Madrid, Toledo, Cordoba, Seville, Cadiz OH MY!!!

From top to bottom, I'd rank them Madrid, Toledo, Sevilla, Cordoba, (Segovia).......then Cadiz a distant last. I threw Segovia in there because it's a great place to visit, and it can be done as a day trip from Madrid. With a shortened schedule like yours, Cordoba could be done on the way to Sevilla....book an early AVE train out of Madrid, stop in Cordoba, then go on to Sevilla.

Hi Sasha,

To add another personal opinion to the mix, I'd rank the places on your list as follows (with a huge disclaimer that I have not been bo Cadiz!):

Madrid and Sevilla (tied for first), Cordoba (only to see the Mezquita then beat feet out of town), and finally, Toledo.

For an aggressive traveler, a possibility (albeit rushed one) is to land in Madrid, spend 3 nights there and include a day trip to Toledo, then early train it to Seville (as Norm suggested) with a stop in Cordoba along the way, spend 3 nights in Seville (or use one day to day trip to Cordoba from Seville instead of stopping on the way from Madrid) and the next day move on to your next stop (back to Madrid to fly out?). As for Cadiz? Well, that part of the equation is too advanced for me...

IMO Cadiz is one of the most beautiful cities in Andalucia! Also Jerez de la Frontera, the most Arabic of all Spanish cities just across from Cadiz is most worthwhile. I found Sevilla to be just a tourist thing. There is a Starbucks just across from the entrance to the cathedral etc...

While Jerez is a wonderful place to visit, I'd have to disagree with Andreas' opinion that it's the most "Arabic" city...that title, IMO, goes to Granada. And if we use Starbucks as a guideline for tourism, then no one would visit Frankfurt. Sevilla still has my vote over Cadiz, despite the presence of Starbucks! ;)

Andreas, by applying the "Starbucks criterion", we may have to write Paris off as just another "tourist thing" as well. Jerez, with its English bodegas and massive Formula One infrastructure is, by that measure, also a tourist town.

The problem is that real people live in the cities that we visit; that the cities do not exist solely for the pleasure of visitors who require "authenticity". Unfortunately, the globalization plague is doing its best to homogenize as much of the world as possible. Seville is as much a victim of this trend as any other European city. That does not, in any way, obviate its massive value as a destination for travelers wishing for a rapid dose of the "real Spain".

Cádiz is a pretty town, and is a fantastic day trip for someone with a more relaxed schedule. I would not, however, recommend it above Seville, Córdoba or Granada. The last two, especially, are certainly contenders for your "most Arabic of all Spanish cities" title.

Personally, I'd spend three days in Madrid, one in Toledo, and two in Seville, although an aggressive tourist might also consider shortening the Sevillian leg to one day in order to allow for a Granada side trip.

I think you are right - three is about all that you can do allowing for travel time. I would pick Madrid, Seville, and Toledo. As Norm says, if you feel strongly about Cordoba you can do it in a couple of hours but I would resist the temptation to take time away from the first three.

We were in Spain and Portugal for four weeks. We loved Seville. Stay in the old part of the city but avoid driving there.

I've been considering now setting up homebase in Madrid and doing just day trips from there. Is that preferable to say up & moving to Seville as another homebase? If the latter is better, then should we set up shop in Granada instead?

Sasha....you could certainly find enough to do using Madrid as a home base for the entire week. But doing Sevilla and Cordoba, much less Granada, as day trips, is pretty impossible. I'm assuming here you have seven days clear...not including your arrival from overseas, or your departure to home or your next destination. If so, I would suggest 4 days in Madrid (one of which could be a day trip or overnight to Toledo), Day 5 to Sevilla with a stop in Cordoba for several hours, Day 6 and 7 in Sevilla, heading back to Madrid late on Day 7. You can get excellent prices on AVE tickets up to 62 1/2 days in advance at the Spanish rail network, RENFE. Just click on "Buy Tickets" at the top center.

Visited Madrid and Toledo way back in the late 80s and really like Toledo. Just visited Barcelona and Andalucia in May. I'd rank them: Sevilla, Cordoba, Toledo and Madrid. Haven't been to Cadiz. People say you can see Cordoba in a day but we stayed overnight there and wished we'd stayed two. (Our hotel was right across from the Mequita-great location.)We only had two days in Sevilla but 3 would have been better (my second favorite city in Sprain--so far). I'm not crazy about Madrid (because it's just a very large city) but it's worth a visit for a couple of days to at least see the main sights, such as the Prado. And (if you get there) Granada is worth two days, a good portion of one just to see the Alhambra (which it totally awesome--we were there 4 hours, but we don't rush). Barcelona is actually my favorite Spanish town so far, but it's out of the way, so maybe you should make that another trip. That's my 2 cents.