7 days in Andaluzia - trip advice

Hello,

Me and my girlfriend are planning trip to Andalucia. We are arriving Seville at 26th September at 12:45 and leaving Seville on October 3th at 6.30am.
So these are 6 and half days.
Our first plan was Seville-Jerez,Cadiz,Tarifa,Gibraltar,Ronda,Granada,Cordoba,Seville and to use rent a car. Basically we like to be free of bus/train schedules and arrange our own daily itinerary...After reading threads here i have feeling it is too much travelling...So therefore few questions so i could make better decisions...
Q1: Does it make sense to travel around by car ? Last year we were in Barcelona and Northern Spain and it was good idea to travel 4 days by car and three days in Barcelona without car....
Q2 If i don't rent a car, what is best way to come form Seville airport to the downtown ?
Q3 If we want to see coast what would be good choice ? Costa del Sol, Costa de la Luz ?
Q4: Because my flight back is early in the morning i should stay in hotel near airport or with good connection - any suggestions ??
So there are many options and plans right now :
Plan 1:
26 and 27th in Seville
28th Jerez,Cadiz,Gibraltar sleep between Gibraltar and Ronda
29th Ronda
30th Granada
1st Granada
2nd Cordoba and sleep in Seville
3rd flight back

Plan 2:
2 and half days Seville
1 day Ronda
2 days Granada
1 day Cordoba

Plan 1 seems too busy, with plan two i think i will not see enough of landscape, nature etc ..

But i think my first decision have to be rent or not to rent ?

Thanks for any advice and suggestions.
Tone

Hi, heres my answers to your questions

Q1: Does it make sense to travel around by car ?

Up to you, I don't think you need to for this route, but as you say having a car can be more flexible and would save some time. You certainly won't want a car while in Seville tho.

Q2 If i don't rent a car, what is best way to come form Seville airport to the downtown ?

Theres a bus, If I remember right it takes about 20 mins , heres the timetable

http://www.tussam.es/index.php?id=432

Q3 If we want to see coast what would be good choice ? Costa del Sol, Costa de la Luz ?

Costa de la Luz

Q4: Because my flight back is early in the morning i should stay in hotel near airport or with good connection - any suggestions ??

Personaly I'd stay in a hostal in the centre and get either the bus or if your flight leaves too early take a taxi. There are some large hotels on the way out to the airport tho and I guess that'd be more convenient when you're leaving.

RE your plans, as you say yourself your first plan is too much. Even your second plan seems rushed to me. Bear in mind that although each town is only about 2 hrs or so drive by car you'll realy lose half a day what with changing hotels etc.

We once did Sevilla, Cordoba, Granada. We used the freeway to go from Sevilla to Cordoba, but had a heck of a time getting out of Sevilla. So I suggest not to rent a car. From Cordoba to Granada we took all kind of smaller roads and stopped on the way, where we liked the landscape or the village. However it takes a day to do that. If I wouldn't live in Spain, and could use my own car, I would not rent a car, because driving in the cities is very difficult, small streets, lots of one-way streets, expensive parking if at all possible. Hotels with parking facilities will charge you for it. Since you plan to visit mainly cities, do not rent a car or rent a car just for one day to visit the countryside. With just 6 and a half day, restrict your trip to two or at the most three cities. Go to only two cities if you plan to rent a car for a trip to see the countryside. To avoid driving in cities you should rent a car at airports.

Edited by: Liberat

Q2 If i don't rent a car, what is best way to come from Seville airport to the downtown?
Depends what you mean by 'best'. For me it's taxi - costs between euros 25 and 30, drops you right at the front door of where you need to be.

Q1: Does it make sense to travel around by car ?

I would do any of your routes by public transport. With a car you have more flexibility... but it can be a nightmare to drive it into and out of cities like Seville... Up to you!

Q2 If i don't rent a car, what is best way to come form Seville airport to the downtown ?

All depends on what do you understand by best. Bus and taxi are your only options with public transport. ritch2010 and PhiMeow have provided you all the relevant info about both options.

Q3 If we want to see coast what would be good choice ? Costa del Sol, Costa de la Luz ?

I would go for Costa de la Luz.

In my opinion, plan 2 is better than plan 1.

Nobody needs a car in a city, but going outside of the cities is very nice by car. And once you are considering the countryside and the possibility of stopping wherever you like, a car is fantastic. Car travel is super convenient, and most people who are used to driving in cities have no problem getting in and out of them by car.

#5, did you ever drive in spanish cities? I have no problems in the cities I know well, but in most I find it very difficult, because the street-signs are often almost impossible to find and there is often no indication prior to where one has to change direction.

#6, I just came back from a trip where I drove in Granada, Cordoba, and Madrid. I didn't notice much of a difference between my ability to navigate there compared to most other cities.

It helps to have a good map and a navigator. I had the former, but my wife is hardly passable as the latter.

Hello all,

Thanks to all for your answers. i think i will make a first two days in Seville then we will decide how to go further. In this time i think it is not so difficult to get a room and we will taste Seville first then we will decide how to go on. Maybe option 1 without Granada will be enough and Granada we will visit some other time.
Maybe somebody know good place where to see good flamenco show and some advice with nice hostel in Seville up to 50€ for two persons..

Thanks in advance,
Tone

If you were going to spend 2 days in Seville, then make the next 4 days in Granada. So much to see....so little time.

Driving in Sevilla and Granada can make one crazy.

There are frequent trains and buses to all your destinations and it's very rare to not be able to get a bus ticket even 5 minutes before departure.

The airport bus in Sevilla is fantastic, runs every 30 minutes or so starting at 5:00 and costs just 2.40 euros. It drops off/picks up at Santa Justa train station and its terminus is near the Parque Maria Luisa.

I see no travel time in your itineraries. For example, in Plan 2 you say:
1 day Ronda
No, that will be a half-day in Ronda if you are travelling from Seville that morning. The same principle applies to Granada and Córdoba, so your "1 day Cordoba" will just be a half-day in Córdoba.

Just remember, the journey time on the bus or train is only part of the overall journey time. You still have to travel between the stations and your accommodation at either end.

Plan 1 seems too busy, with plan two i think i will not see enough of landscape, nature etc
I agree that Plan 1 is impossibly busy. However, if you want to see more nature, you will need to cut out a lot of destinations. That is unless you count staring out of a window as "seeing nature".

28th Jerez,Cadiz,Gibraltar sleep between Gibraltar and Ronda
What do you intend to see and do in Jerez, Cádiz and Gibraltar?

some advice with nice hostel in Seville up to 50€ for two persons
If you are going to stay in hotels, forget all about renting a car. The daily rental cost plus parking will make the cost of the night in a hostel seem insignificant.

...and some advice with nice hostel in Seville up to 50€ for two persons..

I was in Seville earlier this year and stayed in Hotel Zaida. Good location, clean and simple. I think it was €40 per night for a double room (low season)

Hello again,

i am more and more confused :)
my latest plan would be :
Seville one and half day 26 and 27th September
then i would like to see jerez de la Frontera, Tarifa and Gibraltar and visit white villages (Ronda,...).I think two days would be enough for that. Then i would go to Granada for two days
one day in Cordoba and last day in Seville again....it could be also two days Cordoba...

Does it make sense ?
Questions again :)
For third and fourth day i was thinking of renting a car ..yes/no ?
Any suggestions where to stay or where to sleep on those two days

Thanks again for answers so far.
Tone

then i would like to see jerez de la Frontera, Tarifa and Gibraltar and visit white villages (Ronda,...).I think two days would be enough for that.
@Tone. I can only repeat the question I posed in #11.
What do you intend to see and do in Jerez, Cádiz and Gibraltar?

Hello Tony,

Sorry for such unexact questions.
Jerez would be to see/taste some sherry maybe see/learn something about horses and go further. Cadiz is already out of my plan and Tarifa would be just places to drink a coffee stroll around or eat something and go on. maybe monkeys in Gibraltar and thats it.
i heard also something about some secret very nice place on the beach (well it is not so secret if i found it here on blog :) ) in Tarifa :)
In each town maybe two three ours depends how we like it, where we eat etc...
In one day we should come somewhere near white villages so that we have one day for white villages...
Thats just what i can imagine from behind a laptop.Thats why i prefer rent a car cause we could change our plans if needed and drop one location from our schedule if we dont have time etc...

Regards,
Tone

I suggest that you check driving times with http://www.viamichelin.com/ taking into account that you may need at least half an hour to get into Gibraltar if you go on foot and more if you go by car and also these times to get out of it. Take time out for lunch etc and see if your plan makes sense.

The Gibraltar Barbary Macaques (not "monkeys") are in a nature reserve in the Upper Rock. You need to take the cable car to get up there or face a long hike. It is not something that takes just an hour or so.

The Gibraltar cable car is some distance from the border and most people take a city bus to it from the border. The buses have to cross the airport runway. If there are aircraft landing or taking off at the airport, everything grinds to a halt, including the buses. I was there a few weeks ago and it took us half-an-hour to get from the border to the other side of the airport runway. That is little more than about 400 metres. Four flights, one after the other. That was bad enough but it was much worse for people coming the other way because the traffic on the Gibraltar side gets totally gridlocked when that happens, hence the construction of a tunnel under the runway (no estimated finish date as yet).

You need to leave plenty of time for getting across the border each way and it is impossible to tell you how long that will take. It could take 15 mins; it could take 1 hr 15 mins.

You have zero chance of fitting in the Barbary Macaques if you include Jerez and Tarifa in the same day.

Thanks tony_b for this usefull information. It looks everything runs a little bit slower there :) No problem we go there to meet habits and nature of Spain. In my worst case i will leave Granada for some other time....
For me is the most important thing to gett a feeling how there people live, how Andalucia looks like etc......

So right now i am just looking for hostel in Seville for two days..and then que sera, sera :)

Still looking for some hint where to see some nice flamenco show in sevile or somewhere else..

Thanks to all for replies and usefull information,
Tone

Still looking for some hint where to see some nice flamenco show in sevile or somewhere else.
Use the Advanced Search function at the top of this page. Enter my name and "flamenco".