Would you sacrifice time in Malaga for more time in Granada?

If you only have two nights in Granada, I would definitely add another night if you can. We stayed three in Granada and I wish we had one more night. I agree with the four cities you mention as being the priorities. Granada gets mixed reviews - other than the Alhambra - but I really enjoyed the city.

thank you, Kathrynj, I wish we could add another night in Granada. And most other places too! 10 days just seem to fill up so fast. And distances in South of Spain aren't that small _ So 2 nights in Granada is the longest we can manage.

Overall schedule so far is:
Day 1 / arrive late at night (Malaga 2 nights)
Day 2 / Ronda + winery visit + dinner in Malaga
Day 3 / Granada city tour + dinner with the view of Alhambra (Granada 2 nights)
Day 4 / Alhambra (ca. 4hour visit) + Moroccan lunch + Hammam visit (2hhours)
Day 5 / Granda > Cordoba main sites visits > Seville (3 nights in Seville)
Day 6 / Full day sightseeing in Seville + Flamenco at the Casa de la Memoria
Day 7 / Half day sightseeing in Seville + Horse ride tour of the Maria Louise park + free afternoon for shopping etc.
Day 8 / Morning in Seville > AVE to Madrid > possibly one of the Art Museums there (2 nights in Madrid)
Day 9 / Free to roam / shop + Farewell dinner
Day 10 / Say goodbye to Spain (Flight at 12.00h)
For most excursions we'll hire a Japanese speaking guide, so the pace is more organised than individual wandering around. It'll also keep us in check with the program.
*Leaning towards skipping a one-night stay in Cordoba in favour of staying 3 nights in Seville. Less packing /unpacking makes more sense for the age of my group ;)
***It'll be our second time in Madrid.

What you outline is intense but you will see the highlights. I would definitely leave as is - 2 nights Malaga and 2 nights Granada.

djp_syd, indeed just scratching the surface. Hopefully, having a local guide in each of the cities (except for Malaga) would allow us to see more in a shorter time.

Hello Anna,
Oh how I wish to return to Japan!
For the past 10 years we have based out of Malaga for our travels throughout Andalusia. For as much as we love Malaga, and I often direct people to include Malaga in their trip, I advise adding the night to Granada. Granada offers a deeper menu to dive into and peel back the layers of a rich vast history and I personally advocate striving to spend day time and night time within the Alhambra.
To help balance my perspective I am including several websites about Malaga/Granada which you should peruse to determine if there anything of interest which would justify staying the additional time in Malaga/Granada.
BTW: be sure and take the bull ring tour in Ronda.
http://www.spainforpleasure.com/granada/
http://www.turgranada.es/microsite/jp/
http://www.walksofspain.com
http://andalucia.com
http://www.eyeonspain.com
Safe Travels

Hi Anna,

Is there a possibility to reverse your itinerary?

Fly into Madrid then >> Córdoba>> Sevilla>>Granada>> Ronda>>Malaga>> fly home.

If your flights have been booked & cannot be changed, then consider this...

Although I avoid one night stays, given your short time frame leaves you no choice, especially if you intend to visit all the cities on your list.

I think you said (on a previous post) you have 11 nights (10 days), correct?

• Fly into Malaga (1N)

• bus to Granada (2-3N) = 1-2 full days in Granada

• train to Ronda (day trip en route to Sevilla or 1N) = part of a day in Ronda

• bus to Sevilla (4N)--day trip to Córdoba = 2 full days in Sevilla & almost one full day in Córdoba (depending on arrival & departure time)

• AVE train to Madrid (1-2N) with possible day trip to Toledo.

• Fly home with a ton of happy memories!

Hi Marbleskies, the more photos of Malaga that I see, the more I think I would have liked spending more time there. If I were alone. And if I had a few weeks in Spain ;) As is, I think Granada and other cities take priority. But I hope to have an hour or two to walk in the old city center once everyone is tucked in ;) OR better yet, hit some of the shoe stores on Calle Larios and Calle Nueva I keep reading about!

Thank you for the links. will definitely read through!

Oh, and you must come to Japan again!

Hi Priscilla,
Budgeting the time and money, seems we'll be in Spain for 9 days only _ There's no flight out of Malaga, so the airport choice still stands. (2nights Malaga, 2nights Granada, 3nights Sevillle, 2nights Madrid...we visited Segovia and Toledo in 2014).

I feel like Tom Cruise in Minority Report....Keep replaying / visualising the future in my mind to see what the best choice would be ;) I'm starting to feel more confident with the plan I posted earlier in this post. I think a day out to Ronda + winery from Malaga would be a good thing. Ronda is lovely to stroll around for 2-3hours without a 100 must sees. Also, the winery (there are a few choices, but I like the sound of Bodegas García Hidalgo http://goo.gl/a805uQ ) I am hoping will give us a chance to have a home cooked lunch al fresco (something we can hardly do in Tokyo). With all the wine and food, on the way back to Malaga I expect everyone to be fast asleep ;)

I also decided (that even though later on we'll be telling ourselves "wish we had more time in Malaga"), we'll go to Granada directly after the check out from Malaga on Day 3. Sightseeing in Malaga will have to wait for the next time. I already feel that 1.5 days in Granada won't be nearly enough _

Anna,

Sightseeing in Malaga will have to wait for the next time. I already feel that 1.5 days in Granada won't be nearly enough _

You've said it ... Next time!

On this trip you will get a taste of all these wonderful cities, & hopefully you will return, to re-visit your favorites..."Next time"!

Enjoy your trip!

An overnight in Cordoba, and one less night in Sevilla may even things out

Day 1 / Arrive late at night. (Malaga 2 nights)
Day 2 / Ronda + winery visit + dinner in Malaga
Day 3 / Malaga to Granada. Granada sights. Dinner with the view of Alhambra. (Granada 2 nights)
Day 4 / Alhambra (ca. 4hour visit) + Moroccan lunch + Hammam visit (2hours)
Day 5 / Granada to Cordoba. Mezquita. (Cordoba 1 night)
Day 6 / Cordoba to Seville. Seville sights + Horse ride tour of the Maria Louise park. (2 nights in Seville)
Day 7 / Full day sightseeing in Seville + Flamenco at the Casa de la Memoria
Day 8 / AVE from Seville to Madrid + possibly one of the Art Museums. (Madrid 2 nights)
Day 9 / Madrid sights
Day 10 / Depart at 12.00h.

Anna,

If you decide to follow David's suggestion (above) to spend one night in Córdoba, I'd suggest reversing the order of travel on
days 5 & 6.

Since Córdoba is North of Sevilla, it makes more sense to travel Granada >> Sevilla >> Córdoba >> Madrid-- this avoids backtracking South to Sevilla (from Córdoba).

Keep in mind that Córdoba is on the same AVE train route from Sevilla to Madrid.

¡Hasta Luego!

Hi djp_syd,

The overnight in Cordoba you proposed was in my original itinerary planning! I kept weighing the pros and cons of staying in Cordoba for one night (still actually am).

Staying in Seville for 3 nights in the same hotel is more comfortable without a doubt. One less hotel to check in / out. Also, I think I personally would love to walk through Cordoba's old town when all the day-trippers have gone, but I imagine that my ladies will probably call it an early night right after dinner. We had a similar experience in Cesky Krumlov (overnight on the way Prague to Salzburg). I arranged a mystery night tour after dinner (fire torches, ghost around each corner, etc etc. which I thought would be a highlight of our trip) and only half the group managed to go out after a nice dinner with wine. The rest went straight to bed. hahha.... So, I kind of suspect the same will be true for Cordoba. Finish sightseeing around 5pm .... short rest after the check in...dinner....and we're done folks! That's when I started to consider just biting the bullet and driving to Seville for the night. Have dinner there and crash.

Granda 8.30am > bus 2h30min > Cordoba 11am ~4pm sightseeing + lunch > Leave Cordoba ca. 16.00h > bus 2h15min > Seville hotel check in 18.30h > Earlier dinner 19.30h~ > Drag ourselves to bed! A long day for sure!

I'll be in Malaga on Sunday. I too am flying there due to the ticket routing. I'm only spending 2 nights ( 1.5 days) so I can move on to Granada for 4 nights, then to Sevilla for 9 nights (base with day trips to Ronda, Arcos, Jerez, Cordoba -- maybe others).

I'm making the most of Malaga since I try to hit as many Picasso museums as possible. My list of things to do in Malaga is small, but it will give me a chance to rebound from jet lag. Honestly, Rick Steves is the only author I've read who basically diss Malaga. I have read many great things about the city. But then, RS books can be known as "Travel for Dummies".

I was in Barcelona for 9 days last spring and Madrid for 18 days in 2013, so I'm only hitting Andalucia.

kina, You have more time than we do and I am bit envious! Looks like Zahara might be on your way from Seville to Ronda. I really liked the look of it and wish we'd have a little time to stop by.

As for Rick Steve's opinions... well, he's human ;) So everyone has different views. From my personal experience, I am glad I took chances with Romania even though RS wasn't overly impressed with Bucharest ;) It's not related to this post about Spain, but.... Romania is an amazing country and I absolutely recommend visiting! Of course only once you've done a lot of researched and picked the best of the best to fill up your time.

Anyway, enjoy your time in Malaga and all of the other locations. Hope you'll add a few lines about your experiences there.