Southern Spain Itinerary - Finalizing

I think you may find a bus a better option for some of those journeys (not sure, check just in case).
It is hard to say about Ronda. It holds a special place in my heart, but moving three kids for a one-night stay might not be worth the hassle. The gorge is neat and people actually applauded the sunset there, which was lovely, and it is one place I enjoy the new town as much as the old town (kids would probably enjoy the evening cruise up and down the boulevard).
You could consider coming back one day and driving through the natural areas of this region and seeing all you don't see on this trip, and add that day to Cordoba (which has more than the Mezquita). Or you could add the day to Madrid and do the Toledo day trip.

Hi Heather,

Have you booked your flight yet? If not , then consider booking an open jaw flight plan. You could have the option of flying into one city and flying out in a different city without having to go all the way back to Madrid to fly home. In addition, You have the option of flying straight into Málaga which is in Andalusia instead of flying to Madrid. The city of Málaga has an international airport. From Málaga to Cordoba is 1 hour by train. As a result, you can spend more time in Cordoba with less time traveling on the train. By the way, Málaga has beautiful beaches. Skip Ronda and add Málaga.

Consider this Itinerary:

Nov 21 Thursday- fly out

Nov 22 Friday- arrive in Malaga

Nov 23 Saturday- Malaga

Nov 24 Sunday - train to Granada

Nov 25 Monday - Granada (Alhambra)

Nov 26 Tuesday - Train Cordoba

Nov 27 Wednesday - Cordoba

Nov 28 Thursday - Seville

Nov 29 Friday - Seville

Nov 30 Saturday - Seville (Day trip to Arcos De la Frontera) Take Bus.

Another option can be to take a day trip to nearby Jerez de la Frontera. 1 hour by train.

Dec 1 Sunday - Seville

Dec 2 Monday - Madrid

Dec 3 Tuesday - Madrid (Fly home)

You have outlined a great trip. The kids will have a blast.

http://www.renfe.com/EN/viajeros/index.html

Madrid Puerta de Atocha to Cordoba takes about 2 hours, and there are 5:30 and 7:30 trains.

We drove Cordoba to Ronda to Granada and back with a day trip to Arcos from Ronda (including a stop in Zahara) last year. Now that there is a Cordoba - Granada train connection that would be easier. The road from Granada west through Antequerra - Ronda - Zahara - Arcos- Sevilla goes along the front of the mountain range and is quite pretty, if not particularly fast (About 5 hours driving time direct). You could also take the train to Antequerra and then drive from there through Ronda and on to Arcos and finally Seville.
www.viamichelin.com/

I really liked the small town atmosphere of Ronda compared to Granada and Sevilla. It is scenic, it is the place where bull fighting was invented, and it has excellent restaurants including some that are wonders of the "new" tapas styles (organic ingredients, finest ingredients, etc.).

Having said all that, in November the weather in the mountains might be dodgy.... there are ski areas just south of Granada. We saw cars with skis on their racks when we were there for spring break - so keep weather in mind.

In November, I would prefer Ronda and surrounding white villages to Malaga. Malaga's old town is pretty and there is an interesting Picasso Museum, but it's not as unique as Ronda and the white villages, and it won't be beach weather in Nov.

I don't think you'll find many crowds in Ronda in November. I've been twice in February and don't remember crowds anywhere. You could stop at the prehistoric dolmens at the base of Antequera on the way from Granada. Even with the stop, you should be in Ronda by lunchtime, giving you hours to sighsee before sunset, which hopefully will be lovely. Then you have the next whole day to enjoy the scenic drive and stop to explore one or more of the hill towns on the way to Sevilla. You could go through Grazalema and Ubrique to Arcos, which is worth a 2-3 hour visit, the RS guide has a walking tour. That would be about 4 hours driving time in total.

I like your plan very much. Do compare train and bus schedules from Cordoba to Granada.

We drove from Seville and spent two nights in Ronda and then drove to Granada -- it's really easy to drive in the area and it's beautiful. We had three days in Seville and honestly wished we'd had another day in the Ronda area instead, but I guess it depends on what you like to do/see (and we don't have kids). We also did Cordoba as a day trip from Seville and thought it was more than enough time. As for the comment about the open jaw ticket, we looked into that for our trip in May and a departure (or arrival) to any other airport still required us to go through Madrid or Barcelona anyway and was more expensive, so we wound up doing something similar-- which was fly into Madrid, immediately get out, and then end there to fly home.

Nick B, Chani, and Becky
Thank you for the advice on the driving part from Granada to Ronda then on to Seville! That is exactly what I was looking for! So, we will rent a car from Granada and drive to Ronda, stopping in Antequera on the way! It looks to be about an 1 hour and 20 minutes to Antequera and then about the same to Ronda.
It looks to be about a 2 hour trip from Ronda to Seville. I have not researched any of the towns you talked about Chani, Ubrique or Grazalema. I will do that.

All of your advice has been lots of help in planning. It is so hard to know what to plan with the family when you have never been and want to make the most of your trip!

We did get Alhambra tickets and Margarita (RS advice) for our tour guide!
Does anybody have any advice for the Mezquita guide, Angel Lucena Aguilar?

We would like to take a paella cooking class in Seville. And see a horse show in Cordoba. Anything else that is a must? We are HUGE foodies and if there are any restaurants, markets, tapas bars, that you love, please let us know!
Thanks again for taking the time to help make our trip the best it can be!
Heather

Paella cooking class in Seville? Not really local, since Paella is from Valencia, 400 miles away, but why not, if you can find a well-regarded class.

Flamenco performance at the Casa de Flamenco in Sevilla. One of my favorite foods is salmorejo, the Andalucian version of gazpacho. Check the website of the Royal Stables in Cordoba. There are only 2-3 shows a week and there isn't much seating so plan to buy tickets as soon as you can - I don't know if you can get them online. I went in February and luckily I was able to get a ticket in the morning for the next evening. Get there early, no reserved seats.

I think your Granada-Antequera-Ronda driving estimates are about right. If you just plan to see the dolmens at Antequera then these are on the outskirts so you should avoid driving into the town centre which is confusing & congested. Note there are two sites - it's the one with the Menga and Viera dolmens which is the main one, but if you've the time there is also Romera a few miles away. However, if you have even more time it would be well worth going into Antequera city itself. There is a lot to see, at least for a day, including the impressive castle complex. And it prides itself on being a foodie centre so is an option for lunch (but don't order a big portion of its signature dish porra antequerana, to me it's awful and once tried never forgotten).

Between Ronda and Sevilla you might want to stop at Acinipo (Roman theatre) and/or Olvera (v. attractive white town).

Both Granada and Sevilla have indoor markets that might interest you. Granada's central one, San Agustin, is only a few minutes walk from the catedral. In Sevilla, two that spring to mind are Triana market (which is more still a local market, though many tourists visit), and, across the river, Lonja del Barranco (which is more gentrified and really a culinary centre rather than a day-to-day grocery market).

One thing about Granada is that it's still a place that includes a "proper" tapas with your drink. So rather than just getting a bowl of olives or some lumps of cheese, you should get something decent off the tapas menu. This makes Granada ideal for a bar crawl before dinner.

I am planning a similar fall trip and appreciate all the shared advice. I am hoping to avoid car use traveling from Granada to Rhonda than to Tarifa. Has anyone done this or similar via train/bus. Pros/Cons? Thanks

Thanks again for the insight and advice!

I have done a little more research on Antequera, and definitely want to stop there! I am thinking we could get on the road in Granada first thing in the morning and get to El Torcal by 10:00 (when the visitor center opens) and do the Green hike (the website says to allot about 45 minutes for this hike.) Then go and see the Dolmans. Then, the drive to the city of Antequera shows to be about 30 minutes away. Maybe we could stop there for lunch and sightsee a bit. I also found somewhere in all this research :-) that there is a market on Tuesday's in Antequera, which is when we will be driving through. After Antequera we will continue our drive to Ronda.

As far as a paella cooking class in Seville, I did not realize it was the dish of Valencia! In the market there is also a Spanish tapas class which looks fun, so I think we will do that one!

Heather

On Paella, like most of Spanish Cusine, it started as a regional dish and then was adopted as a national dish. I guess kind of like pizza in Italy.

Honestly you can find good Paella all along our coasts and in the major cities in many different varieties, again like pizza, my favorite is Paella del Senyoret. In the end, you may not like the "authentic" Valencian Paella, it's made with rabbit and snails lol!

PS: try calamares al andaluz, for a local tapas specialty of Sevilla.