I am planning to visit both of these must-see sites in one day. Is this feasible or is this idea just nuts? I was planning to spend several hours in each.
I've decided to travel by car (thanks to advice from a different post), and would leave Sevilla pretty early in the morning.
We just came back from that area. You can walk through the Mezquita in a couple of hours but I think the Alcazar, especially the gardens, and the baths in Cordoba are worth another few hours. And The Alhambra in Granada is a full day if not more. You could stick you head in for an hour or two but it is massive. IMO, your nuts. But if you are satisfied with a quick peek, do it. That may fit your travel style. Actually we plan on returning to The Alhambra because we feel that we had not absorbed everything during the day we were there.
You can do it....but I think you'll lose something from both experiences to push it so fast. If you're leaving from Sevilla, Cordoba's almost two hours away...a few hours for the Great Mosque.....then 2 1/2 hours to Granada, four hours for the Alhambra (minimum)....then 3 hours back to Sevilla. That's no including time to find your way into and out of each city...and to locate parking.
Not sure what time of the year you are going, but we were at each of these places in the summer and it was HOT! The heat wiped us out way too much to ever consider trying to see these two large, spectacular places in one day.
Also keep in mind that The Alhambra is the most popular site is Spain. Advance reservation is critical for your purpose and you are assigned a 30 minutes time slot for entry into the Palacios Nazaries so you need to time it very well. Second the main road to The Alhambra was closed so you may need a graet GPS to get you through the side streets.
Impossible is not a nice word, so, to stick with your phrasing, yes, the idea is nuts. I assume that you are on holiday, not attending boot camp. Take a bit of time to enjoy things. In Andalusia schedules seldom go as smoothly as one might hope. The trick to life there is to learn to appreciate the tapa that you end up eating while waiting for the rental car to arrive, the people you meet while trying to find the entrance to the museum, etc. While in Cordoba, you really should check out the Moorish baths right around the corner from the mosque (You'll need to pack a bathing suit).
Thanks all for the advice, you've made me come to my senses. I think that for this trip I'm going only to Granada for 2 nights (already have my entry ticket for the Alhambra).
