Leaving for Spain in few days with fam, first time - Itinerary feedback pls

Just a few comments:

You will end up on the Ramblas as you head to La Boqueria on your arrival day. It's not worth extra time. I have no idea why Rick still touts it as something special. These days it's a tourist-thronged smorgasbord for pickpockets, and a jetlagged family could be easy pickings.

I assume by "check out Casa Mila and Casa Batllo" you mean observe their exteriors. I think that's fine for a large family. Those tickets are really expensive, and the children probably don't need to see every modernista interior in Barcelona. Note that you will almost certainly not be able to make a spur-of-the-moment decision to go in either place. Timed tickets are required and the ticket line can be very long.

The Palau de la Musica Catalana is another worthwhile walk-past. You'll be near it if/when you go to the Barri Gotic--which I would recommend since it's a picturesque medieval area. It also has lots of shopping. Another place to be especially careful about pickpockets. Be sure your children don't have cell phones in their pockets. Your path back to your hotel after the arrival-day free walking tour also might take you near the Palau de la Musica Catalana.

As of 2016 the tourist office sold a 1-euro map of the city that had a lot of the modernista buildings marked (though not specifically described as being in that style). With that map you could alter your walking route to and from your hotel in order to see quite a few of those buildings.

The Alcazar in Seville is, in my view, the second-best Moorish sight in Spain, after the Alhambra. As with the Alhambra, most of the beauty is on the inside. The exterior is rather plain, though it does look old. I think seeing the interior of the Alcazar would be worthwhile for at least some of your family even though the Alhambra comes just five days later. Alcazar tickets need to be booked ahead of time because of the length of the line. It stretches across an open plaza, totally exposed to the weather. I wouldn't be surprised if some time slots sell out ahead of time, though I had no difficulty buying a ticket online just one day ahead in 2016. The Alcazar is quite large; it's not a one-hour visit if you go inside. I thought the audio guide was useful.

I like walking tours but haven't taken one in Seville, so I don't know what parts of the city you might see. Seville is large and has sights rather widely scattered.

One can spend just about a full day at the Alhambra complex, though most people don't. With a noon tour I'm not sure what you're going to do about lunch. You'll be able to enter the Nasrid Palaces only one time (your ticket will be timed). Be sure your tour includes those Palaces; some do not. The Nasrid Palaces are by far the best part of the Alhambra. If the tour does include the Palaces, be sure you see everything there you want to see before you leave, because you cannot return later. Unless something has changed since 2019, other parts of the complex don't have restricted entry times.

Viamichelin.com estimates the total driving time for Seville-Zahara de la Sierra-Ronda-Granada at 4 hr. 36 min. Ronda's a good-sized place and your time will be limited. I suggest consulting Rick's guidebook to see what seems most interesting to you.

Consult with your Granada hotel about parking in the city and a permissible path to that location. There are some streets you can't drive on. Consult Rick's book for info on other sights in Granada.

I like Toledo a lot (more than Madrid aside from the latter's art museums), but I wouldn't recommend going there for just a few hours on the same day you take the train from Granada to Madrid (at least 3 hr. 20 min.) and navigate to your hotel to drop off your luggage. Toledo has a very large, hilly historic district and the train station is down at the bottom of the hill, requiring extra transportation time to the sights.

The Madrid tourist office has a good walking tour.

There are only two morning express trains from Granada to Madrid. They depart at 7:12 and 8:15. At the moment there are some reasonably-priced tickets available for the 7:12 AM train. Adult tickets on the 8:15 are now 77.65 euros.

I second what acraven said about the Alcazar in Seville, you must go inside. When I was there in November 2019 they had late day 1 euro tickets available online, not sure what the situation is now. Also, you don’t mention the Cathedral in Seville, it’s also a must see in my opinion. Spain has many beautiful cathedrals and this is one of the best. Your kids would probably enjoy climbing the bell tower which is by ramps not stairs because it was originally a mosque and a man would ride a donkey to the top for the call to prayer. Also, the very interesting tomb of Christopher Columbus is inside.

The driving will all be on roads in good condition and we’ll marked. Most roads will be either interstate type, or 2-lanes (with and without shoulders).

The most direct route from Sevilla to Ronda via Zahara would be to leave Sevilla in the direction of Utrera on the A-376. Just north of Utrera you’ll get onto the A-375. Eventually it runs into the A-384. At Arenal you’ll pick up the A-2300 and take it into Zahara de la Sierra.

From Ronda to Granada, probably the quickest way would be to head towards Malaga then pick up the autovia. You could also head towards Antequera, then pick up the autovia. It really depends on whether you want a more scenic journey or quicker journey.

It seems like a shame to go to Granada just to come back to Nerja then back to Granada. You could have visited Nerja and Frigiliana en route to Granada from Ronda and saved yourself about 4 hours travel time (round trip). From Granada head south towards Motril on the A-44 then pick up the A-7 towards Nerja. The MA-5105 road from Nerja to Frigiliana is a more rural road and parts won’t have a shoulder.

Once off the autovias, don’t expect to drive much faster than about 70kph/42mph on the rural roads; slower when going through hilly areas. On roads with 4-digits, expect there will be no shoulders.

@jaimeelsabio - It would have been a lot of driving in one day. I had read that Granada to Nerja makes a good day trip. According to the maps it's showing as a little over one hour which didn't seem too bad.
Thanks for the route recommendations, I will go over it on my maps :)

I booked the train Granada to Madrid a few weeks ago and got a great deal ($116 for all 6 of us). Its an early 7:12 train =O

sboh - wow that is so cool about the bell tower. I'm sure the kids will love that. I will add these places you mentioned as must see in Seville. I'll also check if they are covered in a tour. Thank you!

@acraven
Point noted about Ramblas, good to know we will pass it anyways. Yes, will probably just see Casa Mila and Batllo from outside as I doubt my kids will care about the inside. Definitely want to go to Park Guell and will prob buy tickets day of based on what time we wake up that morning.

• Will def add Palau de la Musica Catalana to the must see list and also check to see if a walking tour includes is. Thanks for the tips about pick pocketers. I purchased cell phone lanyards from Amazon that we can tuck into our clothing.

• I am planning to go inside Alcazar, it is on my list of must-dos in Seville. I wasn't sure what time to book for so I might do it the day before.

  • re: Lunch day of Alhambra, I guess we will eat breakfast in the hotel and skip lunch or maybe eat something in the apartment. I am hoping there will be a few random restaurants open at 3pm? I was thinking to go by myself to see the Alhambra at night since I heard it's beautifully lit or go to the visiting points by the mosque.
  • I doubt we will have that much time in Ronda. Was thinking to stop for lunch, look around for a little bit, and maybe pick up food to go since it will be Xmas eve and everyhting will prob be closed once we arrive in Granada...
  • I didn't think about our luggage for when we arrive into Madrid - oops lol. I guess we will be skipping Toledo unless we go on 12/30. We would have to take the covid tests early in the morning then.

Thank you for all the tips!

The Giralda (bell) tower in Sevilla was originally built as the minaret for the great mosque. It has ramps rather than stairs so horses and riders could go to the top for the multiple times a day call to prayer, as well as custodians and beasts of burden. It’s very much worth climbing and is right at the cathedral on the same plaza as the Alcázar.

The problem with your plan for Parc Guell is that tickets are no longer sold at the park itself. That policy was implemented pre-pandemic. You may run into a problem waiting until that morning to buy the ticket (which I'm sure you can do online and probably also at the tourist office beneath Placa de Catalunya), because you are booked for a 2 PM tour of La Sagrada Familia. That means you need a morning entry ticket for Parc Guell. You may find nothing available, or nothing available until the afternoon, if you leave this till the morning of your anticipated visit. I know this is a pain. Barcelona is challenging because so many of its sights require timed entry tickets and are prone selling out before the day is over.

Parc Guell tickets now include a shuttle bus from a nearby Metro station. The walking path to the park is quite uphill and your time is tight, so you'll want to take advantage of that shuttle bus. << This is not true at the moment, presumably due to COVID precautions. See Bill Sinclair's post below. So I'll revise my comment to say that you may need to take a public bus to the Parc unless you can arrange taxi service in a van.

Edited to add:

Rick generously shares his views on the highlights of the key cities in Spain on this website. Go to this webpage: https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/spain. Click on one of your cities in the "Places" section, then click on "At a Glance".

Thanks, Bill. I should have checked the website. I'll update my post.

Why are you going to the beach in December? Amazing, people want to go to the beach in Europe when they can go to great beaches in the USA or Caribbean.

Also, your time in Seville is ridiculous, that city is amazing.

Do go to Toledo and Segovia if you have time.