alcázar of sevilla or Ronda+white villages? if can only choose one

My opinion would be to tour the Alcazar of Seville, which is outstanding and beautiful IMO. It ranks a very close second to the Alhambra, and was one of the highlights of our trip to Andalusia. Can you visit Ronda on January 1?

We were totally underwhelmed by the Alcazar. And, in September, we found Ronda super crowded and touristy. We loved driving through the gorgeous countryside through the white villages. Our favorite stop was Olvera. If you go to Ronda, some of the best food in Spain can be found at Taberna Malacana in nearby Arriate.

You, having just been to the Alhambra, I think you’d feel the Alcázar de Sevilla is much of the same. It is pretty and worth visiting. In January I doubt Ronda and the white towns will be packed with tourists.

Ronda is about two hours from Sevilla while Arcos de la Frontera is about 1.5 hours. The two other popular towns are Grazalema and Zahara de la Sierra (1/2 hour from Grazalema due to the winding road).

Sunrise is about 8:30am and sunset is about 6:15pm right now. Of those daylight hours a minimum of probably 5 hours will be needed just for driving. Assuming you can’t pick up the car at 8:30am, that will further eat into your time. That leaves you less than 5 hours to see places and that’s excluding the time needed to find parking and return the rental car before it gets dark. Unless you’ve driven on those roads I wouldn’t recommend driving at night. There are no lights along those rural roads and there are plenty of twists and turns in parts.

I’m not saying don’t rent a car, but with the shorter daylight hours, it may be easier to stay in Sevilla and maybe go over to Carmona. During the summer when it stays light until 10pm it would be a no brainer.

Thanks, everyone! We can't do 1/1 Ronda because we were too tired after a day trip to Gibraltar on 12/31 (left at 8 am, back at 8 pm, no cable car this day so we had to walk up). Husband is leaning towards just driving round to some villages like Setenil de las Bodegas, Olvera. My plan was Ronda first (seems most tour groups get to Ronda at the last stop in the afternoon, if we go there in the morning, probably be easier to find parking, and arrive by 10:30 am), then 1:30 pm drive way back, stop at Setenil de las Bodegas (1 hr) or Olvera (1-2 hr), start drive back from Olvera at 5:30 or 6 (52 minutes to Arahal, then we have highway to Seville). Is it doable? Maybe not Ronda, just go to Setenil de las Bodegas, Olvera?

Setenil de las Bodegas is only 20 minutes from Ronda, so you may as well visit Ronda to at least see the gorge and bridge. The last time we were in Ronda we parked in the parking lot by Terraza Bar El Castillo.

To save time, look up parking lots ahead of time and bookmark them to a maps application. The way you can go straight to the lot.

It’s probably too late, but I’d say skip Ronda. Many people seem to like it, but we found it totally underwhelming. There is a bullring, some cute streets, a pretty setting and savory ham samples to be had, but especially considering the time it takes to get there and the short days, I’d give it a pass. We spent a disappointing entire day and wished we had just spent the day in town or nearby. I can’t comment on the alcazar, as we didn’t visit, but there’s got to be a better choice than Ronda.

I like Ronda--have been there three times--but it doesn't really come close to Seville. If I had only two days in Seville (as seems to be the case here), I'd spend all my time in Seville. I really liked the Alcazar, but with such a short time in the city I wouldn't say it's absolutely mandatory for folks who have just visited the Alhambra.

I wouldn't take away from your already limited time in Seville. It's such a beautiful city!

I agree with the people who suggest staying in Seville and skipping Ronda because Seville is such a beautiful city for wandering and exploring. Plazas, fountains, beautiful architecture, lovely parks. In addition to the Real Alcazar, you can visit the Cathedral, Casa di Pilatos, Triana, the Triana market, and Mercado Barranca. And the gorgeous Plaza de Espagna.

There are differences between the Alhambra and Real Alcazar. The Alhambra is traditional Moorish architecture. The Real Alcazar is a combination of Moorish and Christian influences.

Add me to the list of people who were underwhelmed by the Royal Alcazar. But we had recently seen the Alhambra and the Cordoba Mezquita, so maybe it suffered in the comparison.

We are back. We went to Ronda and Olvera. Ronda is a huge, disappointing spot. There were too many people, and there was a loud advertisement broadcast for a Christmas something right by the bridge. It was super loud and annoying! And the walking path to the viewpoint of the bridge from beneath was closed. We drove a detour to get a view from the lower angle, but husband was so tired of driving on the small roads and looking for parking that we were afraid of going to Setenil de las Bodegas, so we went Olvera directly.
Olvera is a pleasant surprise! No crowd at all, easy to park, and it is very quiet. We had a wonderful time at the castle, enjoying the beautiful landscape. I hope Olversa gets some tourists, but not too much to destroy the atmosphere.

Your visit, being between Christmas and 3 Kings Day, it doesn’t surprise me that there were a lot of people. I can understand your annoyance with the loud speaker and the path to the bridge vantage point being closed.

I am glad you enjoyed Olvera.

We were there at almost the same time! For others reading this and planning, we started in Sevilla, and we actually loved the Alcazar. It was our first historic site in Spain after our orientation tour the previous afternoon. The gardens were amazing — and in December (we went on Dec 29), the orange trees were full of fruit, making the views out windows as you turned corners impressive. We didn’t do a guided tour, just audio guide, which was minimal. But, since it was our first spot, we loved it. I loved the little surprise views around corners, etc.

We did a day trip to Ronda and white villages on Dec 31 and would have preferred just staying in Sevilla.

We did Alhambra on Jan 3. We got a guide for that and it was well worth it for the amazing detail. But, the gardens are nothing compared to Alcazar. The insides are more impressive than the Alcazar, though!