Guide/driver for Seville, Cordoba and Granada

Where are you arriving/departing? That's a lot for two full days--knowing where you are coming from and going will help us advise on things you can include on those days, as well as how to best work the two full days.

We will be taking the train from Barcelona. We will be there from October 3-7 and then will take a train to Madrid. The amount of time we have will be based upon the time we take the train. At this moment we have not made any train reservations. Actually, I do not think the timetable is available yet.

I don't know the train route from Barcelona.
Do you have any flexibility with the time frame otherwise?
I would personally only want one base for three nights. Sevilla and Cordoba are very well linked by train and it would be easy to do just those two. I think you could fit one more day trip--though this would still be tight.
Do you have a guide book? It will give you sample itineraries, bus and train routes, and often includes information on private tours also.

We do not have a guide book but should purchase one. We have been relying on information from websites. The reason we want a guide is so we can maximize the time that we have while there. We thought we would reserve a hotel in Cordoba but are flexible and are willing to change if a different city is better.

Cordoba is lovely and worth staying in, but Seville is a larger city with more sights, so most travelers find they need to spend more time there. When you can only spare one night for a city and the train trip takes only 45 minutes each way on the fast AVE and AVANT trains, it's worth considering whether a day trip makes more sense than spending the night. Yes, it means an extra 45 minutes on the train (and the tickets aren't free), but it prevents the need to take suitcases with you and saves the time you'd otherwise spend traveling between the train station and a Cordoba hotel and checking in and out.

Thank you for your response. It makes sense to stay in Seville. Do you recommend Seville rather than Granada?

We still want to find a guide who also drives so we can get to the smaller cities. Does anyone know of a guide/driver?

Bobbi, I would suggest getting in touch with Emily who owns South Ole Spain Tours. Emily arranged an English speaking, kind driver for us when we visited Spain several years ago (and we were picked up from the Parador in Granada, stopped in Ronda for lunch with time on our own, then to Gibraltar (where Emily arranged the most amazing private guide who met us at the border, drove us across, showed us exactly what we wanted to see and gave fabulous commentary, then reconnected us with our driver on the other side of the border, who then took us to Old Town Marbella for our 2-night stay (then our hotel arranged a driver to the airport to make our connection flight to Morocco). We had been in Barcelona for three days (which we arranged on our own), flew to Granada for two nights, then had a jammed packed, enjoyable day seeing Ronda and Gibraltar and making our way to Marbella.

I checked Trip Advisor, just to make sure she still gets glowing reviews (since it has been several years since we visited Spain), and no surprise, she does. She was incredible in meeting our needs, and called to check on us when we arrived in Granada and then at the end of the day with her driver, just to make sure we were pleased (and oh how we were). Her communication and advice prior to our trip was incredible, too. She can tailor pretty much anything to your needs and makes great recommendations.

She will also arrange a turn-key trip, if you would like that, including overnight stays (based on what she senses you want....luxury or more modest), and she can also arrange special experiences, such as wine tastings, side tours, or dinners, etc.

She is an American who fell in love with Spain and decided to stay and help others see the country she loves so much.

Below is a link for Trip Advisor reviews on her company.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g187437-d2302101-Reviews-South_Ole_Spain_Tours-Estepona_Costa_del_Sol_Province_of_Malaga_Andalucia.html

Here is her website:

https://southolespaintours.com/

P.S. to previous post.

For Granada, we highly recommend the Parador. It is nice to be right on the grounds of the Alhambra, and it was easy to just pop to our room to drop off a jacket and pick up a hat between touring the palace and the gardens. We had a little French balcony in our room, and our meals there were truly fabulous. It is easy to catch the little bus if you also want to go into Granada (which is down a pretty steep hill). I do not know if the paradores still do so, but when we went they had a special senior discount (that I think I recall included a full breakfast).............and I think (not certain) it was for people age 50-something and over (which I realize may or may not apply for you)....worth checking, if you make a reservation there. And, if I recall correctly the discount did not show for the dates we reserved, but then it did later (closer to our stay) and an kind email request updated our reservation accordingly :)

The Alhambra is magnificent, and it's not the only thing to see in the city (though one gets the impression some tourists only see that one thing). The Alhambra's a large complex that takes time to fully appreciate--say 4 to 8 hours depending on whether you want to walk every pathway, go inside every building open on the day of your visit and take a bunch of photos. (Trying to get pictures without other people in them will seriously slow you down.) Day-tripping to Granada calls for a lot of time on the train, even if you're starting from Cordoba rather than Seville--2 hours for the first morning train (arriving 10:24 AM) or 1 hour 35 minutes for the second train (arriving 10:54 AM). The last train back to Cordoba leaves Granada at 5:20 PM and takes 1 hour 42 minutes.

It's worth mentioning that train stations are not necessarily located a short walk from a tourist's sightseeing targets. The Alhambra is 2 miles from the Granada train station, and of course your base-city hotel will probably not be right beside the train station, either. That means you need to add a fair amount of local transportation time to the scheduled time on the train.

I get that you want to see Ronda and Antequera, but you are trying to pour a gallon milk into a quart bottle. You're going to be spending too much time traveling back and forth and not enough time with your feet on the ground actually seeing things. There's a reason why Seville, Cordoba and Granada are the top destinations in Andalucia (and among the very top in the entire country). Ronda and Antequera just aren't in the same league. And you have only 3 days and some hours to divvy up.

We would have made many mistakes in organizing our trip if it had not been for all of you. Thank you.
We are 77 and 78 and well-traveled, but still not young anymore.
Thank you for your advice about the trains and also about the guide. I am going to write to the guide after sending this response. The reason we want a guide is so we can spend as much or as little time as our energy and enthusiasm allows.

The next question is - which city should we use as our base?
Thanks again.
Bobbi

Oh, gosh, Bobbi. I'm 70 myself, I walk a lot, and I couldn't manage that pace!

The first thing you need to do is buy a guidebook; Rick's is good. I use a guidebook much more during the trip-planning phase than while on the road. The book is key to deciding which places are most important to me and how much time I'll need for each. It's while reading a guidebook that you sometimes realize you have planned to cover too much ground and have to make the tough decision to either drop some cities or accept that you'll not see everything you want in many places. Different people make different decisions at that point, depending on their priorities (in-depth travel or a quick look). Remember that squeezing in more cities means more time on trains and doing the hotel shuffle. Little sightseeing is accomplished while you do those things, so more cities equal less sightseeing time.

Have you decided what you're willing to omit? The best base(s) for a short stay like this depend on what places you want to go and how many days you want to have in each one. You really have only two intact days here, plus some hours on your Madrid-to-Andalucia day, plus maybe some hours on the Andalucia-to-Barcelona day. (I kept reading your time available as "three days and four nights", though what you said was the opposite. Three nights is two days, not four.)

Others may have different suggestions, but I would spend all three nights in Seville and take a day trip to Cordoba. I wouldn't attempt Granada with this little time.

If you can't bear to miss the Alhambra, it makes things difficult. Let's say you spend you first two nights in Seville (you'd have about 1-1/2 days there if you leave Madrid early on Day 1). There are five early departures from Seville to Granada between 7:14 and 9:13 AM (this is Day 3). Realistically, it's probably going to be between 11:15 and 12:30 PM, if not later, by the time you drop your luggage off at your hotel and head toward the Alhambra. By the way: You have to get the Alhambra ticket in advance--maybe way in advance, depending on how many people are traveling in October. The next day (Day 4), depending on how and when you plan to travel to Barcelona, you may have a little time to see something else in Granada. The Basilica of San Juan de Dios is stunning and would be one possibility. The Albaicin would be another.

If you just have to see Cordoba, too, this is the best I can come up with:

Day 1: Leave Madrid early (there are a bunch of early trains, then nothing between 8 AM and 9:35 AM). Go to Cordoba and check your bags (verify, but I think there's luggage storage at the bus station not far from the trains station); you may need coins for lockers. See what you can of Cordoba, definitely including the [Mezquita][3], which closes for lunch. It's open 10 AM - 2 PM and 4 PM to 7 PM. It's a large building that takes some time to see; don't show up there at 1:30!

That same day, continue on to Seville (this requires a separate train ticket). You'll have to judge the value of more hours in Cordoba vs. more hours in Seville. The Alcazar in Seville takes considerable time, Seville has more important sights than Cordoba, and it's a much larger city. The fast trains (taking less than an hour) are reasonably frequent. Don't plan to take the last one. Check into your hotel in Seville for 2 nights.

Day 2: Sightsee in Seville.

Day 3: Train to Granada as described above.

Day 4: Fly to Barcelona if the schedule is decent. Train would be slower. If there's a mid-afternoon flight (I don't see one now), you'd have a few hours in Granada.

Trains are faster than cars Madrid-Cordoba-Seville. Seville-Granada, car and train don't differ too much.