Spain and Morocco Itinerary

Twelve days is not enough time for a good visit to southern Spain and Morocco. Specifically, it will be a serious challenge to see even one of Morocco's interesting destinations (like Fes or Marrakech, but there are others) rather than the port city of Tangier. The latter seems to be where people tend to go when they're arriving from Spain, because there are ferries from the Spanish coast. However, Tangier just isn't a very good destination, and it takes time to get from the usual stops in Spain down to the port. If you're flying home from Spain, you'll have to repeat that trip in reverse.

There are very many intriguing destinations in Andalucia, though it will probably be getting quite hot down there in late May/early June, so you need to be prepared for that. Among the many places in southern Spain I'd rank higher than Tangier are Cordoba, Seville, Granada, Malaga, Ubeda/Baeza, Cadiz and Ronda (plus white villages west of Ronda). If your family has an interest in horses or in sherry, Jerez should be added to the list. The ferries to Morocco do not leave from any of those interesting cities, though Cadiz and Malaga are on the coast.

The minimum time I'd want to spend in Spain on this trip would be 4 nights in Seville, 2 nights in Cordoba and 3 nights in Granada. If I had 4 extra nights, I'd use them in Spain, in one or two of the cities I mentioned above. Alternatively, there's good hiking in the Alpujarras outside Granada (at a bit of altitude, so one hopes not terribly hot), and there's also the Caminito del Rey if you're adrenaline junkies: https://www.caminitodelrey.info/en

There are flights to Fes and Marrakech, as well as other Moroccan cities, from many places in Europe, so the year you travel to southern Spain doesn't necessarily need to be the year you visit Morocco. It's a fascinating country worth a lot more than a quick visit to Tangier or even 3 or 4 days on a flying visit from Spain.

What airports are you flying into and out of?

Agree with @acraven. We just spent 17 days in Andalucia and have previously traveled 14 days in Morocco. Both are fabulous…but you need to choose one or the other for a 12 day trip.

If you decide on Spain, highly recommend the El Caminito del Rey. It was the highlight of our recent trip.

thank you for the advice. I did some more research and agree that 12 days may not be enough to enjoy both Spain and Morocco. We will focus on Spain and do Morocco some other time. Since we will be flying in from US, Madrid and/or Barcelona are the best options for flights. With that in mind, what do you guys think of the following itinerary:

Madrid (3 nights, perhaps including a day trip to Toledo?)
Train to Seville (3 nights, day trip to Cordoba)
Train to Malaga (4 nights, day trips to Granada, Ronda and beaches? perhaps Nerja?)

this makes for 10 days. what else can we do? kids really like beaches. we love to hike but El Caminito Del Ray might be challenging as I have a fear of heights. Another option might be to do an open jaw where we fly in to Madrid and fly out from Barcelona. However, given the distance from Malaga to Barcelona we will most likely have to cut a day from Madrid (Toledo day trip) or Malaga to have any meaningful time in Barcelona. thoughts?

TIA.

Three nights is short for Seville even without a side trip (and Cordoba is great, actually worth at least a couple of nights if you had more time). Malaga is a very pleasant city and would probably be a bit cooler than Seville/Cordoba because of the moderating influence of the sea, but I have a really hard time recommending Malaga, Ronda and beaches when you have so little time and want to see Madrid as well as Seville, Cordoba and Granada. You are going to be spending an awful lot of time on trains or buses. However, I remember how much I liked going to the beach as a child, so...

Twelve nights for a trip to Spain extending from Barcelona to Andalucia is just difficult; there's not a great solution. I'm a big fan of Barcelona, and I think the weather will probably be more pleasant up there in early June, but life will be easier if you forget Barcelona on this trip (though there are convenient beaches).

I'm struggling to come up with a 12-night itinerary suggestion. Maybe:

Madrid: 3 nights with day to Toledo (you could use an extra night in Madrid)
Seville: 4 nights with day to Cordoba (an extra night wouldn't be wasted here)
Beach town on the coast: 2 (or 3) nights
Granada: 3 (or 2) nights

However, that leaves you with limited good rail choices back to Madrid. There's a fast train at 6:58 AM, then the next one isn't until 1:22 PM. There are more options in the afternoon, which might be perfectly OK, depending on your sightseeing plans. Those trains take from 3-1/2 to 4-1/2 hours; you often have one change.

If you are a family of early risers, you could stop for the day and see a good bit of Cordoba on the way from Granada to Madrid, or you could see Cordoba on the way from Madrid to Seville. Madrid-Cordoba-Seville would be a bit better, because the total travel time would be less, leaving more time for Cordoba, and there are a lot more trains running from Madrid to Seville than from Granada to Madrid. To me that sort of stop-over visit isn't ideal. First of all, it's short, because the day will involve at least 2 hr. 36 min. of train time (that's for Madrid-Cordoba-Seville), plus the time spent wrangling your luggage between hotels and train stations. Secondly, you'd have to spend time storing and retrieving the luggage in Cordoba. If Cordoba is a day trip from Seville, you'll still have the train time, but you won't be handling luggage.

If you're willing to rent a car (something I've never done in Europe), you could pick the car up in Seville and use it to get down to the coast and then subsequently to Granada. Traveling that path by public transportation would probably take considerably longer, plus you'd be dealing with train and bus schedules.

I'm sorry not to be more help here. I think there must be better solutions for you. With luck, some other folks will have good ideas for you.

acraven - your points are well taken. thank you! as you can imagine with a young family, everyone wants something. kids want to spend more time at the beach, son is a FC Barcelona fan so he cannot believe that we are planning to skip Barcelona while in Spain. With all that in mind, we have added an extra day and came up with this itinerary. Of course, flight options, costs and travel logistics played a role too. It probably is still tight and we can consider skipping the day trip to Toledo to add another day in Seville (or Barcelona) if advised.

Day 0: flight from US to Madrid
DAY 1: Land in Madrid at noon, evening to explore city center
Day 2: Prado Museum, evening at leisure, tapas bars
Day 3: day trip to Toledo (can skip this to add another day in Seville?)
Day 4: Morning train to Seville, evening at leisure
Day 5: Seville (sightseeing, evening Flamenco show)
Day 6: Seville (day trip to Cordoba)
Day 7: Train to Malaga, afternoon and evening at leisure
Day 8: Malaga (Picasso museum, sightseeing, beach)
Day 9: Malaga (day trip to Granada)
Day 10: Malaga (day trip to Ronda (history) or Marbella (beaches) or Nerja (kayaking, beaches))
Day 11: Malaga (possible day trip to hike El caminito del ray)
Day 12: Flight to Barcelona, evening at leisure, FC Barcelona stadium, beach?)
Day 13: Barcelona (Sagrada Familia, evening at leisure, shopping)
Day 14: Flight to US

comments welcome :)

Stick to Spain and don't try the day trip to Tangiers, it is not worth it.

Also, the beaches in Spain are generally not as good as what we have in California or Florida. Suggest forgetting the beaches. Enjoy the history and culture.

Seville is the gem in the south, Granada is great for at least one day to see the Alhambra. If you go to Madrid, you must do a day trip to Toledo and if possible Segovia.

4 days in Seville, 1-2 Granada, 1 in Cordoba on your way to Madrid. Madrid 4 days with side trips to Toledo and Segovia. If you have time Barcelona.

Have not been to Madrid or Toledo, but have been to Barcelona, Basque country and, this September, Andalucia. The highlights of our Andalucia trip (which I think the teens would like) were: El Caminito del Rey; the rooftop tour of Seville Cathedral; and the incredible Mezquita in Cordoba. We really liked Malaga but 5 days may be too much time there. Ronda was super crowded and touristy - would not return there. The beaches near/in Nerja are pleasant and nearby Frigiliana is gorgeous, but Nerja is largely a Swedish expat community so, really, does not feel like anything else in Spain. So, maybe, a day or two less in Malaga and adding: (1) add a day to Seville; (2) another day or two in Barcelona with a side trip to Figueres to the Dali Theatre Museum; (3) a night in Cordoba; or (4) farther afield, a day/two at Tarifa for a smaller town plus beach.

For hotels recommend:
Malaga - Icon Malabar
Seville - H10 Casa de la Plata
Barcelona - Hotel Praktik Rambla
Cordoba - Hotel Viento 10
Tarifa - The Riad Tarifa

Have a great trip!

thank you for the great tips! we finally booked our 14 days trip from late May- early June. its open jaw - fly in to Madrid, fly out from Barcelona.

on to booking the train tickets from Madrid-->Seville-->Malaga, and air tickets from Malaga-->Barcelona. please advice if there's anything that we should pay attention to when reserving train tickets.

also, would you suggest that we pre-book day trips to Toledo or Segovia (from Madrid), Cordoba (from Seville) and Granada/El Caminito Del Ray (from Malaga)? if yes, any recommendations on where we can book these day trips?

thanks

Toledo, Segovia, Cordoba and Granada are places you can go on your own by train (except bus may be faster to Granada; I haven't checked). You may wish to take some sort of tour in each city (perhaps a walking tour covering part of the historic area), though the Alhambra will take up most of the time you'll have in Granada after traveling there from Malaga. Rick's guide book to Spain provides the information you'd need to visit those cities independently if you wish to do so. I'd tend to avoid bus tours to those destinations from the cities you're staying in, because in many cases trains will be faster, and making your own travel arrangements will give you more flexibility.

Except for the trip to Toledo, you'll generally save a worthwhile amount of money by purchasing those train tickets well in advance once your schedule is totally solid. Be sure you understand the cancellation and change policies.

Fares to Toledo do not vary, but waiting until the day of travel to buy tickets opens up the possibility of sold-out trains in both directions.

acravan is right, stick to Spain for this trip. You need a month to do all of Spain properly and a couple of weeks for Morocco.

Don't try going to Tangier for a day trip, it is not worth it.
If you plan to go to Morocco later, don't miss Marrakesh, Fes, Agadir and Rabat