susieb

On our first trip to Spain in September, we plan to fly to Madrid, stay 3 nights, then get the AVE to Cordoba. We'll rent a car in Cordoba and tour around for five or six days. We would like to make a charming small village our home base. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

WomBatt

How small is this village home base? Is this a village with no commerce but where you are staying?
Is this a hostal/pension, small hotel or self catering stay?
You do not say where is on your wish list of places to see, so if I spend my time giving villages near Seville, for example, and you want to go to Granada, this would be a journey of 3 hours each way, would that suit?

Best wishes.

Pegontheroad

Check out Ronda.

CathyM

Do you have mor ethan 5-6 days for Andalucia and are looking for a smaller town to visit in addition to the larger cities? Or is the entire trip to Andalucia 5-6 days?

As much as I enjoy smaller villages if you only have 5-6 days for Andalucia I'd not want to miss Sevilla & Granada for a first trip. If these 5-6 days are part of a larger trip and you'll also be visiting Sevilla & Granada some ideas for a smaller base in addition: Priego de Cordoba, Carmona, Ecija, Osuna, Vejer de la Frontera, etc...

rlm346

We covered a similar area in 2007 taking the AVE to Cordoba and renting a car. We spent 2 nights in Granada, 1 in Ronda and 4 in Sevilla and spent the 3 days in between them visiting small villages & scenic routes along the way. I would strongly recommend quality time in Granada & Sevilla and at least visiting Rhonda for one night. The alhambra in Granada was one of the special highlights of our trip. Ronda's gorge is spectacular. We secured a room in the Parador with a balcony over the gorge. I am not sure Ronda would be a good base unless you mainly wanted to visit the small villages in the area. Sevilla was also a special city. We did take a day bus tour from Sevilla down to Jerez & Cadez which I would not recommend, but I am biased against organized tours.

susieb

Thank you all for your replies. We were hoping to find a centrally located town from which to take day trips to Sevilla and Granada for sure and maybe one or two other places if we have time. We are not particular. It can be a small hotel, parador, pension whatever. Yes, we only have a total of 6 days in the area. This plan may not be possible because of distances--just hated paking up and moving every day. Thanks again.

kimhe

You should take a look at Antequera (pop. 40 000). Almost totally in the middle of the area comprised of Málaga, Sevilla, Córdoba and Granada. Known as the "heart of Andalucía" with its five thousand years old dolmens (burial chambers), Roman baths, a Moorish Castle, Gothic churches, Renaissance fountains and baroque bell towers. Antequera was the first of the Granada emirate towns to fall to the Christians in 1410.
http://www.andaluciacoastandcountry.com/antequera.html

Just outside Antequera: great hiking in the spectacular El Torcal Park Nature Reserve:
http://www.andalucia.com/antequera/torcal/home.htm

A modern Parador with large swimming-pool on the outskirts of town:
http://www.booking.com/hotels/hotel/...324937212c0052

CathyM

I would spend the night in both Sevilla and Granada and visit a smaller village as a daytrip. There's so much to see in the larger cities and it's much move lively at night. You really need 3-4 days to visit Sevilla and 2 for Granada so you'd be trekking back and forth alot. I have a friend who decided to base herself in Carmona and visit Sevilla as a daytrip. She regretted the decision although she enjoyed Carmona it didnt' give her time to fully enjoy Seville.

Egbert

In my biased opinion there are really good reasons to spend time in Seville and Granada if you've never been before. They are fantastic and small cities full of culture, beautiful things to look at and no shortage of things to do day and night. There is no place on earth like them. The small villages are small and white and some are quaint. If that is what you're looking for then Cathy gave some great ideas.

bardo1

I agree, you will be better served doing day trips from Seville or Granada <b>TO</b> the surrounding villages - not the reverse.

That way you have the benefit of experiencing what the cities have to offer after dark - in the tiny towns, there is precious little to see or do at night.

rlm346

This is a personal decision which only you can make. We can only give you our thinking and hope it is helpful to your decision process. So here is mine based on my one trip to the area and other trips I've taken elsewhere.

I would likely follow bardo1's advice. I too believe in establishing bases and avoid moving hotels a great deal. But I also take into consideration the potential of the base and the travel time and distances to areas around the base.

From a small village central location in the region you will be traveling about four hours a day just to get to and from Sevilla or Granada. If you end up wanting to spend multiple days there then you will be spending 40-50% of your day traveling. If you travel to the small villages mostly you will be limited to those close to wherever you decide to base.

By establishing two bases instead of the one that you were planning on...Sevilla & Granada...you have more flexibility. If you find those cities to be worth spending multiple days in then you will be doing less traveling and be able to enjoy them at night as well. If you find you want to visit small villages in the area you will now have two areas to find those options within a short drive. And you can stop at others on the day you travel between the two.

As I said, it is a personal one.

Note: If you are in Granada overnight, check to see if they have night visits available. We visited both at night and during the day. While both were great, the lack of people and the lighting at night gave it an especially mystical feel.

susieb

Many thanks for all your suggestions. After much consideration, we have decided to use Sevilla and Granada as our bases. I'm sure to have more questions in the near future.