Home base(s) for 2 weeks in Andalucia?

Based on experience suggest seville as the base over cordoba. Idea of 5/5/2 (granada, seville, jerez) sounds intriguing. Unsure of what the splurge for spending the night in alhamba would provide, but staying late into the evening is nice. Wwhat month are you planning to go? Suggest start in barcelona, ave to madrid, train to granada, bus or train to seville, train to jerez. Us open jaw ticket and fl out of seville.

What time of year are you planning to go? That may affect your plans a bit, especially in terms of opening hours.

This link to the Spain Travel Guide might be useful in making some of your decisions: http://www.tourspain.org/.

I am also curious about the "spend the night at the Alhambra" comment. You can visit both day and night, but I could find no evidence of a way to spend the night there (http://www.alhambradegranada.org/en/). Be sure to click on the links to the left of this page for details of the history, art, writings and much more there. I can easily see how multiple visits might be in order to take it all in.

About Cordoba vs. Sevilla. We did the opposite. We stayed in Sevilla and day-tripped by train to Cordoba. We went specifically for the Mezquita (http://www.sacred-destinations.com/spain/cordoba-mezquita) which is the most beautiful building I have ever been in (so far). But I can't imagine going repeatedly. I can imagine spending a couple of days in Cordoba, though, or at least a couple of day trips.

Our main reason for going to Sevilla was Flamenco. We are not nightlife people, but seeing Flamenco was #1 on our list for the area. We are also slow travelers and rarely spend as much as 6 hours a day doing stuff, so I totally get that.

Thanks for asking this question. We are planning a month in Spain early next year, hopefully timing it so that we will be in Sevilla or Cordoba or both for Semana Santa. We know it will be a zoo, but we're prepared for that.

Cordoba is a great small city but big enough to keep you busy for several days at a leisurely pace. For your style of travel, I think it's a great plan. You don't even need to do an overnight in Sevilla; it's so close you can take the train several times (you'll need about 2-3 days to hit the highlights). But catching a flamenco show there is wonderful and it might make sense to have at least one night there.

FYI - Granada is not that well served by train. You might find it faster and cheaper to take a bus, though with your schedule time is not of the essence.

There is a hotel at Alhambra. It'd be a great spot to stay and catch the night tours there since the site is remote from the center of town.

Do see the Alhambra at night by taking the Nasrid Palaces tour after dark. It is quite easy to get there and back to the old town center on the public minibus. No need to change lodgings.

I loved Cordoba. Taking it slowly there's enough to fill up several days, though as much as I loved the Mezquita, I can't imagine going back again and again. Although most people find that Seville has more to offer, Cordoba may be a better choice for you. It is easy to go back and forth by train. Jerez could be a good place for about 3 days. It is easy to take day trips to Cadiz (by train) and Arcos (by bus). The royal riding school has excellent horse shows a couple of mornings a week (more in summer). It is the sherry capital of the world; there are several bodegas that offer tours and tastings. But I think I like the idea of 5-5-5 for Cordoba/Seville/Granada best.

Like everyone else who has responded, my advice is very general because I don't know what time of year you will be there. It makes a difference. Here are some of the considerations. About 95% of Spain (just about all but Barcelona) is west of the prime meridian so it "should" be on Greenwich Mean Time (just like the UK), while most of continental Europe is an hour later. This means Spain is effectively on summer time in the winter. Then in spring when everyone sets their clocks ahead, so does Spain, so the sun is highest at 2 p.m. Overall it means that sunset is much later than anywhere else, but also that in hot weather (and Andalusia has about the hottest weather in Europe) the hottest part of the day is from about noon to 6 p.m. Dinner typically starts after 9 p.m. and often not before 10 p.m. if you want to eat in a good restaurant. Of course, you can get drinks and light meals anytime. It's often easier to be out in the morning (though many sights don't open until 9 or 10), then hide out in the afternoon, doing a good bit of sightseeing in the late afternoon. If you want to see the beauty of Spain at night, with all the floodlit buildings, you will have to wait until 10 or 11 p.m.