba, Seville, Cadiz, Gibraltar and Ronda. You dont need a car in any of the cities and it also limits you for you need to find a hotel with a parking spot or public parking nearby. Still, I am glad we drove because the route is very scenic. My suggestion, like some of the others above, would be to skip Ronda. I would spend 2 nights in Granada and pick up the car on the way out, drive to Cordoba and stay just one night and then on to Seville for 3 nights (if it is 6 nights you are after). You can give up the car on reaching Seville. If, like me, you prefer only automatic cars, make sure you book in advance as most on offer seem to be manual. They charge about 60 Euros to drop off in another place. You can read about my trip if you want at http://sujaa.wordpress.com/

If we were to skip Ronda, can you recommend a couple of smaller towns that might be worth an overnight stop? We are trying to avoid all cities. I know Cordoba & Grenada are smaller than Seville or Barcelona, but we'd like at least one town to visit. Any ideas.

Thanks for all your input.

nytraveler, yes we had considered open jaw but we do need to go back in Barcelona for one the members of our party to attend a conference. We've already purchased our tickets.

gardengrl, we did that trip September 2010. Truly, we found the whole of southern Spain to be very touristy. We did not make it to Cordoba, but I believe it is a short AVE ride from Sevilla, which seems to make sense if you want to go there. We also had more time than you, but our best memories of Andalucia are La Alhambra, the drive from Grenada to Ronda with a stop in Nerja to see just how spectaculaarly turquoise the Med Sea is along the coast.
We like to alternate our time between cities and country side. We thought that the drive to Ronda is quite beautiful, a little scary driving when it was pouring rain, and the locals drive like maniacs up that highway. (At least I thought so, hubby was okay with it).
We spent 3 nights in Ronda and used it as a base for exploring the countryside, and the Pueblos Blancos. Loved it. Came home every night to our room hanging over the cliff at Hotel Don Miguel.
I had planned that we were going to take the train to Cordoba from Seville, but we never did get there, too much to do in Seville.
Don't even try to go to Ronda without a car. But if you like city, city, city, then enjoy. But driving the country gives one a feel for the geography of the place.

By the way, you will find no problem driving on the highways, they are great. Just avoid driving in the cities, Grenada is difficult to get into and out of. But sounds like you will hve a few navigators with you!