Andalusia
We’ve compiled the best of the best in Andalusia - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.
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1. Mezquita
JuderíaBuilt between the 8th and 10th centuries, Córdoba's mosque is one of the earliest and most beautiful examples of Spanish Islamic architecture. The plain, crenellated exterior walls do little to prepare you for the sublime beauty of the interior. As you enter through the Puerta de las Palmas (Door of the Palms), some 850 columns rise before you in a forest of jasper, marble, granite, and onyx. The pillars are topped by ornate capitals taken from the Visigothic church that was razed to make way for the mosque. Crowning these, red-and-white-striped arches curve away into the dimness, and the ceiling is of delicately carved tinted cedar. The mezquita has served as a cathedral since 1236, but its origins as a mosque are clear. Built in four stages, it was founded in 785 by Abd al-Rahman I (756–88) on a site he bought from the Visigoth Christians. He pulled down their church and replaced it with a mosque, one-third the size of the present one, into which he incorporated marble pillars from earlier Roman and Visigothic shrines. Under Abd ar-Rahman II (822–52), the mezquita held an original copy of the Koran and a bone from the arm of the prophet Mohammed and became a Muslim pilgrimage site second only in importance to Mecca. Al-Hakam II (961–76) built the beautiful mihrab (prayer niche), the mezquita's greatest jewel. Make your way over to the qibla, the south-facing wall in which this sacred prayer niche was hollowed out. (Muslim law decrees that a mihrab face east, toward Mecca, and that worshippers do likewise when they pray. Because of an error in calculation, this one faces more south than east. Al-Hakam II spent hours agonizing over a means of correcting such a serious mistake, but he was persuaded to let it be.) In front of the mihrab is the maksoureh, a kind of anteroom for the caliph and his court; its mosaics and plasterwork make it a masterpiece of Islamic art. A last addition to the mosque as such, the maksoureh was completed around 987 by al-Mansur, who more than doubled its size. After the Reconquest, the Christians left the mezquita largely undisturbed, dedicating it to the Virgin Mary and using it as a place of Christian worship. The clerics did erect a wall closing off the mosque from its courtyard, which helped dim the interior and thus separate the house of worship from the world outside. In the 13th century, Christians had the Capilla de Villaviciosa (Villaviciosa Chapel) built by Moorish craftsmen, its Mudejar architecture blending with the lines of the mosque. But that was not so for the heavy, incongruous baroque structure of the cathedral, sanctioned in the very heart of the mosque by Carlos V in the 1520s. To the emperor's credit, he was supposedly horrified when he came to inspect the new construction, exclaiming to the architects: "To build something ordinary, you have destroyed something that was unique in the world" (not that this sentiment stopped him from tampering with the Alhambra to build his Palacio Carlos V). Rest up and reflect in the Patio de los Naranjos (Courtyard of the Oranges), perfumed in springtime by orange blossoms. The Puerta del Perdón (Gate of Forgiveness), so named because debtors were forgiven here on feast days, is on the north wall of the courtyard and is the formal entrance to the mosque. The Virgen de los Faroles (Virgin of the Lanterns), a small statue in a niche on the outside wall of the mosque along the north side on Calle Cardenal Herrero, is behind a lantern-hung grille, rather like a lady awaiting a serenade. The Torre del Alminar, the minaret once used to summon the Muslim faithful to prayer, has a baroque belfry that reopened to visitors in late 2014. Views from the top are well worth the climb, but be aware that it's the equivalent of 12 flights of stairs. Allow a good hour for your visit.
View Tours and ActivitiesCalle Cardenal Herrero 1, Córdoba, Andalusia, 14003, Spain957-470512Sight Details
Rate Includes: Mezquita €13, free Mon.–Sat. 8:30–9:30 am, Torre del Alminar €3 -
2. Archivo General de Indias
Opened in 1785 in the former Lonja (Merchants' Exchange), this dignified Renaissance building stores a valuable archive of more than 40,000 documents, including drawings, trade documents, plans of South American towns, and even the autographs of Columbus, Magellan, and Cortés. Temporary exhibitions showcase different archives.
Av. de la Constitución 3, 41071, Spain954-500528Sight Details
Rate Includes: Free, Closed Mon. -
3. Capilla de los Marineros
TrianaThis seamen's chapel, built in 1759, is one of Triana's most important monuments and home to the Brotherhood of Triana, whose Semana Santa processions are among the most revered in the city. There's also a small museum dedicated to the Brotherhood.
Calle Pureza 2, Seville, Andalusia, 41010, Spain954-332645Sight Details
Rate Includes: Free, museum €4 -
4. Convento de San Francisco
This 16th-century convent is one of Vandelvira's religious architectural masterpieces. The building was damaged by the French army and partially destroyed by a light earthquake in the early 1800s, but you can see its restored remains.
Calle de San Francisco s/n, Baeza, Andalusia, 23440, Spain -
5. Corral del Carbón
CentroThis building was used to store coal in the 19th century, but its history is much longer. Dating to the 14th century, it was used by Moorish merchants as a lodging house and then by Christians as a theater. It's one of the oldest Moorish buildings in the city and the only Arab structure of its kind in Spain.
View Tours and ActivitiesCalle de Mariana Pineda s/n, Granada, Andalusia, 18005, SpainSight Details
Rate Includes: Free -
Recommended Fodor’s Video
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6. El Bañuelo
AlbaicínThese 11th-century Arab steam baths might be a little dark and dank now, but try to imagine them some 900 years ago, filled with Moorish beauties. Back then, the dull brick walls were backed by bright ceramic tiles, tapestries, and rugs. Light comes in through star-shaped vents in the ceiling, à la the bathhouse in the Alhambra.
View Tours and ActivitiesCarrera del Darro 31, Granada, Andalusia, 18010, Spain958-229738Sight Details
Rate Includes: €7 (ticket includes admission to Dar al-Horra) -
7. Gran Teatro Manuel de Falla
Four blocks west of Santa Inés is the Plaza Fragela, overlooked by this amazing neo-Mudejar redbrick building. The classic interior is impressive as well—try to attend a performance.
Pl. Manuel de Falla s/n, Cádiz, Andalusia, 11002, Spain956-220828 -
8. Hospital de la Caridad
El ArenalBehind the Teatro de la Maestranza is this former almshouse for the sick and elderly, where six paintings by Murillo (1617–82) and two gruesome works by Valdés Leal (1622–90) depicting the Triumph of Death are displayed. The baroque hospital was founded in 1674 by Seville's original Don Juan, Miguel de Mañara (1626–79). A nobleman of licentious character, Mañara was returning one night from a riotous orgy when he had a vision of a funeral procession in which the partly decomposed corpse in the coffin was his own. Accepting the apparition as a sign from God, Mañara devoted his fortune to building this hospital; he is buried before the high altar in the chapel. Admission includes an audio guide (available in English). You can also book guided tours and Gregorian chant concerts.
Calle Temprado 3, Seville, Andalusia, 41001, Spain954-223232Sight Details
Rate Includes: €8, free Sun. 4:30–6:30 pm -
9. Hospital de los Venerables
Once a retirement home for priests, this baroque building has a splendid azulejo patio with an interesting sunken fountain (designed to cope with low water pressure) and an upstairs gallery, but the highlight is the chapel, featuring frescoes by Valdés Leal and sculptures by Pedro Roldán. The building also houses a cultural foundation that organizes on-site art exhibitions.
View Tours and ActivitiesPl. de los Venerables 8, 41004, Spain69-789–8659Sight Details
Rate Includes: €10, includes audio guide; free Mon. 3–7 pm if you book online, Closed Sun. afternoon -
10. Puerta de Almodóvar
JuderíaOutside this old Moorish gate at the northern entrance of the Judería is a statue of Seneca, the Córdoba-born philosopher who rose to prominence in Nero's court in Rome and was forced to commit suicide at his emperor's command. The gate stands at the top of the narrow and colorful Calle San Felipe.
Córdoba, Andalusia, 14003, Spain -
11. Synagogue
JuderíaThe only Jewish temple in Andalusia to survive the expulsion and inquisition of the Jews in 1492, Córdoba's synagogue is also one of only three ancient synagogues left in all of Spain (the other two are in Toledo). Though it no longer functions as a place of worship, it's a treasured symbol for Spain's modern Jewish communities. The outside is plain, but the inside (restored in 2018), measuring 23 feet by 21 feet, contains some exquisite Mudejar stucco tracery. Look for the fine plant motifs and the Hebrew inscription saying that the synagogue was built in 1315. The women's gallery (not open for visits) still stands, and in the east wall is the ark where the sacred scrolls of the Torah were kept.
Calle de los Judíos s/n, Córdoba, Andalusia, 14003, Spain957-202928Sight Details
Rate Includes: €1, Closed Mon. -
12. Torre del Oro
El ArenalBuilt by the Moors in 1220 to complete the city's ramparts, this 12-sided tower on the banks of the Guadalquivir served to close off the harbor when a chain was stretched across the river from its base to a tower on the opposite bank. In 1248, Admiral Ramón de Bonifaz broke through the barrier, and Fernando III captured Seville. The tower houses a small naval museum.
View Tours and ActivitiesPaseo Alcalde Marqués de Contadero s/n, Seville, Andalusia, 41001, Spain954-222419Sight Details
Rate Includes: Free. -
13. University of Seville
Parque Maria LuisaFans of Bizet's opera Carmen will want to come here, to see where the famous heroine reputedly rolled cigars on her thighs. At the far end of the Murillo Gardens, opposite Calle San Fernando, stands part of the University of Seville, in what used to be the Real Fábrica de Tabacos (Royal Tobacco Factory). Built in the mid-1700s, the factory employed some 3,000 cigarreras (female cigar makers) less than a century later. Free guided tours (book online only) are available on Fridays (9:30 am–12:30 pm and 4–6 pm) and Saturdays (9:30 am–12:30 pm), except in August.
Calle San Fernando 4, Seville, Andalusia, 41001, Spain954-551052Sight Details
Rate Includes: Free, Closed Sun. and Mon.–Thurs. in Aug.
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