Seville tours and the Alhambra

Get tickets early for Alhambra in Granada. Since you are spending a week in Seville, do day trips to Jerez and Cordoba. Skip Ronda , it's out of the way with public transport. If you have time include Málaga to tour.

Olive Oil Farm near Seville -

A Question of Taste

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Flamenco in Seville :

Los Gallos http://www.tablaolosgallos.com/en/

It doesn't take significantly longer to get to Ronda (by bus) than to get to Malaga (by train); Ronda might even be a few minutes faster. And the Ronda ticket will probably be a good bit cheaper--though I can't be sure since I don't see promo rail prices at the moment. I've chosen Ronda rather than Malaga on two previous trips but will finally take the time to see Malaga next week. I've never felt there was a compelling reason to go, but with a lot of time available this year I'm going to check it out. Your situation is very different, and I would not prioritize Malaga.

My #1 recommendation for a day-trip from Seville would be Cordoba. It's one of Andalucia's three top cities, and it's a quick train trip from Seville.

I don't think Granada is a practical day-trip from Seville. Whether you take a bus or the train/bus combo, the trip takes about 4 hours each way. ViaMichelin.com estimates the driving time in your own car at almost 3 hours one-way, and that doesn't include stopping, getting lost, finding parking, or dealing with the car-rental agency twice. That wouldn't leave very much time to see Granada. I'm sure there are bus tours offered, but I don't know anything about them.

Spanish meal hours do not agree with me, so I don't have much experience paying for restaurant meals. I've seen lunchtime menu-del-dia offers as low as 10 euros and many more in the 10-20 euro range. Fancy restaurants will charge more, of course. And dinner prices are usually a la carte and substantially more costly. I think many people make a meal off of tapas, with the total cost depending on a lot of things, including how large an appetite they have, what they order to drink, whether the place is in a tourist area, etc. One example from today: I stopped at a multi-vendor market near the Plaza de Armas bus station and bought a large cup of cut-up strawberries and kiwi fruit for 4 euros. That seemed a bit high, but I have a lot of trouble finding vegetables in situations like that, so I was willing to pay for the fruit. I've paid between 1 euro and 2 euros for a bottle of water in restaurants on this trip

I've found food costs on Spain lower than those in Italy, but in Italy I don't have as much trouble finding side vegetables to order, so I probably eat more in Italian restaurants. I suspect you won't find food prices all that much higher in Spain than in Czechia, but I know nothing about alcohol prices.

Well let's see what the poster decide Craven from D.C. We can only suggest. The poster makes the final call. Either way, Malaga, Ronda, Cordoba and Jerez are all good options.

Hi from Wisconsin,

Let me warn you: You must get your Alhambra tickets early. And by that I mean, buy then ASAP. It seems to me that they get posted 90 days in advance of the ticket. But as with many things in Spain, what posting 90 days in advance means varies. But don't get over confident, thinking, "Oh, how many people could possibly want to visit the Alhambra in October?" Find out how far in advance they are currently posting a buy your tickets.

A ticket to visit the Palaces will get you into all the other areas of the Alhambra. But the Palace visit has a specific time, like 10:30. And you should be in line 10-15 minutes in advance of that at the mouth of the Palaces. Even if you ticket says 10:30 you can enter the Alhambra as soon as it opens in the morning and stay all day, if you choose. Once into the Palaces, you can stay as long as you want, but with all other places in the Alhambra that require your ticket, once you exit that area, you can't come back. On the other hand, you can come and go from the Alhambra in general (not Generalife) with or without a ticket. But anything worth seeing requires the ticket.

There are other posts on this web site dealing with tickets and the Alhambra. Go check them out. It really seems that after 600 years of people coming to see the Alhambra they are getting ticket sales figured out. The Alhambra has an official site and that is where you should go.

I would warn that while any information is probably goos as of the day it was posted. Things do change.

wayne iNWI

I agree with acraven that Granada is not practical as a day trip from Seville. Since you are spending a week in Seville, could you take one of those nights and stay in Granada?

If I remember correctly, Alhambra tickets go on sale 2 or 3 months in advance of the date you want to go there. You should check the Alhambra's website. I found this was pretty consistent when I was planning my trip.

It wouldn't appeal to me, but if you want to visit the Alhambra from Sevilla, I would consider an organised coach tour. I've no personal recommendation, but instead suggest you look at what Viator are offering (they are a consolidator for tours like Autoeurope is for hire cars). Do make sure the tour includes visiting the Nasrid palaces since that's the highlight. It will be a long day, but if this is your only chance to see the Alhambra then I think you should go for it. You'll likely be back in Sevilla for dinner at 10 so it's not as if it's longer than most days, and you can always sleep in the next day.

If you prefer to do this as a DIY trip then it's going to be difficult. You must buy the Alhambra tickets as soon as they go on sale. And, the coach/train will be 3 hours each way, plus you need to get to/from the coach station at each end. In Granada allow at least 30 minutes.

It is always possible that there will be a direct Sevilla-Granada high speed railway service operating by October. But I wouldn't rely on that being the case just yet