Santa Cruz
Hotel Alfonso XIII
Landmark grandeur: Seville's famous 1929 grand hotel, with a colonnaded courtyard restaurant and an outdoor pool.
Itinerary · 10 days
The Charm of Andalusia
A journey through history and culture, from the Guadalquivir to the Sierra Nevada.
By Ramin Jafari · Facts checked
A private journey through the great cities of Andalusia, with your own guides at the Alcázar, the Mezquita and the Alhambra, flamenco, the white villages and a day by the sea. It suits a first journey through southern Spain, and every part of it can change.
The route
From Seville to Granada, by road
The order of the journey, and how you travel between its five places.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
Every leg is a private transfer with your own driver, so the first visit of the day can be on the way: Setenil de las Bodegas is on the road to Ronda. Between Seville and Córdoba, the high-speed train, about 40 minutes, is the alternative.
Highlights
Six moments on the way
The Real Alcázar
A morning with your own guide in the palace where Almohad and Mudéjar Seville stand side by side.
The Plaza de España at dusk
Aníbal González's semicircle of brick and tile, kept for the hour the heat goes out of the day.
Flamenco before dinner
In the city's flamenco centre, or for your party alone in a historic house.
Wine on Ronda's route
A tasting at one of the wineries around Ronda, then dinner over the gorge as the sun goes down.
An evening on the coast
A day on the sea at Marbella, and the old town's lanes after dark.
The Alhambra, kept for last
The Nasrid Palaces and the gardens of the Generalife, with a licensed guide.
Days 1–3
Seville, Andalusia's capital
Seville first: the Real Alcázar and the Cathedral with a guide, flamenco, Triana across the river, and the Guadalquivir at sunset.
Day 1
Arrival in Seville
A private transfer from the airport or Santa Justa station, and the afternoon at your own pace: from either hotel the old town is on foot. Dinner at Abantal, chef Julio Fernández Quintero’s contemporary Andalusian cooking, with one MICHELIN Star in the 2026 guide. We reserve the table.
Day 2
The Alcázar, the Plaza de España and flamenco
The Real Alcázar with a private guide, its Almohad palace and the Mudéjar palace of Pedro I side by side: one of our twelve treasures of Spain. A long lunch, then the Plaza de España in the Parque de María Luisa as the heat goes out of the day. In the evening, flamenco before dinner: at Casa de la Memoria, where we reserve your seats, or for your party alone in a historic house, on request.
Day 3
The Cathedral, Triana and the river
The Cathedral and the Giralda with a guide: UNESCO calls the Cathedral the largest Gothic building in Europe, and the tower is climbed by ramps made for a rider on horseback. Across the river to Triana, its market and its potters, then the Guadalquivir at sunset on a private boat, on request, and an evening of tapas and wine between the old town’s taverns with a sommelier.
Where you stay
El Arenal
Mercer Sevilla
An intimate five-star boutique hotel in a late 19th-century mansion in El Arenal, with a rooftop terrace and pool for guests.
Days 4–5
Córdoba, seat of the caliphs
Córdoba next: the Mezquita-Catedral and the Jewish quarter, the caliphs’ city of Medina Azahara outside it, and the old town in the evening.
Day 4
To Córdoba, and the Mezquita
To Córdoba with your driver. In the afternoon, the Mezquita-Catedral with a private guide: a mosque founded in 786, a cathedral since 1236, and a forest of double arches, one of our twelve treasures of Spain. Then the Jewish quarter, its synagogue of 1314–1315, and the Roman bridge; dinner on a terrace that looks onto the Mezquita as night falls.
Day 5
Medina Azahara and the olive country
Medina Azahara with a historian: the caliphs’ palace-city of the 10th century, 8 km outside Córdoba and on the World Heritage List since 2018. In the afternoon, a tasting with an expert at a mill among olive groves centuries old. In the evening a horse-drawn carriage round the old town, then dinner in one of its historic taverns.
Where you stay
Judería
Las Casas de la Judería
Five old houses joined around Mudéjar and Renaissance patios in the Judería, opposite the Alcázar, with two penthouse terraces and a pool open all year.
San Miguel-Capuchinos
Palacio del Bailío
A five-star Gran Lujo house of 48 rooms in the Casa del Bailío, with a Roman house beneath its courtyard, a spa and an outdoor pool.
Day 6
Setenil and Ronda
South through the olive groves to Setenil de las Bodegas, whose houses are built into the rock, and on to Ronda. An official guide takes you over the Puente Nuevo, 98 m above its gorge and one of our twelve treasures of Spain, through the old town and to the bullring of 1785. A tasting at a winery on the town’s wine route, then dinner over the gorge as the sun goes down.
Day 7
Down to the coast
Down over the mountains to Marbella. The afternoon on the water, on a private yacht with a skipper, on request, or with a day bed and lunch at one of the beach clubs. Dinner in the old town’s lanes around the Plaza de los Naranjos, or at one of its Michelin-starred tables.
Where you stay
For the night in Ronda we choose a hotel with you, in the town by the gorge or in the country around it. On the coast, one of these two.
Milla de Oro
Puente Romano
A whitewashed village of suites on the Milla de Oro's beach, with a Six Senses Spa, a tennis club and more than twenty restaurants and bars.
Milla de Oro
Marbella Club
A five-star resort on the Golden Mile's beach, with rooms, suites and villas in subtropical gardens, a Beach Club, a Thalasso Spa and a Kids Club.
Days 8–10
Granada and the Alhambra
Granada last: the Albaicín at sunset, the Alhambra with a private guide, the Royal Chapel, and a final morning before the drive to Málaga.
Day 8
Into Granada, and the Albaicín
Inland to Granada with your driver. In the afternoon, the Albaicín on foot with a historian: the quarter where Granada’s court sat before the Alhambra, which UNESCO calls the best-preserved illustration of a Hispano-Muslim city in the south of Spain. The Alhambra at sunset from the Mirador de San Nicolás, then dinner in a carmen, one of the quarter’s houses with a walled garden.
Day 9
The Alhambra and the Royal Chapel
The Alhambra with a licensed guide: the Nasrid Palaces, the Alcazaba and the gardens of the Generalife. It books up months ahead, so we reserve it as soon as your dates are fixed; it is one of our twelve treasures of Spain. After a cooking class in Granada’s own dishes, on request, the Royal Chapel, where Isabella and Ferdinand lie, and the Alcaicería beside it. Dinner at Faralá, with one MICHELIN Star, or a private chef at a carmen. Or begin at dawn with a balloon over the cave country of Guadix, about 60 km east, weather allowing.
Day 10
A hammam, and Málaga
A last morning in a hammam, an Arab bath at the foot of the Alhambra, then the drive to Málaga airport. If time allows, a short walk through Málaga’s historic centre with a guide: the Alcazaba above the port, the Roman Theatre and the Cathedral.
Where you stay
Centro histórico
Palacio de los Patos
A 19th-century palace in the city centre, with a contemporary second building, a garden restaurant and a spa.
Centro histórico
Seda Club
A twenty-room five-star Gran Lujo house on the Plaza de la Trinidad, with a rooftop bar and a heated pool.
What the journey includes
From $9,814 per person
Plan this journeyYour proposal sets out the arrangements included in your trip.
- Planned with you — by Ramin Jafari, who shapes the order, the pace and the days around you; every part can change.
- Nine nights’ accommodation — in the hotels we recommend in each city, shown with each stop, and in Ronda a hotel chosen with you.
- Private transport — a private transfer on arrival, a car and driver for every leg between the cities, and the drive to Málaga airport at the end.
- Private guides — for the Alcázar and the Cathedral, the Mezquita-Catedral and Medina Azahara, Ronda’s old town, the Albaicín and the Alhambra.
- Tables and tickets — the monuments and the restaurants on the way, reserved ahead.
- Experiences on request — flamenco, the river at sunset, the tastings, a cooking class and the balloon over Guadix, each arranged for your dates, subject to availability.
- Support while you travel — if a transfer is delayed or a booking changes, we coordinate with the partners involved and take you through the options.
What travellers say
When he came back to my wife and I with iterations of itineraries, they clearly reflected what we had been conveying to him.
Paul Oetter
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Guides for the route
- Seville travel guide
When to go, where to stay, the food, the great sights and three days in the city.
- Things to do in Seville
The Alcázar, the Cathedral, tapas, flamenco, the river, and the horses of Jerez.
- Seville food and cuisine
Seville's table, where to eat, and the market, the ham and the sherry.
- Private flamenco in Seville
A flamenco performance arranged for you alone, in the city it comes from.
- Granada travel guide
When to go, where to stay, the food, the Alhambra and the old quarters, and three days in the city.
- Architecture and cultural tours
Spain's great sites for art, architecture and history, with a private guide.
Plan this journey
As it is set out here, or shaped around your dates, your pace and who is travelling. Tell us when you would like to go.
Plan this journeyOur Andalusia page
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