Splitting 8 nights between Seville & Granada

Having been to both Seville and Granada, I’d recommend making it 5 nights in Seville and 3 in Granada. Seville is a much larger city with 3x the population of Granada and much more to see. Once you list what there is to see in Seville and include Cordoba as a daytrip- you’ll have plenty to fill your time there.

We have been to Andalusia two times in early November and the weather was wonderful. It was warm, not hot, perfect for getting out and exploring the area.
I would go with Sevilla 5 days and Granada 3.

Seville and Granada have airports. Have you considered flying directly to/from either city to make the transit days easier? It doesn’t sound like you’re spending any time in Madrid.

Yes, I know they have airports, but with two children, the train seems a lot easier. We have chosen not to spend any time except for our last evening in Madrid.

Any recommendations on areas to stay in Seville and Granada? Looking for something with plenty of restaurants but not too touristy.

The children, their moods and dispositions are the wild card. Granada has more hills, but the main part of the city that tourists tend to frequent is fairly flat. Sevilla is larger and pretty flat. It also has more parks and places where the children can run and play (e.g., María Luisa park and Plaza de España). Since you plan on a day trip to Córdoba, I’d take a day from Granada and add it to Sevilla. In each city there should be plenty of playgrounds where the children can interact with other children and burn off some energy.

On our last trip to Sevilla we stayed at Hotel Amadeus. From it towards the cathedral is fairly touristy, but go the other direction and you’re away from the tourists in a residential area. Plenty of restaurants in that area. To get further away from the main tourist area, maybe the area nearer to Las Setas de Sevilla, but then you’d have a longer walk to get to the main tourist sights. I can’t help much with Granada since we stayed in different areas on each of our four visits. On our last visit we stayed at Hotel América right at the Alhambra complex, but I wouldn’t staying there with children since there are few somewhat nearby restaurants and you’d need to take a bus to the historic center. On our first trip to Granada in 1977 we stayed at what is now Barceló Carmen Granada. In know nothing about that part of the city now. It was fine when we were there.

Ha yes, my children's disposition is a wildcard. We did a 5 week trip this June/July to Italy/Switzerland/France and they were pretty good on hikes, so that's why we were interested in hiking around Granada, and I think they'd enjoy the Nerja caves.

Regarding flights, we are on the east coast so I was able to get reasonably priced direct flights to Madrid at good times for us, if we flew direct to Seville there were the options of very short layovers (not easy to make with 2 kids in tow) and long ones that added a lot of travel time. Figured it was easier to take the direct train and I liked the idea of having a final evening in Madrid.