Cordoba, Granada, Seville, Madrid - order of travel between cities?

Posted by Mario on 11/21/18 02:36 PM

We’ve got 13 days, flying in and out of Madrid, end of April 2019 (after Semana Santa).
Desired locations are Seville, Granada, Cordoba, leaving Madrid area for last so we are local for the flight home.

The plan is:

Arrive Madrid in morning, take train to Cordoba. 2 nights in Cordoba.
Travel to Granada, 2 nights
Travel to Seville, 4 nights
Travel to Madrid, 5 nights (Toledo, Segovia, etc., a leisure day or two before traveling back)

Does that sound OK for travel routes or does anyone with experience have suggestions for a different order of cities? Online posts suggest that travel from Granada to Madrid is rough so trying to avoid that.

Prefer to have the two longer stretches at the latter part of trip.
Suggestions are appreciated. Thanks.

Posted by Priscilla

California 🦋

11/21/18 02:50 PM

5294 posts

Mario,

I like the route you’ve chosen, and it’s the exact route we took on our trip a few years ago.
The main reason for taking this route was to avoid the long trek from Granada to Madrid.

Make sure to book your Alhambra tickets 3 months in advance of your dates.

Have a wonderful trip!

Posted by Jean

Idaho, USA

11/21/18 03:45 PM

7810 posts

Your plan looks fine. I will share another idea, just to give you options. We went to Toledo, first, to get over jetlag and stayed overnight in this charming, small town which we really enjoyed, especially in the evening. We felt like one day in Cordoba was enough. But, if you went there, first, you would want the extra day since you would have jetlag. The route I’m suggesting does allow you to purchase your more expensive train tickets ahead of time; the train to Toledo isn’t an AVE (fast, expensive) train. Either way, these are wonderful towns to visit!

Arrive Madrid in morning, take train to Toledo for 2 nights.
Travel to Cordoba, 1 night
Travel to Granada, 2 nights
Travel to Seville, 4 nights
Travel to Madrid, 4 nights (Segovia, etc)

Posted by Jean

Idaho, USA

11/21/18 03:48 PM

7810 posts

I case you want ideas for hotels and activities, here’s my trip report from last September/October.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/1st-time-to-spain-trip-report

Posted by RJean

New York, NY

11/21/18 06:14 PM

1586 posts

Hey Mario,

The itinerary looks good. Are you planning to do the entire trip by train or will you rent a car during trip for visiting the smaller cities?

Madrid to Granada is only 4 hours and 29 minutes and Cordoba to Madrid is 4 hours 21 minutes. Just 9 minutes difference. You can do either or. Travel by train will get you there fast.

You can tailor your itinerary like this too for the 13 days:

Arrive Madrid in morning then take train straight to Granada
(Rent car in Granada)

Granada

Day 1 - Granada

Day 2 - Granada (Drive to beach town Nerja which is 1 hr. 16 min from Granada then drive to Cordoba)

Cordoba

Day 1 - Cordoba

Day 2 - Cordoba (Drive to Seville)

Seville

Day 1 - Seville

Day 2 - Day trip to Arcos De la Frontera (1 hr. 19 min by car)

Day 3 - Day trip to Jerez De La Frontera (1 hr. 11 min by car) and drop off rental car later in the day.

Day 4 - Seville (take train to Madrid)

Madrid

Day 1 - Madrid

Day 2- Madrid (Day trip to Toledo by train)

Day 3 - Madrid (Day trip to Segovia by train)

Day 4 - Madrid

Day 5 - Madrid (Fly Home)