Southern Spain Itenerary

Yes, stay in the historic city of Sevilla.

Some initial thoughts:

• Skip Barcelona and save for another trip, you simply do not have enough time.

• If you love museums and immersing in local culture definitely stay inside the cities themselves rather than out in the countryside.

• I personally would add a night or two to Cordoba, by far my favourite town in Andalucia, your could potentially steal a night from Sevilla/Madrid to accomplish this.

• If a beach is what your husband is after than Malaga would be a good choice, nearby is the touristy beach area of Marbella, the good thing with Malaga is that there is alot to do in the city once you guys get tired of the Costa del Sol in November ;)

• Resist the urge to "day trip to Africa"! (I'm assuming Tangiers?), you have alot on your plate already and Tangiers is definitely not the best intro to Africa for your children.

Hope this helps :)

You appear to have sketched in less than one full day in Granada, which has more to see than the Alhambra. I'd opt for a second night there unless research indicates the weather is likely to be iffy. I haven't checked on that and I think Granada may be cooler than Seville and Cordoba in the winter.

By flying in and out of a couple of the great destinstions in Morocco, Fes and Marrakech, you can combine Morocco with Barcelona on a future trip. Tangier is just not a good place to observe Moroccan culture.

I haven't been to Spain yet but I'm planning a trip this fall, and from all I've heard Cordoba is well worth two nights and a full day. Seems to be an easy stopover, a couple of hours from Madrid and less than an hour from Sevilla. I'm not the voice of experience here but it seems a shame not to give this city some time.

How early do you arrive in Madrid? If fairly early in the day, consider continuing your journey by taking the high-speed AVE train directly to Seville on your arrival day. Or better yet, take the train from Madrid to Cordoba and stay 1N there and then on to Seville the next day. Cordoba is a lovely town to stroll through at night, with the Mezquita and Roman Bridge lit up at night. That way, you can end your trip with several days in Madrid and not have to back-track. Either way, you will have a great time in Spain. Enjoy!

Looks fine. Just a minor suggestion -

If the seaside is non-negotiable, then Malaga is a good choice since, as already pointed out, it has plenty of other sights if the weather isn't fine. This is useful because November is Malaga's rainy month - though not incessant and, on the other hand, the weather might be okay to sit on the beach, even swim for the more hardy souls.

Nevertheless, I'd consider dropping one night from Malaga and adding it to Granada which would give you time to explore the city itself as well as the Alhambra.

You could also visit Cordoba between Sevilla and Granada since for the fast trains you'd change there anyway (whereas from Madrid to Sevilla, you can stay in the same train for the whole route). Like others, I'd want to stay overnight in Cordoba, but I'd also be wary of adding another change of accommodation.

All those cities have permanent covered markets, in addition to temporary markets and "normal" food shops, of course. If you google "mercado XXX", you'll get details.

Olives are grown in lots of places. Even the Italians have a try with their inferior version. But, "olive-central" is in the Jaen province of Andalucia. And, I think, November is when they start harvesting. You could I'm sure do an olive tour there. Ubeda springs to mind as a base since as well as its olive stuff (including an olive interpretation centre!), it's worth seeing in its own right, together with neighbouring Baeza. Both are less touristed than the big cities, so a chance to be a bit more "local". However, whilst Jaen fits with travelling between Granada and Cordoba (another olive province), I don't think you have time to include that and the coast. So it would be a choice between Jaen/Ubeda or Malaga. Otherwise, I'd guess there are tours of farms/mills from both Granada and Seville cities.

Hi Heather. I assume you are Americans and looking at late November rather than Canadians going in October :-) Take into account that sunrise in Sevilla is 8.15 and sunset is a little after 6 pm. You won't have a lot of daylight hours so staying in the countryside means driving at dusk and nothing to see in the evenings.

Trains are fast and comfortable. Read this article to learn how to use the Renfe website. It will make your itinerary planning easier. Note that trains only appear on the schedule when tickets go on sale, usually 62 days in advance, but not infrequently trains will appear much earlier or later. Schedules don't change much - I don't know if there are big changes from the summer to winter schedules. Though the site is erratic, the trains run on time. Remember that you have to pick up your luggage from your hotel before you go to the train station and then drop it at your new hotel when you get off the train. You will probably want to take a bus from Granada to Malaga, there are only a couple of trains per day and the times are inconvenient.

Consider pushing on to Cordoba (2 nights) by train on Thursday. It's more low key than Sevilla and has enough sights for a full day, especially since your first day is probably spent in a foggy haze. Then Granada (2 nights!!), Malaga, Sevilla, and Madrid at the end.

The major sights in Madrid are the art museums. The Prado is by far the largest, with room after room after room after room of paintings. While adult art lovers are happy to spend many hours there, I wonder if kids will be patient for more than a couple of hours. The Thyssen only needs a couple of hours. Just up the road is the Naval Museum which could be of a lot more interest. Be sure to take your passports with to gain entry.

Wow! You guys have been a huge help! I am going to change the order of which I had initially thought we would travel. How does this sound:
Wed-Fly
Thursday - Arrive Madrid at 2:40, take the train to Cordoba and spend the first night there
Friday - Sightsee Cordoba then take the train to Granada
Saturday - Granada and The Alhambra
Sunday - Sightsee in Granada - Take the bus from Granada to Malaga
Monday - Malaga
Tuesday - Malaga
Wednesday - Train from Malaga to Seville ( I am most excited about this city for some reason!)
Thursday - Seville
Friday - Seville
Saturday - Seville to Madrid
Sunday - Madrid
Monday - Madrid
Tuesday - Fly home

I thought we should end in Malaga but after your input I like ending in Madrid where we will fly home from. Thinking about taking a day away from Madrid and add it to Seville, so we are there for 4 nights instead of 3? I did find a 3 hour tour of an olive oil farm in Granada. So we might do that on Sunday before we head out to Malaga. It seems like a lot of travel the first few days, but I am excited to see and stay in Cordoba. And after reading (it feels like millions) reviews, I added an extra day in Granada. Hopefully with the itinerary set, I can start plugging in the sights, museums, and restaurants to visit!

If there is anything that needs some more tweaking, I am open to advice! This will be our kids first trip to Europe! Hoping for a successful trip that everyone enjoys :-)!
Thanks again for all your insight and help!
Heather

I've been to all the places that you plan to visit.
1) Seville, Madrid (do day trips to Toledo and Segovia) and Granada are wonderful.
2) Malaga is OK, but not sure I would even plan to go there. I didn't think much of the beach at Costa Del Sol.
3) Skip the day trip to Tangiers. There are some great places to visit in Morocco, but Tangiers is not one of them. Marrakesh and Fes as well as some other places are nice.

Hi, your updated itinerary looks much better, glad you gave Cordoba a night, who knows you may feel you want to stay for another night! :)

It sounds much much better now. 2 full days in Madrid depends on what you most want to see and do there.

Your day in Cordoba is short. The afternoon train leaves at 4.19 pm and the next one isn't until 8.43 pm. This is your first day and some of you may still be in a haze. Rushing to see a couple of sights before returning to the hotel for your bags is way too rushed. Spend 2 nights there and take the 9.17 am train on Saturday. That gives you a lot of time in Granada, you should be able to drop your bags and be out and about by noon. See the Alhambra on Sunday, then take the 6.30 pm or even the 8 pm bus to Malaga.