Granada Spain 7 Day Itinerary (Day Trips)
A full week gives you all six day trips Granada makes possible, building on the 6 day route without moving anything: Córdoba, the Sierra Nevada, the Alpujarras, Guadix, the Costa Tropical, and Nerja, plus a seventh day at Antequera’s dolmens and karst on the way toward Málaga. If you would rather spend day 7 inside the city, our Granada city itineraries cover the Alhambra and Albaicín in depth.
Book these before you go: a Renfe AVE seat and the Mezquita entry ticket for Córdoba, a guided Alpujarra day trip , a Nerja Caves day trip with a fixed entry slot, and your Granada hotel .
| Day | Day trip | Travel time from Granada |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Córdoba (the Mezquita) | ~1h20-2h by AVE/Avant train |
| 2 | Sierra Nevada | ~45 min by car or bus |
| 3 | The Alpujarras | ~1-1.5h by car or tour |
| 4 | Guadix | ~1h by train or bus |
| 5 | Costa Tropical (Salobreña) | ~1-1.5h by bus or car |
| 6 | Nerja | ~1h50-2h45 by bus |
| 7 | Antequera | ~1h by car or tour |
Day 1: Córdoba and the Mezquita
An early AVE or Avant train, about 1h20 on the fastest service, closer to 2 hours on media distancia trains; check renfe.com first. The Mezquita, a Renaissance cathedral built inside a former Great Mosque’s columned hall, is worth the full morning at about EUR 13 entry, with a limited free window Monday to Saturday roughly 8:30 to 9:30am that excludes the nave and choir. Check current hours on the official Córdoba tourism site , then return by afternoon train and eat in the Realejo, where a drink still comes with a free tapa.
Day 2: Sierra Nevada
About 45 minutes and 31km out by car or an ALSA bus from the Estación de Autobuses. Ski season runs roughly late November through April, day passes from around EUR 47 to EUR 66, cheapest booked online through sierranevada.es . In summer, hike from the Borreguiles plateau toward Mulhacén, the Iberian mainland’s highest peak.
Day 3: The Alpujarras
Pampaneira, Bubión, and Capileira, roughly 1 to 1.5 hours by car up the Sierra Nevada’s southern slopes, source of jamón de Trevélez and the plato alpujarreño. ALSA buses run too thinly for a reliable same-day multi-village trip; a rental car or guided day trip is the real answer. Check the official Granada tourism site for current opening times at the village weaving workshops if you want to add one.
Day 4: Guadix
About an hour from Granada by train, roughly EUR 6, or bus. The barrio de las cuevas is a neighborhood of troglodyte cave houses still lived in today, distinct from Sacromonte’s cave-flamenco venues back in the city. A cheap, easy half-day.
Day 5: Costa Tropical
Salobreña, roughly 1 to 1.5 hours from Granada by bus or car, is the closer version of “Granada’s beach,” a whitewashed village under a Moorish castle with dark, coarse-sand beaches. Almuñécar and Motril sit nearby.
Day 6: Nerja
Nerja sits in Málaga province, reached by ALSA bus in roughly 1h50 to 2h45 depending on the service. The draw is the Nerja Caves, a large show-cave system with an adult ticket around EUR 16; book the fixed entry slot listed above ahead. Keep this day separate from day 5’s coast trip; they are different destinations in different provinces, not one beach day split in two.
Day 7: Antequera
Antequera is about an hour and 130km from Granada via the A-92, closer to Málaga than to Granada, which makes it a natural way to close out a week. It packs in two UNESCO sites: the Menga, Viera, and El Romeral dolmens, with Menga dating to roughly 3750 to 3650 BC, and the El Torcal natural park’s karst rock formations. Direct public buses run only two or three times a day, so a rental car or a day tour bundling the dolmens, the historic center and Alcazaba, and El Torcal is the realistic plan. If you are flying out of Málaga rather than back through Granada, this is also the easiest day trip to turn into a one-way drop-off.
Do Antequera last if your onward flight leaves from Málaga rather than Granada. It sits roughly halfway between the two, which makes it the one day trip on this list that doubles as a transit day.