In mid-October 2023, my husband attended a conference in Marbella, Spain, for a week and I got to tag along! Afterwards, we spent a few days visiting some of the main sites in the Andalucia region. We fell in love with this area and cannot wait to go back! We did 99% of this journey without renting a car, relying primarily on trains. We did rent a car for one day at the end to save some time and see a site we wanted to visit, but we definitely did not need to. The trains are super affordable and a great way to see the area. We recommend using either Trainline or Omio for booking train travel as they are super easy to use (compared to Spain's Renfe website) and the prices are the same as buying direct; we personally used Omio for this trip, but have used Trainline on other European trips.
The weather was sunny and in the 70s F (20s C) everywhere we went, and we only had rain for a few hours one or two days. The amount of tourists was very low compared to other times I have traveled in Europe, and the people were so nice. We hope our Andalucia Spain 10-day itinerary can help you plan your future trip!
Day 1: Arrive to Marbella
My husband arrived to Marbella a few days before me to attend his conference. The closest airport to Marbella is Malaga (AGP), which is about a 40-minute drive away. I wish we had had more time to explore Malaga itself, as it is a very cool and unique city. Flights from the East Coast to Malaga are long and require at least one layover (mine was in Amsterdam, husband's was London), and I did not land in Malaga until the evening. There is a bus that can take you from the Malaga airport straight to a central travel hub in Marbella, where you could hop on a city bus to get to your ultimate destination or take a taxi. Because I was tired from traveling, I opted for an Uber from the Malaga airport to our hotel in Marbella which cost me about $70 on a week night. Uber is abundant in the region and they partner with the local app, Bolt.
We stayed at the NH Hotel Marbella, which was lovely. The rooms were large, the breakfast was great, and it had a nice pool. It was also within walking distance to the beach and tons of restaurants!
Days 2-4: Marbella
Marbella in October was a dream: it was 77 degrees every day, no huge crowds of tourists, the ocean was still a comfortable temperature, and the beaches had plenty of room and loungers to rent. Due to the location of our hotel, we primarily hung out in the Playa de la Fontanilla and Old Town areas; we did not venture down to Puerto Banus, which is known for its club scene and yachting activities.
There is a mostly paved pedestrian walkway lining the beach stretching from Old Town down to Puerto Banus lined with beautiful restaurants and shops, making it super easy to walk everywhere we needed to go. We personally frequented Cappuccino, which had great views and Aperol Spritzes. Most evenings for dinner, we walked to Old Town, which had stunning white wall architecture and tons of restaurants with outdoor seating. Plaza de los Naranjos is the most famous square and it was lovely, but I recommend heading north from there and exploring the cute streets, grabbing a bite to eat, and maybe doing some shopping. Our favorite was El Boqueron: their tapas were spectacular. We did not need reservations this time of year.
While my husband was at his conference during the day, I was usually at the beach but I opted to take one day to visit Gibraltar. There are plenty of day trip activities that depart from Marbella, and while Gibraltar is a popular one, it might not be the most worthwhile. While seeing the Rock and monkeys in person was cool, the town is not great and I quickly became bored even though we only had a few hours there (plus crossing the border can be a bit tedious!). I went with Vistanddo, which I would recommend, but would not do the Rock option they offer; it does not take you to the top, but only to St. Michael's Cave. I would instead take the standard tour option and recommend trying to reserve a gondola ticket up to the top and doing the cave separately if you are interested as it was pretty cool. These gondola tickets book up and need to be pre-reserved; to account for time, I would do this right upon arrival. Another option the tour company offered was a dolphin boat activity, which also sounded fun. Otherwise, enjoy some of the duty-free shopping!
Days 5-6: Granada
After the conference was over, my husband and I took a morning train from Malaga's Maria Zambrano Train Station to Granada. We once again opted to Uber from our hotel in Marbella to the train station, which cost us around $70 on a weekday morning. We booked our train tickets through Omio (which we found easier to use than Renfe), and the ride took a little over an hour at about $25/person. We stayed at the U-Sense Granada Centro, which we loved--the location was unbeatable as it was right on the lively Plaza de Bib-Rambla and within walking distance to everything. We also did have to do some laundry while here and cannot recommend Lavanderia Autoservicio Speed Queen Centro Laundry enough.
Granada was by far our favorite spot we visited. I was very happy I ignored the several blogs I had read that said to skip this city! It is super hilly and fun to get lost in, which was our only plan for our first day there. The area around the Cathedral was bustling with a lot of cool shops. We wandered from there up towards the overlook park Mirador de San Nicolas around Golden Hour with many stops along the way (such as the pretty grounds at Palacio de los Cordova). The Mirador was crowded, but the views were nice; there are also plenty of other Miradors (or viewpoints) in the area! We wandered back towards the Sacremonte neighborhood, with its original cave houses built into the cliffside. The views of the city are stunning at every angle, with the Alhambra dominating the skyline.
Our second day in the city was dedicated to touring the Alhambra, for which you definitely need to book tickets in advance. Our travel plans were a bit up in the air for too long and we were only able to book tickets a week out and by that time--even for this shoulder season--they were almost all gone. Our only option was general admittance to Alhambra, the Generalife, and the Nasrid Palaces with an audio guide. The audio guide was not the best, so we mostly just wandered around and took in the beautiful views and architecture. Definitely would recommend taking a guided tour if you can!
Our favorite bocadillo sandwich came from Viandas, and our favorite dinner out was at Restaurante Carmen El Agua. The views of the Alhambra from this restaurant were breathtaking! This was a popular restaurant and even required reservations at the time of year we were there, though we walked in right when it opened at 8pm on a Sunday and got the last table available for the night. It was indoors next to their floor to ceiling windows, but they have multiple outdoor dining spaces to take in the views as well.
Days 7-8: Seville
We took an early afternoon train from Granada to Seville, costing us about $50 per person and lasted 2.5 hours. This train stops in Cordoba along the way, which we definitely would have stopped at had there been time. We opted for an Airbnb in Seville on the super central Calle García de Vinuesa and after dropping off our bags, we walked over to the Plaza de Espana. I am a big Star Wars fan, so I was very excited to see this beautiful plaza that served as Naboo's Theed Palace in the Star Wars: Attack of the Clones film! After wandering around a bit, we had a lovely dinner at Bacao and took part in our trip tradition of a ghost tour, which was fun but a bit underwhelming.
Our second day in Seville had some rain, but we took a more relaxed approach and primarily went shopping and explored the gorgeous Cathedral de Sevilla, tickets for which we booked the night before. For the morning, we went to the cute Cafeteria Catunambu to have my favorite Spanish breakfast of Pan de Tomate, and it was delicious! The churros here were also good. The architecture in Seville is stunning, and it is also a very flat city, quite the contrast to Granada. Because we had just come from the Alhambra, we opted to skip the Royal Alcazar but would like to do it on a trip in the future. Other options we would like to do next time are the Lebrija Palace, Mercado de Triana, and Archivo de Indias!
Day 9: Ronda, then back to Malaga
Anytime someone found out we were going to Andalucia, they all without hesitation recommended a stop in Ronda. At least at the time of year we were going, there were not a lot of good train options to Ronda from Seville then on to Malaga, so we opted to rent a car for one day which was easily picked up at the Seville train station. Ronda is a little over a 1.5 hour drive, which goes through beautiful landscape. Ronda itself is a small village on top of a dominating hill with a stunning bridge that you have to hike to for viewpoints.
We parked at the Parking Martinez Astein, which was very easy to drive into and less than 20 euros for several hours--the payment machines only accept cash though, so make sure you have some! From there we walked down the main drag (Carrera Espinel) which had plenty of restaurant options for lunch. Down near the bridge itself is the first bull fighting ring in all of Spain (though it is closed to bull fighting today) which you can tour, though we skipped it this time. The main trail to the viewpoint was closed for repairs while we were there, so we walked through the lovely old town area (the neighborhood surrounding Iglesia de Santa Maria la Mayor) to a road that would take us to the view. The view was stunning, but a little bit more of a hike than we were prepared for. Make sure to wear comfortable shoes and bring water! If we had opted to spend the night in Ronda, I definitely would have spent the night in the old town area. Honestly, I am not sure why everyone raved about Ronda! It was cute, but I would have rather spent more time in Granada or had an afternoon in Cordoba.
After finishing up our time in Ronda, we drove another hour and twenty minutes to the Holiday Inn Express Malaga Airport, which is the closest and possibly only hotel in the immediate airport area. It was a little difficult to find the parking lot, but the rooms were very comfortable and it had a nice attached restaurant.
Day 10: Depart
The downside to this hotel was that there were no shuttles to the airport. My husband and I were on different flights and while he returned the car and got a ride to the airport on the rental car shuttle, I had to take a very early Uber at 4:45am. Even at that time, Ubers and taxis were plentiful--the hotel front desk would even call one for you. I spent about $8.
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