Spain in mid November

My suggestions would be:

• Seville-Cordoba with a bit of time in Madrid if you prefer not to be rushed.

• Seville-Cordoba-Granada if you don't mind some time pressure; you'd still need to be back in Madrid the night before you fly home, but you might not have any significant sightseeing time there.

How many nights will you be sleeping in Spain, not counting the overnight flight--or are you arriving from elsewhere in Europe?

We were in Andalusia in November, a few years back. We found the weather lovely. I agree with acraven, depending on the number of full days, I’d do all three cities, or if you really have only six days, I’d pick Sevilla or Granada and Cordoba. I’d lean towards Sevilla, but the Alhambra is amazing. . .

We also have been to Spain in November and perfect weather for touring.

For a change from the very popular destinations, maybe use Cáceres as a base. Mérida, Trujillo, and Guadalupe are possible day trips.

I’m not sure what the weather will be like this November. I believe Cáceres is fairly easy to reach by train.

You can compare monthly-average weather statistics for Caceres and Seville in the cities' Wikipedia entries. I'd expect Caceres and the other cities in Extremadura to be somewhat cooler and possibly a bit wetter, but probably OK for travel. If you want to dig into more detailed data, go to timeanddate.com for actual, historical, day-by-day weather statistics. I like to check the most recent five years since weather varies a lot. I think this gives me a more reliable idea of the range of weather I could run into. Monthly averages are typically based on 20-year periods, or longer, and weather has gotten more extreme recently.

Caceres weather -- November 2023

Use the pull-down box at the right, just above the graph, to change the month and year displayed. Use the Search box at the upper right to change the location.

I didn't get to Guadalajara, but I managed to stay in Caceres and see Merida and Trujillo via public transportation. That was during the summer of 2016, and it was quite hot then--not the best time of year for Extremadura and definitely not recommended for Andalucia!

Thank you for your suggestions.
I am wondering when you say Sevile, Cardoba, Madrid, where would be your base, or how would you break that up?
Would Malaga be a good choice or is it too far.
We have 6nights. I believe we will have to land in Madrid.

Thanks

You cannot see Andalucia (much less Madrid and Andalucia) from a single base.

Malaga is a perfectly nice place, but with only six nights, I think very few people would say it makes the cut.

Seville is larger than Cordoba and Granada, and its sights are scattered. It needs more time--a minimum of 3 nights as far as I'm concerned, and the only reason I'm not specifying 4 nights is that you just don't have enough time.

Seville and Granada are way beyond reasonable day-tripping distance. The Alhambra is a large complex, not a single building. Lots of people spend more than half a day there. A realistic minimum for the city is 1-1/2 days (2 nights), though more time would be warranted if you had it.

The thorny issue is how to handle Cordoba. Like Granada, it's worth 2 or more nights, but you don't have time to do that. Cordoba can fit anywhere in your itinerary, because you will pass through it on the train leaving Madrid and returning to Madrid. In many/most cases you'll also pass through it on the way from Seville to Granada, so take a look at the train schedule to see what fits with the way you like to structure your days (early starts? keep going until 10 PM?). There aren't a lot of fast trains in and out of Granada, so that's the first part of the schedule to consider.

There are three basic ways to arrange a visit to Cordoba:

• Spend 1 or more nights there. This is ideal, because the city is a great place just for wandering around after the day-trippers go home.

• Make Cordoba a day trip from Seville. The train takes as little as 41 minutes from Santa Justa Station, but you need to add extra time to get to Santa Justa from your Seville hotel. Not being encumbered by luggage means you can start sightseeing immediately when you hop off the train in Cordoba, and there would be no time spent checking out of your old hotel and into a new one in Cordoba.

• See Cordoba in transit between two of the other cities. The in-transit visit minimizes time spent sitting on trains, but it has the disadvantage of requiring you to store your luggage in Cordoba and later retrieve it. I've never had to do that in Cordoba, but there are reportedly lockers at the bus station, which is very near the train station. Demand exceeds supply, so you'd need to have a back-up plan in case there were no lockers available by the time you arrived. Googling luggage storage Cordoba will turn up options, I'm sure; you'd want something near the train station. There aren't many trains to Granada, so consult the schedule before choosing to visit Cordoba on the way between Seville and Granada or Madrid and Granada. I'd also be cautious about planning an in-transit stop on my first full day in Europe, for fear I'd be really sluggish that morning and not want to take an early train, thereby cutting deeply into the time I planned to spend in Cordoba.

How to handle Cordoba really depends on your personal travel preferences--how you feel about one-night stops and getting luggage on and off trains. The order of travel is flexible, but this is the best I can come up with on the allocation of time:

Seville: 3 nights
Granada: 2 nights
Madrid: 1 night
Cordoba either as a day-trip or in-transit stop.

Something to consider: You really need to get out of Madrid on your arrival day. It's difficult to know what to do about scheduling a train trip on your arrival day, because your flight could be late or you might run into an unexpected hold-up at the airport. Fares tend to be high for tickets bought on the day of travel, yet the normal recommendation is to wait until you're at the destination before purchasing (and there's a train station right at the airport where you can do that). The trip to Cordoba is shorter and therefore cheaper than the trips all the way to Seville and Granada, so the penalty for buying Cordoba tickets after arrival wouldn't be as high.

Out of space--to be continued.

Continuing...

Spanish trains sometimes sell out in advance (though not terribly far in advance). Although there are lots of trains between Madrid and Cordoba--many of them the fast trains you will prefer, it would be smart to keep an eye on renfe.com the last week before your trip to be sure trains to Cordoba (or whichever city you decide to travel to that day) are not filling up. Full trains will remain on the schedule, so you can see what is happening.

As I mentioned in the post above, there aren't a lot of trains serving Granada. Many posters have decided to take a bus rather than a train between Seville and Granada because they preferred the bus departure times. Spanish inter-city buses are comfortable, and the travel time is not a great deal longer by bus. The reason the bus is such a good option for the Seville-Granada trip is that the rail line used by most fast trains between those two cities doesn't take a direct path; it goes way north, through Cordoba, whereas the bus takes a more direct route (not through Cordoba).

All that I have written here assumes you want to focus your time on Andalucia. That's reasonable, because Madrid is easier to return to (cheaper flights, non-stop flights). If there are things you just must see in Madrid on this trip, I think you need to cut something in Andalucia--probably Granada, because I'm afraid eliminating Cordoba wouldn't free up enough time to see much in Madrid. A good bit depends on how productive you will be on the day you arrive and the following day. I really struggle at the beginning of all my European trips; maybe you will be more fortunate.

I appreciate your suggestions, so grateful for your time.
Now we know where to focus on
I would love to know what you would choose to do in 7 days

Would it be best to land in Madrid, take the train to Seville an use Seville as a base. Do a day trip to Granada and a day trip to Cardoba.

Or Stop in Cardoba for a two days, then go to Seville for 3 days and back to Madrid for a day or two.

I've responded in the other thread where you asked a similar question.

I am going to recommend a different country.
Portugal
One city: Lisboa
More than enough to do.
Wonderful place to visit.
There are palm trees in Lisboa to give an idea of the weather.

Excellent information at https://juliedawnfox.com

Lisbon is a lovely city, but November is quite a rainy month there. Wikipedia's climate-summary chart shows an average of 14 days with rain that month. Andalucia can be expected to be a lot less rainy.