Yes, it was short. Yes, we would have loved to spend more time here. Because three days are just not enough for beautiful Andalusia. And because we will never get sick of delicious Tapas!
Andalusia with its beautiful villages and cities, its amazing history, the Moorish architecture and the endless barren landscape catapulted itself in our hearts within three days.
Back in Germany, we had already decided to stay a few days for our own after our wedding at the Algarve! This is not for everyone, but short trips like these feel like beaming yourself to a new place and back in a heartbeat. Brevity is the soul of wit.
Three days in Andalusia
Many people wouldn’t consider making the effort for such a short time. Well, we love to do it and it is always worth the effort!
Of course, we couldn’t see everything. Unfortunately, beaming hasn’t been invented yet, so we often have to walk if we want to see something interesting.
Andalusia isn’t just about classical sightseeing, though the region has a lot to offer. It’s more about the Andalusian lifestyle: Sun, Tapas, Sangria, Moorish architecture – Clichés, we love to follow!
Avoid midsummer in Andalusian cities. It’s way too hot during this time of the year. We’ve been here at the end of May and can totally recommend it.
With this post, we want to show you what is possible to see in Andalusia within three days.
Hiring a Rental car
But before, you have to know: A rental car is a must. We rented our car in Faro (Portugal) and told them, we would pass the border for a few days. When hiring a car, you always have to tell the agency, because otherwise insurances won’t cover costs of accidents. You have to pay for crossing the border. In our case it was 30€.
It was worth it, as hiring a rental car is much cheaper in Faro than somewhere in Spain, even if you have to pay for crossing the border. Furthermore, it was cheaper for us to fly back home from Faro.
So if money plays a major role in your plannings, you can save a lot if you inform yourselves in advance. Prices for crossing the border depend on the car agency.
Sevilla
Sevilla was our first stop at this little road trip. There will be an extra post for what to see in this city as this post would be way too long otherwise.
We arrived in the afternoon and brought our luggage to our hotel. Maybe it was the most beautiful, you will find at this price range. We found beautiful Zaida Hotel at booking.com. It’s located in the Old Town of Sevilla and was named after a Moorish princess, who married King Alfonso VI the Castile. It was his fifth marriage, by the way.
It’s a former restored Andalusian palace in neo-mudéjar-style. The rooms are quite large for a small hotel, the service stuff is really friendly and rooms really clean. In addition, there was a car park near the hotel. Customers of the hotel get extra conditions there.
We can totally recommend Hotel Zaida, because it is a sight for itself.
Actually, it’s not worth mentioning but you should always make some breaks to eat some delicious Tapas. This also includes the house wines. You can save a lot if you avoid eating near Plaza de España or near the cathedral.
And the moral of the story, it won’t work without ice cream!
When in Sevilla, we discovered a new sort of ice cream which came our favourite ice creams list. One year ago we ate lavender ice cream for the first time and thought it was unbeatable, Sevilla proved us wrong by giving us our first Turrón ice.
Occasion: The endless queue at the Alcazár palace. What we learned from our time in Sevilla: With ice cream, no queue in this world will be too long. Time passed so quickly.
Granada
Our second stop was Granada. We arrived at noon and here it was definitely enough time for what we wanted to see.
Our hotel was in the Old Town near the cathedral. We came to Granada mainly because of the Alhambra. But we were witness to how beautiful and underrated the city really is.
We don’t have to mention it all time, because you all might have read it a few times. But Tapas, Tapas, Taps. With wine, wine, wine. Ok, a little bit of water should also be included. Especially if you’re on the road the entire day. The bristly charm of rustic Andalusian men was much more alive than in Sevilla. I love Spain!
What you should have done here: Next to enjoying food and the Alhambra, definitely get lost in the alleys of the beautiful Albaicín and curse because of the cobblestoned streets.
Ronda
If we had known before, we would have planned more time for Ronda for sure. The third day, we had Cadíz on our itinerary and made a stop at Ronda on the way. We were really looking forward looking at Puente Nuevo.
The bridge spans the 120m deep gorge El Tajo and connects the Old Town (La Ciudad) and the younger part of the city (El Mercadillo). Puente Nueve was built in the 18th century. It’s a stone bridge with three archways.
We weren’t really interested in the bullfighting arena. But for those who want to know: Yes, there is one. The arena is important for Ronda, as it is one of the main cities for this tradition.
But what no one tells you: The Old Town and the view surrounding it are so amazing. We would have loved to stay longer here.
Cadíz
This was our actual destination for the third day and our last Tapas orgy station. Of course including Sangria. But only for me. Jan was the driver.
Actually, there isn’t something special in Cadíz. It has neither Alcázar nor an Alhambra. But it has a really beautiful Old Town with great atmosphere.
It’s located at the seaside and has a huge cathedral on a beautiful square (we didn’t go up to the Torre Poniente) and great alleys. All this makes it a very likeable city.
You’ll notice, students and pensioners get along really well. We saw a lot of people speaking Swabian (from Southern Germany) dialect. All in all Cadíz with its large number of students from all around the world has an international atmosphere.
For those interested in history: There’s of course lots more to discover like the Roman Theatre of Cadíz. But we just wanted to enjoy our last day.
Call me a Romantic, but what I loved most was the beautiful afternoon light that covered the city. The beautiful port promenade offers an amazing view to the Old Town and the colour of the sea is just stunning. Maybe I’m just glorifying it now because it was our last day. Nevertheless it was perfect.
At the end, we enjoyed some delicious Tapas before we headed back to Faro.
What do you think about these kind of short trips? Would it be to exhausting for you? What would you add or cut out?
FabioRosado
Congratulations on your wedding!
You did the round trip that I wanted to do 😀
Great pictures and those of food made me hungry ?
Jan
Hi Fabio,
thank you very much! Yes, we were hungry and thirsty all the time 😉
You have enough time to do it in the future, so do it! 🙂