questions on travel within spain and itinerary

Any chance of talking you out of Ronda and into an extra night in Granada so you have one full day? I’m not saying Ronda isn’t worth seeing, but one full day in Granada would definitely be worth it!

i screwed up my original post!
I do have one full day in granada!
It should be
day 12 cordoba to granada early train
day 13 granada
day 14 granada to ronda
and then everything is pushed forward one day.
great catch, I'll see if I can edit it

Oh good! Everyone has their favorite but I did love Granada! This actually looks like a well-thought out itinerary. I know you will have a great time!

I don't think that the price of the ticket to/from Toledo fluctuates. (I just looked and it's the same tomorrow as it is in mid-May.) But it would be prudent to buy the tickets at least a day or two before—or as soon as you have a firm plan.)

When I went to Toledo I bought a flexible ticket for a later return, but when I was done and ready to head back to Madrid early (I had a date!) changing the ticket for an earlier train was easy.

Thanks for the info Scudder, I will buy the Toledo ticket maybe a week in advance once I can see what the weather will be like

It's just over 40 miles from Madrid to Toledo--a mere daily commute by train. Buy your tickets when you're ready to leave.

We went Madrid-Granada on a bus, but now they have train service. Then we flew over to Barcelona on Vueling Airlines--1 hour trip.

Don't underestimate the size that Spain is. It's a very large country with distinctly different regions. Fortunately, it's much cheaper to travel there than France and England.

If at all possible, try to take in one of the Flamenco dancing shows by the gypsies in the caves above Granada. It's a once in a lifetime special occasion. And Alahambra is a special travel site to see there. But I warn anyone that cannot climb steps as it's a physical place to see.

Rick warns that the trains on the Madrid-Toledo line can sell out. I believe it's more of an issue on the way back to Madrid. There are buses, too. They're slower, and they go to a Metro station that will probably leave you needing to hop on the Metro to get back to your hotel, but they're not an awful back-up plan in case you don't want to buy the return ticket early and find several trans full.

You've done a good job planning!

If I were going to change anything, I would delete Ronda and add the time to Seville - it would be a little more relaxed and Seville is a great city to visit!.

I’ll only comment David’s idea about a flamenco show. Watch a YouTube video or something to see if it’s something you might like. For my wife and I, five minutes of a flamenco show is four minutes too many. For us, an hour show would seem like an eternity. Seeing it at a Féria and not In a tourist venue is different because when you tire of it, you move on.

Congrats as you have defined an itinerary allowing the pace to experience your destinations and create wonderful memories.
Enjoy!

Thanks so much for all the helpful replies!

David, do you remember which flamenco show you saw?
and jaimeelsabio, there's a good chance I won't be crazy about the performance, but it seems like a "when in Rome" thing and who knows when I'll be back in Granada, if ever.

Marsle, thanks for the suggestion on skipping Ronda. It definitely feels like there's much less to do there than Seville/Granada. It might be nice to have a relaxed day though and see a new place. I'll still have 2.5 days in Seville.

ok, so the big question is if I keep in Ronda, what's the best way to do the Granada-Ronda-Seville transportation? Another forum post from years ago said Granada-Ronda by train and Ronda-Seville by bus. Does that still seem the best way to do it? Anyone have any suggestions or thoughts?

Thanks again everyone :)

I recommend spending at least one night in Toledo. Toledo is very, very crowded during the day with tour buses. It is so much nicer in the evening when the daytrippers have left and the city is illuminated. If we saw Toledo as a day trip, I honestly would not have enjoyed it as much.

If you hadn't already bought your rail tickets, I would recommend spending 2 nights in Cordoba, but it's too late to change now. At least you are spending one night in Cordoba which is so charming in the evening when the day trippers have left and the city is illuminated, much like Toledo.

thanks for the tip on staying a night in Toledo. i was planning a day trip to toledo to not have to relocate to another hotel and I think a day trip is the more common way to see Toledo. Maybe i should stay the night since i already have a lot of nights in Madrid. If anyone else has any thoughts or suggestions let me know.

Why not take a direct train from Madrid’s Atocha station to Ronda (departs at 15:05 arriving in Ronda at 18:59)? From Ronda take a train to Granada (2h and requires a transfer). From Granada take a direct train to Sevilla (departs at 13:18 arriving at 15:45). Instead of sleeping in Cordoba make it a day trip by direct train (45-minutes).

I quite liked Ronda but I had a car both times I stayed there (and both were part of 3+ week trips mostly in Andalucia. I spent 4 nights in Granada and thought 3 would have been ideal. I would have recommended more time in Cordoba, but since you're locked in . . . .
There's no end to things to see and do in sevilla, so I'd skip Ronda and go right to Sevilla from Granada.

Madrid - Toledo trains do sell out. Commuters use it regularly on weekdays and of course, so do tourists. Watch the Renfe site as your dates get closer. Usually it's fine to buy tickets a couple days in advance. I visited in February (hardly any tourists) and thought I'd have no trouble getting back to Madrid on Friday afternoon - at 2.30 the 3.00 train had sold out. I did get a ticket for the next train, so it worked out okay. You can leave your luggage at the Atocha station and just take a small overnight bag to Toledo. You could got on day 9 in the evening for 2 nights, then get the first train out on Day 11, pick up your bags and get the Cordoba train. Note that on the weekends, there are no early trains out of Toledo.

I went to two flamenco performances in Sevilla. The one I really enjoyed was at La Casa del Flamenco.

I understand you have purchased your rail already and most likely will not get a refund. However, in the big scheme of things loosing money on a train ticket is better wasting whole vacation days. I would cut Barcelona in half. Too many nights in a big city for me and the south of Spain is just heaven. In Seville the place for flamenco for me is Carbonara, I been to others but this is the one I return to, such fun. The train between Madrid and Toledo fills up fast advance purchase is a good idea. Three nights in Granada and three in Seville is not too much. j

geez, i wish everyone had the same exact opinion so I didn't have to worry about making the wrong decision...

I changed my schedule to move a madrid night to toledo. Now I just need to buy train tickets.

As for Andalusia, right now I have 3 nights seville and 2 nights granada and 1 night ronda. Some suggested I remove onda and add a night to seville or granada. Looking at trip advisor's "things to do" it seems like 3 days in seville and 2 day in granada is pretty solid but I really have no idea since I've never been to any of these places.

Three nights in Seville is not the same as three days. Three nights is two days plus some extra hours.

well, in my case, the earliest bus from ronda to seville arrives before 10 AM. So it'll end up being 2 full days and then a third day from let's say noon (drop off my bag at hotel, maybe bus is delayed). It's a couple of hours away from three days.

does anyone know why i cant find a ronda-seville bus ticket after like april 24? the damas bus website just stopped updating and has stopped updating for a while. I read that the damas bus is the one to take

Not working for me either at the moment. I suspect a technical glitch, because I saw Ronda-Seville schedules earlier today.

thanks for the reply acraven, it's weird that they show buses up to sunday april 24 and then just stop. I think it's been like that for the last two weeks (?)

Still don't see any buses from Ronda to Seville showing up online... this may be a dumb question, is there a chance there aren't any and I should just cancel Ronda and go straight from Granada to Seville?

This is a puzzlement, but I can't imagine Damas has stopped operating buses.

I was in southern Spain from early April till early May of 2019. It seemed that sights were shifting from their winter schedule to their summer schedule around the beginning of May, so that may be what's going on here with the buses. I don't know why they don't have the summer schedule loaded yet, though.

so now damas has only the 6:30-9 PM ronda to seville bus showing from april 25 onward while this week they had four buses every day including a 6:30 - 9 AM one which is the one i wanted to take. So as of right now, for some reason they have one bus a day next week while having about four this week.

I am supposed to come in to Ronda from Granada at 11:07 AM. Should I just buy a 6:30-9 PM bus ticket for the same day (so only 7.5 hours in Ronda, including the hassle of going/leaving train/bus station and storing my bag). Or do you think I should hold out because an earlier bus ticket can be found, either through damas or another company.

Would the 7.5 hours suffice? I'd really like to go and rather not skip since who knows if I'll ever be in area again.

We ended up in Valencia with our kids while backpacking (long story) and it ended up being a surprise hit! Their aquarium is unparalleled.

I'm extremely uncomfortable giving another traveler advice that could lead to empty-handedness. If I were in your shoes, I'd wait a bit longer. One bus has finally appeared on the schedule, so I'd expect the others to show up eventually. But I cannot absolutely guarantee that they will. I don't know what's going on here.

geez, i wish everyone had the same exact opinion so I didn't have to worry about making the wrong decision...

Don't worry about a wrong decision, do the best you can ... make your plan for what YOU want to see and experience, go do it and have fun ... no one is perfect, there will be some things that go wrong ... just fuggedaboutit and move on (dropping mic)

thanks for the words of encouragement DQ, i view this trip, my first in spain, as a starter one to better prepare me for the next one. So far it's going well.

And thanks acraven for the bus advice, I really appreciate it. I think what I did wrong while looking for buses is that I specified going to Seville prado SS which I read is the main bus stop so the buses that stop at plaza de arms (which is closer to the center and close to prado SS) were ignored. Once I specified I was open to any stop in Seville the other times showed up and I got the 6:30 Am bus i wanted. So lesson to others, make sure you look for all the stops in the city and not just what you think is the main one even though it may not be.

I made the same mistake! Though I think the first time I looked, I did check both bus stations.