Travel to Andalusia
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Anonymous
I’m a different poster but would love your Christmas week itinerary!! |
Anonymous
Why do you not recommend this? We have 2 nights in Granada and this is something I thought we could do after the Alhambra visit. We will be in Seville too and I was debating where to see the show |
Anonymous
PP Our experience: Underwhelming performance, overpriced, and way overcrowded in a very narrow space sitting literally shoulder-to-shoulder. Much better performance and experience elsewhere in Granada. The caves were the worst in all of southern Spain, not even close. |
Anonymous
I wasn't there the week of Christmas, just for one night about a week before Christmas--I was heading to El Chorro for hiking and rock climbing for the rest of the week! One my one night I was solo and just walked around, ate, went to the light shows and relaxed after my flight. I will say there was a marathon happening in the morning when I left and I had to walk 20 min with my bags to a taxi stand where no taxi ever came (eventually called an Uber which also struggled with the marathon traffic closures)--so that was interesting! |
Anonymous
Different poster Dec 24–28: Seville Dec 29–30: Cordoba Dec 31–Jan 2: Granada Jan 3–6: Ronda/Hill Towns (Setenil, Caminito, Zahara, Arcos) Jan 7–8: Seville |
Anonymous
Thank you! How was it in Seville and which one do you recommend - our itinerary is packed so we can catch one show maybe. Is this itinerary possible: Madrid - 4 nights/3 days Day 0 - Arrival day. Reach city center by 8pm. Check in. Have dinner and call it a day (or maybe walk around?) Day 1 - Madrid City - get 10:15 entry to Royal palace, then the Almudena Cathedral, lunch near Mercado de San Miguel/ Plaza Mayor. Walk along Gran via. Then taxi to Cibeles Palace, fountain. If open, go to observation deck for city view. Taxi to Retiro park. Early evening at Retiro park OR Prado? Not very keen on museums. Day 2 - Day trip by metro to Toledo - leave at 10am and back at 7pm?? - go to La Latina neighborhood. How much time do we need for Toledo? If I dont book return train tickets, will it be a problem? Do they get full quickly? How early should we book these train tickets? Day 3 - Day trip by bus to Segovia (or take a guided daytrip to both Segovia and Avila) - back by 8pm. Catch taxi to see Temple Debod and then taxi back to hotel Dinner nearby Day 4 - Leave hotel by 9 am (is this possible after a day trip to Segovia - is Segovia tiring?) and go to Cordoba by train - hopefully no train delays and be there by 1pm - store luggage in lockers at the bus station opposite the train station and take taxi to the historic center to visit the Mezquita, San Basilio neighborhood, Roman bridge. Taxi back to bus station, pick up luggage and leave to Seville around 8pm. Hoping to get 7 hours in Cordoba including time spent on lunch and dinner (probably some fast food there since we will be short on time) Seville - 4 nights/3 days (1 day for a daytrip to Ronda and white villages, 2 whole days in Seville) Day 1 - sleep in, get Cathedral and Giralda tickets for 11:30, finish seeing those by 2:30, lunch and then walk around and explore Santa Cruz neighborhood, bull ring tour, Setas sunset Day 2 - get to Alcazar by 9:30 for 10:30 tickets, lunch around 2:30 (do we need 4 hours for Alcazar?), taxi to to Plaza Espana and Marie Luisa park (3 hours here?), taxi to Torre del oro, then walk across bridge to Triana market. Then taxi to catch a the flamenco show at 8pm? Day 3 - Ronda white villages guided day trip. Leaves early morning and back by 9pm. Not sure about this and if we will have energy. I guess we could sleep on the bus till we get to the destination and also on our way back? Day 4 - Sleep in after Ronda daytrip, leave Seville at noon, arrive at Granada at 3:30 - bus takes 3 hours, train 2 hours - not sure how early we should be at train or bus stations. Granada - 2 nights/1 full day+2 half days Day 1 - Arrive at Granada by 3:30pm, check in - and maybe Mirador de san nicholas sunset? Day 2 - Alhambra - if possible Cathedral in the morning before going to Alhambra (I got only 5:30 tickets to the Palaces), Day 3 - Spend the morning at Granada and see the Albaicin and catch 4pm bus to Malaga. Not sure about the Cathedral here since we would have already seen Seville Cathedral, the Toledo Cathedral and the one in Madrid. Is there something as being Cathedral'ed out where everything looks the same? Which cathedral is a must visit and which is skippable? Malaga - 2 nights/1.5 days (1 evening, 1 whole day and 3rd day leave early morning) Day 1 - evening arrival - just wander around city center, have dinner and early night. Day 2 - I would love to go see the Nerja Balcony of Europe from Malaga (1 hour away by bus and there are frequent buses) but not sure how tired we will be after Alhambra visit. Or maybe just relax. Sleep in and wander around Malaga. Catch early morning flight the next day. I didn't want to backtrack to Madrid for the flight back. Is this fine or do we need to move things around. Flight tickets, Seville hotel (refundable for the firsr 2 nights) and Alhambra and Alcazar tickets booked but everything else is not done yet. I guess there will not be a change to the Granada and Malaga portion as well because of the Alhambra ticket and Malaga flight. The first 6 nights of our trip is kind of open to change. Itinerary is packed but Andalusia travel seems possible in my mind since we will have just carry-on and personal bags (I hope I don't regret that) For the commute in Andalusia, how are the buses - or is it better to stick to the trains? Granada to Malaga - the bus seems more convenient with a scenic ride. Not sure about Cordoba to Seville and Seville to Granada - is train better or bus better? I'm reading that for the high speed trains, people have to go part of the way by bus currently due to some issues. I also have a question about jetlag - this is my first time to Europe - since Spain is 6 hours ahead of us, how easy is it to get up and going at 8am their time (its 2am in the US). How long does it take to adjust? I'm afraid of booking any guided tours in Madrid in case we miss the time. I'm not even sure if a 10:15 Madrid Royal Palace entry will be okay. Yet to book that. I figured the second half of the week will be fine so I booked the Alcazar in Seville for 10:30. Thinking of getting 11:30 tickets for Cathedral/Giralda after the long previous day. Would like some tips/advice since you have already been there. I could learn from other people's mistakes. |
Anonymous
Flamenco - We book whatever is available near dinner that night - spontaneous flexible variety. Seville: if we're eating in Triana, we reserve in Triana. Teatro Flamenco Triana is well known. Transport - We rent or borrow a car and drive Andalusia. Can't speak for train / bus unfortunately. Jetlag - Give yourself a day. Itinerary - I shouldn't comment on it as we only drive. Alcazar/Alhambra - Yes to mornings. Mezquita - First thing in the morning or an hour before close. We do both, love it that much. |
Anonymous
Thank you! There are no set times that the flamenco shows start then? Given the jetlag, would it better to do a daytrip out to Toledo the first day or do the city sights in Madrid? |
Anonymous
Flamenco most shows have an early and a late. Like 6ish and 9ish. Definitely make a reservation. Day after you land, do the least logistically complex thing. |
Anonymous
Thanks! |