pepnjak

I have never been to Spain. I am flying into Barcelona(using miles). I will stay there for 3 or 4 nights and then I was planning on going to Ronda to use as my base for 3 or 4 days visiting some of the surrounding towns.I was able to reserve a room at En Frente Art. I want to visit Granada,Seville etc. without changing hotels every day.I don't know if I will be back to Spain as I am retiring and will be on a fixed income and with the weak dollar?? Is this a good idea? Any suggestions?Any be sure not to miss thoughts! I will be going in May with my husband.We love architecture,history,art,the people,food and music. We are not big beach people.Thanks!!!

nytraveler

Ronda is a small town in the mountains and the roads to other cities are not always the best. The locals can drive fast on them - since they know all the twists and curves - but, if you're not use to them you may not be comfortable driving that fast.

Have you looked at driving times from Ronda to the places you want to see on viamichelin.com?

Iwan2go

We stayed right near Rhonda in April, and I agree with the other poster - if you want to see Seville and Granada, you'll be spending a lot of time on the road. It took us several hours (2 1/2 or 3) to get from Granada to Rhonda, and 2 hours to get from there to Seville. What about 2 nights in Granada and 2 in Seville? Or maybe a place on the main highway? (I don't know enough about Spain to suggest, I just remember that once we left the main highway near Antequerra, it was still a ways to Rhonda).

Great time of year to go there, BTW.

meo

Pepnjak, we had the same questions when we were working on our Spain itinerary. We ended up moving around more than we generally like to, but it's difficult to see everything from just a couple of home bases. This is what we ended up doing:

Barcelona - 3 nights
Lots to see and do, and so much great art, food and architecture! Would've enjoyed 4 nights, since we spent a full day at Montserrat.

Seville - 2 nights
With travel time factored in this wasn’t two full days, we felt like it was a bit rushed. We loved the Alcazar gardens.

Ronda - 1 night
We stopped in Zahara on the way (beautiful, small white hill town). Ronda was one of our favorite places; it isn't a very small town, but the portion you will see feels small and is so beautiful.

Granada – 2 nights
This city has a lot of what you are interested in – interesting architecture (the Alhambra with its Moorish influence), varied neighborhoods, food, history, etc.

Cordoba – 1 night
The Mezquita was very interesting, but because our only full day there was a Monday, not much else was open. I’m not sure if it was because of that or the 111 degree temperature, we felt we could’ve skipped Cordoba. Our hotel (Hospes Palacio del Bailio) was out of this world, though, and we’re glad we didn’t miss out on that.

Madrid – 3 nights
One day was spent on a side trip to Toledo. The best part of Madrid for us was the museums.

I guess I would’ve added a night in Ronda and skipped Cordoba – or better yet, extended the trip by 3 or 4 days overall. We flew from Barcelona to Sevilla, then rented a car which we used until we arrived in Cordoba. From Cordoba we took the AVE train to Madrid. We like to drive and found the roads to be safe and easy to navigate (it was difficult to find our hotel in Granada…lots of driving in circles!). However, staying in Ronda as a home base (or any other town), you’ll be spending a lot of time driving each day if you want to see other towns.

You won’t have any trouble finding great food, interesting people, unbelievable architecture & gardens, or outstanding art in these areas of Spain. It will be a fabulous trip!

pepnjak

Thank you so much everyone....great help. Meo I may follow your itinerary and just tweek it a bit and stay 2 days in Ronda. Our daughter loved Granada. Any Inns you loved and would go back to? Again,Thank you all!

meo

These are the hotels we stayed in (our favorites were the ones in Barcelona, Ronda and Cordoba):

Barcelona - Hotel 1898 - great rooms, very well designed and decorated (I'm not sure how to describe it other than it had a lot of traditional elements, but with clean, crisp lines and colors), excellent location, service and breakfast.

Sevilla - Alfonso XIII - a classic hotel - we enjoyed it, but I think I would've really liked to stay in the Santa Cruz district in a smaller hotel.

Ronda - the Parador - while not fancy, the location can't be beat - it's right next to the bridge/gorge; great views, nice pool, large rooms.

Granada - Alhambra Palace - another classic and we like the location, which was just at the edge of the Alhambra.

Cordoba - Hospes Palacio del Bailio - new, modern twist on Moorish design in an historic building. It was expensive, but we really enjoyed it and highly recommend it.

Madrid - Hotel de las Letras - modern decor that looked tired, and while we didn't have a bad experience there, I wouldn't receommend it.

Feel free to ask more questions - we just got back on July 3rd, so it's all fresh in my mind.

Have fun!

pepnjak

Thanks Meo for your hotel list. I will take some time over the weekend and look them up on the web. Thanks

Clifton

We had a few days in Spain so didn't get to all of your destinations. We took the train in and out of Ronda, renting a car for the day while there. From Ronda we went on to Granada.

Ronda is very beautiful. I found it felt a bit like a museum, in comparison to Granada, but my tastes run towards lively cities. Ronda was closing up at a fairly early hour. But old town, the bullring and the gorge are something to see.

Just to give additional choices in hotels, we stayed at Hotel San Gabriel. In the heart of the old city, so no views, but beautiful old fashioned rooms, with doubles in high season available for under 100 Euro. The hosts were helpful with questions and in arranging the car. Speaking of which - Ronda is a good base for seeing the white villages like Zahara and Grazelema and the national park. I can imagine the drive to Granada would be quite long. And parking in Granada tricky to find. You might consider the train and taxi?

http://www.hotelsangabriel.com/en/index.html

We liked our hotel in Granada as well, but for different reasons. It was more basic, but the staff was incredibly helpful, giving us the layout on a map of the area as soon as we walked in - where the sights, the bus routes were, etc. We also liked that it was right between the Alhambra and the main square.

http://www.hotel-puertadelasgranadas.com/

galaxygrrl200

Hospes Palacio del Bailio in Cordoba is the most amazing hotel I've ever stayed in. It's is sooooooooo beuatiful and swanky.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev...Andalusia.html

There is a killer little out door pool and then it has it's own arabic bath in the cellar.

Plus, you eat over roman ruins in a glass bottom room.

I did a day in Cordoba and two nights just to stay there two nights.

Also, a highlight of Cordoba washttp://www.hammamspain.com/

Make sure to get advance tickets for the Alhambra

I liked this hotel in Ronda.http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev...Andalusia.html

Have fun

Graziella5b

Only a remark, I agree with other posters, ONE IMPORTANT factor to take into consideration in Europe is the accessibility of towns. They can be up the hill, the roads leading can be not the best, etc etc. It is not enough to look for this places in the map. Also where are you going to park, because if you need to take your car from a garage each time you come and go it can be a tiresome experience, some hotels have parking, but parking can be nearby in a place that is difficult to get in and out your car.

Ackislander

I think meo's original trip is a good one, but then I like Cordoba.

pepnjak

wow, I love this site!! People are so generous with their suggestions. It helps so much.I have been gone all week end and will begin my "work" this week trying to lay out a plan. I will pull up all of the Inns suggested! I am sure I will have more questions as I begin putting this trip down on paper. My sister mentioned a few places she went,I might toss those out to get a second opinion...THANKS

Iwan2go

With your lead time (next May), you should be able to have your pick of places that are charming and not too expensive. I'm not sure what your budget is, but we loved the following places when we went in April:

Granada: Carmen de la Alcubilla del Caracol (I think that El Torre, El Cipre, and Buganvilla are the best rooms. Rates from 120-140&euro

Seville: Hotel Amadeus (the junior suite - called the Mozart room - is by far the best one at 140€. It's very private and large and at the front of the building, with lots of windows and a jacuzzi tub. The other rooms are 90-115 &euro Don't take the front room on the first floor - it will be too noisy.

Have fun! Spain is just wonderful, and the weather should be very nice in May.

gruezi

In Seville, regarding the Alphonso XIII, I would not recommend this hotel.

Indifferent to bad service - basically ignored by waitstaff, dated (not in a good way) rooms, dirty pool (bird poop on all the old chaise chairs, pool filled with leaves), very noisy traffic in back all night, broken A/C that no one could fix so windows had to stay open, mediocre food.... Okay, we thought it was a ripoff and left 2 days early. We were sorry we hadn't stayed in the Santa Cruz district in a smaller more charming hotel like the other poster above. Had a number of specific incidents where we were treated rather poorly (we had 2 deluxe rooms) and my husband just got fed up. The manager was very nice about letting us leave early, and apologetic, but it did put a bad flavor on this part of our trip.

gruezi