Arriving in Madrid on May 1, Ronda & flamingos

As many times as I’ve been to Spain I had never heard of flamingos being there and had to look them up. The Reserva Natural de la Laguna de Fuente de Piedra where some flamingos are is a 1.5 hours drive by car from Sevilla or an almost 3 hours bus ride. The reserve is also an hour drive from Ronda or Malaga. No matter where you start from, there are few busses, especially ones that get you to the reserve in a timely manner.

With regard to Toledo,, I’d go directly there. If driving it’s about an hour’s drive. Others will know better, but I believe if taking the train you’d need to go to Atocha train station to catch it. That would add about 40 minutes getting to Toledo. From Toledo, if taking the train to Sevilla, you’d need to go back to Madrid anyway.

With the tight itinerary you already have I’m not sure how you’d fit in Ronda and the nature reserve. Barcelona is the outlier, so if you eliminated it for this trip you’d have time to fit in the other stops and see everything at a more leisurely pace while spending less time transiting between locations.

Oh, I hope you can work out how to see Flamingos. I've seen them in the area south of Arles, France and they're so cool.

Are you a birder? If so do you e-bird? Here is a link to the area mentioned. It looks like Flamingos are there in great numbers the time of year you plan to visit. Some of the checklists from last spring don't list a number of Flamingo seen and just have an "X" which generally means too numerous to count.

https://ebird.org/hotspot/L11138163/activity?yr=all&m=

You can try the Doñana Wetlands National Park, just south of Sevilla, for the flamingos.

Guided tour of Doñana from Sevilla - https://www.viator.com/tours/Seville/Donana-National-Park-and-El-Rocio-4x4-Guided-Tour-from-Seville/d556-8512P25

Three nights is quite short for Seville and two is minimal for Granada, so no matter how you handle Cordoba, you are seriously reducing your chance of a solid visit to one of the other cities. And Cordoba benefits from more time than you'd have on a day trip or an in-transit stop, for all that many folks do not spend the night there.

I love Barcelona (one of my very favorite cities in Europe, and I'd always recommend at least 5 nights there unless the traveler had no interest in modernista architecture), but I agree that with the time you have available, it's really not possible to do justice to both Barcelona and Andalucia, given that you are flying into Madrid and want to spend your second night (if not also your first) in Toledo. All of the cities are totally worth multiple full days, but you're spreading yourself awfully thin. If you dropped Barcelona from this trip, that would provide some very valuable breathing room. Including Ronda might be possible, and/or a side trip from Madrid to Segovia.

Have you been to Madrid before? If not, there's stuff to see there (though it's far from my favorite Spanish city) that might pull you back on a later trip. That later trip could be Madrid and Barcelona, plus whatever surrounding destinations might appeal to you.

I agree with acraven, I'd drop Barcelona and use that time to see Andalucía properly without feeling like the Amazing Race. I'd also travel directly to Sevilla via a connecting flight if possible to be more efficient.

So it could look like:

Fly in
Sevilla 4 nights - day trip to Doñana National Park for flamingos
Ronda 2 nights
Granada 3 nights
Cordoba 2 nights
Madrid 1 night
Fly out

Best to save Madrid + Toledo when you can combine with Barcelona on another trip.

Thanks everyone. Barcelona cannot be dropped as it's the city I'm flying home from and was the reason I want to visit to begin with. In looking back at my original post I see I forgot to mention that. I will edit.

I realize that for some places it's tight amount of time but it's the best I can do with work schedule & other obligations. If I have to skip Toledo & Cordoba for the flamingos I may. I've always wanted to see them in the wild & I would hate to miss an opportunity to see them. Thank you for the tour link!

I'll need to think about it a little. Thanks everyone!

Pam, thank you for the ebird link. I use it at home & it didn't even occur to me to check it for Spain. I do enjoy birding but have always been fascinated by flamingos. It would be such a thrill to see them in the wild! The ebird checklist has me even more excited!

If you plan to go back to Madrid on another trip, then skip Toledo this time and go there next time around. It's easy to tie it in to a Madrid-based stay, either for a day trip or (better) for a couple of overnights.

What about heading directly to Córdoba on your arrival? Quick train ride from Madrid, and a walk-up fare shouldn't be prohibitively expensive (or buy in advance, but then you're at risk of having to shift your train time if your plane arrives late).

So:
Córdoba 1N, train to
Sevilla 4N with day trip to Doñana, train to
Granada 2N, fly to
Barcelona 5N

Hi DebVt, that's a good idea. Since I arrive so early that would be a good use of time. My flights are settled using miles.

Barcelona is somewhere that has been high on my list to visit for a long time. When I started researching this trip I learned about so many other places I would like to see. What a beautiful & interesting country. I'll definitely be back.

I like DebVT's plan, too. Making Cordoba the first stop somewhat reduces the financial impact of waiting until the day of arrival to buy the train ticket. The ticket will still not be cheap, but Cordoba's closer to Madrid, so it will be cheaper than a ticket to Seville or Granada. However, you need to monitor ticket availability for your travel date. Trains between Madrid and Cordoba/Seville do sell out sometimes, and I don't just mean one or two trains on any given day.

You can check the ticket situation here: https://www.renfe.com/es/en

Thank you everyone!

I agree with debVt and Acraven. That’s exactly what I would do. Cordoba deserves at least one overnight. There is so much to see in cordoba besides the magnificent mezquita. Such as the alcazar gardens, palacio de viana with its 12 patios, Roman bridge and wandering the juderia.

Greetings... this trip has evolved in a way I certainly didn't suspect it would when I posted it. I somehow stumbled on the train ride from Paris to Barcelona which is supposed to be magnificent trip. I love trains and try to take 1 good train ride whenever I'm in Europe. Long story short I am now going to London 3 nights, Paris 4 nights and taking the train to Barcelona where I have 6 nights before I fly home. I found a very good mileage deal direct to London. Just wanted to let everyone know who helped me out with my question. Especially because I may have new questions. This will allow me to return another time focusing on Southern Spain. Happy Travels!

Will there be water when you want to see the flamingos? A question you need to answer. We went and it was midsummer. Lagoon was smaller. Flamingos were WAY out there. You could see them as an aggregate of pink. We did not have binoculars. You cannot walk out. There are fences. So you can only view them from a distance anyway. There are also trees in the way between you and the flock. To go there by public transport would take some planning, and probably a lot of time. Almost the sort that will make it into a 2-3 night extra excursion.
There must be better places to see flamingos around the world.
We did see flamingos in passing on a train between Taormina and Catania. It was unexpected and luck and the train was moving so we had only a brief view.