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Andalucia Itinerary - 8 nights with 10 year old.

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My 10 year old daughter wants to do a father/daughter trip over her Fall Break from October 8-17th. She is well travelled and able to do a carry-on only bag so I want to introduce her to a trip focused on trains and busses instead of our usual rental car trips,

We have found a nice fare from Denver to Malaga which would arrive at 10:00 p.m. on 10/9. Obviously we would be staying close to the airport that night. Flying into Seville is $500 more and results in a hellishly long return flight.

The next day our trip would begin by heading by train from Malaga to Seville for 2-3 nights. After Seville, possibly Cordoba for 1-2 nights. Then on to Granada for 2-3 nights. Our last night will need to be in Malaga.

I would love to see Ronda, but it appears a bit out of the way on such a short trip. It appears many here prefer Cordoba anyways. We generally like to stay 2-3 nights in each place.

On a trip with a 10 year old, would 2 nights each in Seville, Cordoba and Granada be a good first time visit overview of this region? Would anyone shift nights to other towns? My daughter wants to see old city attractions, archaeological sites, and some natural attractions.

How about Ronda as a daytrip from Seville? This might be easier than making a one night diversion with a 10 year old but require another day in Seville at the expense of extra time in Cordoba.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Posted by
8247 posts

It appears many here prefer Cordoba anyways

Nahhhh, you should go wherever you want to go.
If there was a trip where you should be thinking of renting a car this is it.
You are losing a whole day arriving at 10 pm so you really only have 7 nights

I would go with
2 in Granada
3 in Seville

1 in Cordoba
1 in Malaga

Posted by
28521 posts

I wouldn't give a thought to Ronda on a trip this short that has to include Malaga twice for reasons of transportation.

I disagree that a car would help. For travel between Malaga, Seville and Cordoba a train will be much faster than driving. Doing that loop via AVE will take a total of about 3 hr. 45 min. According to ViaMichelin.com, driving the same segments will take over 6 hours without any stops, and of course without dealing with car-rental agencies or looking for parking. Or paying for parking, for that matter.

Traveling east to Granada may be about a wash; those train times are not as fast, and the fast trains are not frequent in and out of Granada. Some folks find buses work well to Granada, being more frequent than the fast trains.

However, you have only 8 nights on the ground and 2 of them have to be in Malaga because of your flights in and out. I would not try to split 6 nights between the three major cities of Andalucía. That would lead to too much churn as you change hotels four times. Remember than 2 nights somewhere gives you just one full day and some odd hours.

I think you really need to pick just two destinations besides Malaga. One of them should be Seville. Seville is large enough and sight-rich enough that I think 4 nights are needed there. I absolutely wouldn't go below 3 nights. If you want to day-trip to Cordoba from Seville (not a terrible idea at all), you certainly need to spend 4 nights in Seville and accept the fact that you're trading off sights in Seville for sights in Cordoba. There's no right or wrong answer there.

Granada needs 2 nights since the Alhambra takes the better part of a day to see, and it's not the only thing worth seeing in Granada.

So I'm recommending one of these options--all with 2 nights in Malaga, of course.

Seville 4 (day-trip to Cordoba optional but recommended)
Granada 2

Seville 3 (no Cordoba; leaving for Granada late in the day)
Granada 3

Seville 4
Cordoba 2

Seville 3 (departing latish for Cordoba)
Cordoba 3 (day-trip to Medina Azahara)

The advantage of the last two itineraries is that you'll spend considerably less time on trains and thus have more time for sightseeing. I would only choose the last if your daughter has done some research on Medina Azahara and really wants to see it. There's plenty to enjoy right in Seville and Cordoba.

Posted by
321 posts

Thanks for the replies.

One of my main goals on this trip is to introduce my daughter to the freedom of traveling light and on public transportation. It will be much different as most trips we have done were either when they were much younger (and a car was easier) or to destinations that required a car.

I will take the recommendation to only do 2 cities in addition to Malaga. Most likely I will split the nights between Seville and Granada.

When my wife and I go, I will rent the car for a white villages and coastal tour.

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