Sevilla - Cadiz as Day Trip or Overnight

Do you have 9 or 10 nights all up ?
After 2 or 3 nights in Seville you could hire a car.
(Europcar, Hertz and Budget have offices at Santa Justa train station)
Drive to Cadiz (via Arcos) for 1 night.
Return to Seville (via Jerez) and drop off car.
Train on to Cordoba for 2 nights.

Note the motorway between Seville and Cadiz is very good.

Cadiz would have been a let-down for me, but Brad had warned me, so I didn't have high expectations. I enjoyed a day trip there, but it was Sunday and Carnival, so there was a lot going on. I'd opt for Toledo instead. Or a combined Jerez/Arcos day with a car. Or with a car, an overnight in Ronda, visiting Arcos and possibly a couple other hill towns.

Thank you both for the advice. We have 9 nights in total.

Why was Cadiz a near let down? In our current plan, we would likely be in Cadiz on a Friday afternoon/evening and/or possibly Saturday morning/afternoon.

Are the sherry tours in Jerez particulary interesting or fun? Other than the horse show, is there anything else that makes Jerez worth the stop in our short trip? I actually read about flamenco penas in Jerez. Are they significantly better or more "authentic" or more accesible than the shows in Sevilla? If so, how would one compare a Friday night in Jerez vs. a Friday night in Cadiz? Or, is there any decent way to do a day trip to Cadiz and/or Jerez to enjoy the evening in one of those towns and return to Sevilla to sleep? (It looked like the last trains leave at 8pm, which seems a bit early even for even eating dinner. I suppose we could drive, but that may just make the evening more stressful for the driver, my husband, and I wonder whether its considered safe to drive that route late at night. Are there any safe efficient modes of transportation other than the train and driving ourselves?)

Finally, if we rent a car to go to Cadiz/Arcos, would there be any advantage of dropping it off in Cordoba instead of at the train station in Sevilla. I know it will cost more for dropping off at a different location, but any thoughts on whether the drive to Cordoba would offer us anything interesting along the way?

thanks!

We visited Cadiz for just a night in 2007 and I enjoyed it myself.
The golden dome of the cathedral gleams in the white light.
We didnt have time to stop in Jerez so I cant say about sherry tours.
You may be forced to take the car on to Cordoba as it may be too late anyhow when returning, the Seville office may be closed for the day.

I was there 2 years ago and it was pretty run down, not well-maintained unlike everywhere else in Andalusia that I've visited. The Tio Pepe tour is kind of kitschy, but fun. The only other bodega I visited was Funador/Pedro Domencq, routine tour. There were only 3 of us and for the tasting, they just left us glasses and a pretty full bottle! I was there before the flamenco season began, but Jerez is the "Flamenco Capital of the World. " Tio Pepe is very close to the cathedral. The Royal STables are a tad far for walking, if you are short on time. Great show, though. I think you can get close to the horses if you get there early enough before the show starts.

You can check driving times on viamichelin.com but since it's a high speed train from Seville to Cordoba, driving will probably take longer. You can drop off the car in Seville anytime with Europcar. I don't know about the others. If the office is closed, you drop the keys in a lockbox in the parking garage beneath the bus station. Then you just go upstairs and across the street to the train station for your train to Cordoba. Since you'll be at the train station to pick up the car for a day, find out if there's a left luggage facility at the station. It may be prudent (and easier) to store your luggage than to schlep it back and forth from the car and have it in the car unattended for long periods during the day.

Thanks for all the feedback. I am still debating Cadiz as I have read such mixed reviews. I suppose I won't know until I have spent time there myself. We have already booked the train from Madrid to Sevilla, arriving around noon on a Wednesday. Maybe we could just transfer to a train to Cadiz straight away, spend that night in Cadiz, and then the next morning drive to Sevilla via Arcos (possibly Jerez if we are in the mood) and then have Thursday night, all day Friday, and Saturday until 6pm-ish in Sevilla when we head to Cordoba for the festival. That still begs the question of whether I am budgetting enough time for Sevilla, but its another way of going.

I was disappointed in Cadiz because it's run down. Sometimes disappointment is directly related to your expectations. I expected a beautiful old city on a peninsula. Unfortunately it wasn't as beautiful as I expected and hasn't aged particularly well. They haven't preserved a medieval core. On one side is the ocean and a tiny strip of sand, seems like ten feet wide; on the other is a view overwhelmed by a very industrial port (El Puerta de Santa Maria). The beaches are far better either up or down the coast.

Jerez was a pleasant surprise, the only drop-in Bodega visits you will find in Spain. We visited a couple of bodegas and stayed a night. It sounds like Chani and I had similar bodega visits. The Tio Peppe (really Gonzalez Byass) tour is the big one, very organized, and they give you a precise amount of sherry at the end. I'm glad we went but enjoyed the smaller Osbourne bodega more. Our tour had about twenty people in it. The guide gave the tour in English, Spanish (the only perfect Castillian I heard), German and French. At the end 8 of us, five Spanish, two Americans, and one Japanese, sat at a table with five different bottles of sherry and glasses and were allowed to enjoy at our leisure until closing (maybe 5 pm).

Three nights is plenty for Sevilla, unless during Holy Week or April Fair, plan on a flamenco performance in the evening and don't miss the Alcazar, Cathedral and surrounding quarter. Cordoba also has a great old quarter along with a must-see Mesquita. If you find yourself pressed, you could do two nights in Sevilla and overnight in Cordoba (but I don't think it's a mistake to go slower).

I love el Prado in Madrid, and liked Temple Debod, but wasn't thrilled with the city overall, it's too new for my taste. The old quarter that most European cities have is in Toledo (the capital before Madrid). I'd try to spend at least some time in Toledo.

Again, thank you so much. I was just looking up the osborne bodega. If I am looking at the right place, their website says that there is a bodega in Puerta Santa Maria, but does not reference Jerez. Am I looking at the right place? Also, if that is correct, would it make any sense to stop by there instead of Jerez, and if so, where would it best fit in the itinerary?