South of Spain

It's been many years since I've been to southern Spain, courtesy of the US Navy, but you've a good start on where to go. In addition to Sevilla, Cordoba, and Granada, I'd also suggest Jerez de la Frontera. "Sherry Capital of the World", near Cadiz, and Ronda, between Granada and Cadiz. More recent visitors may chime in on Jaen (between Cordoba and Granada), which we didn't get to see but would have liked. I don't know how much time you have, but I think this would be about two weeks to do properly. We rented a car and loved the entire experience; I'd suggest staying in each place rather than trying to make day trips, this is an excellent loop with about 11 hours of drive time with no back-tracking required. Happy travels.

I can only speak as to Seville. Was there last fall and enjoyed it...Will be returning in the spring. Great area to explore. The connection with Columbus is absolutely amazing. Really Discover Tours is a great tour agency. Small, and knowledgeable. Hope to see the other places you metiion in 2012.

Andalucia is bigger than many countries in Europe and it is difficult to make anywhere a base for day trips. Possibly, 550kms. east, at Almeria, to west, the border with Portugal. Granada to Seville three hours each way, whatever your transport. Two bases minimum, certainly. And I could not ever see Seville as a day trip, three days more like. How long have you got? Find yourself 'The Rough Guide to Andalucia' and see here - http://www.andalucia.com/ the vast amount to be seen.

I was thinking about two-three days in Madrid and surroundings i.e; Toledo and two days in Cordoba and then make the home base in Seville. From there venture out to Jerez, Cadiz, Granada and other towns and sites. Ronda is were the other half of my family comes from and I wouldn't mind visiting it with Almeria at the end. The other consideration on the base camp is where the airline I fly with has the airport gate. Air France, which usually who I end up flying with leaves out of Malaga, but not Seville (or vise-a-versa).

We loved our driving tour of Spain and Portugal, we spent a few nights in Seville before heading to Arcos de la fronterra and on to Ronda.. It was great to stay in Ronda because we were there after the Marbella and costa's day trippers had left getting a much better 'feel' for the place.. Sunset was fantastic one of those everlasting memories... We also got up early and went for a sunrise walk.. Granada was again one of those memories that will last a lifetime.. we enjoyed the Tapa's culture .. Granada is probally the last bastion of 'free tapas' and once we realized we weren't paying for them went on a few 'tapa's crawls' Don't forget to book your tickets to Alhambra in advance.. We spent almost a whole day just there,, Exploring all the parts we could visit before our alloted time to enter the Palace.. I would spend a few days in each.. travel lightly ..There is no point in 'back tracking and wasting hours each day in the car.... Use Google maps to plot out your starting and leaving airport and if it's the same place .. do a circle tour.. we had a blast..
we found out where the locals ate and hung out and avoided those 'touristy' places with everything written in English on the board.. We left our comfort zone behind and embraced the Spanish culture and traditions.. :) Wow can't wait to go back..

Miguel, last May/June we did So Spain. We reprised a trip that some friends had done, and cut out the parts that they did not like. We are RS fans, and found that all of his advice was "right on the money", although we did not stay at all of his recomended lodging choices. We took my cousin along, who had never been to Europe, and the three of us had a wonderful time. We never felt rushed. We flew into Barcelona; spent two nites there, and took a lo-cost inter EU airline ($61 PP, use Whichbudget.com to search ) to Granada for another two nites. In Granada we saw the Alhambra (not to be missed!). Then we picked up a rental car and drove to Cordoba for another two nites.(to see the Mesquita) The rental car worked great for three people, kept the price down, and gave us lots of flexibility. Then we drove to Seville and stayed four nites. One of those days we drove to the horse show (awesome!) in Juarez, and had plenty of time to lunch in Arcos and explore that hill town. Then we drove to Terrifa for two nites and took the cab tour of Gibralter (wow! was that neat!) Our last stop was Ronda for three nites. Whatever you do, do not miss it! We loved that hill town. On one day we drove to the Pileta caves ( a once in a lifetime opportunity....amazing!) Yes, we hopped around a bit, but we never felt rushed, and we had a couple of stops that were 3 and four nites each. I think that staying in Seville and trying to see it all from there would not be that easy.