Southern Spain: Flights Booked, Need to Get Serious Now.....

[milgreen2]

After hemming and hawing, we finally moved ahead with booking our flights for an October trip to Southern Spain. It's been tempting to wait and see if prices go down, but I don't think it's a strong possibility, and I figured the longer we wait, the more chance of places we really want to stay/visit will be booked.
We'll have 17 nights on the ground in Spain, arriving in Jerez de Frontera on Monday October 16th, and departing from Malaga on Thursday, November 2nd. I know we'll want at least 4 nights each in Seville and Granada, 2 nights in Cordoba, 2 nights in the countryside between Cordoba and Granada, and need to figure out the first few nights in Jerez and/or Cadiz and the last couple of nights in Malaga.
Any and all suggestions for sightseeing and accommodations are welcome! We'd like to do a combination of hotels and apartments, and are hoping to splurge on an overnight at the Alhambra Parador for one of our nights in Granada.

 

[devarae]

We visited Cordoba (3 nights), Seville (5 nights) and Granada (5 nights) in 2019 and loved it! We were also there in October though closer to the beginning of the month. I hope you have a wonderful time!

Our favorites in Cordoba were the Mosque-Cathedral (especially first thing if you can enter before the crowds) , the Palacio de Viana, and just wandering the picturesque streets.

In Seville we enjoyed the Alcazar (definitely get skip-the-line tix and be prepared for lots of crowds!), the Plaza del Espana (especially at night when the fountains were lit), Las Setas (we went up to the viewing platform just before sunset and it was wonderful!), and the Flamenco performance we attended. We took a half-day tour to Italica and the Monastery of San Isidoro del Campo that we really enjoyed! Oh, and I visited the Palacio de Lebrija and loved that too.

In Granada we did both a day and night visit to the Alhambra and were glad that we had done both (I liked doing day first, so that I was more familiar with the site at night). We enjoyed walking around the city, visiting tea shops, and taking in the view of the alhambra from the various scenic vistas by day and by night!

 

[Tina]

Wonderful wonderful places and the ideal time of the year to visit. We were in the area in autumn 2018 and the weather was ideal, warm and sunny but not too hot. Apart from the places already mentioned we loved Antequera and the Torcal National Park. If you're renting a car it's on the way between Cordoba and Malaga. You can also reach Antequera by bus from Malaga (Torcal isn't served by public transport) but there's a lot to see in Malaga itself if you're only spending a couple of nights there.
This is the link to our Blog for October 2018.
https://slowtravelitalyspain.blogspot.com/2018/10/
Things to do in Malaga

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slowtravelitalyspain.blogspot.com

1st November is a Bank Holiday (Día de todos los Santos) so accommodation can be harder to find but this year it's a Wednesday so doesn't lend itself to 'long weekends'.

 

[milgreen2]

thanks so much for your reply and links! reading about Jerez/Cadiz/Sanlucar has me wondering whether to go straight to Cadiz and spend three nights there, with a day trip to Jerez, or vice versa. truthfully, one of the draws of Jerez is a lovely hotel we saw, where we can relax and settle in to shake the jet lag, and take the sightseeing easy for a few days, concentrating on some sherry tastings and flamenco.
right now our plan is to travel by train from Jerez/Cadiz to Seville, and then to Cordoba where we will rent a car for several days, then drop it off in Granada and take the train to Malaga. however, I know it can sometimes actually be a bit cheaper to rent a car for a longer period of time, and if we can find accommodations in Granada and Malaga with parking, perhaps we'll simply hold onto it. everyone says it makes no sense to have a car in Seville and Cordoba.