Andalusia: Madrid to Granada: a 8-day road trip
Madrid to Granada via Toledo, Cordoba, Seville — about 820 km of driving across Spain, suggested over 8 days.
See the attractions & sights guide for this route →
Stops on this route
Madrid
Madrid is Spain's capital and largest city, sitting on a high plateau in the geographic center of the country. It is known for the Royal Palace, the Prado Museum's collection of Spanish masters, wide boulevards like the Gran Via, and a lively tapas and nightlife culture that runs late into the evening.
Toledo
Toledo is a fortified hill city on a bend of the Tagus River, once the capital of Spain and long known as the 'city of three cultures' for its layered Christian, Muslim, and Jewish heritage. Its skyline of the Alcazar fortress and Gothic cathedral, tangled medieval streets, and Damascene steelwork tradition make it one of the country's best-preserved historic centers.
Cordoba
Cordoba is an Andalusian city on the Guadalquivir River that was once the capital of the Umayyad Caliphate and, at its medieval peak, one of the largest and most cultured cities in Europe. Its centerpiece is the Mezquita, a vast former mosque with a Renaissance cathedral built into its center, surrounded by the whitewashed lanes of the old Jewish quarter.
Seville
Seville is the capital of Andalusia, a warm-climate city on the Guadalquivir River known for flamenco, orange-tree-lined streets, and a monumental Gothic cathedral that holds the tomb of Christopher Columbus. Its Alcazar palace complex and the Plaza de Espana are among the most photographed sites in southern Spain.
Granada
Granada is the last Moorish stronghold of medieval Spain, set at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains and famed above all for the Alhambra, a hilltop palace and fortress complex regarded as one of the finest surviving examples of Islamic architecture in the world. The steep, whitewashed Albaicin quarter opposite it preserves the city's old Moorish street plan almost intact.
Road charges and rules along the way
Spain
- Environmental Sticker (Distintivo Ambiental DGT): €5 — https://sede.dgt.gob.es
Mandatory equipment: Safety vest (reflective, high-visibility), Warning triangle, Spare bulbs (headlights), Snow chains
Driving in Spain: full guide →
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