We will be leaving Madrid on Wednesday April 12th (in the middle of Easter week) to spend some time in Andalusia before heading back to Barcelona. We love history, food and exploring local life. Interested in Seville, Granada, Ronda, and possibly, Nerja or Arcos. Knowing that Seville is extremely busy for Easter do we go to Granada first and leave Seville for after Easter Sunday? Any idea how Easter will affect the car rental agency hours in Seville or Granada? Your input on a workable route would be kindly appreciated!
Posted by
Spain
162 posts
Semana Santa is EXTREMELY busy! Make sure you have hotel reservations wherever you are going. Seville will be CRAZY! 2 Million People head to Seville for the weekend, so I would avoid Seville unless you want to be part of a huge crowd and can't move anywhere. I am in Nerja now, and they have a huge procession here as does Cordoba, basically all of Andalusia is big on Semana Santa.
I would take the train to Malaga from Madrid and rent a car in Malaga for a few days. Ronda is a day trip as is Granada, you can spend a day or two in Nerja, or stay in Malaga and just do a day trip to Nerja. I would definitely go to Seville day after Easter. I was in Cordoba during the week prior to Good Friday, and it was really fun seeing the processions. I was there for 3 nights. Cordoba was manageable, you walk everywhere, I was able to see about 5 different processions. They have a schedule of what is where, when..
From Seville you can take a train back to Barcelona, or a cheap Vueling flight.
You can actually do all of this on local transport, unless there are a lot of you, you can get away with no car, just taking trains and buses.