pittpurple

Hi all,

After going round in circles and totally confusing myself, we have decided to keep it simple and spend two weeks in Andalucia - skipping Barcelona and Madrid. It was just getting too complicated (and expensive!) We'll be flying from Malaga.

So I would prefer to rent an apartment as price is a definite issue. We do not want to rent a car unless we have to. Our must-sees are Granada, Cordoba and spending at least a few days on the beach doing nothing

We'll be going in early October - it seems it will still be warm enough to go to the beach and it will be slightly off-season so flights are cheaper.

So if anyone has any thoughts I would love to hear from you! Would prefer to stay somewhere with decent restaurants and on the bus/train line so we can explore without a car. We would plan to hit the market and eat at least breakfast and lunch from the apartment, and probably a few dinners as well. But it would be nice to have somewhere to go for a few drinks at night. We aren't party people and don't necessarily like resorts - we'd rather stay in a cute apartment in the centre of a city.

I know this is a lot to ask, but maybe there's a perfect option I haven't found! It was suggested by a co-worker that I look at a week in Malaga and then a week in Seville?

Thank you so much!
PittPurple

yorkshire

I visited Cordoba-Ronda-Sevilla via public transportation. I think you might find it easier to stay less time in more places because day trips may not be as convenient.
For example, after Malaga (what is an underrated place in certain areas I've heard), take a bus to Granada and spend as much time there as you'd like, then to Ronda, then to Sevilla, etc. (Cordoba can be a day trip from Sevilla, but staying there is nice too). A good rule of thumb is 3 nights in a place to avoid fatigue from moving around, but that rule is made to be broken in some places.
Bus and train connections between these places are excellent. If you want to do some rural explorations, my advice would be to rent a car a day or two while in Ronda. Even if you don't get to the surrounding mts and parks, Ronda is pure magic.
I rented an apartment in Sevilla, and it ended up being the most expensive place we stayed! Here are a few links I found helpful:
http://www.embrujodesevilla.com
http://www.sevilla5.com/
http://www.andalucia.com/travel/home.htm
http://www.turismoderonda.es/indexeng.htm
Hopefully someone will give you good beach advice. I would hit Cadiz after Sevilla, then make my way back to Malaga from there (or vice versa to take advantage of warm weather), but that is based on reading and not experience.

ruechapon

I can't help with the beach recommendation but we recently returned from 10 days in Adalucia. We spend 5 days in Seville, 1 in Cordoba and 4 in Granada.

We loved Seville and it is now our favorite city in Spain. Highly recommend you spend time there. We also liked Granada but felt four days was one too many for us. Cordoba is a must too. The entire route is connected by trains.

We took the high speed train from Seville-Cordoba-Seville and then trained to Granada (about 3+ hours).

Would be happy to share more info if interested.

Henda

We stayed for two weeks in a timeshare in Fueringirola and made day trips by public transport to various towns. Do not miss Migas.

cmazza

Hi we flew to malaga took bus to granada then went to sevilla and then ronda and back to malaga I thought it was a nice trip. You could stay in marbella instead of malaga or nerja for beach time.We took the bus each transfer and found easy to use