Itinerary help - one week in Andalucia

As you say, packed itinerary but perfectly do-able.
In Malaga, rather than walk around the beach, walk around the old town round the cathedral and roman ruins area.
Lots of nice ice cream for the younger members of the party.
If you are staying by the station, taxi to centre is about 5 euros.
There is one really nice hotel in the station (Barcelo Malaga) and another about 200 yards walk - Eurostars.

A good itinerary with your limited time. I think you will feel shortest in time in Sevilla.

Make sure to get Alhambra, Alcazar and Sevilla Cathedral tickets in advance. Maybe the Mezquita, too.

If you have time in Granada, we really liked the royal chapel.

Glad to see you plan Plaza de espana and Triana in Sevilla.

Yes, it’s quick, but you recognize it.

To maximize some of your experiences, I would recommend doing a bike tour in Sevilla. It’s a great way to learn about the history, see a lot of major sites, plus I think your sons would enjoy it. It’s popular, so reserve ahead. We used Sevilla Seebybike tours.

If the evening light show at the Sevilla Alcazar is running in November, be sure to do it! Amazing! So, go during the day, and then go through all of the gardens with the light show in the evening. Again, it’s very popular, so buy tickets way ahead.

With your short time, maximize the moments by selecting lodging in the center of what you’re wanting to see & do. Have a great time! Oh, and Lucciano’s in Malaga has wonderful gelato!

Agree that you have a well thought out itinerary that makes excellent use of your time. What a wonderful gift for the boys! In Seville, they might enjoy the rooftop tour of the Seville Cathedral and, if you are nearby, churros with chocolate at Bar el Comercio. We flew to/from Malaga for the same reason and thoroughly enjoyed the city. It has a relaxed, welcoming vibe, and it is lovely to simply stroll through the historic center and along the waterfront at the port.

Have a great trip!!

On day 7, leave as late as practical to maximize your time in Sevilla. We did something similar with a flight to Rome from Palermo to position us for trip home. We left Palermo late enough that we managed to have a full day.

You might even think of having a picnic on the train which would both occupy your children and be efficient.

Fantastic advice. Thank you all!

Yes I plan to buy tickets to all the major monuments ahead of time and have already bought the Alhambra tickets (first time slot in the morning for Nasrid palace). I’ll book tickets for alcazar, Seville cathedral and mezquita as soon as they become available, and probably the train tickets too (plus the Alsa bus from Malaga airport to Granada).

Our accommodations are all pretty close to the town centers.

And yes I’ll definitely check out the cathedral rooftop tour (I was interested in the stained glass window tour as well but unfortunately one of my kids is too young for it) and the light tour at alcazar.

The few days in Seville probably need some more detailed planning, agreed!

Thanks again all, much appreciated

My suggestion would be to not over plan your time in Seville. You have two major sights per day identified. From there, you can just wander and enjoy, unstressed, as you wish. Also, just me, on day 7 I would encourage you to travel early and maximize your time in Malaga for a different experience and a relaxing day before return departure.

Go to Los Italianos in Granada for good gelato.

My suggestion would be for you to just stay in Granada and Sevilla. You can do a day trip from Sevilla to Granada and this will save you one travel day, which usually burns half a day of sightseeing.

Nestor, do you mean day trip to Cordoba (not Granada)? Granada from Sevilla is too far to be a good day trip. I think an overnight in Cordoba is far better than a day trip. A day trip, you need to count the time taken for each direction, also there is so much to do in Cordoba and the city is so much more pleasant in the evening and early morning without the daytrippers.

Interesting, I guess I won’t buy the train tickets from Seville to Malaga in advance and will decide once in Seville whether we leave early or late on day 7.

I actually did consider the option of doing cordoba as a day trip from Seville. The advantage of this would be one less hotel to check in and less stressful trips with luggage; Granada and Seville would be our only bases. But in the end I decided to spend a night in cordoba because of a few factors: 1) we always travel light ( one backpack per person, no suitcase); 2) cordoba seems to be an interesting town and is more than just mezquita; 3) we managed to book a hotel right next to mezquita which means we could go out and stroll in the old town at night.

So in the end I decided to spend a night in cordoba. Hopefully it will be worth it.