Madrid and Andalucia itinerary

We went to Andalusia at the end of this past October. I believe you are picking a great travel destination and a great time of year. I would concentrate on meeting all your "wishes" in Andalusia and then any left over time in Madrid. Madrid is a pretty and lively city. Unless you are interested in Madrid's art museums, I think other areas in Spain are more culturally and historically significant, and very beautiful, too. We all have different ways of travel, I lean more towards less day trips and moving of hotels more often. I'd recommend the following which is pretty much what we did:
1. Arrive Madrid airport immediate train ride to Sevilla. Stay 3-4 days
2. Pick up rental car at Sevilla Santa Justa train station and drive to white villages. I still haven't decided the "best" place to stay. You should stop in Arcos, it's a great city, but not central to the others. We stayed in Grazelema in a beautiful and well priced BnB. The downside in Grazelema is that it gets more rain than other areas, but it is more central and its a beautiful village high in the mountains. We saw Zahara after Arcos on the way to Grazelema. We did Ronda and Setinel on a day trip from Grazelema. Ronda's bridges and gorge are lovely, other than that, it is larger and more touristy than Grazelema, Sentinel or Zahara. I would stay 2-3 nights in a white village.
3.Drive to Granada train station and drop off the car. Stay in Granada 2 nights. If you are talking this year, you will need to get your Alhambra tickets 3-3 1/2 months in advance.
4. Train to Cordoba, stay 2 nights. Cordoba is amazing. The Mezquita is very special and the homes/patios and river is lovely.
5. Train to Toledo, stay 1 night (would be nice to stay 2 if possible)
6. Train to Madrid. stay 1-2 nights. My priority was a day trip to Segovia, an ancient city with LONG aqueduct. I spent no time in madrid during the day. Had dinners there at night.
Madrid (or Barcelona) is the city most people fly into to travel to Spain. You can spend more time in Madrid quite easily on a future trip

The major sites will be Granada, Córdoba, Sevilla and I am going to include Toledo although it is not in Andalucía. You could concentrate on just those four cities in your 12 days. I tend to use public busses and trains. However, a car, particularly from Granada to Sevilla would be helpful to get from one place to another. The problem with cars is that they are useless in the old historical parts of the cities you want to visit. Highways in Spain are in great condition. The bus system is very reliable and cheap so don't rule them out.

I am going to suggest a few lesser known Andalucian towns for consideration since you said you like to mix them in with the more major attractions. Obviously you are going to have to see what fits or compliments your general interests and can be combined with major sites nearby. If you go to Granada, (and the Alahambra is spectacular and a must see site in my opinion) then consider a visit to Baeza and Úbeda. I really enjoyed these two beautiful towns. We stayed in Baeza for three nights as a base and did a daytrip (went by taxi, returned by bus) to Úbeda for a day. Either town is equally pleasing to use as a base. Both towns are in the hills surrounded by thousands if not millions of olive trees. Baeza has a great lookout over the Guadalquivir River valley where there are olive groves as far as the eye can see. The two towns are just a few miles apart. You will feel like you have stepped back in time. Both town centers are easily walkable and just so neat to explore. We also visited a small olive oil processing plant in Begíjar (right outside of Baeza) to learn about olive oil and taste different kinds. We travelled from Madrid to Linares by train and took a cab over to Baeza.

I also like Toledo very much. If you get to Toledo and you have a car consider a visit to the small town of Consuegra with its castle and windmills standing watch over the plains below. This is Don Quixote territory. Consuegra is about 45 minutes outside of Toledo by car. We went by car but I also know that you can get there by bus.

If you travel between Sevilla and Córdoba by car, consider a stop in Écija. One place on my Andalucía radar that I have seen recommended here on the forum is Antequera. You will have a great trip and cannot go wrong with any of your choices!

Ronda is somewhat larger, but the other white villages are each small enough that you can walk every (hilly) street in a very few hours. So how much time to spend in that area depends on how many of those little villages you want to see and the driving times between them. You can get driving-time estimates from Via Michelin.com. Those probably need fo be padded, because October is not low season in Andalucia, and the roads are narrow.

I visited several white towns in April and enjoyed all of them, but I would choose Granada, Corodoba and/or Seville over the white towns without a second thought. However, I may be atypically fond of Moorish/mudejar architecture. I go inside just about every such building open to the public.

Recommend you look at pics of the Gorge in Ronda. Spectacular is an understatement. We were there a few weeks ago.

I think Pat makes some great suggestions for smaller, interesting cities. However, on a first trip, I would make sure to cover the major Andalusian sites and cities--Sevilla, Cordoba and Granada, and include Toledo because its so very historical and very convenient to reach from Madrid. If you can comfortably cover those four cities, and I think you can, I'd add the white villages. Again, I'm not sure which one is "best to stay in". In my opinion, Arcos is too far west to visit the other villages and Ronda is too far east, unless you'd want to day trip to Zahara, Grazelema and Sentinel from Ronda and then pick up Arcos on your way to Sevilla.

Thank you all so much for your input, it is very much appreciated. Jules, I think I will be almost mimicking your itinerary because it sounds like we have the same travel preferences. I'd like to perhaps build just one day into the trip for Madrid on the back end to visit the Prado, and just take a travel breather before flying out.

Make sure you book the Prado in advance online, well in advance. We were there a few weeks ago, had booked the "skip-the-line" (hah) option, but the "skip the line" line was an hour or more in the morning, however we did the Reina Sofia and then came back to the Prado around 2 or 3 pm and there was no line for the "skip the line" option. So go in the afternoon if you can. It's worth the bother, this is one of the world's great art museums!

Thanks for that advice, Kent. I will as soon as I firm up the dates! So do you all recommend cutting out the White Hills portion of this trip in order to allocate more time to Seville, Granada, Cordoba and Toledo?

If you think you'll be back, it's an easier decision. If not, then what to do? (remembering that a common mistake is trying to do too much). There is so much to do in the 4 cities you mention in your last post. Recently we were able to visit those 4 cities and do a day trip to Ronda, but we home-based in Sevilla and had 7 days to do those things.

Kent, 7 days to do what portion?

Answering your question: We home-based for 7 nights (6 full days) in Sevilla because we prefer to avoid the time and energy lost by changing hotels more than is absolutely necessary.
So we spent 3 full days exploring Sevilla and 3 days on day trips to:
Granada
Cordoba
Ronda-Zahara-Grazalema

I would do it the same way if I had it to do again. However, some here have commented they would rather spend at least 1 or more nights in Granada and would therefore change hotels (sleeping in Sevilla and Granada). There's no right or wrong way to do that, it just depends on individual travel preferences.

Kent is suggesting a different method of travel and for some people it works quite well. In my opinion, and if memory serves me, this is what Kent actually did, if you are going to base in Sevilla and do those places in a day trip, it almost needs to be by organized tour. None of those places except Arcos is that close to Sevilla. You would want an organization that is experienced with making that kind of trip. I liked the cities of Cordoba and Sevilla more than Granada, BUT the Alhambra is spectacular as well as the views around Granada of the Alhambra. Plus, Granada has interesting neighborhoods. A day trip to Granada from Sevilla is a lot of time on the road, and I think there would be much less time for both the Alhambra and seeing a bit of the city. In terms of Cordoba it IS an easy daytrip from Sevilla via high speed train, however, Cordoba is a beautiful city and deserves so much more than a day. In Cordoba we had a hotel that was about 15 feet from the Mezquita. So we got to wander around the area at different times of day and then were able to walk both the river and the tiny streets in the ancient city to see the homes and flower filled patios

Jules is correct about how we did our recent trips, and he suggests an alternative that some people, perhaps most travelers here, would prefer to the way we chose to do it. As with so many things, there's no right or wrong way to do it, it's a matter of the individual traveler preferences with respect to issues such as hotel changes.

You have received some great advice so far. I will probably just reiterate what some people have said.

But one new suggestion is to fly open-jaw (multi-city) instead of in and out of Madrid. For example, you could fly into Madrid and fly home from Seville. That is what we did in 2017. It saves you time because you don't have to backtrack, and it might not be that more expensive because it saves you the cost of returning to Madrid.

And everyone has a different travel style of traveling. Usually when we travel, I like to stay in the city that we have flown into instead of pushing on the same day, while suffering from jet lag, to another destination. If you were to take the train to Seville when you arrive in Madrid, you have to get to Atocha train station after landing in Madrid. That doesn't appeal to me, but it might appeal to you. If you stay in Madrid, you could spend a night or two upon arrival. And that would make sense if you fly home from another city, such as Seville.

I agree with Jules m that for a first time trip to Spain, I would make the Andalucian cities a priority over the white towns. I recommend 2 nights in Madrid, 1 night in Toledo, 2 nights in Cordoba, 2 nights in Granada, and 4 nights in Seville. I also agree with Jules m that a day trip from Seville to Granada is a LONG day. We spent almost a whole day at the Alhambra during the day, and then we returned for a magical night time tour as well. And Granada does have some interesting neighborhoods, such as the Albaicin, and other sites, such as the cathedral. We don't mind changing hotels every couple days. We did bookend our trip with 4 nights in Madrid upon arrival, and 4 nights in Seville at the end of our trip. So the two-night stays we had in between weren't that bad for us.

@kmkwoo, you east coast people are so lucky! I am happy when there are reasonable flights to Barcelona or Madrid. I've never seen a flight out of a different city in Spain that was close to reasonable. For the itinerary I used, I was basically making a loop so the fact I had to fly in and out of Madrid didn't impact much on my time.
I've done what Kmkwoo suggests when I've gone to France (stay in arrival city a day or so before proceeding) but going directly to Sevilla made a lot of sense for us. It was super easy to get to Sevilla from Madrid airport. That said, I thoroughly researched it to the point of looking at photos and maps of Atocha. When we landed, I went into the RENFRE office at the airport and purchased tickets and received instructions from the helpful, English speaking agent. She directed us down the stairs to the Cercanias train. At Atocha, a forum member had provided us a map, and photos to easily find the AVE train to Sevilla. That's it. You'll have to go through a small security station. I believe Seat61 also has helpful info for Atocha.
For this trip, it saved time in our itinerary to go directly to Sevilla and riding the train was a good use of our "jet lag" time frame. We watched out the window and dozed a bit and arrived to Sevilla ready to walk around the city for a few hours before catching an early dinner and going to bed at 9.

Thank you @kmkwoo, Jules and Kent. I like the idea of flying home out of Seville, but I don't know if the amount saved in not backtracking to Madrid can come close to the higher price of airfare to return to the West Coast. I'll be refining that this morning as I sit here hopefully solidifying the trip enough to be able to purchase my Alhambra and Prado tickets TODAY!

Flights into Seville should absolutely be investigated, but I'm doubtful they'll be affordable. I live on the East Coast, and flying into Madrid rather than Seville saved me between $400 and $500; my return is from London. Perhaps if the traveler has a really awkward origin airport and has to change planes twice to even get to Madrid, alternative Spanish destinations won't be much more expensive.

I spent 4 nights in Granada. I took a day-trip to Priego de Cordoba. I think two full days in the city wouldn't be wasted. I'm not sure I had more than one sit-down meal during my entire stay.

The flights out of Seville didn't work out, so I just solidified into and out of Madrid, arriving 10/19 and departing 10/30. Now I just need to shape up the fun part. I've decided to reserve the White Hills towns for a different trip, and enjoy more time in Seville, Granada and Cordoba. Still not sure about the route because it seems some prefer Seville first, others Toledo, so advice is welcome!!

You must be so happy to have made your airline reservations! Now, as you say, you can do the fun part of travel planning.

I think whether you see Toledo first or at the end of your trip (before you return to Madrid for your stay there) will depend on train schedules to Toledo versus train schedules to Seville, and what time you land in Madrid. There are lots of trains from Madrid to Toledo on a daily basis, but I'm not sure how many from Madrid to Seville. So one possibility could be take the train to Seville upon arrival in Madrid (as jules m suggests), then Granada, then Cordoba, then Toledo, then Madrid. Don't forget that the train to Toledo is on a spur line, so you have to change trains in Atocha to get to Toledo.

You should start checking train schedules next, and see what works best for you.

And purchase your Alhambra tickets as soon as they go on sale, which is usually three months out. They sell very quickly.

Dolly, this trip report from our wonderful time in Spain may give you some ideas for itinerary options, or at least it will get you even more excited for your trip! Have fun!

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/1st-time-to-spain-trip-report

KmKoo is right, be really attentive about getting the Alhambra tickets. One thing that surprised us was the for us, 3 months was midmonth. It seems that the tickets were put up for sale month by month at the beginning of the month so for us the tickets were put up 3 1/2 months in advance and when I initially went on to purchase many options were already sold out. It ended up not mattering because what I wanted was still there.

Thank you, checking train schedules now!!

Does this sound good to everyone?

Fly into Madrid, take train to Cordoba (2 nights)
Train to Granada (2 nights)
Train to Seville (4 nights)
Train to Madrid (3 nights) day trip to Toledo included in Madrid stay

The advantage of going first to Toledo instead of to Seville is that there's no fare advantage to buying Toledo tickets early. That means you don't have to try to guess what time you'll be ready to step on a train at Atocha so you can buy a non-refundable ticket for a train you hope you won't miss or have to wait for, maybe for hours. Just buy a ticket for the most suitable train at the airport rail station upon arrival.

You can do the same thing if Seville is your first stop, but it is almost guaranteed to mean you'll pay full fare for the train ticket rather than the lower promo fare you can take advantage of if Seville falls later in the trip so it's not risky to choose a specific departure date and time.

If you can swing it and still do what you want in Madrid, I would stay over in Toledo. Toledo is inundated with day trippers from Madrid and is a whole different place until 10am or so and after 4 and you can stay cheaper in Toledo than Madrid. Plus, Toledo is a pretty great town. There are so many ways to route your trip and advantages and disadvantages to each. Acraven is correct that if you went to Toledo first then you could save some money by prepurchasing the trip to Cordoba (or Sevilla or however you route it) However, going to Cordoba first is sort of a compromise between going all the way to Sevilla or Toledo immediately. Cordoba is approx. half the distance and the train ticket is cheaper to begin with. There is no right or wrong answer on this just weighing of various factors

Reshaping. Does this sound better?

10/19 - arrive in Madrid, train or taxi to Toledo
Toledo (2 nights)
Cordoba via Madrid train station (2 nights)
Granada (2 nights)
Seville (3 nights)
Madrid (2 nights) depart 10/30

Or should I only allocate 1 night to Cordoba and stay 4 in Seville??

Or switch order of Granada and Seville?!

Dolly, this is such a difficult question to answer and it all depends on what you want to see and do in each place. Have you bought guidebooks? You should make a list of what you want to see in each place.

I definitely recommend spending at least one night in Toledo because it is so crowded with tour buses during the day. At night it is very pretty and much quieter and enjoyable. However, we were happy with one night in Toledo. We really liked Toledo a lot, but I don't think we loved it as much as some people do. We didn't feel the need to see everything there. However, we LOVED Cordoba, and spent 2 nights there, and I know I would have been very disappointed if we only had one night in Cordoba. For sightseeing, we visited the Mezquita, the Alcazar (the gardens are beautiful), Palacio de Viana, and wandered across the Roman Bridge taking lots of photos at night. Wandered around the Juderia, and I wish we had more time for this. Had one of the best meals of our trip one night in a nice restaurant, and then ate at the Mercado Victoria another night. so much fun trying different foods at the Mercado.

We did have 4 nights in Seville because Seville has so many important historical sites, and is a larger city. I would have been frustrated with only 3 nights in Seville. We spent a lot of time at the Real Alcazar. It is so beautiful; I love the Moorish architecture, and the gardens are stunning. Loved the cathedral, Casa di Pilatos, Plaza de Espagna, the parks, and spent a lot of time wandering around Triana and Barrio Santa Cruz. So, if it were my trip, which it isn't, I would take away one night from Toledo to add it to Seville. I would not take a night away from Cordoba. But I am sure many people will recommend spending 2 nights in Toledo. Making a list of what you want to see in each place will hopefully help you figure out how many nights you need in each place. I hope I am not confusing you more!

I would tend to agree with Kmkoo. I loved Cordoba. We had 3 nights in Sevilla, it was fine, 4 would have been nice, too. I was very happy we stayed 2 nights in Cordoba. We only stayed 1 night in Toledo. Again, it was fine, we did see most everything we wanted to see, another night might have been nice. You could watch the tv shows on this website and also Amazon has a lot of travel videos. I also find videos on youtube. I find that being able to watch the tv show/movies really helps me get an idea of the city and set priorities.

Thanks for giving me so much to think about and consider. . .all good things ; )

Any opinions on the order of Cordoba to Seville to Granada vs. Cordoba to Granada to Seville?

It depends on where you're coming from and where you want to end up. Looking at the map, from east to west, it's Granada in the southeast, then west to Cordoba, then to Sevilla which puts you in western Andalusia. If you were starting from Sevilla, it would be Sevilla, then Cordoba, then Granada.

When you're planning short stays in cities with sights you want to go inside, it is critical that you investigate the operating hours of all your must-see places. Otherwise, you may find that places really important to you are closed on the only full day you'll be in town. That may affect the routing you choose.

If your goal is to minimize travel time, you can check rail schedules on renfe.com. Click on the small-print "Welcome" near the top for the English version of the website. Renfe doesn't handle connections well, so for trips linking Toledo to cities other than Madrid, you'll probably need to look up the two legs of the journey separately.

I purchased all of our train tickets from loco2.com. Their site is very easy to use, and I didn't have any problems at all. I've heard that the Renfe site is difficult to use, and people had problems trying to use their credit cards, so that's why I chose loco2.

It's a loop from Madrid. So if you start with Cordoba, you could do Granada or Sevilla next. If you start with Granada or Sevilla, then Cordoba last. I would make a list of what you'd like to see in each city. You should be able to accomplish it pretty quickly. At the bare minimum, in Cordoba, its the Mezquita, in Sevilla its the cathedral and Alcazar and in Granada its the Alhambra. I think all of those are open every day of the week with there being slightly different hours on Sunday at the Sevilla Cathedral. Then look at other sights. So if you are interested in Sevilla's Triana ceramics museum, it's closed Monday and closes early on Sunday. So if you want to see that you should make sure you are in Sevilla on a day other than Sunday or Monday. Both Cordoba and Sevilla have a number of interersting smaller sights. A good place to get a sense of what is in each city is the RS guide. He usually has a couple pages within each city listing and ranking the sights.