Andalusia: Seville, Córdoba, Ronda and Granada

1. Day 1: Arrive in Seville

   Seville Airport to your hotel in the old town, then Plaza de España and Triana

   • Drive about 15 min
   • Welcome tapas dinner
   • Stay in Seville
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Seville Airport (SVQ), about 10 km from the centre, where a driver meets you for the short transfer to your hotel in the old town. The afternoon is yours to settle in or wander the lanes around the hotel. In the early evening your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a short briefing on the week, then leads a first walk through the Parque de María Luisa to the Plaza de España, the curved brick and tile square built for the 1929 Ibero-American Exposition, which glows in the low evening light. From there we stroll along the Guadalquivir and cross the Isabel II bridge into Triana, the old district of potters, sailors and flamenco singers on the west bank. Dinner tonight is a welcome round of tapas at a local bar in Triana, ordered for the table so you can taste a little of everything, from salmorejo to fried fish.

   Included

   • Private transfer from Seville Airport (SVQ)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Evening walk: the Parque de María Luisa, the Plaza de España and the river to Triana
   • Welcome tapas dinner in Triana

   Free time: Free until the early evening briefing

   Activity: About 3 km on foot on flat paths and pavements.

2. Day 2: The Alcázar, the Cathedral and a flamenco night

   Seville on foot: the Real Alcázar, the Cathedral and the Giralda, Santa Cruz

   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Seville
   Day 2 details

   We are at the gate of the Real Alcázar for its first entry of the day, at 9:30 am, before the tour groups arrive. With an accredited local guide you walk through the Mudéjar palace of Pedro I, built in the 14th century by craftsmen from Granada and Toledo, its tiled halls and the Courtyard of the Maidens, then out into the gardens of orange trees, pools and pavilions. Next door, Seville Cathedral opens at 11 am. It is the largest Gothic cathedral in the world and holds the tomb of Christopher Columbus. Climb the Giralda, the old minaret of the Almohad mosque, by its ramps rather than stairs for a view over the rooftops. The Alcázar, the Cathedral and the Archive of the Indies together form a UNESCO World Heritage site. We finish with a walk through the narrow lanes of the Santa Cruz quarter, then the afternoon is free. In the evening we go together to a flamenco show at a dedicated venue in the old town.

   Included

   • The Real Alcázar at its first entry of the day, with an accredited local guide
   • Seville Cathedral, the tomb of Columbus and the Giralda
   • Walk through the Santa Cruz quarter
   • Flamenco show in the old town

   Easier option: Skip the Giralda climb and rest in the Cathedral's Patio de los Naranjos while others go up.

   More active option: In the free afternoon, walk with your guide's map along the river to the Torre del Oro and the Metropol Parasol walkway.

   Free time: Afternoon free in Seville

   Activity: About 4 hours on foot in the morning on flat paving; the Giralda is about 35 ramps to the bell level.

3. Day 3: Córdoba by high-speed train

   Seville to Córdoba by high-speed train, then back to Seville

   • By train
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Seville
   Day 3 details

   A short van ride to Santa Justa station, then the high-speed train runs up the Guadalquivir valley to Córdoba in about 45 minutes, which spares us more than three hours of driving there and back. We walk into the old town for the first group slot of the morning at the Mezquita. Begun in 785 as the great mosque of the Umayyad emirs and enlarged over two centuries, it is a forest of columns under red and white striped arches, with a 10th-century mihrab of gold mosaic; a cathedral was built into its centre in the 16th century. An accredited local guide leads the visit. Then we wander the Judería, the old Jewish quarter, past the medieval synagogue to the Calleja de las Flores, with its pots of geraniums framing the bell tower. Lunch is a sit-down meal of Córdoba dishes such as salmorejo and flamenquín. In the afternoon, cross the Roman bridge for the view back to the Mezquita, then take the train back to Seville for a free evening.

   Included

   • Return high-speed train from Seville to Córdoba
   • The Mezquita (Mosque-Cathedral) at the first group slot, with an accredited local guide
   • Walk through the Judería and the Calleja de las Flores
   • Sit-down lunch in Córdoba
   • The Roman bridge over the Guadalquivir

   Optional experiences

   • The Palacio de Viana and its twelve patios (extra, price shown at booking)

   Easier option: After lunch, rest at a café in the Judería while others cross the Roman bridge.

   More active option: Walk on from the bridge to the Calahorra tower and along the river gardens before the train.

   Free time: Evening free in Seville

   Activity: About 4 to 5 km on foot on flat cobbles.

4. Day 4: The white villages to Ronda

   Seville to Zahara de la Sierra, over the Puerto de las Palomas to Grazalema, then Ronda

   • Drive about 3 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Ronda
   Day 4 details

   We leave Seville at 8:30 am with the luggage in our own van and drive about an hour and a half through farmland and olive groves to Zahara de la Sierra, a white village stacked below a Moorish castle tower, above a turquoise reservoir. Coffee in the square, then the road climbs over the Puerto de las Palomas pass into the Sierra de Grazalema Natural Park, a UNESCO biosphere reserve since 1977 and one of the wettest corners of Spain, which is why its limestone hills stay green. In Grazalema we walk the whitewashed lanes and sit down to a long mountain lunch, with the local payoyo goat cheese if you want it. Half an hour later we reach Ronda, built on both sides of El Tajo, a gorge more than 100 m deep. Your guide walks you across the Puente Nuevo, completed in 1793, into the old town and to the bullring of the Real Maestranza, opened in 1785. The evening is free; the bridge is at its best at dusk.

   Included

   • Stop in Zahara de la Sierra
   • The Puerto de las Palomas pass and Grazalema, with a sit-down lunch
   • Guided walk in Ronda: the Puente Nuevo, the old town and the gardens on the gorge edge
   • The Ronda bullring of the Real Maestranza and its museum

   Easier option: Stay in Zahara's square with a coffee while others climb to the castle tower.

   More active option: Climb the path from Zahara's square up to the castle tower, about 20 minutes each way, for the view over the reservoir.

   Free time: Evening free in Ronda

   Activity: About 3 to 4 km on foot with some steep lanes in Zahara, Grazalema and Ronda.

   

5. Day 5: Antequera, then sunset over the Alhambra

   Ronda to Antequera, then Granada and the Albaicín

   • Drive about 2.5 h
   • Breakfast and dinner
   • Stay in Granada
   Day 5 details

   Ronda is quiet in the early morning before the day visitors arrive, so there is time for a walk on the gorge edge or down the path to the viewpoint below the Puente Nuevo. At about 10 am we drive an hour and a quarter to Antequera to see the Dolmens of Menga and Viera, burial chambers built of huge stone slabs more than 5,000 years ago and listed by UNESCO in 2016. Lunch is free in Antequera's old town, then it is about an hour to Granada, arriving early in the afternoon to rest. In the early evening, timed for sunset, your guide leads the climb through the lanes of the Albaicín, the old Moorish quarter, to the Mirador de San Nicolás, where the Alhambra turns red across the valley with the Sierra Nevada behind. Then we walk down for a guided tapas evening: in Granada many bars still serve a free tapa with each drink, and we add plates for the table so it makes a full dinner.

   Included

   • The Dolmens of Menga and Viera in Antequera
   • Sunset walk through the Albaicín to the Mirador de San Nicolás
   • Guided tapas evening in Granada

   Easier option: Ride a taxi up to San Nicolás and meet the group at the viewpoint.

   More active option: Before leaving Ronda, walk down the path to the viewpoint below the Puente Nuevo and back up, about 45 minutes and steep.

   Free time: Early afternoon free in Granada

   Activity: About 3 km on foot; the climb through the Albaicín is steep and cobbled.

   

6. Day 6: The Alhambra at opening

   Granada: the Alhambra, the Nasrid Palaces and the Generalife

   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Granada
   Day 6 details

   We are at the Alhambra gate when it opens at 8:30 am, with tickets bought in your names when your departure was confirmed and an early Nasrid Palaces time. An accredited Alhambra guide leads the visit, as the site requires for groups. Inside the Nasrid Palaces, the 14th-century rooms of the sultans of Granada, you pass from the Mexuar to the Court of the Myrtles and its long pool, and on to the Court of the Lions, with carved stucco and wooden ceilings at every step. Then we climb the Alcazaba, the oldest part, to the Torre de la Vela for the view over Granada and the Albaicín, pass the Renaissance Palace of Charles V, begun in 1527, and walk through the terraced gardens and water channels of the Generalife. The Alhambra, the Generalife and the Albaicín are a UNESCO World Heritage site. Lunch is a sit-down meal near the Alhambra, and the afternoon is free.

   Included

   • The Alhambra at opening with an accredited guide: the Nasrid Palaces, the Alcazaba and the Torre de la Vela, the Palace of Charles V and the Generalife
   • Sit-down lunch near the Alhambra

   Optional experiences

   • A zambra flamenco show in a Sacromonte cave (extra, price shown at booking)
   • The Nasrid Palaces night visit, on the evenings it runs (extra, price shown at booking)
   • A session at a Moorish-style bathhouse in the old town (extra, price shown at booking)

   Easier option: Take the small city bus up to the Alhambra gate instead of walking, and rest on a bench in the Generalife while others climb the Alcazaba tower.

   More active option: Walk up to the Alhambra through the Alhambra woods from Plaza Nueva, about 25 minutes uphill.

   Free time: Afternoon free in Granada

   Activity: About 4 hours and 4 to 5 km on foot, with slopes and steps; bring your passport for the ticket check.

   

7. Day 7: The Royal Chapel, the Darro and Sacromonte

   Granada on foot: the Royal Chapel and Cathedral, the Alcaicería, the Carrera del Darro and Sacromonte

   • Breakfast and dinner
   • Stay in Granada
   Day 7 details

   A later start today. Mid-morning we visit the Royal Chapel, where Isabella and Ferdinand, the monarchs who took Granada in 1492, are buried, and the Cathedral beside it. Then we walk through the Alcaicería, the narrow lanes of the old silk market, now full of lamps, ceramics and spices, and cross Plaza Nueva to the Carrera del Darro, the riverside street below the Alhambra walls. We stop at El Bañuelo, an 11th-century Arab bathhouse with star-shaped skylights, and walk on along the Paseo de los Tristes to Sacromonte, the hillside where families have lived in caves for centuries and where Granada's own flamenco grew. At the Sacromonte cave museum you see how the cave homes were built and lived in. Lunch and the afternoon are free: a last look at the Albaicín, a tea house, or a rest before the evening. We meet again for a farewell dinner at a restaurant in the centre.

   Included

   • The Royal Chapel and Granada Cathedral
   • Walk through the Alcaicería and along the Carrera del Darro
   • El Bañuelo, the 11th-century Arab baths
   • The Sacromonte cave museum
   • Farewell dinner in Granada

   Easier option: Take a taxi from Paseo de los Tristes to the Sacromonte cave museum, or return to the hotel after El Bañuelo.

   More active option: Climb on from Sacromonte to the San Miguel Alto viewpoint above the Albaicín, about 30 minutes uphill, with your guide.

   Free time: Afternoon free in Granada

   Activity: About 4 km on foot; the Sacromonte lanes are steep.

8. Day 8: Granada to Málaga

   Granada to Málaga Airport or the city centre

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast
   Day 8 details

   A last breakfast in Granada, then we load the van at about 9:30 am and drive about an hour and a half west and down to the coast at Málaga. The road leaves the Granada plain through olive country and drops through the hills towards the Mediterranean, so you see the land change from high plain to coast in a single morning. We drop you at Málaga Airport (AGP) by about 11:30 am, or in Málaga's city centre if you are staying on to see the Alcazaba, the Roman Theatre or the Picasso Museum. Your guide checks your onward plans before saying goodbye. If you want more time in Andalusia, we can book extra nights in Málaga or arrange a transfer to the train station for onward travel to Madrid.

   Included

   • Private transfer from Granada to Málaga Airport (AGP) or the city centre

   Activity: Book a flight leaving Málaga after about 2 pm.

Wildlife and weather: Spring and autumn bring warm days, typically in the 20s C, and cool evenings in Ronda and Granada, which sit higher. July and August often pass 40 C in Seville and Córdoba, so we do not run then.

• Seville3 nights
• Ronda1 night
• Granada3 nights