Hi all,
A friend and I (women in our mid 20's) are traveling to the Andalucian area for about 2 weeks (late Aug - mid Sept). I've done a lot of research but am feeling a bit overwhelmed with finalizing our locations and would like to seek further advice, opinions, and suggestions. I greatly appreciate any help/critique on our tentative itinerary. Thanks!
We've agreed on the main cities that we'd like to spend our time in (Sevilla, Granada, Ronda) but our two biggest questions are re: the best beach town and which pueblos blancos would be our best bet. While we would love to visit multiple, we want to be smart with our time and don't want to cram things in just for the sake of it.
Originally, we wanted to spend time in at least 1 beach side town/city, and found Nerja. However, after researching, it seems that Nerja (and possibly the entire Costa del Sol depending on who you talk to) is very overdeveloped. I've also heard Conil de la Frontera and Zahara de los Atunes are fantastic. For our beach experience we'd like to steer away from over developed/very commercialized areas and stick to low key relaxed beach towns/cities - though we understand there will be touristy areas regardless. Is it maybe worth it to bypass Spanish beach towns and make the trip to spend a few days in the Algarve? Does anyone have suggestions one over the other?
Pueblos Blancos - Arcos de la Frontera looks like it's on the way from Sevilla to Ronda. But I've also heard great things about Jimena and other towns. Any suggestions on which is best bet and able to arrive by bus (not sure if we will rent a car)?
Our tentative itinerary is below. Am also open to hearing if we should spend more time in certain places over the other. I think we may need more time in Sevilla but am unsure of where we should take that time from.
Day 1 Red eye flight to Malaga
Day 2 - 4: Nerja, bus to Granada
Day 5 - 7: Granada, train to Sevilla?
Day 8 - Day 11: Sevilla, bus to pueblos blancos
Day 12 - Day 14: Arcos/Jimena/Conil? Any suggestions? Then bus to Ronda?
Day 15 - Day 16: Ronda
Day 17: Bus to Malaga early AM if possible and fly home to USA
Thanks again for your help!!