How to make the most of your trip to Spain - Where to stay and what is worth seeing!
This itinerary takes you from Madrid -->Malaga --> Marbella --> Seville --> Madrid
You might think to yourself, "How can I see all these cities in 5 days and that sounds exhausting!" The truth is, this type of trip is for those who are adventure seekers, who want a taste of everything and want to fill their days with activities, without much down time. You can obviously make your stay longer in each location and still stay and see what I recommend, but at a slower pace and allow yourself more time to relax, if that is what you prefer.
You take the red-eye flight from wherever your home is and overnight to Madrid. You will land in Madrid in the early morning and take a flight directly to Malaga (1 hour and 20 mins) but it goes by much quicker. (Make sure to leave enough time between these two flights since Madrid airport is large and very confusing.)
Day 1 - You will land in Malaga hopefully by 12 the latest, which will allow you time to rent a car and drive to your hotel Gran Hotel Miramar. It is about a 20 mins drive. You will check in and if your room is not available, you can sit outside by the pool and have a delicious lunch or book yourself a massage since it was very inexpensive. (60 euro for 1 hour)
Malaga is home to the Picasso Museum, the city he was born. The exhibit is walking distance from the hotel and takes about 1 hour or less to tour, depending if you read everything / listen to the audio or just prefer to observe. Malaga as a city, I did not find impressive. I felt it was small and somewhat dirty, nothing really to do. Although, there was a good vegetable paella! The main reason we choose to stay in Malaga is, we wanted to see Picasso's art exhibit and it is only 1 hour and 20 mins from where we were driving the next morning. If you do not care about Picasso, I would recommend not going to Malaga and instead fly into the airport and drive directly to Granada, where The Alhambra Palace and fortress complex is located. That is one of the most scenic, breathtaking works of Islamic architecture I have ever observed and the history is interesting.
The hotel is very modern and clean which is important to me. The restaurant had delicious food and there are no complaints.
Day 2 - The next morning we awoke by 7am and drove to Granada to tour The Alhambra Palace. It was designed as a military zone at the beginning, which makes sense since it is high on top of a mountain and surrounded by stone walls for protection. The Alhambra became the royal residence and court of Granada in the mid-13th century after the establishment of Nasrid Kingdom. I did not know that Islam had such a strong influence in Spain until I was driving this region and saw signs in Spanish and Arabic writing, as well as, touring this complex and learning of the history. The reason to get there early is, you do not have as many crowds and we wanted to utilize our time so we could tour it for 2-3 hours and then on to our next destination.
When you first arrive at the Palace, you think okay, this looks interesting.....but it is not until you enter into the Palace is your mind blown by the intricate details within the architecture or the geometric patterns throughout and how they were very much into geometry and symmetry. I have never seen anything like it, on this large of a scale.
There was room after room, one more beautiful than the next with fountains running throughout and eventually you are lead into an open space with a beautiful garden full of plants and flowers. When you reach this point in the tour, you assume you are close to the exit of the palace since you have seen so much and think their cannot possibly be more.
There is more, and the more is sooo worth it! You eventually are lead out to a REAL garden of flowers that is filled with thousands and thousands that you are overwhelmed with the colors and wild nature of it. If you are a plant/flower lover, you will appreciate this space and if you are indifferent to flowers, you will still admire it.
After touring Alhambra Palace, we got into the car and drove 2 hours or less, depending how heavy your foot, to Marbella. We left Granada by around 12 noon and arrived in Marbella around 2pm. Marbella is very small, so you can tour the whole area in 1 day or of course extend your stay and use amenities at your hotel or go to the beach.
We stayed at NOBU Hotel Marbella and it was exactly the vibe we were seeking. It was modern, clean and they have a few different restaurants of all different types of food in the middle of the hotel. It is the scene at night and people from different hotels come to have dinner, drink and dance to the DJ. The rooms are in different parts of the property and you feel like you are staying in your own cozy apartment. The décor on the walls with planters and flowers was exactly how I envisioned it, based on photos I had seen on Marbella.
The hotel was walking distance to Marbella Club Hotel. I was between the two, but choose Nobu due to its nightlife, but we did have lunch at Marbella Club Hotel and it appeared very elegant, beautiful and tropical with the plants throughout the restaurant.
Day 3 - We have seen so much by utilizing all moments of our time - but now we must explore Seville! We drove 2 1/2 hours to Seville from Marbella early in the morning. We arrived at the Hotel Alfonso XIII which is a very captivating hotel. You feel like you are arriving back I time at a palace. The decor is elegant with a gothic vibe. It was built between 1916 and 1928, and officially inaugurated on 28 April 1929, with a celebration preceded by King Alfonso XIII and Queen Victoria Eugeni. The hotel hosted many celebrity guests, such as; Ernest Hemingway, Audrey Hepburn and many more…..
I must say, Seville hold a special place in my heart. Although I was only there for 2 days, I really fell in love with it. The charm of the city and the innocent energy it possesses. The weather is warm, the architecture is stunning, the history is rich and the palace and gardens you tour are peaceful. There are horses with carriage riding in the park and the city is very clean. You can tell the locals maintain its charm by making sure the appearance of everything is meticulous.
The elevator was my favorite part of the hotel. I had never seen one like it before and I feel in love with it! It had buttons and a door like an accordion that closed like back in the early 1900s. It was my own personal Time Machine.
We checked in and it was time to explore! We decided to wander the streets and see what we could find. There were many shops and restaurants. A gorgeous cathedral and many artistic features on the architecture. We walked at night and everywhere had bright lights and it felt very safe.
Day 4 - We awoke early knowing it was our last day in Seville and we had things to see before our train to Madrid! As always, I booked a 10am tour of the Royal Alcázar of Seville. It is a 5 mins walk from the hotel. From the outside this Palace doesn’t seem impressive, but once inside you are captivated by its architectural and geometric details, much like The Alhambra Palace, except not as grand. The Palace is stunning and so are the gardens on the property. You can tour the property in 1 hour - 1 1/2 hours.
After our tour, we walked 10 mins to Plaza de Espana and Parque de Maria Luisa. This park is very quaint and at the building that is in many photographs of Seville, there were flamingo dancers. It felt like authentic Spain.
Setas de Sevilla
It was time to go back to the hotel and get our bags to drive 30 mins to the train station. We took a “silent train” which I ever encountered, but it was actually nice to sit and relax without anyone being allowed to speak. The train ride was 2 1/2 hours. When we arrived in Madrid we dropped our bags at the hotel and explored the city.
Madrid reminds me of a Metropolitain city, much like NYC, with some European architecture. It’s a very different atmosphere and energy from the other parts of Spain, especially Seville.
I did not take many photos of the city, since I didn’t think there was anything particular that captured my eye.
If you want luxury shopping and high end restaurants, almost like a Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills or Design Distrct in Miami - explore Salamanca.
If you are interested in gardens and nice parks for nature.
Sabatini Garden
Cecilio Rodríguez Garden
Rosaleda del Parque del Oeste
Day 5 - Is it really time to go home? Yes, but before we do, we took the first tour early morning at the Madrid Royal Palace. If you are in Madrid, it’s definitely the highlight of the city and worth a visit.
The flight back home was in the afternoon, so after the tour we went to the hotel to get our bags and drove to the airport.
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