Travelling to Spain during December holidays

7 days, 6 nights, is that correct ?
Unfortunately, you don't have time to include all 4 places, and I would suggest you leave Granada for another visit.

25/12 Day 1 - Arrive Madrid & AVE train (2hr 30min) to Sevilla - 2 nights
26/12 Day 2 - Sevilla sights - Cathedral, Alcazar
27/12 Day 3 (pm) - AVE train (45min) to Cordoba - 1 night
28/12 Day 4 (am) - Mezquita
28/12 Day 4 (pm) - AVE train (1hr 45min) to Madrid - 3 nights
29/12 Day 5 - Madrid sights - Royal Palace, Prado
30/12 Day 6 - Excursion to Toledo
31/12 Day 7 - Depart Madrid

I think you will have to choose between sightseeing in Madrid and visiting Granada.

Given your short time, I would choose either Seville or Cordoba to stay, and day trip to the other. I lean toward Cordoba simply because it is closer to both Madrid and Granada. It's about 2 hours by train to both. Seville is less than an hour's ride from Cordoba.

If you choose to go to Granada, it's about 5 hours by train or bus from Madrid, and you don't want to be tired and jetlagged when you get there, so go first to Cordoba/Seville for 3 nights, then Granada for 2 nights and your last night in Madrid. If you have a late departure flight time, you'll be able to see a little of Madrid. Absolutely do not go to Granada unless you can get tickets to the Alhambra now. Tickets sell out and there's no point to schlepping all the way to Granada unless you are assured of seeing the Alhambra.

You can easily check the websites of the major sights to see what they're hours are. I find that often the easiest way to official websites is from the Wiki page - at the bottom there is invariably a link to the official website, if one exists.

You couldn't cover all those destinations in your timescale, even if you didn't throw in a major holiday time.

Before you book anything, check that train tickets are still available for wherever you choose to go, as some routes may no longer have availability. Cover three places maximum and because of the holidays, I would limit this to two places to allow for jet lag recovery.

Thanks every one for your extremely prompt , helpful and specific responses. I think that I will take your suggestions and will limit our travel to Sevillle, Cordoba and Grenada. Madrid will be our fly in fly out destination and will leave visiting it for next time.Assuming that we can buy our Tickets to Alhmabra now, how does this itinerary sound?
Day 1- Arrive in Madrid and catch a train to Seville or Cordoba- Spend the afternoon sightseeing the area
Day 2 -4- Visit Seville and day trip to Cordoba
Day 5-6- Grenada
Day 7- Travel back to Madrid

If I cant get tickets to Alhambra then I will follow the itinerary ( without Grenada) as you all suggested. What would be the best way t0 travel back to Madrid from Grenada( train or bus)?

I looked up tickets for Alhambra and the website said tickets do not include visit to Nasrid palace. Do we get tickets for Nasrid palace separately?

All ticket websites are in Spanish language. Should we just use google translator to understand and buy tickets for the different sights?

Thanks again every one

Remember you are wanting to get to GRANADA.
GRENADA will have you in the Caribbean.

Alhambra tickets are sold out from the official outlet for 24 Dec to 3 Jan.
http://www.ticketmaster.es/en/tickets-family/alhambra-general/2/
You may get availability through a tour company (reseller).

Remember if you choose to do Cordoba as a day trip from Sevilla, you will lose 2-3 of your precious hours with extra travelling.

Remember if you choose to do Cordoba as a day trip from Sevilla, you will lose 2-3 of your precious hours with extra travelling.

What's the alternative? Changing hotels uses at least as much time and is a lot more of a hassle.

You raise good points about traveling between Seville and Córdoba. Thanks for pointing that out.
Sorry about the spelling mistake on Granada.
Thanks again everyone for your helpful thoughts and suggestions

With your trip being only 7 days long I am assuming your luggage will be completely manageable.
For checkout, I am thinking 10 minutes to organise your luggage, and 5 minutes at the front desk.
If you are taking an hour I would find you an extremely frustrating travel companion. lol
Look at somewhere like the mid range Tryp Hotel in Cordoba, which is 10min (700m) walk to the train station.
(You also have the extra cost incurred for a doubled up journey)

Remember, for Spain the big day is the Epiphany or Three Kings Day - January 6th. The days leading up to that are part of the seasonal celebrations - the twelve days of Christmas - but not what we would think of as Christmas day on December 25th.

Best mode of transportation is the AVE fast train with Madrid at one end and Granada at the other. If you buy tickets 60 days in advance the price is decent.

There is too much to see in seven days. Personally I'd drop Madrid and only do the three cities in southern Spain, probably go straight to Cordoba for one night, three nights in Sevilla, three nights in Granada then plan to fly home from there (or catch a connecting flight to Madrid for your flight). Cordoba can be a day stop between Seville and Madrid. A half day is enough to enjoy the area, but I think it works well staying a night, especially as a chance to recover from jet lag. I don't really like it as a day trip from Seville. If you want a day trip out of Seville, take a bus to Jerez for the day and visit a couple of Bodegas.

Thanks Brad for your suggestions. Based on input from every one on this forum post, we have dropped Madrid from our itinerary except for the last day before we leave ( New year's eve) which we will spend in there. We will concentrate our trip between Granada, Seville and Cordoba. We were lucky that we got tickets to Alhambra ( day pass) by calling the main no listed in the Rick Steves book. All tickets from Madrid to Granada, Granada to Seville and Seville back to Madrid have been booked. I haven't bought the train tickets from Seville to Cordoba as we are not sure which day will we visit. Is it Ok to leave Cordoba ticket buying till the actual time we travel or buy them now like we did with the other tickets? Thanks

The train from Seville to Cordoba will be a regional train, not AVE, so there is little need to book ahead.