Southern Spain recommendations

Seville, Granada, Cordoba, Gibraltar, Malaga etc. Places to eat, places to stay (on the higher end). Looking at heading out between after Xmas to about Jan 4-5. What is a can’t miss?

TIA,

George

We stayed in the Palacio del Bailio in Córdoba in June this year. Highly recommend. Make sure you do a tour of the roman ruins under the dining room! Can’t miss sites include the cathedral (largest in the world) and roman temple ruins.

We also stayed in the Villa Padierna Palace Hotel near Marbella. Again, highly recommend.

George,

I am going to Spain this summer and booked all my hotel stays with my Virtuoso travel agent (except Majorca, where I’m using points to stay at the Park Hyatt). If you’re unfamiliar with Virtuoso, it’s just a network of agents that specialize in luxury travel with relationships at Hi end properties. By booking with a Virtuoso agent, you get free breakfast for 2, $100 in food/beverage/spa, upgrade when avail, early check in/late check out when avail. You don’t pay anything to the TA, the agent just gets a commission from the hotel for the booking and you get value added benefits. We booked Hospes Palacio de Los Patos in Granada and Hotel Alfonso XIII in Seville for our Andalusia part of the trip. We are also spending one night in Ronda which is a small cliff side city next to a gorge, it looks amazing by pics and was one of the must visits for my wife.

My TA told me I have to book the Alhambra in Granada in advance and you can buy tickets 90 days prior.

If you’re interested in using a Virtuoso TA, send me a PM. I have no affiliation with Virtuoso, just a happy client. It’s a win-win for all parties and I get personalized attention.

From Granada why not go East, then South “over the hill” (really spectacular road, Puerta de Ragua) to Ugijar to visit Nola and Juan Palomar (Dominio Buenavista, she’s on WB). We had a good time in the area a few years ago.

We stayed here → Homepage | ALHAMBRA PALACE HOTEL in Granada. Very nice hotel and Alhambra is a short walk from the hotel. Pros - awesome views, convenient for visiting Alhambra, nice walks in the surrounding garden area and away from downtown. Con - away from downtown. You’re taking a shuttle back-and-forth, which is ok, but not as convenient as walking out the door. If you’re there for two nights, go for it.

Here’s the view from the room →
WB_Granada.PNG
Gibraltar is a hole. Only redeeming value is wandering around the Rock and seeing all of the WWII tunnels and canon emplacements. Beware of roaming apes.

Yes thinking of skipping Gibraltar and probably the ferry to Tangier. Although it would be nice to say I have been to Africa not sure if that is the place for me. Great view, I have looked at the Alhambra Palace.

Dan - Palacio looks great. High on our list.

Joe - Way to anal to let anyone plan my trip. :slight_smile:

Any restaurant recs from those that have been?

George

George,

Definitely check out the uk wine pages forum. Lots of tips on there about Seville, Granada etc etc including from some locals.

Dan

Oh, I’m like you, I plan the whole trip. All I do is give the travel agent the days and location I’m looking to book a hotel and she gives me what hotel she’s affiliated with and pricing. Then I either choose to book the hotels with her or tell her I’ll pass on the choices offered. Very similar to AMEX’s Fine Hotels and Resorts program. Sometimes, it’s cheaper to go through the hotel websites but almost always the best rates on the hotel websites are non-refundable and I don’t like non-refundable because sometimes plans change. There’s no pressure. The reason I don’t always book hotels with her is that she usually only offers 5* hotels and sometimes I don’t want to pay that much.

Anyway, my family is super excited to visit Spain this summer. We’re gonna use some of the restaurants recommended in previous threads for our Barcelona stay. We’re looking forward to seeing everything but something about Majorca and being outdoors has us really stoked about visiting that island.

Spain is great. Our family did Barcelona, San Sebastian, Madrid summer before last. Hence our “southern” trip this time.

George

Seville - absolute must. Stayed in Casa Del Poeta (Home - Hotel Boutique en el centro de Sevilla) incredible right in the heart of the old town.
Place to eat/ drink highly recommend Vineria San Telmo (Vinería San Telmo – UNA FILOSOFÍA DE VIDA).

Granada and Cordoba are a must to. Alhambra and Mesquita are architectural gems.

Have a great trip!

Had an amazing vacation in Spain with our kids a few years ago. Highly recommend a few days in Marbella - we stayed at the Puente Romano resort and got upgraded (by way of Amex platinum) to a villa on the beach that was pretty incredible. Wonderful way to end our trip after lots of sightseeing and train rides and car rides from Madrid to Seville and then stops in Cordoba and Granada.

Just saw this, I can help you with touristic / non-touristic, anything you want to do. you can pm or email me if you want!


Our winery Dominio Buenavista is located in the Alpujarra. The Alpujarra is the clustering of small villages on the South Side of the Sierra Nevada. Bodega Dominio Buenavista. Ugíjar. Granada - YouTube (a tv station did this little clip.

We live at the winery and also in Almeria we travel back and forth during the summer. Nolita and I are locked into the US for most of the school year, but my husband Juan travels back to Spain almost monthly matter of fact he is there at the winery right now.

I am happy to assist in anyway I can to anyone traveling in the South.

To get tickets to the Alhambra go to this website granadatur – Clorian, gestión integral de venta de entradas and get the Plus card. it includes visits to the Royal Chapel where Isabela & Ferdinand are buried as well as the microbus to get you around. If you do not have hotel reservations yet, the Alhambra Palace is BEAUTIFUL but there are also some really super nice boutique hotels in the city center. I can also recommend nice restaurants or more casual fares…

Thanks to all.

I have this all booked. FYI there are/were some great business class fares on Iberia if you book through AA. We are going to move around a bit but that is OK. I have planned 1 night in Cordoba, 3 in Seville, 2 in Granada and then finish with 1 night in Madrid. The only meal i have planned is DiverXO in Madrid. So any other suggestions would be more than welcome.

George

If you like steak, Juan de Tolosa in Madrid serves the best I’ve ever had. Old school/rustic restaurant with an excellent list of spanish wines at very good prices. Highly recommended if you’re ok with very bare bones style ie starter plate of jamon, middle plate of peppers, main course plate of steak served on a white plate with nothing else!

http://en.juliandetolosa.com/menu/

My Spain dining notes, now a few years old, are on this forum…

Andrew

Madrid:
-Vinoteca Moratin: reservation required. Great little place that focuses a lot on vegetables, and does them very well.
-Casa González: cheap & good toast with cheese and meats. Bring the Lactaid. No reservation needed and good for lunch.

If you have time:
-Taberna La Berenjena: nice local joint with delicious mini fried crabs. Bar in front, minuscule dining area with two tables. Reservation might not be necessary.

Breakfast: find any cafe filled with locals, and order a cafe con leche with tostada con tomate. Simple, cheap, and good.

If you can manage an overnight trip to Caceres, food is just as good as Madrid and cheaper.

Seville:
-conTenedor has modern Spanish fare with an emphasis on locally sourced ingredients. Reservations are recommended. I liked the garden salad and the duck.
-We also enjoyed a tapas and history tour with Devour Seville. The restaurants they took us to were slightly touristy but fun, and it was a nice way to meet new people for a night. We learned some interesting historical facts about the city to boot.
-If you can rent a car, go to Jamones Eiriz Jabugo for the tour of the dehesa where the pigs roam, and the facilities where they make amazing jamon iberico the old fashioned way in the attic. It ends with a tasting of jamon and wine.

Granada: Cunini is a great seafood restaurant. The seafood stew and percebes were standouts.

Can’t believe I almost forgot to mention Casa Paco El Buen Comer for Seville. Go there for an authentic tapas experience with the locals! Gets so crowded people are eating outside on the sidewalk around tiny standing room tables. It’s part of the fun though!

Just finished another driving tour across Portugal and Spain so a few more recommendations:

  • palacio de ubeda
  • la bobadilla about an hour west from granada

Ahhh about 2 hours from my winery. Ugijar, Granada, Spain

Good thread. We are visiting Madrid-Granada-San Sebastian this Sept.