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southern Spain in May 2026, please advise on my plans

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Hi all,
I have learned so much on this site while planning for wonderful trips we have taken to London, Italy, Hungary, Austria and Germany. I know I will get help from many of you who have traveled to and love southern Spain. After reading many entries and trip reports on this forum (I'm looking at you GeoffB, MML, Jean, Barbara N), I have put together a first pass at an itinerary. I am hoping people will chime in. This trip will be with my hubby (he and I both 63), adult son (25) and adult daughter (23). We love exploring history and churches, architecture while in cities, but also enjoy hiking (more walking for me!) and being away from the city and in nature. Hoping for a combo on this trip. We'll be flying to Madrid after several days in Marrakesh so will be over initial jet lag (though it will be a long travel day w/ plane and train). The dates are not finalized yet. I plan to lock down dates and then book flights/get tix to places we want to visit etc. Here goes:
Friday 5/15 fly into Madrid/take high speed train to Cordoba (arriving late afternoon/early evening). 2 nights in Cordoba (explore flowers on patios since patio festival still on, Roman Bridge, Mezquita tour, explore the Jewish Quarter, Soul of Cordoba night tour, visit the ceramic shop Luque Gastrotienda). Ideally, we can do the Soul of Cordoba tour when we arrive Friday and spend the day on Saturday with Mezquita tour and exploring. I do want the "night view of the bridge" GeoffB described. Barbara N recommended a guide for Cordoba. I do like the idea of private guide. We did that in Italy and it was wonderful.
Sunday: 2 hr hi-speed train to Granada. 2 nights in Granada. Book entry tix and timed tour tix for Alhambra, tix for Basilica of San Juan de Dios (find out when mass is so we can attend), don't miss behind altar view and 4 Virtual Reality seats. Stroll RS Granada old time walk, visit San Nicholas viewpoint for pix, Los Italianos for gelato (thanks Jean) and Los Diamantes for great rice!
Tuesday: rent car at Granada train station and head out of the city. Stay at AirBnB in Ronda 2 nights (or Arriate if avail). Planning to get tix to walk the Caminito del Rey (closed Monday). Plan to get tix on-line for flamenco/guitar show at Casa Museo Don Bosco (arrive early for garden, terrace views). Take drive to Grazalema, Zahara de la Sierra, Aguja del Puerto de las Palomas and go to Oleum Viride Olive Oil for tour and tasting. This would be our "scenic, picnic, enjoy nature day"--hoping no rain!
Thursday: head to Seville. return car at Seville train station. 3 nights Seville. Plaza de Espana (have some euros for performers), Barrio Cruz, Tix for guided tour of Alcazar, get tix to include the Alcazar Upper Rooms, (is this the same as timed tour of upper royal palace?). Book ahead Cathedral tour and timed roof top tour. Climb Giralda Bell Tower (check how ticketed, but we want all 3). See Flamenco show (book w/ Get Your Guide for flexibility to cancel --Museum of Flamenco Dance or La Casa de Flamenco.) Consider doing bike tour w/ See by Bike. Triana Ceramics and little ceramics museum.

Sort of feels like we are moving/traveling a lot, but I do want to see the 3 cities and still allow time to be outside of the city, too. We normally stay in one place for 4 nights minimum. Do you think this feels about right? I studied in Salamanca for a summer years ago. I teach English as Second Language and many of the students are native Spanish speakers, so I get to use their beautiful language sometimes when trying to explain a concept. Both of my kids studied Spanish, too. I can't wait to use Spanish in Spain!

Please lmk what you think. Both kids talked about Cadiz or a beach town, but I don't really think it's doable. Thanks for any and all advise!
Joanne

Posted by
116 posts

I should note that we will be flying home out of Seville (with a layover in Madrid) and onward to Boston.

I will need your advice/help on booking the high speed train tix (should I book way ahead? ). Depending on where we've been, booking our train tix seems to vary.

Thanks,
Joanne

Posted by
1286 posts

I wish you had one more night for Cordoba or Seville, but I think your plan is mostly doable as long as you restrict it to the sights you have listed and have the energy to pack a lot into each day. We are 10 and 12 years older than you, so you probably walk a little faster than we do! You can see from my trip report what we were able to do in the shorter daylight hours in November. You will benefit from longer days for sightseeing and longer opening hours at the Cathedral and Alcazar in Seville and the Mezquita, for example.

In Seville, it might be hard to fit in all three of the following: the bike tour, Plaza de Espana, and Triana. So it will help to know your priorities and what you will skip if you find yourselves needing more time than you originally planned for the Alcazar or Cathedral. We did not tour the Alcazar upper rooms, or the rooftops or Giralda tower at the Cathedral, and we still spent a long time at each sight. I would have loved to do the Cathedral Rooftops tour, but I was intimidated by the narrow stairs, which don't seem to have railings.

I don't know how far in advance you have to book the flamenco shows in May--maybe someone can comment on that. I didn't book ours until a day or two in advance.

Posted by
116 posts

So, in a nutshell (sorry I am so longwinded).
2nights Cordoba
2 nights Granada
2 (or 3) Ronda
3 nights Seville

I could add an extra day or 2 to the entire trip if that really makes sense. We are spending 3 nights in Marrakesh (2 full days) at the start of our trip. I know many feel Morocco deserves its own trip (I agree), but this may be our last "big trip" with all four of us (son heading to med school in fall). My son really hoped to see Marrakesh or Fes and flights/timing worked for Marrakesh. In fairness to my son, he often adds more "exotic" legs to our trips that I wouldn't have considered (Vieques and rain forest in Puerto Rico, Budapest when we were in Austria ---Mr. E was huge help w/ that). These "add ons" always result in wonderful highlights to our trips. I'm guessing this one will, too!
Happy Thanksgiving all.
Joanne

Posted by
116 posts

Thanks Barbara N for your info. Yes, I am scratching bike tour right now. I am thinking one night of Flamenco may fit the bill so may wait to do in Seville since I don't think the one in Ronda includes any dancing (just song and guitar if I am reading it correctly at the Casa Musea Don Bosco site).

Posted by
1286 posts

If you can reasonably add two nights to your trip I think you will be glad you did, especially since your original post said you prefer 4-night stays.

Posted by
2184 posts

I would definitely add an extra night to Seville so that you have 4 nights instead of 3. Actually, 5 nights in Seville would be even better if you can swing it. Seville has many important historical and cultural sights. See a flamenco show. Take a carriage ride. In addition to the outstanding Alcazar and the cathedral, there is Casa di Pilates, Triana, Markets and museums. The plaza de espagna is stunning!

Posted by
356 posts

I am thinking one night of Flamenco may fit the bill so may wait to do in Seville since I don't think the one in Ronda includes any dancing (just song and guitar if I am reading it correctly at the Casa Musea Don Bosco site).

Hi Joanne. Yes, you are reading it correctly (based on our Sep 2023 experience). We attended a flamenco guitar performance at Casa Musea Don Bosco, and there was no dancing.

Posted by
116 posts

geoff, I am hoping you will chime in on my itinerary since I used a lot of your notes. Anything you see on my list that should be tweaked/

Posted by
356 posts

Hi Joanne. I think the number of nights you are spending in each Granada, Cordoba, Seville, and Ronda are doable - even with your ambitious daily itineraries. You are even spending one more night in Cordoba than we were able to! Not sure what you have planned on your drives between Granada and Ronda, and then between Ronda and Seville, but I think you could make some of your planned visits to "Grazalema, Zahara de la Sierra, Aguja del Puerto de las Palomas and ... Oleum Viride Olive Oil" during those drives.

I assume you have made plans for parking in Ronda when you visit. When we visited Ronda we left our rental car parked for the entire time during our 2 night stay (after dropping our luggage at hotel), in a parking lot at the southern end of town (within easy walking distance of our hotel and Casa Museo Don Bosco).

get tix to include the Alcazar Upper Rooms, (is this the same as timed tour of upper royal palace?).

I believe YES. The tickets on the Alcazar web site are Visit to the Real Alcázar + Royal Bedroom (spanish: Visita Real Alcázar + Cuarto Real Alto)

I was pleased to read that you were able to use our trip report in your planning. Thank You for the mention; knowing the contents assist others makes it worthwhile to draft trip reports.

GeoffB

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