Planning 14 Nights in S.Spain- Looking for Advice on Seville, Málaga, Granada, Córdoba & Cádiz

Do you arrive in Seville on Dec 27? Do you fly home on Jan 10?

A possible itinerary could be this:
Malaga - 4 nights
Granada - 3 nights
Cordoba - 3 nights
Seville - 5 nights with a daytrip to Cadiz

I have not been to Cadiz so I don't know if you are better off visiting for a day or staying overnight. It's about a 1.5 hour train ride so certainly doable as a daytrip.

I like kmkoo’s plan, and since you have a coastal stay planned with Malaga, I think I’d skip the Cadiz overnight because I’d did it difficult to give up anything else (have been to all except Granada—missed it twice and have not been back yet, so it’s a cautionary tale!).

Yes, we arrive in Seville on December 27th and fly home on January 10th.

Thank you so much for your suggestion! We are eager to start booking our stays in the places mentioned. We are also wondering whether we should choose hotels or Airbnb accommodations. I know it ultimately comes down to personal preference, but we feel the experience can be quite different with each option, and we would love to hear what others have found.

Any advice or personal experiences would be greatly appreciated!

Another vote here for the plan suggested by @kmkwoo. We found Cadiz less interesting than the other cities on your itinerary. Perhaps you could play it by ear and take a daytrip from Seville if you feel so inclined at the time or skip Cadiz for more time in Seville.

Keep in mind that January 6, Three Kings Day, is a holiday so things will be closed. There should be some interesting festivities. You hotel should be able to help you out.

We had a rental car when we visited Almodóvar del Río castle in May. The parking lot is a decent size and from it, one can either walk up to the castle or buy a ticket and take a small shuttle bus. While there is a bus from Córdoba I understand it drops one off close to a mile from the castle. If you decide to visit the castle, consider visiting Conjunto Arqueológico Madinat al-Zahra on the same day. It’s between the castle and the city.

There are better Alcazabas than the one in Málaga. Likewise, one can see the Roman theater without paying to see it.

Edited: Málaga’s airport is about 25 minutes from the historic area.

I count 14 nights, not 15.

We are doing the same trip in October: Malaga 4, Granada 3, Cordoba 2 and Seville 5.

If you have not already purchased your air tickets, I suggest that you fly open jaw into Malaga and out from Seville, or vice versa to save on doubling back and another hotel change. We will fly from Vancouver and there was not a huge difference in price between flying open jaw versus return. In addition, you would save on time (including an extra hotel change) and money for a train to return to your starting point.

Also, I suggest that you buy your Alhambra tickets at least 3 months out. On Sunday, I bought the last pair of timed tickets for October 15. Now, there are only a handful of single timed tickets for that day. This would mean that two people visiting together on October 15 would have to enter the Nasrid Palace at different times.

Picking up and dropping off a car from the Malaga airport is very cheap. I used the link from skyscanner and can rent a small car for 3 days for total CAD$29. Note: picking up/dropping the car from the train station would be about triple the price. I plan to do a day trip to Ronda and the Caminito del Rey. I will train or bus between cities.

Good luck.

some Seville info 36 Hours Seville, Spain
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Valadelphia, mml, thank you for your response. We have decided that, if time permits, we might do a day trip to Cadiz from Seville.

Jaimeelsbio, thank you for letting me know that January 06th is a holiday as I had no idea!
It does seem like renting a car would be a better option. We will visit the Conjunto Arqueológico Madinat al-Zahra when we go to Almodóvar del Río castle.

Funpig, I am so happy to know that y'all are doing the same trip in October! We have not booked our flights yet, and I really like your suggestion of flying open-jaw, into either Malaga or Sevilla and out of the other.

We are thinking of staying 3 nights in Granada, 5 nights in Malaga, and 6 nights in Seville. We are planning to finalize our flights within the next couple of days and then look into getting our Alhambra tickets. We are also planning a day trip to Cordoba.

Thank you so much for the tip about renting a car and using the link from Skyscanner! We would love to hear all about your trip when you return. Have a wonderful time!

This looks like a great trip. I did something very similar on a tour of Andalusia, a solo road trip in two halves: Eastern Andalusia in 2014 and Western Andalusia in 2018. Eight nights each, flying to Malaga and Seville. You HAVE to hire a car: it totally elevates things to the next level, and car hire rates are very cheap in Spain out of season. The absolute must-sees (you already have most of them) are the Alhambra (obviously), the Alcazar in Seville, Ronda (absolute bucket-list destination) and the stunning Mosque-Cathedral in Cordoba. I spent three nights in Seville before collecting the car. I drove to all the other places, through some lovely scenery. Lots of goats!

Malaga itself is interesting but 4-5 nights might be too much. Picasso was born there but left at 18 and apparently never went back. It's worth two nights, and Granada and Cordoba are definitely worth two nights each. Cadiz and Jerez are worth passing through, but they get quiet in the afternoon and seriously buzzing at night. I had a night above a restaurant in Cadiz, which was buzzing till 2am.

With a hire car you get the option of seeing lots of out-of-the way places. I spent one night in Capileira up in the mountains. 15km further along the road, is Trevelez, the highest village in Spain (?) and famous for air-dried hams. Lots of great walking trails here. It's called the Alpujarras, and it's basically the southern side of the Sierra Nevada. The northern side is where all the skiing happens in the winter.

One of my visits was in Holy Week (March) but I've never been at New Year. Obviously the 31st is a good day to be in one of the big cities (Malaga, for sure), but you might enjoy staying one or two nights in country locations. I spent one night on an actual working ranch with a friendly dog (all adorned with bulls' horns, etc). And the Paradores are worth checking out: state-run hotels, each one very distinctive if a bit expensive. If you like wildlife, the Doñana National Park is very special, for all the wintering water birds.

So I spent about the same number of days you have here, and I did lots of walking and didn't feel overly rushed at all. And I'm not young. So I definitely don't think your itinerary is too packed at all. I would certainly find a way of squeezing in a night in Ronda.

Have a great trip. Don't worry about pre-booking anything except the Alhambra. And do be in Albaicin at sunset for that iconic photo shot!

Would encourage you to take a day or so from elsewhere and spend a night or two in Cordoba versus a day trip. The Mezquita is amazing but Cordoba is, in and of itself, a jewel. You could easily do a day less in Malaga and/or Seville and have a fantastic trip.

Howardwilde, thank you for taking the time for such a detailed and helpful reply! It is very reassuring to hear that you managed a similar itinerary in eight nights without feeling rushed. And thank you for all the wonderful suggestions.

We are convinced about hiring a car, and we love the idea of adding a night in Ronda . The Alpujarras and Capileira also sound fantastic, although we’ll have to see how much we can squeeze in without making the trip too ambitious. A night in Cordoba as mml pointed out, also sounds great.

We are taking your advice about Malaga too and have decided not to stay five nights. The tip about being in the Albaizín for sunset is definitely on the list!
Thanks again for sharing all your experience. The Paradores and all those out-of-the-way places sound like exactly the sort of things that could make the trip special, so we are looking into those options as well.

We would especially love to know more about the working ranch. If you don’t mind, may I send you a private message to ask for a few more details ?

We travel very light, which makes it much easier for us to move from place to place without feeling too hassled, so we are quite open to adding some of these more unusual stops along the way. Thanks again for all the great suggestions!

At the moment, we may not be able to do an open-jaw flight. It is proving tricky during the holiday season, with relatively few return flight options. The return journey to Toronto is more than 14 hours if we choose the multi-city option. We also checked the possibility of flying home from either Seville or Malaga, and Seville seems to be the better option for us.

Thank you again — your advice has been incredibly helpful as we fine-tune the itinerary!