Andalusia- 10 Day Itinerary

I had the same experience with airfare in 2019, though flying from Washington DC. It didn't make sense to pay about an extra $500 (one way!) to fly to Seville or Malaga instead of Madrid. Your plan to head to Cordoba on arrival day is a good one. You can afford to wait to buy that ticket until you land at Barajas. Just make sure you either buy it online (I haven't done that) or at the airport train station. You want to avoid any risk of needing to stand in line at the staffed counters at Madrid's Atocha Station.

I think you're a day short in Seville, but your time is limited and there's something to be said for mixing in some smaller destinations. You can see more of Seville when you return to Andalucia to see Granada.

I would recommend, though, that you travel straight from Cordoba to Jerez and leave all your Seville nights till the end of the trip, unless there's a day-of-the-week imperative behind your current plan. Not having to check into Seville hotels twice will buy you a bit of time.

I'm not sure you need a full day in Jerez. The Renfe website is nonresponsive at the moment, so I can't say anything about how fast you can get from Cordoba to Jerez by train, but Google Maps is telling me it will take roughly 2 hours, which isn't bad at all for a distance of over 120 miles.

There's good bus service from Jerez to Arcos de la Frontera. There's bus service from Arcos on to Ronda, I think, but it's probably not very frequent. You're probably right that a car will help in that area at some point.

I wouldn't necessarily agree with the above comment, about a partial day in Jerez being enough -- for some of us (but of course, not all), one day would be far to little. I mention this only because you specified flamenco as one of your interests, and on my visit to Jerez in Dec. 2019 (3 complete, enjoyable days), I found it to be a real flamenco town. I don't know whether the Jerez I saw was typical (it was way into the "off-season," and just barely pre-covid), but I found I could just walk around during the evening, listen for flamenco, and slip into whatever little tabanco (sherry bar) it was coming from. A good place (but not the only one) for such walks was the neighborhood around where Calle Large and Calle Arcos nearly come together. Somewhere in that area, a tabanco called El Pasaje would be a good place to start, but there are others.

Thank you both for your replies. The more we talk about it, the more we think we need to limit ourselves to 2-3 places to stay and I feel like I’ve got to include Granada or I might regret it…

So now we are towing with Cordoba, Seville and Granada and taking trains between each with the possibility of day trips.

Any thoughts on that?

Time is just not your friend. I had the same dilemma a few years ago and ended up with going directly to Cordoba for one night, then an evening train to Seville for 4 nights which included a day trip to Jerez, then on to Granada for 3 nights, & back to Madrid for my final night before flying home (trying to fly from Seville actually didn’t help me any timewise).

You have one fewer nights than I did. If you can fly from Seville, then you could go to Cordoba (1), then on to Granada (3), then finish in Seville (4). Although I don’t know if it would be better trainwise to head Granada-Cordoba-Seville. I am glad you are able to include Granada - I loved it. I guess it would be possible to include one night in either Cadiz or Jerez if you steal from Seville or Granada…..

Yes, the "big 3" is your ideal itinerary. I would encourage you to on to Cordoba by train from the airport (you'll have to change trains in Madrid). You'll be tired/jetlagged anyway, so just power through. Maybe you'll even be able to nap on the train. Drop your bags at your hotel, go out for walk - maybe through a bit of the Juderia and around the Mezquita, get a meal and go to bed early. Sunset's around 8 pm.

Check the train and bus (Alsa) schedules from Cordoba to Granada to see which is better for you. Be sure to get your Alhambra tickets well in advance.

2-3N Cordoba. One full day will give you enough time for the Mezquita and the Juderia. A second day will give you time to see more of this lovely town and its sights.

2-3N Granada. Depending on the timing of your arrival and departure, 2N may be enough. You'll want the full day for the Alhambra, some of the Albaicin and the cathedral. Those are the top places to visit.

Then the rest in Sevilla.

The white hill towns, including Ronda, are nice, but these 3 cities are many times better. I didn't find Jerez particularly pretty as a town. The main draws are the sherry bodegas but that won't interest a non-drinker and the horse shows - which are usually only 3, maybe 4, times a week so it's difficult to time it. Check the Royal Stables in Cordoba - they also have similar horse shows. The best flamenco for me was at Casa del Flamenco in Sevilla. Sevilla also has the best tapas.

@chani and @travelmom - these posts are SO HELPFUL! Thank you!

We're hoping to do this region of Spain towards the end of May (T-27 days, 7 hours, 50 minutes but who's counting) ... here's the Reader's Digest version of my itinerary ... I know we probably could use more time in each city but I don't have the time off and this gives us a good taste of each:

Day 1 - arrive early in Madrid (hopefully), see 2 of the 5 Madrid basilicas (Royal Basilica of Saint Francis the Great and Basilica of Jesus de Medinaceli) and either one or both of The Prado or Museo Reina Sofía (after 6pm when they are free ... we're not arties but I want to see the highlights (Las Meninas and The Garden of Earthly Delights in The Prado, and Guernica in Museo Reina Sofía) ... my goal is to see at least the top 20 paintings in the world, these 3 will give me 7 total ... we've been to the Royal Palace, Almudena Cathedral, the Plaza Mayor and Mercado de San Miguel on a previous trip)
Day 2 - Day trip by train to San Lorenzo de El Escorial and (maybe) the Valley of The Fallen ... or maybe Toledo
Day 3 - Morning train to Granada, afternoon at the Granada Cathedral and Royal Chapel, tapas and Los Italianos (gelato)
Day 4 - Alhambra, Nasrid Palaces, Generalife Palace & Gardens ... late afternoon walk around Albaicin and go to San Nicolas Plaza to enjoy the view of Alhambra and have some wine and tapas ... nightcap at Hannigan and Sons Irish Bar (next to our hotel)
Day 5 - Morning train to Seville ... Basílica de la Macarena, Alcazar Palace, Archivo de Indias, Plaza de España
Day 6 - Seville Cathedral, Giralda Tower and whatever else we didn't see the previous day ... 7:00pm train to Cordoba
Day 7 - Mezquita Cathedral, Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos, watch a Cordoba Ecuestre practice session, Roman Bridge
Day 8 - Morning train to Madrid, see the other 3 basilicas (Pontifical Basilica of St. Michael, Royal Basilica of Our Lady of Atocha, Basilica Parroquia La Milagrosa), Royal Botanic Gardens and El Retiro Park (if we have time) and The Prado and/or Museo Reina Sofía if we didn't on the first day (free after 6pm) ... Adios Espana dinner
Day 9 - 1:00pm nonstop to DFW (hopefully ... otherwise it's time to get creative again)

Hello from Wisconsin,
Here is one slice of information. The train station in Cordoba is a nice short walk from everything you want to see and likely where you want stay. While Seville and Granada you might consider taxis from station to your bed.

Ronda and Jerez can wit for another trip. I have not been to Jerez. Ronda alone is well worth a few days.

wayne iNWI

Plane tickets are booked and so are hotels!

Final itinerary:
Day 1: evening flight Philadelphia to Madrid
Day 2: land in Madrid in the morning, train to Cordoba
Day 3: Cordoba
Day 4: Cordoba to Seville
Day 5: Seville
Day 6: Seville
Day 7: Seville to Granada
Day 8: Granada
Day 9: Granada
Day 10: Granada to Madrid
Day 11: fly home mid day from Madrid to Philadelphia

Looks great - I want to go with you! :) :)

Something to keep in mind when going to Granada and The Alhambra ... as I was looking into tickets, I read you should give yourself at least 30 minutes to get from the main entrance to the Nasrid Palace, which requires a timed entrance ticket ... the gates open at 8:30 and the first timed entry was 8:30, with a new window every 30 minutes ... so you would have to hustle (uphill I believe) to make that first, or even second entry at 9:00, which is why both of those time slots had a huge number of tickets left, while the entries starting at 9:30 were very limited ... after more research, I found that if you use the Puerta de la Justicia gate, which accepts only pre-printed tickets with the QR code, it's a 5 minute walk to the Nasrid Palace ... this gate is only a few more stops on the bus route after the main entrance ... if you want the palace virtually to yourself, get there before the gate opens at 8:30, go straight to the palace and you should be one of the first to enter that day ... that's my plan, I'll try to remember to update this post (and maybe do a trip report) with actual details.