Madrid and points south in late January - are we crazy?

Day 1 - Arrive Madrid
AVE to Sevilla - 2 nights
Day 2 - Cathedral, Alcazar
Day 3 - Train to Granada - 2 nights
Day 4 - Alhambra
Day 5 - Train to Cordoba - 1 night
Day 6 - Mezquita
PM AVE to Madrid - 3 nights
Day 7 - Royal Palace, Prado
Day 8 - Day trip to Toledo
Day 9 - Depart Madrid

Trains do run to/from Granada, though possibly with a bus replacement while line works continue.

The difference between late January and early to mid-February (when I've been there) is probably negligible. Weather is of course quirky, but you are more likely to get sun than rain and unlikely to get freezing temps even in Madrid/Toledo.

I like David's itinerary, except - possibly staying one more night in Sevilla and day-tripping to Cordoba (one less hotel change) or going from Sevilla to Granada to Cordoba to Madrid.

Important things to know:

1. You can save a lot by buying train tickets now. Read this article that explains all you need to know about Spanish trains. Tickets are generally nonrefundable so don't buy until you have your itinerary locked down.

   1. Alhambra tickets can sell out, so it's a good idea to buy them in advance after you are sure when you will be in Granada.

Chani is right with that suggestion. The train Granada to Madrid is more problematic (slow) these days than Sevilla to Granada. I'll amend my itinerary to reflect that change.

See if you can get an open jaw flight, into Seville and out of Madrid. To find these flights, use the "multi city" or "multiple destinations" tab on Google Flights, Kayak, etc. It shouldn't cost more than a round trip ticket to Madrid, and even if it does, you save money and hassle by not needing a separate train ticket from Madrid to Seville on arrival day. The train is potentially expensive, since the standard advice is not to buy an advance ticket (since you can't predict arrival time).

I can't thank you all enough for all of your advice - this is so helpful as we plan the trip and draft our itinerary.

Yes, do try for the open-jaw ticket with Seville as your arrival city. You may have to look at a range of airlines, depending on the alliance as to who offers it as a destination.

Madrid is a higher elevation so will be cold. Keep in mind the impact of shorter amounts of daylight during this time of year.

I would slow the trip down to the following: madrid with inky one day trip, granada, seville and back to mdarid.

A good friend of mine visited Madrid and Andalusia in January 2015. She (from Melbourne) said the weather was superb for travelling - mostly sunny, with only one day rain affected in a total of 2 weeks.

One other consideration in the order of your trip is if you are interested in a night visit to the Alhambra - it seems it is not available every day until some time in March.

Thanks everyone! I researched the open jaw flights as David and Harold recommended, flying into Seville and then out of Madrid, but the difference in price for the 5 of us is significant enough to make it too costly (roughly $166 more per person), though it does make so much more sense logistically. The more I read about Spain the more I realize 8 days is not enough time to truly savor each city we want to visit (Madrid, Seville, Granada, Toledo) And then there's Cordoba! How could we miss that? If one were to knock out one city -saving it for "next time" - which would it be?.

The Alhambra is Spain's most visited tourist sight, but Granada is also a more difficult place for transport access. It's a double edged sword to leave it out, but it means there is a big pull to get you back there quickly. By losing Granada, you could gain Jerez and Segovia.

Day 1 - Arrive Madrid. AVE to Sevilla - 4nts
Day 2 - Cathedral, Alcazar
Day 3 - Day trip to Cordoba
Day 4 - Day trip to Jerez
Day 5 - AVE to Madrid - 4nts
Day 6 - Royal Palace, Prado
Day 7 - Day trip to Segovia
Day 8 - Day trip to Toledo
Day 9 - Depart Madrid

Purely from the weather standpoint, I'd keep as much of Andalucía as possible and omit Madrid and/or Toledo. I say that despite really, really liking Toledo. If you're into art, Madrid could be good because of its three fine art museums (indoor activity and they're reasonably close together). If you don't care about art, I'd tilt toward Toledo. It's smaller, older, and more picturesque. However, you're flying out of Madrid and probably need to spend your last night there, so I think you're pretty much stuck with including Madrid. In addition, the train line to Toledo is a dead-end, so getting to Toledo from anywhere means going through Madrid.

Madrid, Seville, Granada, Toledo) And then there's Cordoba! How could we miss that? If one were to knock out one city -saving it for "next time" - which would it be?.

Tough choices are often the hardest part of planning. I'd start by leaving out Madrid - except possibly having to spend your last night there. What time is your flight out and what day of the week? We may have suggestions . . . Madrid is the one you are mostly like to return to because of the air connections.

Then I'd leave out Toledo. It's higher elevation and it's an easy place to get to from Madrid next time.

That leaves Sevilla, Cordoba (my favorite city in Spain) and Granada.

eeamartinez -

On one of my first trips to Spain years ago I went for 8 days in mid-January. I am a slow traveler, so I limited myself to Madrid, with a day trip to Toledo. I love art, so four of my Madrid days were devoted to the Big 3 Museums and the Royal Place. In Toledo I went to the Cathedral, Santo Tome, and the El Greco Museum - a full day. An advantage of that itinerary was that I spent the majority of my tourist time indoors and I wasn't affected by what this north Florida guy considered cold, winter weather - 50's in the day and cooler at night.
I realize most folks prefer to travel a bit faster than I do, so I think it is perfectly plausible for you to also visit Andalucia for a part of your trip. I would definitely go to Sevilla and Cordoba, but I would pass on Granada and save it and the Alhambra for another trip. Those days can be added, one each, to Sevilla and Cordoba. In that way you would, in my opinion, get a good feel for the three Spanish cities you do visit on this trip.

Thanks Chani and thanks Jack- your suggestions are very helpful. Chani you asked about time of flight and day of week.. we have had to delay the trip for the second week of Feb - we get in around 8am on a Thursday and leave 9 days later - so we have 8 full days in Spain. Flying in and out of Madrid from Miami - (so Jack, we feel the same about wintry weather. But I have checked February weather and it doesn't seem too bad).
Friends of ours have recommended that, if we go to Granada, we should fly from Granada back to Madrid rather than hitting Cordoba and taking the train from there back to Madrid. Having seen an Anthony Bourdain episode just last night about Granada - it seems as if it would be criminal to miss Granada. There are so many options when buying tickets to Alhambra, can anyone weigh in on which package is the best? Does one really need a guided tour?

Getting in at 8 am makes it easy to start in Sevilla. Did you read the Renfe article yet? It will help you immensely in planning for trains. Buy your tickets to Sevilla at the Renfe station in the airport. They'll put you on the next available train you can connect to at Atocha and give you free tickets on the suburban train from the airport to Atocha. The question is what time your flight leaves from Madrid to Miami, to determine whether you really need to spend the last night in Madrid or not.

I would not skip Cordoba - the Mezquita is the second-best sight in Spain and completely unique and the old city center is one of the best-preserved in Spain. Either stay overnight (recommended) or day trip from Sevilla.

There's no benefit to flying from Granada to Madrid. Add the time you need to get to/from the airports and the time you need to check in (and maybe need to check luggage - those short flights generally have low carry-on limits that can be strictly enforced), you won't save more than an hour and it will probably cost you more than a comfortable train ride.

Guides can enhance your experience at any sight, but you can easily appreciate the Alhambra without one. Rent audio guides (you may need to leave photo ID as security - use your driver's license). There are two basic choices - a night visit and a day visit. I recommend doing both! The night visit is to either the Nasrid Palaces or the Generalife. In February I'd go with the Nasrid. It looks completely different at night and you'll also have views of the city below. It does look like they are only available on Friday and Saturday evenings, so that may not work out for you. Then have your daytime visit the next day. Here's how it works. There are several buildings you can only enter with a ticket - the "general" ticket allows access to all of them. The Nasrid Palaces are by timed entry only at 1/2 hour intervals. You can only enter at the time you choose when you buy the ticket. If you are late, you will not be able to enter. So allow enough time to get from the main entrance to the Nasrid. It's about a 20 minute walk, if you don't dawdle. You aren't allowed to bring large bags or backpacks in the Nasrid. There's a building near the entrance where you can check bags for free. That's also one of the few places that have toilets. People start to line up at the entrance as soon as the previous group has entered. Once you're inside there's no limit on how long you can stay, and you can backtrack though there's a one-way route. You can visit the other ticketed parts any time during your visit. The Alhambra "campus" is large. Allow plenty of time, it takes awhile to get from one part to another. It's my understanding that even with an "afternoon" ticket you can enter the grounds when they open in the morning, you just can't enter the ticketed areas before 2 p.m. Conversely, with a morning ticket, you can stay until they close the grounds at 6 p.m. but you can only enter the ticketed areas until 2 p.m.

Buy tickets in advance. You can print them out at any Caixa machine once you're in Spain. You will need the credit card you use to buy them. It's as easy as making an ATM withdrawal, but it does take a few minutes while the machine prints each ticket.

Chani this last post of yours is really helpful, thanks. I did review the article on Renfe - so much information it is a little overwhelming but very helpful as I go back and forth between the article and the actual Renfe site to plan the trip. The Renfe site is as problematic as the article suggests! The main problem now is all 5 adults agreeing on how to spend the 8 days we have in Spain. I think we'll leave Cordoba as a day trip and not an overnight, use that point to get back to Madrid. Most of the group wants to spend as much time in Madrid as possible to get to know the neighborhood where we are staying and to take advantage of all the museums. Perhaps not the best use of our time in Southern Spain, but not a bad compromise...I hope?

There are three prime day trips (and many other good ones) possible from Madrid: Toledo, Segovia and Cuenca. Individuals from your group can easily get to those places if they are ready for a change from Madrid. I would caution, however, that Cuenca (hanging houses and all) is really only viable as a day trip if you take the AVE train, which will cost about 70 euros roundtrip if the ticket is bought at the last minute. Buying as soon as the tickets go on sale should yield a price below 40 euros, maybe as low as 27 euros. Toledo and Segovia are likely to have affordable options available only a day or two ahead of time, though advance purchases may provide a discount.

Hey, everyone likes different stuff. And Spain's not going anywhere, so some of what you don't see this time, you'll see next time.

The Prado is amazing. The first time I went without a plan. I picked up a quite good audio guide and a brochure that listed the 50 "masterpieces." I decided my objective would be to see them all. I managed 35 in 5 hours (some were AWOL, and at the end I ran out of steam). One of the "problems" I had was that there were so many other great paintings that distracted me ☺. I recommend looking through the online information and choosing specific works, artists, and periods that you want to see and figuring out where they are in the museum. The Thyssen is my favorite because I prefer the time period (more or less between where the Prado ends and the Reina Sofia begins). It's not nearly as big. I haven't been to the Reina Sofia. For a change, you may want to visit the Naval Museum, about half-way between the Prado and the Thyssen. You will need your passports to enter. There are a lot of exhibits about the Golden Age of Spanish Exploration, very good even though a lot of the info may only be in Spanish. RS ranks the Palace as 3rd best in Europe, has a couple of interesting museums as well.

A great place for lunch in Madrid in the San Miguel market, wander through and choose from an almost unlimited selection of tapas and drinks.