I have spent hours and hours sifting thru the notes. Trying to determine if we rent a place in Seville, would this be central enough to vist the must-see sites of Cordoba, Ronda, Granada and the coastline by train perhaps or is there a better city/town location ? We also did not plan on renting a car, we are 6-10 people, so bus trips, trains are preferred. How should we best see this region without hotel jumping ?

Hola KarenFL.

Firstly, Seville is not central to Andalucia but the furthest to the west of the towns that you mention.

Ronda (with its train station)would be a little more central but the train station at Bobadilla would be even better because this is the station that most of the trains go through to get to most places. The trouble is Bobadilla is out in the spanish beautiful wilderness. Maybe you could find somewhere to stay in the Antequera area that is close to Bobadilla.

However, day tripping from say Ronda (Our local town)to Granada would mean around 6 hours on the train (3 hours each way)plus waiting time at the stations.

It seems that you will have to do some overnight stays or you will spend most of your time sitting on a bus or a train.

www.renfe.com is easy to navigate and in English if you need it.(just click the flag). Take a look at some "from" to "somewheres" and you'll see the time it takes to get there.

if you dont want to "hotel jump" we would reccomend you to split your trip into half. Western Andalucia or Eastern Andalucia.

Forget about tiring yourself out doing the "must sees" for Andalucia and thoroughly enjoy and digest the places and sights that you do have time to visit.

How much time do you have for your Andalucian trip?

What time of year is the trip planned for?

Do you plan to rent a house or stay in one hotel?

Clive and Sue (slow living in Andalucia)

quote:

Originally posted by Clive and sue:
Hola KarenFL.

Firstly, Seville is not central to Andalucia but the furthest to the west of the towns that you mention.

Ronda (with its train station)would be a little more central but the train station at Bobadilla would be even better because this is the station that most of the trains go through to get to most places. The trouble is Bobadilla is out in the spanish beautiful wilderness. Maybe you could find somewhere to stay in the Antequera area that is close to Bobadilla.

However, day tripping from say Ronda (Our local town)to Granada would mean around 6 hours on the train (3 hours each way)plus waiting time at the stations.

It seems that you will have to do some overnight stays or you will spend most of your time sitting on a bus or a train.

www.renfe.com is easy to navigate and in English if you need it.(just click the flag). Take a look at some "from" to "somewheres" and you'll see the time it takes to get there.

if you dont want to "hotel jump" we would reccomend you to split your trip into half. Western Andalucia or Eastern Andalucia.

Forget about tiring yourself out doing the "must sees" for Andalucia and thoroughly enjoy and digest the places and sights that you do have time to visit.

How much time do you have for your Andalucian trip?

What time of year is the trip planned for?

Do you plan to rent a house or stay in one hotel?

Clive and Sue (slow living in Andalucia)

Thanks Clive and Sue. Here is our plan so far:
Arriving in Seville on approx Oct 11th from Madrid. Looking for a rental in town to avoid a car rental, not having any luck yet on this. Group size is 6-10 adults (only 2 poss couples) so need the twin bed set up which is challenging. Looking to stay there for 6-7 days, take a few day trips to surrounding sites and soak up our enviroment. Also wondering about seeing the coastline and how to do that from our location. I see your point about being west and not central. I doubt we will try to see everything. Important to stay put and live for a week enjoying our surroundings. How does this sound?

Hola KarenFL.

Ok that sounds much more do able....

Accomodation with twin beds shouldn't be a problem at all. In our experience almost every hotel and guest house has twin beds. A problem for me because I like to share with Sue all the time. We always push the beds together. hehehe

7 nights in Sevilla will pass very quickly...

The main sights such as the Alcazar, Giralda and Cathedral will take you at least two days to explore properly. Don't miss the patio de los naranjos or the Barrio de Santa Cruz area.

Then you have the Museuo de Bellas Artes which is situated in an old convent and has some important paintings from Spains golden age of discovery.

The palace of Pilates (Casa de Pilatos) is supposed to be a copy of Pontius Pilots Jerusalem house.

Then there is the archaeological museum, the Parque de Maria Luisa with its gardens and fountains. The Hospital de la Caridad and the Archivo de Indias that houses a unique collection of documents from the discovery of America. Maps and charts and Info about Columbus Cortes and Magellan.

Don't forget to break the days up with plenty of Tapas stops and just sitting at a street bar and looking at the buildings and people.

About 10 KM northwest from Seville stands the remains of "Italica". Hadrian and Trajan were born here. Stand in the Amphitheatre and close your eyes and envisage the 25,000 spectators 2000 years ago.

Jerez de la Frontera is a short train trip away from Sevilla and will easily take up a big day with its sherry bodegas and amazing equestrian shows. Your Sevilla hotel may be able to help with bookings for the Jerez horse shows.

Ronda is a train trip away from Sevilla with its famous bridge. The Sierra de Grazalema is 15 minutes from here. (We live close to the village of Grazalema).

Cadiz, Gades the oldest city, is about 2 hours by train from Seville and will fill a huge day out.(in fact Cadiz should take you a few days)

Granada is 3 hours and we reckon its just too much. Six hours on the train for a day trip? Maybe stay the night? hmm thats hotel hopping.

That'd be about 6 days filled to the brim. (And we didn't even add in two days with us to see a tiny bit of the Sierra de Grazalema!)

Try to find a hotel/rental convenient to Seville train station and check out trains at www.renfe.com

Also you haven't said the ages of your group. The average 14 year old is probably gonna hate what I reccomended above!!!

Salud

Clive and Sue

i just want to add great suggestions from clive and Sue
i have a site which i use to get info on my travels in spain (i am spanish origins from the Canary islands!!)
http://sevilla.lanetro.com/
unfortu its in Spanish but a good idea to start brushing up on it!
enjoy it;it s beautiful area.

I leave tomorrow for my Spain/Portugal trip (Spain part in Andalusia--Ya vengo!)! Yeah!

Clive and Sue had some great ideas... it's definitely true that Seville is NOT centrally located... That being said, though, there are some great places around for daytrips, including Italica, Carmona, Palma del Rio, parts of Cadiz, certain beaches, etc...

I would recommend glancing at the Rough Guide to Andalusia and perhaps the Eyewitness for Seville/Andalucia--they always give ideas for good little stops that are perhps on your way during daytrips.

Whatever you do, enjoy!

Hola.

Hey Sarahnwalker.

Call in if you are passing through the Grazalema area.

Clive and Sue

Clive and Sue, you are too sweet!

I am not sure if we will get down to the Grazalema area, but maybe we will. If so, I will let you know! I have to visit people in Seville and (maybe) Ayamonte after staying with a friend in a town near Merida...

My sister has never been to Spain or Portugal and so this is only a first taste for her. I would love to go down the the white towns, but we don't have a ton of time and there are so many people I have to 'reunite' with... I kinda wish I had more time in Spain (more than our two weeks).

Every time I think about you two, though, I am reminded of this old woman, the legendary "Tata" who was the live-in cook/help/nanny of this family I knew. She was born and raised in El Bosque. She was 80 years old when I was in Sevilla, severly overweight, with tired looking legs and ankles that overflowed from the orthopedic-looking shoes (so common on older people in Andalusia). I couldn't beleive she would standin a kitchen all day and go shopping on foot! But she wouldn't dream of relinquishing her role as head cook/nourisher of the family until she dropped dead, of course!

It's amazing how the culture is so different down there and how so many people lived their whole lives as hired help yet part of the family... She made the best Tortilla and Croquetas.... unbelieveable! But I always imagine her from this beautiful little town in the Sierra. She loved to tell us about it--and went back often.

Thank you again for your invite! I will let you know... it's very tempting, believe me!

I've been to Andalucia 8 times, usually for a week, and I could still easily name places there I'd like to see for the first time. I've always used public transport, at first by choice because I was driving a high mileage in UK and the last couple of times because of post heart disease problems.
Much as I prefer trains in general, I am sure you will often find buses are far more frequent. The best sites I know are http://www.continental-auto.es/ for Alsina Graells,http://www.damas-sa.es/buscar.htm if you want to get into the Sierra de Aracena and http://www.andalucia.com/travel/bus/home.htm generally.

As for staying, I should probably pick Cordoba in preference to Sevilla, as being a bit further East and more manageable for a day trip to Granada. I'm very fond of Cordoba and also of Antequera [already mentioned in your correspondence] and I think Grazalema is stunning - but not at all good as a public transport centre.

I have done some quite extensive notes on Andalucia which I should be happy to send you if you care to e-mail me at davidcross@frogsmore72.fsnet.co.uk
Best wishes
David
P.S. All but one of my trips have been in winter months.

Karen - we enjoyed Andalucia very much. Below is the URL of my web page on about our trip there in 2001. Perhaps it can help you in your planning. I also agree with the general opinion above that Seville is not central.

http://www.travel.stv77.com/andalucia/andalucia.html

yes of course Seville is not central it is closer to Portugal and has a very nice freeway connecting it with Faro ;algarve south of Portugal.
cordoba or Granada are more central up from the coast.