Granada-Cordoba-Sevilla

My first reaction, given just 6 days, is just do Madrid and Cordoba. Forget Sevilla and Granada.
Don't waste time traveling.

Fly open jaw into Granada and depart from Seville for the return home. This means you will make a connection in Madrid, but we have never had an issue with the connections. Using this tactic saves TIME (your most valuable commodity) and worth a small additional air expense (typically $100 to $150 esch, but there have also been times where there is no additional expense).
First make sure you can obtain tickets to the Alhambra for your stay.
We recommend two days in Granada then take a bus to Seville (excellent clean comfortable form of transport at low cost). Four days in Seville with a day trip, via train, to Cordoba.
Enjoy!

I did this in 6 nights and it worked well. Here’s how:

Fly into Madrid, arrive early AM. Late afternoon train to Seville (late to allow for delay on arrival, we arrived on time and had time in Madrid, but were jet lagged).
Nights 1-3 in Seville
On day 4 take EARLY train to Córdoba, store luggage at bus station. See Mesquita and highlights. Leave that PM on bus to Granada
Nights 4-6 in Granada

Fly on EARLY flight to Madrid, then home that day.

As I said, this worked. But I love the region and went back for longer in future trips.

Where you fly into depends on the connections you can get to and from your home airport. Flying into or out of Seville didn’t save me any time over Madrid. But if it did, it would be worth it! If not a time-saver, then you can train directly to Seville from Madrid easily (perhaps on your arrival day, depending on your flight).

I might recommend only Seville and Cordoba with such a short time. But you don’t say if you have a full 6 nights in the country or fewer. With 6 nights, you could have 3 Seville, 2 Cordoba, &1 Madrid the night before your return flight. Or 4, 1, and 1. I love Granada, but adding it would not make for relaxing and uncomplicated with such a short time.

I am in Seville tonight (3 nights) in Granada tomorrow for 3 nights and was in Cordoba for one night 2 days ago. Today we found sun, relaxation, and strolling on the beach in 60 degree weather Cadiz, as a day trip from Seville. I highly recommend that. also Seville has some of the best parks that I've ever experienced in Europe for just chilling.

The only flight I could afford was into Madrid and then we took the train to Cordoba. If you can afford it fly into Seville and out of Granada or vice versa.

We are flying back from Malaga since that airport has a lot of options.

Fantastic information here!
Thank you so much everyone for sharing!
I am working on this and taking in what you are suggesting.

Six days isn’t a lot of time, but if you fly into Sevilla and out of Granada, seeing the 3 cities you mentioned is doeable. Spend 4 nights in Sevilla with a day trip to Córdoba and 2 nights in Granada. Or, fly into Granada and out of Sevilla.

Check on the Alhambra tickets RIGHT NOW. If regular (14-euro) tickets aren't available, see about Dobla de oro tickets. If they are also sold out, check with your hotel, and finally consider a tour--but be sure it includes the Nasrid Palaces (there's at least one out there that does not). If you can't get tickets to the Alhambra, I'd skip Granada for now.

People count days differently. You said 6 days, but how many nights do you have on the ground in Spain? Your first day is likely to find you sleep-deprived and jetlagged. Your last day will be occupied with flying back home. So how many real, non-jetlagged, days do you have?

I suspect that when I learn the answer to that question, I'll be urging you to pick two cities rather than three. I don't think trying to see 3 cities in 6 (5? 4?) days is a great way to have a stress-free trip. The AVE trains running from Madrid to Cordoba and on to Seville are very fast. Granada is a bit less convenient to include in a short trip.

I hope you can find affordable flights into Granada and out of Seville, or vice-versa. However, from my origin (Washington DC) I found even Seville far more expensive than Madrid (by something like $500-$600 round-trip). Maybe you will be luckier, or perhaps you can be philosophical about such a fare difference. You have very little time, so it will make quite a difference if you can fly right to and from cities you actually want to visit.

Hello from Wisconsin,
I would second the first reply. 6 days?...do only one or two cities. Yah, you can fly to Granada and scramble over to Sevilla or the reverse and then fly out. Really? Does that sound like fun? Sonce when was standing line for airport security considered a good use of travel time?

Pick a main city and maybe do a day trip out of it.

wayne iNWi

We were in that area in November. Here are links to my trip reports.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/spain-andalusia-toledo-madrid-segovia
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/spain-andalusia-toledo-madrid-segovia-part-2
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/spain-andalusia-toledo-madrid-segovia-part-3
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/spain-andalusia-toledo-madrid-segovia-part-4

I think so much is personal opinion. I'm active and like to see things. I'm just guessing, but I think many on this forum are retired so they have the need and the time to move at a slower pace. In that area of Spain, we enjoyed our travel time. The views of mountains and olive trees and white villages are impressive. I'm not sure how you are counting your days, are these full days or will you be arriving and departing on these days? With all the impressive, historic cities in Spain, I would minimize my exposure to Madrid on a first trip unless you want to go to the Prado. If you have the ability to travel open jaw, that would be of help to you. I think depending on the make up of the days you have, 6 days is adequate to cover the three cities. I would spend 3 nights in Sevilla, two in Granada and one in Cordoba. (I spent two in Cordoba, there is so much there to enjoy) If you prepurchase tickets to the Alcazar and Alhambra to minimize time in lines, I believe you would have time to stroll and relax. If you can't get tickets to the Alhambra, I would split the time into four in Sevilla and two in Cordoba.