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Best Way to Explore Andalucia

My sister and I are planning a trip to Spain in December and we were thinking of doing a few days in Madrid followed by a few days in the Adalucia region. I was wondering whether it is better to stay in Seville the whole time and do day trips to Cordoba and Granada, or if we should stay in each place separately (starting in Seville and ending in Granada). We are also flying out of Madrid and I wasn't sure whether getting a train back there would be easier from Seville as I was told there are no direct trains from Granada to Madrid. Thank you for any answers you can provide us!

Posted by
27122 posts

Granada is really too far from Seville to be a day-trip. Cordoba can be handled that way, however.

I think the trip from Granada to Madrid is partly by bus and partly by high-speed train, but it is reportedly a seamless trip.

Posted by
5581 posts

Right now Granada to Cordoba/Madrid is a bus to Antequera and then a train. I did hear they are working on a train route directly from Granada to Cordoba but I didn't hear a completion date. I also was told that the transfer in Antequera is easy.

Posted by
5213 posts

How many nights do you plan to spend in Spain?

If time permits, I’d suggest traveling to your first city on day of arrival, then leaving Madrid to the end of your trip.

This is the route that we took:
Arrived Madrid > train to Córdoba > bus to Granada > bus to Sevilla > train to Madrid (we actually stayed in Toledo) > fly home from Madrid.

The main reason for choosing this route was to avoid the long trek from Granada to Madrid.

Make sure you book your Alhambra Tickets 3 months in advance.

Enjoy your time in beautiful Spain!

Posted by
62 posts

Priscilla, how many nights did you spend in each of your spots? Or how many would you recommend?

Posted by
7175 posts

Hopefully you have at least 10 nights. Depending on your flight time I would try to get to Seville later on your arrival day.

Day
1. Arrive Madrid. Train to Seville (4N)
2. Seville
3. Day to Cordoba for the Mezquita
4. Seville
5. Train to Granada (2N)
6. Visit the Alhambra
7. Train to Madrid (4N)
8. Madrid
9. Day to Toledo
10. Madrid / Day to Segovia
11. Depart Madrid

Posted by
5213 posts

Sform,

We spent 20 days in Spain and spent 5 nights in Córdoba, 4 nights in Granada, 5 nights in Sevilla, 5 nights in Toledo and one night in Madrid.

We’d visited Madrid on a previous visit so we wanted to stay in Toledo on this trip.
My mom was 88 years old at the time and thus we took this slow paced trip and enjoyed it very much.

I’d recommend at least 2 nights in Córdoba, 3 nights in Granada, 4-5 nights in Sevilla and 3-4 nights in Toledo.
If you’ve not visited Madrid, then you may want to spend 4-5 nights there and visit Toledo as a day trip.
Enjoy!