We are flying in and out of Malaga (Mar 5-20). We’re struggling to figure out an itinerary to include areas in and around Malaga (Alhambra, etc). We like to travel by train, but bus tours would be ok too. We’d like to go to Barcelona and possibly Mallorca. Maybe cruise from Malaga to Mallorca then over to Barcelona, returning to Malaga maybe by train. TIA for your help, ideas and suggestions.
Posted by
429 posts
With two weeks I would stay in the south, there is so much to see the time will fly by. Why waste time moving so far north? Travel by bus and train in the south is easy. A first trip to Seville should be at least 4 nights, Cordoba at least 2 and Granada at east 3 (over a weekend as that is the most fun). That leaves 2 to 3 nights for a hill town and one to two in Malaga before you fly home. J
Posted by
Australia
1072 posts
We are spending 15 nights in Andalucia from late February. Our itinerary is:
3 nights Cordoba
2 nights Granada
4 nights Malaga
6 nights Seville
We are moving between cities using trains, with the exception of moving from Malaga to Seville. We are taking the bus for this journey as it takes around the same time as the train and we want to see some different scenery.
All our trains have been booked to take advantage of the early purchase discount (around 30%).
I found the Trainline app was a good way to compare my options for trains and buses on these routes.
We also booked our Alhambra tickets a couple of months ago - around three months before we plan to go - as tickets can sell out.
Posted by
Colorado Mountains, USA
7937 posts
We started and ended our trip in Malaga, with train to Granada. We stayed south (Ronda, Seville, etc.) not venturing north, but we did also head to southern Portugal by air. One possibility, if you’re going to Barcelona, is to look at flying to and/or from there. Is there a flight on Vueling or another airline that’s fast and relatively inexpensive?
Posted by
Richmond VA
41 posts
We'll be there about the same time you are, flying into Malaga but out of Madrid. Our itinerary is 2 nights Malaga, train to Granada for 4 nights, train to Cordoba for 2 nights, train to Sevilla for 3 nights, train to Toledo for last 3 nights, then fly home from Madrid. It's just too far to add in Barcelona so we are saving Madrid and Barcelona for another trip and focusing on the south except for Toledo since we had to fly back from Madrid. (For some reason, I already forgot why, but I'm sure it was a good one.) Our interest is mainly in architecture and culture of the three religions that used to coexist in Spain, and as it is we won't have time to see everything. I got Alhambra tickets already as well as all the train tickets and hotels or apartments. Good luck with your planning!
Posted by
Massachusetts, USA
1700 posts
I agree with the people who recommend staying in Southern Spain/Andalucia instead of flying all over the country. Seems like with you plan you will be spending a lot of time traveling from place to place and not enough time at your destination.
March would be the perfect time of year to visit Andalucia which can be unbearably hot during the summer months. Such as temps in the 90's and 100's. Granada might be chilly in March but not unbearably so. Andalucia is filled with so many important historical and cultural sites and beautiful Moorish architecture. I really like Malaga, too. There is a lot to see and do in Malaga. So a sample itinerary could be the following:
Granada - 2 or 3 nights (the day you arrive in Malaga you can take the train or ALSA bus to Granada)
Cordoba - 2 nights (take the train or bus to Cordoba)
Seville - 4 or 5 nights (by train or bus)
Malaga - 3 nights in Malaga (by train or bus)
If you want to visit a white hill town such as Ronda, you can delete a night from Granada or Seville. I don't know what public transportation is like to the white hill towns, so you might need to rent a car. Perhaps go from Seville to Ronda for one night and then continue on to Malaga by car.
If you really, really want to visit Barcelona on this trip, it would make more sense to fly open jaw or multi-city. Fly into Malaga and home from Barcelona instead of backtracking to Malaga.
Posted by
Washington DC
28082 posts
In addition to the time you will enjoy having in Seville (4-night minimum for me; you wouldn't regret an extra night, I don't think), Cordoba, Granada and Malaga, there are good side-trip options that would expose you to smaller places:
Priego de Cordoba from Granada
Antequera from Malaga
Carmona from Seville
I've taken the first and the third of those trips myself. Arcos de la Frontera is also possible from Seville, but it's a longer trip--though still workable because it doesn't take a lot of time to see Arcos. If you want to devote what I'd guess would be a long day to seeing some white villages, I think there are bus tours from Seville that include Ronda as well as at least two of the smaller places. They don't allow a great deal of time in Ronda, I assume.
Those are just a few of the options I explored for my own trip in 2019.
I'm a huge fan of Barcelona, but it really isn't a 2-day destination. By the time you got there and allowed time for a nice visit, you'd have cut painfully into the time needed for the four places you want to see in Andalucia.