When Norah and I decided to visit Spain for spring break in March 2024 the biggest challenge was deciding where to go. It was hard to craft an itinerary because there were so many places we wanted to visit. We decided Andalucía was a must and it was most logical to include Madrid as our jumping off point (sorry Barcelona - next time!). We settled on four nights in Madrid, three nights in Seville, two nights in Granada, and a final night in Madrid before our flight the next morning. We also added in two day trips: Toledo from Madrid and Córdoba from Seville. Overall this itinerary worked well, although if we were to tweak it, we could have taken a day from Madrid and added it to Andalucía (Seville in particular). It was hard to tell though when we were planning because there are a lot of museums and sights to see in Madrid. Plus, our first day there was after arriving on a red eye flight in the morning, so I didn’t want to plan too much that first day in case we were absolutely wiped out. We did enjoy our time in Madrid and especially if you like art, it’s worth it to spend enough time there to see the museums. But overall we thought Andalusia was the star of the show - the history and ambience of these beautiful cities is hard to beat.

The Rick Steves Best of Spain guidebook was super helpful in planning and we also used it while in Spain. What I like best about Rick Steves’ guidebooks are the self guided tours - both around cities and in specific sites, like the Alhambra. With the help of the guidebook and online resources we assembled an itinerary that included visits to the popular tourist sites, some booked tours, and time to wander and explore the cities. We knew it was imperative to book Alhambra tickets in advance and that was the first thing I booked (the 8:30 am time slot was great for getting a jump on the worst of the crowds). Other things I booked in advance:

- A guided English tour of the Royal Palace of Madrid
- A Madrid tapas tour with Adventurous Appetites
- The Reina Sofia (I don’t think this was necessary to book ahead, but I did. No time slot necessary, just a ticket good for a date)
- The Prado (time slot necessary)
- An English guided rooftop tour of the Seville Cathedral
- Metropol Parasol, aka Setas de Sevilla (another ticket that was not necessary to book ahead, but I wanted to make sure we got tickets for sunset)
- The Cuarto Real Alto tour at the Seville Royal Alcazar
- The Mezquita-Cathedral and Bell Tower in Cordoba
- Essential Granada Free Tour with Walk in Granada tours
- Lolita’s Sunset Tour of Albaicin and Sacromonte

A few other things I booked once we were in Spain.

- Toledo Cathedral
- Flamenco show at La Casa del Flamenco in Seville
- Zambra show at Zambra Maria la Canastera in Granada
- The Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum

I booked our train travel in advance for peace of mind and these were the hotels I chose based on price, location, and reviews:

- Madrid: Hostal Persal, Sleep’N Atocha (last night)
- Seville: Hotel Alcantara
- Granada: Hotel Monjas del Carmen

I didn’t make any dinner reservations, mainly because I wasn’t entirely sure how our evenings would go and wanted the flexibility. We also didn’t have any particular restaurants we wanted to eat at. There was at least one evening we probably should have made dinner reservations in Seville as we were looking to eat during peak hours and ended up at an unremarkable restaurant. But most lunches and dinners were fine without reservations. We did like doing the tapas tour on one of our first nights in Madrid - it helped us get the lay of the land and allowed us to try a bunch of different dishes.

We enjoyed everything we saw and did and if we were pressed to pick highlights, these are a few:

- The Alhambra. No surprise as this is one of the most visited sites in Spain (and Europe). The history and architecture are amazing.
- The Royal Alcázar in Seville. The details here are gorgeous and we loved wandering the grounds. The only drawback was that we found this to be one of the most crowded places we visited.
- The Mezquita-Catedral in Córdoba. What better encapsulates the history of Andalusia than a cathedral built in a mosque? And the 400 arches are a striking architectural feature.
- The flamenco shows we watched in Seville and Granada. We especially liked the zambra performance in a cave in Sacromonte.
- As for favorite foods - we love tapas in general. Norah often ordered the calamari and I was a fan of the salmorejo and padrón peppers. We both loved the cheese and jamón. I definitely lost count of the tinto veranos I drank. The pastries at Pasteleria Andalui Nujaila in Granada and the strawberry-pistachio-almond cake at Motteau Pasteleria in Madrid were dessert standouts.

Overall we absolutely loved our time in Spain - hopefully we can return some day!