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On this episode of extreme sightseeing (where we travel silly distances to photograph things before moving onto the next) we are on a road trip in Southern Spain, aka Andalusia, on the Spanish Iberian Peninsula. However our travels are slightly different to before, being less off-the-beaten-path, and with shorter distances as we hop instead between the main cities of Southern Spain. Also a quick hop across the border into Portugal and the Algarve so it’s a 1 week Andalucia road trip in Southern Spain (and Portugal). Simple Map Below:
With previous road trips I have always avoided city centres until recently in Turkey when I was unexpectedly thrown into the central streets of major cities like Ankara (5 mil) a city 7 times the size of the Andalusian capital Sevilla Sevilla (700,000) which would be the largest destination on this list. Fortunately cities are relatively small in Southern Spain when compared to Barcelona (5.6 mil) and Madrid (6.7 mil) making these Andalusian destinations a lot less daunting. For (local) comparison Belfast is 350,000.
Starting Point: Malaga Airport
This was very much an impromptu road trip in Andalusia deciding to hop on a flight from our travels in Mallorca to Malaga instead of boarding our flight home to Belfast. It was fairly simple to put together as well with online car rentals and free cancellation hotel bookings through booking.com and the entire itinerary was put together in just one night. Our car rental would then begin and end at Malaga airport following a loop of Andalusia meaning you could really start/end at any destination along the way.
Airport Car Hire (Malaga Airport)
We actually spend a couple of nights to find our feet in Malaga before starting on the road trip in Andalusia. So we more or less travel from and then back to the airport for car rental pickup. It is of course possible to find car hire all over Malaga but I prefer to start from the airport outside of the city and then coincide drop-off with onward flights. The airport buses (A) are also relatively regular and inexpensive and they pass the main street of Malagas Historical Centre. So it’s a relatively easy stress-free option. Alternatively there is also the option of Yescapa for campervans in Spain.
There are a whole bunch of car hire companies based at Malaga Airport however there are also car hire companies offering “shuttle service” from the airport. Originally we paid a premium for a company within the terminal (Hertz) due to bad experiences with shuttles but the booking agent (holidaycars.com) failed to reserve it and switched us to Alamo located outside. Fortunately the shuttle to the depot is just a couple minutes out and the whole process is fairly simple. We are given the keys to a Kia Stonic which turned out to be a great wee car.
Malaga
Our first stop is therefore Malaga, a destination I have been to before in passing en route to the busy beach resorts of the Costa Del Sol. But this time we have longer plans with 2-nights booked in the city centre before starting out on our road trip in southern Spain. Malaga will also be the 2nd most southern destination as we plan to explore upward and inland away from the beach resorts having just arrived from a week of similar in Mallorca. Plus I’m really not fussed for beach resorts.
So we arrive to Malaga airport before hopping on a bus (A) to Alameda Principal Sur where it’s just a short walk to our apartment in the pedestrianised Málaga Historic Centre. From the apartment it is then a walk to many of the central tourist attractions including Central Mercado (3-minutes), the Plaza de la Constitucion (3-minutes), Cathedral of Málaga (7-minutes), La Alcazaba and Gibralfaro Castle (11-minutes). Plenty to tick-off in our short 2-night stay.
We stay in a short term rental apartment in Malaga, accommodation I am often conflicted with as existing residents often move away and the surrounding areas inevitably lose their local life and charm. At the same time, it’s half the price (£80) of what we were averaging per night in hotels in Mallorca (£180) and we have a week’s worth of laundry in need of a washing machine. Our priority in Malaga is more to prepare for the week long road trip ahead. Otherwise it’s a charming location three floors above bustling side street cafes and the hourly call of church bells from the Iglesia de San Juan Bautista next door.
Malaga really looks amazing in the twilight hours when the buildings are lit up and gleaming over the polished hard stone pavements. I’d be happy just getting lost in the labyrinth of backstreets during our stay but there are of course specific tourist attractions to tick-off, too many for our short visit. You could easily spend a day exploring La Alcazaba and Gibralfaro although we even failed at this despite buying the 48-hour tickets covering both. We never quite made it to Gibralfaro. Otherwise we ticked off a handful including the Central Mercado and the Plaza de la Constitucion and the Cathedral of Málaga.
Ronda
This road trip was partly inspired by Gordon, Gino, and Fred: Viva Espana which we had watched just the week before. In it one of the main road trip destinations was Ronda and “we’ve got to go!” We add it to the car’s integrated sat nav and away we go. So the landscape is fairly dry and dusty, arid but not quite desert. It can be quite red in parts known as “terra rossa” or red soil which originally came as mineral dust from the African Sahel and Sahara. It’s quite hilly and often dotted with olive groves given Andalusia is the largest producer of olive oil in the world.
It is a fairly short and straight forward drive from Malaga to Ronda (100 km) where we arrive to cross the iconic bridge in the town centre. Here we squeeze into a tight underground car park before checking out the views from above. This would be our introduction to car parks but throughout it would normally be around €20 per day for parking in city centres so it’s best to factor this in when booking hotels with/without parking included. We then follow windy lanes to find the even more iconic views of the bridge from the viewpoint below.
Cadiz
We don’t stay long in Ronda as we hurry to the next stretch from Ronda to Cadiz (150 km). So Cadiz is Europe’s oldest city, at least continuously inhabited city, it’s also kind of an island now connected by a really long bridge. After crossing the bridge we navigate the city centre before parking at the main seafront car park (€19.95 for 24-hours) and then it’s just a short walk to our nearby apartment on a lane parallel to the main Plaza de San Juan de Dios. Again it is a rental apartment with 2-bedrooms so we can (and do) escape to the back room if the light and noise from the street facing main room is too much.
So Cadiz really doesn’t feel very touristy compared to previous destinations which we quite like. Instead it’s more of a relaxed seaside town which can easily be covered on our short visit including the Cadiz Cathedral an ancient mosque cum cathedral set next to the seacoast. Parrots hopping between the spires of the central cathedral. Otherwise we stick to the Plaza de San Juan for the evening where there’s an alfresco dining scene. Here we tick off Paella Valentiana, named from its origins in Valencia, with more unlikely ingredients like butterbeans and rabbit. Unfortunately it didn’t come close to our paella mixta from Mallorca. A bit disappointing tbh but half the price. It’s fairly inexpensive to eat in Cadiz.
Sevilla
Next up is Sevilla, the capital of Andalusia, the largest city on this road trip (690,000 population) and I am kind of apprehensive. Unnecessarily so, as always, and after a simple and direct drive from Cadiz (120 km) the SatNav brings us straight to the city centre car park (€20 euros per day through the hotel) not far from our hotel. The idea of driving in these big cities is a lot more terrifying than actually doing it. This time we are at least better prepared leaving what we don’t need in the car and just carrying our overnight necessities. A short walk then finds our hotel (Hotel Zaida) along cobbled alleys lined with orange trees.
It is kind of chaos in Sevilla with trams running alongside horse drawn carriages, cycle lanes, not to mention your usual city traffic. Even the parks and pavements are noisy with the calls of monk parakeets (aka Quaker Parrots) and other tropical birds sheltering in their leafy canopies. Horse carriages are fairly common to most southern Spanish cites and while they do look romantic I find it more the opposite when sat behind a big bag of horse dung (we did similar before in the Philippines).
So we have less than 24-hours to cover Sevilla, which isn’t ideal, but we like the challenge. At the hotel reception we are given a map with the main sightseeing attractions so we create like a circle route between them all. The full route takes roughly 45-minutes on foot but that doesn’t include stopping for photo-ops or just enjoying the scenery along the way. We otherwise had no plans for paid attractions on this visit to Sevilla as we can always return for these experiences on a city break.
So we set a route from our hotel near the Museo De Bellas Artes to the Plaza de Espana passing the Plaza Nuevo, the Catedral Giralda, and the Alcazar on the way there. Then it’s back again for sunset along the Guadalquivir River via the Torre Del Oro and… we gave up here only really missing out on the Plaza De Toros La Maestranza.
Plaza de Espana for us is the central attraction in Seville where Fanfan pressures me into a “romantic” rowboat experience around the canals. This is kind of the norm for her as she often tries/fails to get me out kayaking so this just felt like a compromise knowing it’s a simple canal route rather than taking off for some random island in the distance. Anyway, it wasn’t very romantic. In the evening it’s a quick tapas dinner with local craft beers and an early night in preparation for the drive to Portugal the next day.
Algarve, Portugal
“We’ve never been to Portugal”. “What’s the nearest city?” “Faro?” “Let’s Go!”. We do leave Andalusia on this stretch to the Portuguese Algarve but the regions do border each other and I’m new to Portugal. It made sense. So it is 200km from Seville to Portugal with a quick stop after crossing the Guadiana International Bridge border (140km) to register for the toll system in Portugal. You more or less scan a credit card, match it with the license plate, and payment is automatically taken when crossing onto toll roads (we otherwise used no toll roads in Andalusia).
There’s not a huge difference in scenery in Portugal. Maybe it’s a bit hotter, more arid, and redder. Currency is the same etc. There’s a lot of sex shops. Of course there’s the language change from Spanish to Portuguese but we wouldn’t know the difference. They are different time zones as well with Spain an hour ahead. The region is also famous for its beautiful rocks and cliff formations so before Faro we continue to the city of Lagoa to check out the famous Praia da Marinha beach in Caramujeira.
Faro
There was a surreal sight along the motorways to Portugal passing these towering telegraph poles with giant bird nests on top. “They have to be human-made surely? A bird can’t make that.” “A pterodactyl maybe?” Turns out they are bird made, by “the white storks of the Algarve”, and Faro we find 2 giant bird nests on the front facade of the Arco de Vila (town gate) as we arrive to the Faro old town. We arrive to Faro on a Saturday night and find free on street parking nearby with a short walk to our rental apartment.
I expected Faro to be a lively beach resort before arriving (last minute planning) but the old quarter is the opposite with a charming historic quarter centered round a quiet marina. No beach in sight. My interest was otherwise on our ticklist of food, including bacalhau salted cod, the National Dish of of Portugal which we find at the street side al fresco dining in the central square. Tick. Then it’s takeaway peri peri chicken from Crazy Chicken, a bunch of Sagres and Super Bock beers, before an early breakfast of pasteis de nata (egg tarts) as we’re back crossing the border into Spain towards Cordoba.
Cordoba
Faro to Cordoba (330km) would be the longest stretch of our Andalusian road trip in Southern Spain and it’s fairly uneventful until we reach the historic Cordoba city centre where we have a hotel booked next to the Great Mosque. But first we need to enter the pedestrian historic quarter by buzzing security with our hotel reservation and they lower the metal bollards. We then pass the narrow gate entrance, wing mirrors in, with Fanfan running ahead to guide me through narrow cobbled lanes, with tourists scrambling to the side walks until we reach the steep underground car park of our hotel. It’s not fun.
Ever heard of the Moors? From the early 8th until the late 15th centuries (around 800 years) a good chunk of southern Spain was ruled by North African Muslims known as Al-Andalus. This includes the “Golden Age” of Cordoba with advanced architecture such as the Great Mosque. Then the Christian kingdoms came down to kick them out. After a century war Granada fell to the Catholic Monarchs, ending Moorish rule (1492). However, their rich legacy of architecture and culture is found throughout Andalusia most notably at the Great Mosque of Cordoba (and Granada).
Anyway, Fanfan had a fairly full itinerary for the day centered around flowers and gardens, so we’re quick out to explore. But arriving to her main attraction, the Alcazar de los Reyes Cristianos, it had closed at 14:45 (Sunday) and would be closed all day Monday. Apparently Monday closures are a thing in Spain and this maybe why our 4 star hotel (Eurostars Conquistador) overlooking the Great Mosque (La Mezquita) with free parking was under £100. Fortunately, Cordoba itself is beautiful to just potter around, The Roman bridge of Córdoba is amazing at sunset, and the mosque fortunately opens on a Monday so we squeeze it in before the next stretch to Granada.
Granada
The drive from Cordoba to Granada (19km) was by far the most scenic drives on the road trip so far through towering hills of endless olive groves in every direction. Mountains in the background. There are also a number of scenic stops along the way we were tempted to stop at if less hurried including Jaen and Castillo de la Mota. It wasn’t much fun however arriving to the city centre where we ended up doing circles of the main Grand Via road trying to find an obscure offsite car park offered by the rental apartment (15 Euros a night). A 5-minutes walk then finds the rental apartment.
We have 2-nights in Granada staying in an apartment in the old town overlooking the wee souk-like shops and mosaic patched alleys of the Muslim quarter bazaar (aka Little Morocco). This is also the main entrance to the Albaicin neighborhood, a famous UNESCO World Heritage Site. But after weeks of Spanish food and nibbling on tapas we were more excited for the Moroccan and Arabic influences in the local foods in the area. One of the better rated being Kasbah which fortunately was so close to our apartment we could use the WiFi. We order a tagine stew and a grilled meat set followed up by a takeaway kebab from the Jerusalem shawarma.
The main tourist attraction in Cordoba is Alhambra (UNESCO), a palace fortress complex known as one of the best-preserved palaces of the historic Islamic world. It’s also named after the local beer (or the other way round). So I do regret not visiting Alhambra but it is slightly out of centre, it’s also huge, and instead we chose to be a relaxed stay pottering around the tourist areas, to sunset viewpoints, and just eating and enjoying ourselves. On the last night it is al fresco pizza and lasagne on the Bib Rambla Plaza paired with a local Sierra Nevada Syrah wine.
Rental Car Return (Malaga Airport)
For the return journey we travel south through the not-so-far Sierra Nevada mountain range (30km), an area famous for winter skiing and, after the Alps, it is the highest mountain chain in Europe. We actually considered a road trip around the mountains, including Mt. Mulhacen the highest peak in mainland Spain. But this didn’t seem necessary given the return route from Granada to Malaga (150km) runs alongside them connected by bridges, and cutting through tunnels, with seriously beautiful views along the way.
We reach the coastline just past the town of Motril where we then follow a still fairly mountainous route through tunnels and over bridges towards Malaga (90km). Along the way we have plans for a quick stop at El Tintero, a famous beachfront/seafood restaurant but we fail to find parking and are now rushing for the 14:00 drop-off. It didn’t help that we added the wrong Malaga location for drop off ending up at the city centre offices rather than the airport car rental depot. It’s a nice enough drive though along the more busy up coastline of the Costa del Sol.
Another delay was filling the tank with petrol. One of my peeves with car hire is not offering full-to-full. The last thing I want to do on a road trip is last minute calculations, aiming for the 3/4 mark, and we just ended up handing it back pretty much full. Of course we would be charged if under the mark but there’s no chance of a refund for any extra you leave in the tank. So that’s a good €15 wasted. We pull into the depot, grab all our baggage, the assistant checks the car. We’re in and out in 5-minutes. With a shuttle back to the airport terminal.
Malaga: Part 2
This was actually from the first visit but I didn’t want the beginning to be too bulky. Anyway, for me the highlight of Malaga was El Pimpi, a rather massive venue opposite La Alcazaba with 6 rooms in the Bodega-Bar alone. It is bit of a tourist attraction in itself, well known for its local produce and famous clientele, so we may have been lucky to find a table for 2 in the famous barrel room. Here we continue our Spanish food tick-list which we’ve slowly been ticking off the through Mallorca before already covering the more obvious eats such as Paella and variations of Tapas.
At El Pimpi I am there for their famous cured hams going with the ‘Iberian cured cold meat selection’ (€18) which includes 2 cured Iberian Hams (acorn fed vs chestnut fed), chorizo dry pork sausage, and salchichon pork sausage. Somewhat similar to those Spanish cured meat sets from Tesco, only fancy and straight from the source as you can see them sliced on site. As a steak lover I struggle between grain fed and grass fed cows, so I’m way out of my depth when it comes to acorn and chestnut fed hogs. Although I now really want to see some pampered pigs munching on acorns.
The Iberian meat sets (or maybe the wine) come with buttery olives (I’m still thinking of these), fresh breads, and it’s just the perfect nibble food experience. Tapas style, I guess. Fanfan orders a grilled chicken dish (churrasco pollo) with some of the juiciest chicken she’s ever had and a proper spicy Spanish dip. We share a signature bottle of Syrah then float about the various bars and rooms for photos later. While the food is great at El Pimpi it is more about the venue and the overall experience.
