Spain
7-Day Andalusia Private Tour of Cities and Sierras: Seville, Córdoba, Granada and the Alpujarras
7 Days from $5,772 per person, double occupancy
7 days, 6 nights. From $5,772 per person, double occupancy. Best seasons: spring and autumn, especially April and October.
This 7-day Andalusia itinerary takes your own party from Seville through Córdoba to Granada, and it pairs each great city with the countryside around it. Three nights in Seville bring the palaces where Sevillian families lived, a guided walk through the cork oak woods of the Sierra de Aracena and a private cooking demonstration. One night in Córdoba gives you the Mezquita and the Jewish quarter. Two nights in Granada give you the Alhambra and a day in the white villages of the Alpujarras. Licensed guides lead the visits, and a separate licensed driver covers every road leg, so you move between cities door to door with the luggage in the car.
Walk across the Roman mosaics from Italica in the Palacio de la Condesa de Lebrija, Seville.
Visit the garden of the Palacio de las Dueñas, birthplace of the poet Antonio Machado, Seville.
Walk the trail from Aracena to Linares de la Sierra through cork oak woodland, Sierra de Aracena.
Taste a paella from a chef at a private cooking demonstration, Seville.
Stand among the red and white arches of the Mezquita with your licensed guide, Córdoba.
Walk the Court of the Lions in the Alhambra with Israel, where your dates allow, Granada.
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A Journey Designed Just for You
Our resident experts wrote this itinerary as a starting point, and your planner shapes every day around your interests, pace and travel style.
The 7-day Seville, Córdoba and Granada itinerary at a glance
The route uses three bases and six nights: three in Seville, one in Córdoba and two in Granada. You unpack once for the first half of the week, and the Seville base serves both the city days and the day in the Sierra de Aracena. Córdoba gives you one evening and a guided visit in the old town, and Granada serves both the Alhambra and the day in the Alpujarras.
A licensed driver covers every leg by road. Seville to Córdoba runs about 140 kilometers on the A-4, about 1 hour 45 minutes. Córdoba to Granada runs about 130 kilometers, about 2 hours 10 minutes. The two country days add a drive of a little over an hour each way to Aracena and about 1 hour 20 minutes each way to Pampaneira in the Alpujarras. Your licensed guide changes from city to city, and a licensed guide joins both country days.
Spring and autumn suit the route best. Spain’s state weather agency, AEMET, records average daily highs in Seville of about 23°C (74°F) in April and 26°C (79°F) in October, against 36°C (97°F) in July. Córdoba averages about 23°C (73°F) in April and 25°C (77°F) in October, and Granada about 21°C (69°F) and 23°C (74°F). Summer departures work with early starts and long lunches indoors, and our team plans the hours around the season you choose.
Why the route runs from Seville to Granada
The route follows the Guadalquivir upriver and then climbs into the mountains. Seville sits on the river where the Almohads built the Torre del Oro to guard it, Córdoba stands on the same river upstream, and Granada lies at the foot of the Sierra Nevada. Each of the two end cities has its own sierra. From Seville the road runs north into the Sierra de Aracena, part of the Sierra Morena, and from Granada it runs south into the Alpujarra, on the southern slopes of the Sierra Nevada. Two days in the hills give the week a second register beside the palaces, with oak woods, ham country and villages of flat roofs.
The order also saves time. Seville airport lies about 10 kilometers east of the city, so the first afternoon starts in the old town. Córdoba sits between the two end cities, so the route never doubles back. The Alhambra falls on day five, after the jet lag fades, and Granada makes an easy last stop, with its own airport about 15 kilometers west of the city and Málaga airport about 1 hour 30 minutes away by road. Our guide to the art and history of Andalusia sets the three cities in context.
Journey at a glance
Length
7 days
From
$5,772 per person, double occupancy
Route
Seville, Andalusia, Ronda, - (DEPARTS DAILY ON A PRIVATE BASIS)
Your planner adjusts every day to your dates.
Day One
Arrival in Seville: Lebrija, Las Dueñas and El Rinconcillo
Your licensed driver meets you at Seville airport, about 10 kilometers east of the city, and brings you to a hotel in the old city for three nights. In the afternoon your licensed guide leads a walk through houses where Sevillian families lived. The Palacio de la Condesa de Lebrija on Calle Cuna belonged to Regla Manjón Mergelina, who bought it in 1901 and paved nearly the whole ground floor with Roman mosaics from Italica. She became the first woman member of Seville's Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Santa Isabel de Hungría. The walk passes Metropol Parasol, the timber canopy Jürgen Mayer H. completed in 2011 over Roman and Moorish remains, on its way to the Palacio de las Dueñas, home of the House of Alba since 1612. The poet Antonio Machado, born here in 1875, spent his childhood in these courtyards, and a lemon tree ripening in a bright garden runs through his verse. The day ends at El Rinconcillo, a bar since 1670, where waiters still chalk your order on the mahogany counter. Logistics: Seville airport to the old city by road, about 10 kilometers, licensed driver, then a walking afternoon with your licensed guide.
Day Two
Sierra de Aracena: A Guided Walk to Linares de la Sierra
Your licensed driver and licensed guide take you north into the Sierra de Aracena y Picos de Aroche Natural Park, part of the Sierra Morena. Aracena, the largest town in the park, sits below a 13th-century castle, and the Gruta de las Maravillas runs through the hill beneath it, 2,130 meters of passages and the first Spanish cave to open to the public. Where it suits your party, your guide adds a visit to the cave. The walk then follows the PR-A 48 trail, about 5 kilometers from Aracena to Linares de la Sierra, which the official route sheet rates low in difficulty. It runs beside the Arroyo Plamencia through cork oak and gall oak woodland, with oleander and willow along the stream, and ends in a village where pebble mosaics pave the thresholds of the houses. Lunch follows at a traditional restaurant in the sierra. The hams of the Jabugo designation of origin cure in these hills, and a plate of jamón ibérico, cut thin and served at room temperature, tells you why. Your driver meets you in Linares for the return to Seville. Logistics: Seville to Aracena by road, about 90 kilometers and a little over an hour each way, licensed driver, with your licensed guide on the trail.
Day Three
A Private Cooking Demonstration in Seville
Day three stays in Seville and centers on the table. In a private venue near the cathedral or the Torre del Oro, the watchtower the Almohad governor Abu l-Ulà built on the Guadalquivir in 1220 and 1221, a chef walks you through a paella and a jug of sangría. Paella comes from the countryside around the Albufera lagoon near Valencia, and the name means frying pan, after the wide, shallow pan it cooks in. The chef explains the socarrat, the layer of toasted rice on the bottom of the pan, which Valencians prize. Sangría has rules of its own, since European Union labeling reserves the name for sangría made in Spain or Portugal. You watch, ask questions and taste local wines with tapas while the chef cooks, then sit down to the meal with the smell of saffron still in the room. The rest of the day stays free for the old city, and our list of things to do in Seville after the Alcázar has ideas. Logistics: a day in central Seville on foot, and your licensed driver handles any transfer to the cooking venue.
Day Four
Seville to Córdoba: the Mezquita and the Jewish Quarter
Your licensed driver takes you up the Guadalquivir valley to Córdoba and a hotel a short walk from the Mezquita for one night. Abd al-Rahman I began the mosque in 785 with columns from Roman and Visigothic buildings, and his successors enlarged it over three centuries until about 850 columns carried its double arches, their voussoirs striped in red brick and white stone. Ferdinand III of Castile took the city in 1236 and turned the mosque into a cathedral, and from 1523 builders set a Renaissance nave into its center. Your licensed guide shows you the mihrab of al-Hakam II, finished around 971, its gold and glass mosaics made with the help of Byzantine craftsmen. UNESCO inscribed the mosque in 1984 and extended the listing to the historic center in 1994. You continue into the Jewish quarter, to the synagogue on Calle de los Judíos, completed in 1315 with Mudéjar stucco and Hebrew inscriptions, the Casa de Sefarad, and the statue of Maimonides, born in Córdoba in the 1130s. At dinner, order salmorejo, the city's cold cream of tomato, bread, garlic and olive oil, topped with chopped egg and cured ham. Logistics: Seville to Córdoba by road on the A-4, about 140 kilometers and 1 hour 45 minutes, licensed driver.
Day Five
Córdoba to Granada: The Alhambra and an Evening of Tapas
Your licensed driver brings you to Granada and a hotel near the old center for two nights. Muhammad I began the Alhambra in 1238 as a residence and citadel, and his Nasrid successors turned the hill into a palace city. Our team books the timed entry to the Nasrid Palaces, and the Alhambra asks each visitor to carry an original passport. Where your dates allow, Israel, one of our licensed guides in Granada, leads the visit. You start in the Alcazaba, the oldest part of the complex, where the Christian flag first rose over the Torre de la Vela on 2 January 1492. In the Nasrid Palaces you cross the Court of the Myrtles to the Comares Palace, the core of the sultan's official palace, and enter the Court of the Lions, from the reign of Muhammad V. The visit ends in the Generalife, the Nasrid summer palace and country estate outside the walls to the east, where you hear the fountains before you see them. In the evening Granada keeps its own custom: in most bars a free tapa arrives with each drink. Logistics: Córdoba to Granada by road, about 130 kilometers and 2 hours 10 minutes, licensed driver, with your licensed guide inside the Alhambra.
Day Six
The Alpujarras: Pampaneira, Bubión and Capileira
Your licensed driver and licensed guide take you south of Granada into the Alpujarra, the region on the southern slopes of the Sierra Nevada below Mulhacén, at 3,479 meters the highest peak of mainland Spain. The road climbs into the Barranco de Poqueira, where Pampaneira, at 1,058 meters, Bubión and Capileira together form the Conjunto Histórico del Barranco de Poqueira. The Muslim communities who founded villages here gave them narrow, winding streets and small flat-roofed houses in the manner of North African mountain towns. Look up for the terraos, the flat roofs, and the hat-shaped chimneys, and walk through the tinaos, covered passages where the street runs beneath the rooms of a house, hung with pots of flowers along Calle Real in Pampaneira. Looms and workshops fill the village squares with jarapas, the colorful woven rugs of the Alpujarra. Lunch follows in one of the villages, and the high villages of the region, Trevélez among them, cure serrano ham in the mountain air. You return to Granada in the afternoon. Logistics: Granada to Pampaneira by road, about 1 hour 20 minutes each way, licensed driver, with your licensed guide in the villages.
Day Seven
Departure from Granada
The morning stays free for a last coffee in a square of the old center. At the agreed time your licensed driver meets you at the hotel entrance, takes care of the luggage and brings you to Granada airport, about 15 kilometers west of the city, with direct flights to Madrid and Barcelona. A high-speed train also links Granada with Madrid in about 3 hours 30 minutes, and Málaga airport lies about 1 hour 30 minutes away by road for travelers who fly home from the coast. Travelers with more time often continue to Madrid, northern Spain, Portugal or Morocco, and our team plans those extensions on the same private basis. Logistics: hotel to Granada airport by road, about 15 kilometers, or to Granada station or Málaga airport, licensed driver.
Is 7 days enough for Seville, Córdoba and Granada?
Yes, seven days covers Seville, Córdoba and Granada with a guided visit each day, and this route also fits a day in the mountains outside Seville and another outside Granada. In Seville the week covers two private palaces, a historic bar and a cooking demonstration. In Córdoba it covers the Mezquita and the Jewish quarter. In Granada it covers the Alhambra and the Generalife. The trade-off sits in Seville and Córdoba: the route gives you no guided day inside the Real Alcázar or the cathedral of Seville, and only one night in Córdoba. If those two monuments matter more to you than the mountain days, a sister route below suits you better.
How do you get from Seville to Córdoba and Granada?
By road, with a licensed driver for every leg. Seville to Córdoba runs about 140 kilometers on the A-4 motorway, about 1 hour 45 minutes. Córdoba to Granada runs about 130 kilometers, about 2 hours 10 minutes. High-speed trains link the three cities too, and our note on Spain’s train types explains them, but the road suits this route for two reasons. Your driver meets you at the hotel door with the luggage on both travel days, and the same vehicle serves the Sierra de Aracena and the Alpujarras, where no train runs. Our article on driving yourself in Andalusia sets out why a driver beats a rental car on these roads.
What is there to do in Andalusia beyond the Alhambra and the Mezquita?
The countryside and the private houses, and this route builds both into the week. Outside Seville, the Sierra de Aracena offers a trail of about 5 kilometers through cork oak woods to Linares de la Sierra, in the hills where the hams of the Jabugo designation of origin cure. Outside Granada, the Alpujarra villages of Pampaneira, Bubión and Capileira keep their flat roofs, hat-shaped chimneys and covered passages on the slopes of the Sierra Nevada. Inside Seville, the Palacio de la Condesa de Lebrija and the Palacio de las Dueñas show how noble families lived, from a floor of Roman mosaics to the garden where Antonio Machado spent his childhood. A private cooking demonstration adds the table.
This 7-day route or another Andalusia journey?
Choose this route if you want the great monuments and the mountains in one week: the Mezquita and the Alhambra, plus a walk in the Sierra de Aracena and a day in the Alpujarras. The sister 7-day Andalusia journey from Seville to Granada follows the same three cities with two nights in each. It gives Seville a guided day for the Alcázar and the cathedral and a second for Triana, stops at a Roman walled town on the road to Córdoba, and adds an afternoon in Granada’s Albaicín. It suits travelers who prefer more time inside the cities and a second night in Córdoba to the two mountain days.
If you fly into Madrid and want the Prado, the 7-day Madrid, Granada and Seville journey trades Córdoba and the sierras for two nights in Madrid and two high-speed trains, and Majestic Madrid and Moorish Andalusia follows the same three cities with a flamenco evening in Seville. With ten days, the 10-day Highlights of Spain journey joins Madrid, Andalusia and Barcelona. All of them start from the Spain destination page, and our team adjusts any of them to your dates.
Who this journey suits
Travelers on a second trip to Spain who have seen Madrid and want a week in the south. Couples who like a morning on foot as much as a palace. Food lovers drawn by ham country, a paella lesson and Granada’s free tapas. Families with teenage or adult children, who share a guide and a driver and set their own hours. Friends traveling together as a private party, who want one plan and one point of contact. Your guide is glad to advise on suitability before booking for anyone who prefers shorter walking days, and the trail day has a road alternative.
The people behind the route
Our team selects guides as much for how they read a room as for what they know, and on this route each city has its own licensed guide. In Granada, where your dates allow, Israel, one of our licensed guides, leads our Alhambra days. On this route he meets you on arrival from Córdoba, paces the Alcazaba and the Nasrid Palaces around your timed entry, and keeps the Generalife for the end, when the gardens fill with the sound of water.
What the 7-day journey costs and what it includes
The 7-day route starts from $5,772 per person, double occupancy. The from-price covers six nights in deluxe four-star properties selected for comfort, location and service. Five-star luxury properties are available by request. It includes licensed guides for the visits described, a licensed driver for every road leg and both country days, and the private cooking demonstration in Seville.
Four things move the price: the season, the hotel category, the size of your private party, and added experiences such as a second night in Córdoba, a visit to the Gruta de las Maravillas or Michelin-starred dinners. Magical Private Travel maintains excellent ratings on Trustpilot and Google’s independent review platforms.
To shape this route around your dates and your party, speak with our team about your week in Andalusia.
Frequently asked questions about the 7-day Andalusia cities and sierras tour
How much does the 7-day private Andalusia tour cost?
This 7-day route starts from $5,772 per person, based on two people sharing a room. The from-price covers the route as written: six hotel nights, licensed guides for the visits described, a licensed driver for every road leg and both country days, and the private cooking demonstration in Seville, with the full list of inclusions set out in your written quote. Four things move the price. The season matters most, since hotel rates rise and fall through the year. Five-star hotels raise it. Party size changes it, because the guide and driver serve the whole party, so larger private parties pay less per person. Added experiences, such as a second night in Córdoba, a visit to the Gruta de las Maravillas or Michelin-starred dinners, add to it. Our team sends a written quote for your dates and party before you commit.
When is the best time to visit Seville, Córdoba and Granada?
Spring and autumn suit this route best, with April and October the strongest months. Spain’s weather agency, AEMET, records average daily highs in Seville of about 23°C (74°F) in April and 26°C (79°F) in October. Córdoba averages about 23°C (73°F) in April and 25°C (77°F) in October, and Granada about 21°C (69°F) and 23°C (74°F). July brings the hottest stretch, with average highs of about 36°C (97°F) in Seville, 37°C (98°F) in Córdoba and 35°C (95°F) in Granada. Summer departures work well with early starts, long lunches indoors and evening walks,. Winter brings cooler days and quieter hotels, a good fit for palaces and museums. Our team plans each day around the season you choose.
How demanding is the walk from Aracena to Linares de la Sierra?
The walk follows the PR-A 48 trail, about 5 kilometers one way, and the route sheet from Andalusia’s official tourism board rates it low in difficulty. It runs on a path beside the Arroyo Plamencia through cork oak and gall oak woodland, and your licensed guide sets the pace for the slowest walker in the party. Wear walking shoes with a good grip and carry water on warm days. Your licensed driver meets you in Linares de la Sierra, so you walk one way only. If your party prefers not to walk, the driver takes you between the villages by road, and the day becomes a drive through the sierra with time in Aracena, a visit to the Gruta de las Maravillas on request, and lunch. Your guide is glad to advise on suitability before booking.
Do we need to book the Alhambra in advance?
Yes, and our team handles it. Every Alhambra ticket with the Nasrid Palaces carries an assigned entry time, and the monument asks visitors to arrive punctually for it. For this reason our team books your timed entry to the Nasrid Palaces as soon as you confirm your dates, and your licensed driver plans the morning drive from Córdoba around it. The Alhambra also asks each visitor to show an original passport or ID card at the entrance, so bring the passports you travel on, and children under 12 need their own free ticket. Where your dates allow, Israel, one of our licensed guides in Granada, leads the visit through the Alcazaba, the Nasrid Palaces and the Generalife. Our team books the Mezquita and the palaces in Seville the same way.
Are the guide and the driver the same person?
In Spain they are two different people. A licensed guide leads the visits, and a licensed driver handles the vehicle and the road transfers. Your licensed guide changes from city to city, so your guide in Seville differs from your guide in Córdoba and in Granada, and each knows their own city in depth. On the two country days a licensed guide rides along with your licensed driver, so one looks after the trail or the villages and the other looks after the road. This split lets your guide focus on the place and your driver focus on the vehicle and the luggage. Where your dates allow, Israel, one of our licensed guides, leads the Alhambra.
Which airports should we fly into and out of?
Fly into Seville and leave from Granada or Málaga. Seville airport lies about 10 kilometers east of the city, and your licensed driver meets you at arrivals on day one. Travelers arriving through Madrid take the high-speed train to Seville, about 2 hours 30 minutes, and a licensed driver meets the train at Santa Justa. At the end, Granada airport sits about 15 kilometers west of the city, with direct flights to Madrid and Barcelona for long-haul connections. Málaga airport lies about 1 hour 30 minutes from Granada by road and carries more international routes. A high-speed train also returns from Granada to Madrid in about 3 hours 30 minutes. Our team aligns the first and last days with your flight times once you have them.
Is there room for a second night in Córdoba or a stop in Ronda?
Yes. An eighth day fits either one without changing the shape of the route. A second night in Córdoba gives you an evening walk across the Roman bridge, which UNESCO includes in the World Heritage listing with the Calahorra Tower, and time for the patios and the old town at a slower pace. Ronda, in the mountains between Seville and Granada, works as an alternative stop for travelers who prefer a mountain town to a second mosque visit. Our article on Córdoba or Ronda between Granada and Seville compares the two. Both additions run with a licensed guide and a licensed driver, and your planner prices the extra day alongside the 7-day route so you see the full cost at once.
What should we eat on this route?
Each stop has its own table. In Seville, El Rinconcillo has poured drinks since 1670, and its waiters still chalk your order on the counter. In the Sierra de Aracena, the jamón ibérico of the Jabugo designation of origin comes from these same hills. In Córdoba, salmorejo, a cold cream of tomato, bread, garlic and olive oil topped with egg and ham, opens most meals. In Granada, most bars bring a free tapa with each drink, so two or three bars make a dinner. In the Alpujarras, the high villages cure serrano ham in the mountain air. The cooking demonstration in Seville covers paella and sangría. Our article on the story of paella gives the background, and our guide to tapas culture in Spain has more ideas. Where it suits your party, our team reserves Michelin-starred dinners on request.
Does this journey suit families or travelers with limited mobility?
Families travel this route often, because a private guide and driver set the pace around the youngest and the oldest in the party. Teenagers tend to respond to the forest of arches in the Mezquita, the lions of the Alhambra and a cooking session where they handle the pan. Several days involve walking on cobbled streets and slopes, especially on the Alhambra hill and in the Alpujarra villages, and the Aracena day includes a walk of about 5 kilometers. Your guide is glad to advise on suitability before booking, and our team adjusts walking routes, adds vehicle time between sites, or replaces the trail with a drive. Our page on accessible travel in Spain sets out how our team plans for travelers who need step-free routes or extra support.
Does the route extend to Madrid, Portugal or Morocco?
Yes. Andalusia sits close to Madrid by high-speed train, and close to Portugal and Morocco. Travelers who add Madrid often start there for two nights and take the high-speed train to Seville, the shape of our 7-day Madrid, Granada and Seville journey. Travelers who add Portugal often continue to Lisbon and Sintra, as in our 10-day Madrid, Seville and Lisbon journey, and where your dates allow, Luisa, one of our licensed guides in Lisbon and Sintra, leads those days alongside a licensed driver. Travelers who add Morocco cross from Andalusia, and our Spain and Morocco private journey shows one way to combine the two, with private drivers and licensed guides as separate roles. Our multi-country journeys page collects the other combinations.
We have a selected list of vetted four- and five-star hotels that are well located and have been enjoyed by our past customers and ourselves. The selection of hotels depends on your preferences, and our expert travel planners will be happy to talk to you about the possibilities for your tailor-made private luxury tour.
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