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Andalucía Roadtrip Suggestions

Hello,
I am helping my sister to plan a trip for a couple weeks during the Fall. She plans to stay with a friend in Madrid, make it slowly south and then back up to Madrid. They have interest in history, traditional dishes, and flamanco. I would appreciate opinions on on the amount of time I allotted to each town and any suggested for must-see places that I missed.

So far my itinerary looks like this:
Day 1 Madrid: fly in
Day 2 Madrid: train tour (Cervantes Train or Strawberry Train)
Day 3 Madrid: meet with friends, visit Restaurante Botín
Day 4 Madrid: visit the Retiro Park and botanical garden
Day 5 Granada: travel to Granada, visit the Hamman Al Ándalus in the evening
Day 6 Granada: visit the Alhambra palaces/Generalife gardens, shop around Albayzin and a flamanco show in Sacromonte
Day 7 Cadiz: travel to Cadiz
Day 8 Cadiz: sightseeing and walk along the coastline
Day 9 Córdoba: travel to Córdoba
Day 10 Córdoba: walk around the old town and patio gardens, watch an equestrian show at the royal stables
Day 11 Madrid: travel to Madrid
Day 12 Madrid: day trip to Toledo
Day 13 Madrid: ?
Day 14 : fly home

Does this plan have too many days spent in Madrid? If so, what other towns or day trips should I try to trade?

Posted by
50 posts

Botin is a tourist restaurant....Madrid might be the best food city in Europe right now and you can do a lot better, unless you are starving for suckling pig.

Not a good neighborhood for restaurants.

Posted by
267 posts

My wife and I spent 11 nights in Spain in Sep last year. Our trip report is posted on the forum, and might have useful information. This was our first visit to Spain, and for us the following itinerary worked well. FYI our original itinerary had Toledo instead of Cordoba, but another forum member persuaded us that Cordoba would be a better choice (given that we were visiting Seville and its cathedral).

  • Seville: 3 nights
  • Ronda: 2 night
  • Granada: 2 nights
  • Cordoba: 1 night
  • Madrid: 3 nights
Posted by
5 posts

GeoffB, thank you!
Your travel report is very detailed and helpful.

Do you think it is worth it to stop for a few hours in Seville on the way from Cadiz to Cordoba? We can't really stay a whole night in Seville due to my sister's friend having to get back to work, but maybe seeing a little of Seville is better than none?

Posted by
267 posts

GeoffB, ....Do you think it is worth it to stop for a few hours in Seville on the way from Cadiz to Cordoba? We can't really stay a whole night in Seville due to my sister's friend having to get back to work, but maybe seeing a little of Seville is better than none?

Hi Jebi. I am happy you found the trip report helpful. IMHO, a few hours in Seville might be worth it only if y'all want to spend several hours in Seville Cathedral and/or the Alcazar. They are very near each other in the old town.

I envy your trip!

Posted by
396 posts

Maybe take a day or two from Madrid for Seville? The Seville highlight, for us, was the rooftop tour of the Cathedral. Enjoy!

Posted by
796 posts

@mml - I'm glad to hear a highlight was the rooftop tour of the Cathedral! I will definitely plan on booking that for my trip in November!