Andalucia vs Sicily vs Greece

I don't think Greece is an especially good place to stay in one spot and do day-trips, though I suppose Crete might work. Or six days in western Crete and the last 2 or 3 days in Athens? It's a hassle to get to and from an island on a short vacation, though. I feel like Greece is not a country to visit if you have less than 2 weeks (ideally more).

You could head to Sicily and spend your time in Siracusa, which has a lot of day-trip possibilities, or Siracusa plus one other spot. But even with two bases you'd be leaving a lot of the island untouched, so you'd probably end up wanting to make another trip there. Since it can be a hassle to get to Sicily, I'd rather try to cover the key spots in a single trip.

I think Andalucía works better for the timeframe you have, understanding that you probably can't find a base that works for seeing both Seville and Granada. Two bases would give you much better coverage.

I don't think one base in Sicily will be sufficient given how spread out all the sites are all over the island. Having one base would also not maximize your use of a rental car. Hopefully you'll consider at least two bases if you select Sicily. Have you considered Cyprus by any chance? It's a lot smaller and maybe more amenable to one base with day trips.

Or Malta? Would 8 or 9 days be a reasonable time to spend there? I haven't been to Malta yet.

Hi- we based ourselves just west of Malaga, Spain for a week in 2002 (the dollar was worth more than the Euro way back then), and used a car to tour some of Andalusia. That involved a lot of driving, however. It was also June, so I can't provide much personal weather-related info. The daily round trips caused us to get back late each night, which made it hard to get started again each morning.

The weeks of Christmas and New Year's 2012/2013 were ideal for visiting Sicily, but we drove a counter-clockwise direction to see many places and sights, and only stayed 2 nights in 2 places over the 8 days, doing one-night stands the rest of the time. The day in Agrigento was sunny and kind-of warm, definitely sweater/light jacket weather. No crowds, though. Great time to visit!

Visiting Greece for first time this April, and we're going to be doing a lot of linear driving again, staying 1 or 2 nights then moving on, rather than having a single home base town.

For sweater weather, Greece could be too cold. Andalucia is the warmest, driest part of Europe and Sevilla is a good place to spend 8-9 days with day trips by train to Cordoba, Jerez, Cadiz and train/bus to Arcos. It's not a great place to have a car - driving in/out of a big city every day and paying for parking. I'd be happy with a 3-day stay in Palermo and then a car and 5-6 days farther south (lots of small towns to base in) and a car to explore the coastal towns and the Greek temples.

If you want to stay in one location to cover all the sights and want a chance of reasonable weather, then of your three locations, Andalucia is the most practical option. Your timescale is a sensible length of time to cover this area. There are plenty of sights to be seen including Granada, Seville, Jerez, Cadiz etc plus some stunning countryside inland.

Greece in January is miserable. Sicily is too large for one base.

Malta in January also wouldn't be my choice. I went to Cyprus the first week of February two years ago and the weather was cold - less than 50 degrees F daytime temps and quite a bit of rain. Although there are some historical sights, the island has been ruined by over development.

An alternative to your options would be Lisbon with day trips to Evora, Cascais and Sintra.

If you can do two bases then either Sicily or Andalucia would work. In Sicily I'd go somewhere on the east side, maybe Siracusa or Taormina, then Palermo for the west. Fly into Catania and out of Palermo, or vice versa. If you did Siracusa you could day trip to Catania, Etna, and the Baroque towns. From Palermo you could go to Monreale, Erice, Trapani, Segesta.

In Andalucia I'd do Seville and Granada. From Seville you can day trip to Cordoba, Cadiz, Jerez. From Granada you have Nerja, the Sierra Nevada Mountains, or Jaen, Ubeda and Baeza.

Neither of these are great for one-base trips but it could be done. Example, if you stayed in Seville for the whole time you would miss Granada, but there is a lot in the Seville area. Ditto for Sicily - you can't see it all from one base, but there is enough to do if you pick one side of the island and limit yourself to that section.