7 Days: Seville and Andalusia
A full week rounds out the spine with Jerez de la Frontera, six day trips total from one Seville hotel room: Cordoba, Italica, Granada, Ronda, Cadiz and Jerez. Tighter on time? The 6-day version drops Jerez. This is the same spine as every shorter itinerary in this family, just with one more day trip added at the end.
Book these before you go
- Granada’s Alhambra, Nasrid Palaces slot required, sells out weeks to months ahead: book via tickets.alhambra-patronato.es
- Real Alcazar timed entry, if you’re also seeing the city itself: book via alcazarsevilla.org
- Santa Cruz or Triana hotel: check rates on Booking.com
- A Ronda day tour, since the return bus schedule is the hard part to plan solo: browse tours on Viator
Day 1: Land in Seville, get oriented
Seville Airport (SVQ) sits about 10km northeast of downtown; the EA bus runs to the centre in 35-46 minutes for EUR4-5, a taxi is a fixed EUR25-30 fare, 20-25 minutes. Check into a hotel near Santa Cruz, Triana or El Arenal and spend the evening on the river rather than front-loading sightseeing: walk the Puente de Isabel II into Triana as the light drops, and have dinner at a bar rather than a sit-down restaurant. If you’re also planning the Real Alcazar in the city itself, book it now, peak-season timed slots sell out days to weeks ahead and there’s no walk-up option.
Day 2: Cordoba and the Mezquita
Santa Justa station puts Cordoba 40-45 minutes away by AVE, dozens of trains a day, fares from roughly EUR10-25 depending on how far ahead you book. Get the early train: the Mezquita-Catedral is free Monday to Saturday 8:30-9:30am (no groups admitted), arrive by 8:15 to queue, otherwise adult entry is EUR15 (hours and prices ). Spend the rest of the morning in the Juderia’s whitewashed lanes before an early-afternoon train back to Seville.
Day 3: Italica, then a free afternoon
Italica is the shortest day trip on this whole list: 15-20 minutes by car or about 30 minutes by bus toward Santiponce. It’s one of the Iberian Peninsula’s earliest Roman cities, birthplace of Trajan and Hadrian, with one of the empire’s largest surviving amphitheatres; entry is free for EU citizens, roughly EUR1.50 for everyone else at most sources (verify on site). It’s a half-day outing, so use the afternoon back in Seville for whatever day one’s evening didn’t cover, rather than treating today as two half-planned things.
Day 4: Granada and the Alhambra
Granada is 250km southeast, 2h35-3h by direct train or about 3h by ALSA bus (EUR14-27), roughly 2.5 hours if you drive instead; this is the one day on the whole trip that wants an early start and a late return, not a half-measure. The Alhambra needs a booked timed slot for the Nasrid Palaces (general admission EUR21, EUR22.27 online) chosen at the moment of purchase; peak-season dates sell out weeks to months ahead, so this is the one booking on this trip you cannot leave until you land. A guided Alhambra day trip holding a pre-reserved ticket block is the fallback once general release is gone.
Day 5: Ronda and the Tajo gorge
Ronda has no useful direct train, rail via Antequera runs about 3h50, technically possible and not worth it, so take the Damas bus (roughly 2h15) or drive (1h40). The payoff is the 120-metre El Tajo gorge spanned by the Puente Nuevo, plus Spain’s oldest bullring, the Real Maestranza (EUR9-12 with the museum). A Ronda day tour from Seville handles the bus timing if you’d rather not plan your whole day around a single return departure.
Day 6: Cadiz, the reward day
Cadiz is the easy one after five busier days: 99km, a direct train in 1h25-1h40 with frequent departures, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in western Europe on a narrow Atlantic peninsula, with an old town built for wandering and a real beach if the heat calls for it. Treat today as the slow day of the trip, not another box to tick.
Day 7: Jerez de la Frontera, then home
Jerez is about an hour away by train or bus, and the day only works if you pick one anchor: a sherry bodega tour and tasting, or the Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art’s horse show (traditionally Tuesday and Thursday, verify the current schedule), not both. Prefer a car over one more train? Swap today for the pueblos blancos instead, Arcos de la Frontera, Zahara de la Sierra and Grazalema, covered in the Seville Spain guide along with the rental-car link you’d need for it. Either way, keep the evening free for the flight home rather than scheduling right up to departure.
How far ahead should you book the Alhambra?
Weeks to months ahead, not a few days before. General admission runs EUR21 (EUR22.27 booked online), and every ticket carries a mandatory timed slot for the Nasrid Palaces; only 6,600 tickets are sold each day, and peak-season dates sell out as much as 90 days out. Book directly through tickets.alhambra-patronato.es , never a reseller, the official site is routinely undercut in price by markup sites that outrank it in search.
Should you visit Cadiz and Jerez in the same day?
You can, both sit under 1h25 from Santa Justa by train, but this itinerary keeps them apart on purpose. Stacking Jerez’s sherry bodegas or horse show on top of Cadiz’s old town and beach turns two good half-days into one rushed one; a full week gives each its own day instead.
Do the pueblos blancos need a rental car?
Realistically, yes. Public buses between Arcos de la Frontera, Zahara de la Sierra and Grazalema are sparse enough that stringing two or three villages together in one day solo isn’t practical. A rental car or a small-group tour covers more of the Sierra de Grazalema Natural Park than the regional bus network ever will, which is why this itinerary defaults to Jerez instead and treats the pueblos blancos as a car-based swap.
The distances, side by side
| Day trip | Distance from Seville | Train or bus time | What it costs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cordoba (Mezquita) | ~140km | AVE ~40-45 min | Train ~EUR10-25; Mezquita EUR15 (free Mon-Sat 8:30-9:30am) |
| Granada (Alhambra) | ~250km | Train ~2h35-3h, or bus ~3h | Train/bus ~EUR14-27; Alhambra EUR21-22.27, book weeks-months ahead |
| Cadiz | ~99km | Direct train ~1h25-1h40 | Frequent service, fares vary by how far ahead you book |
| Ronda | ~100-130km | Bus ~2h15 (no useful direct train) | Bus fare plus Real Maestranza bullring EUR9-12 |
| Jerez de la Frontera | ~90km | Train or bus ~1h | Bodega tours and tastings bookable same-day |
| Italica | ~10km | Drive 15-20 min, or bus ~30 min | Free (EU) / ~EUR1.50 (non-EU), verify on site |
| Pueblos blancos (Arcos) | ~90km, ~1h20 drive | Self-drive or organized tour (public bus is sparse) | Car rental or tour cost varies |
Book the Alhambra and the Ronda bus first; everything else on this list, including the Jerez-versus-pueblos-blancos call on day 7, can wait until you land.