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Need advice on our Andalucia trip in November

Posted by on

Thanks in advance for reading through this and giving me your feedback!! I lived in Madrid about 22 years ago, but it was a long time ago and my memory is rusty. But what I do remember is that I absolutely loved Spain, the culture and most of all the people!

Family of 4: We like to experience off the beaten path things, history, food, wine & beer. Hubby road bikes. I love antiques, pottery, gardening and interior design
- 13yr daughter who loves horses, cooking, shopping, soccer/futbol and olive oil, adventure activities
- 10yr son who loves soccer/futbol, biking, military stuff, meat & cheese, adventure activities

Kids are fantastic international travelers.
Don't like to be constrained to train schedules/public transport, so yep, we know this could be done by train, but prefer the car.
Like to wonder the area we are in to find off the beaten path things, stop on the side of the road at little towns, etc.
Typically stay in Airbnb or similar type places. I remember staying in the historic Pension type hotels and will look into those too.

We are constrained to flying in/out of Madrid based on using our miles and schedule.

Day 1 - Madrid - recoup from flights and meander the streets for tapas!
Day 2 - Madrid - palacio real, etc. Hopefully visit my old neighborhood and friend.
Day 3 - Cordoba - pick up car at Atocha and drive to Cordoba. Visit the Mezquita. Cordoba CF (La Liga-2) game at night, assuming date/time doesn't change
Day 4 - Granada - drive through Jaen or Ubeda to visit Olive Oil mill, etc on way to Granada
Day 5 - Granada - Alhambra and sites
Day 6 - Ronda - Horseback riding w/ vineyard tour (girls) - Mountain biking (boys)
Day 7 - Sevilla - Drive through Arcos de la Frontera or similar en route (lunch)
Day 8 - Sevilla - Bike tour, Plaza de Espana, Alcazar
Day 9 - Sevilla - Shopping (Calle Sierpes), possibly a cooking class
Day 10 - Toledo/Madrid - Drive to Madrid, via a stop in Toledo. Return car to Atocha
Day 11 - Madrid - If we are really lucky, we will figure out a way to see the Madrid v FCB game
Day 12 - Fly home

Looking forward to your suggestions!!!

Posted by
28090 posts

I don't think it's terribly practical to try to see Toledo en route from Seville to Madrid. ViaMichelin (considered optimistic) pegs the driving time at 6 hours, and that doesn't include stops, navigational difficulties, looking for parking in Toledo or getting back and forth between that parking place and the historic district. I adore Toledo, but I think stopping in a smaller town would be more practical.

Posted by
8 posts

Thanks for the advice! I had it as 4 1/2 hrs from Seville to Toledo, so leaving at 7am (we are early risers) and getting there before lunch, touring around a little bit, having lunch around 2:00 and then driving the last hour or so up to Madrid to return the car and check in before dinner.

Do you have other small gems that are on the drive from Seville to Madrid?

Posted by
28090 posts

ViaMichelin gives 4 hr. 56 min. to Toledo and then 1:01 on to Madrid. I have no idea how much overhead there would be in Toledo from the parking bit, but I think it will be substantial. I assume you can't just drive up to the historic area. It's such a shame that there's no rail link between Seville and Toledo, else you could drop the car in Seville and save a lot of time by taking the train north. The trip all the way to Madrid takes as little as 2-1/2 hours!

The shortest driving route to Madrid goes right past Merida and Trujillo. Merida has some Roman ruins and a good archaeological museum, but it's not otherwise all that interesting a place. It's a fairly large place and the architecture just isn't special at all. Trujillo, though, is a good option. It doesn't get many tourists and has sort of a lost-in-time feeling. I believe it's small enough that not much time will be eaten up finding a place to park the car and getting to the historic center. However, I visited that city (as everywhere in Europe) via public transportation, so I wasn't checking out the availability of parking.

Edited to add: I forgot to mention previously that Alhambra tickets from the official source sell out months ahead of time. Check on availability right away so you'll know whether you need to do something like buying the Granada Card or budgeting for a tour.

Posted by
8 posts

thanks @acraven! I will check that out as well.

Anyone have any personal experience on the horseback riding tours (I was looking at Caballos y Vino) or bike tours for either Ronda area or Sevilla?

What about olive tours?

TIA!

Posted by
15788 posts

The fast trains will cut your travel time nearly in half. I'd take the car from Cordoba to Granada to Ronda and drop it in Sevilla. A car will be a nuisance in Cordoba, Sevilla and Toledo (there may be some restricted driving areas, traffic, and few parking places). There are frequent trains between Sevilla/Cordoba/Madrid and Madrid/Toledo.

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