Malaga roadtrip
Hi guys,
It's been a crazy hectic past months but I'm fully back on posting. In February, I went to Malaga and did some amazing daytrips there so here's every beautiful place I've visited.
I went there from Monday eve the 20th of February untill Saturday eve, the 25th of February.
We rented an appartment in lovely Nerja and rented a car to take all the trips. You can also book trains in the region if you like.
I'll also link the information of the places for you!
Day 1: Granada
On our first day we started with bucket list item Granada.
We visited the Alhambra first and then went to the rest of the lovely city.
1) Alhambra
Alhambra/ Alcazaba and Generalife: Costs 19 euros, is open from Mondays to Saturdays from 10:00 till 18:15 and on Sundays 15:00 – 18:15. There’s a big parking lot behind the palace.
The Alhambra is built on a huge big rocky hill, which makes the views on the Alhambra look amazing. Behind the palace, you can enjoy snowy views of the Sierra Nevada mountains!
The palace started as a fortress and quickly became an official royal residence of the Nasrid Kingdom (the Moors). This was in the 13th century. You can still visit this palace. The details will blow your mind!
The Alcazaba is actually the military base there and the Generalife is a different palace next to it (from the Grenadine kings in the 1300s).
After the Alhambra, we took the car and parked it next to the cathedral in the center of the city. We then visited the Cathedral first. Building this piece of architectural art, took about 200 years, from the 1500s to the 1700s. It’s a mixture of Gothic, Baroque and Neoclassicism art.
2) Granada Cathedral
The cathedral is open: From July 1th, from Mondays to Saturdays: 10:00 to 19:00, on Sundays: 15:00 to 19:00
Nota: Closed on December 25th and January 1st. tickets are 5 euros.
The Granada Cathedral is just a massive a masterpiece of the Catholic-Christian art. Building it took about 20 years in the 18th century. The style is Baroque, which I love. The cathedral is huge but not too impressive in my opinion. The capella next to is, is more amazing actually. There’s gold literally everywhere! The entrance is around the corner.
3) Monastery of San Jeronimo
After that we went to the Monastery of San Jeronimo.
Opening times: From Monday to Saturday from 10:00-13:00 / 16:00-19:00 h. (The doors of the monument are closed at 13:30 and 19:30 h.) OnSundays: In summer: from 11:00-13:00 / 16:00-19:00 h. (Doors of the monument close 13:30 and 19:30 h.)
The monastery is a monastery from the 1500s. You can walk through the hallways and enjoy the garden with lemons and oranges. Make sure to enter the church, it’s another amazing one! The walls are amazingly painted.
4) Plaza San Nicolas
We took a lot of stairs uphills from the Cathedral to this plaza, so we could enjoy the most beautiful view over the city. It did not disappoint! I took a lot of photos there, with the Alhambra and the snow of the mountains in the back. There’s a church. You can climb up the tower to enjoy the views even more. There are also a couple of restaurants where you can enjoy the view.
Day 2: Nerja
This day, we visited Nerja in the morning and then went to the beach.
Nerja is famous for the beautiful Balcon de Europa square. It's a lovely square with views over the sea. The streets around the square are the prettiest in my opinion. There are some shops and restaurants. A lot of the houses have beautiful flowers. You can take a lot of pictures in the streets. This photo was taken at the beach just downstairs from the Balcon de Europa.
After a morning hike through the city and on the beach, we went to the beach to enjoy the sun. On the beach, we spotted some dolphins jumping in the sea!
Day 3: Cordoba
We parked our car next to the Mezquita and explored the city by foot. We first started with the Mezquita and then walked through the city. The Mezquita (or mosque) is probably one of the most impressive buildings I've seen in my entire life.
The Mezquita is from around 988, so it's extremely old.
1) Mezquita Córdoba (Mosque - Cathedral)
Opening times: for the Mosque-Cathedral: from 10:00 to 18:00.
For the Bell Tower 9:30, 10:00, 10:30, 11:00, 11:30, 12:00, 12:30, 13:00, 13:30, 14 :00, 14:30, 15:00, 15:30, 16:00, 16:30, 17:00, 17:30, 18:00 and 18:30.
Tickets are 13 euros for the mosque and 3 euros for the bell tower.
The Mezquita or Mosque-cathedral is by far the highlight of the city. It used to be a Moorish Mosque but turned cathedral in the 1200s.
It has 856 columns, all made from marble! There used to be even 1200 of them. The church is a mix of the old Moorish architecture with Gothic architecture. The place is huge, it’s actually currently still one of the biggest mosques in the world. Walkind there, really made me appreciate my life a lot. You become so grateful to be alive and to have such amazing experiences.
2) Alcazar de los Reyes Cristianos
The Alcazar de los Reyes Christianos or the places of the Christian monarchs. An alcazar is actually a Moorish palace or fortress.
Opening times: from September 16 to June 14 Tuesday to Friday: Public opening from 8:15 am to 8:00 pm Last admission 7:30 pm Saturday: Public opening from 9:30 am to 6:00 pm Last session 5:15 pm. Last admission 5:30 PM Sundays and public holidays: Public opening from 8:15 AM to 2:45 PM Last session 2:00 PM.
The 'Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos' is the Palace of the Christian Monarchs. This is a medieval palace with an amazing garden. The garden is such a tranquil place, in the middle of the city. It has some beautiful ponds, trees and a lot of gorgeous flowers, different to each season. It's pretty lovely!
3) Juderia (the Jewish Quarter of Córdoba)
This is the most picturesque area of the city. It has some adorable streets with cute flowery corners. The area is actually the area around the Mezquita. You can enjoy the terraces of the bars and restaurants or go shopping in the cute little tourist shops.
I visited the old jewish Synagogue there as well. It’s from the 1300s and it’s actually free to visit.
4) Palacio de Viana
The Palacio de Viana is the palace of the Marquis of Viana in the 14th century. We didn’t visit the museum itself because we didn’t have enough time… but we visited the gardens though. These are gorgeous! Each garden is different… the gardens are created for the aristocracy in the 17th century.
It’s open from Tuesday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and on Sundays and public holidays until 3 p.m. It’s 7 euros.
5) Templo Romano
The Templo Romano de Córdoba are the ruins of a ancient Roman temple There’s only a few columns left , but they still give a good image of the temple from the 1st century. It’s for free to visit and since it’s just on the street, it’s always open.
6) Plaza de la Corredera
The Plaza de la Corredera is a big square in the city with restaurants and cafés. It didn’t amaze me though, oops!
7) Puente Romano
The Puente Romano is the iconic bridge over the river near the city center. It’s a renovated old Roman bridge.
8) Baños del Alcázar Califal
The Baños del Alcázar Califal or the Moorish Caliphal baths is a small museum of the Moorish Baths. The baths are from the 10th century and still pretty in tact. It only takes abot half an hour to visit but in in my opinion it was impressive to do... Later during the day, when we went there, it was for free!
Opening times: Winter timetable (from September 16 to June 14): Tuesday to friday - 8:15h a 20:00h, Saturdays - 9:30h a 18:00h; Sundays and bank holidays - 8:15h a 14:45h. Summer timetable (from June 15 to September 15): Tuesday to Sunday - 8:15 a 14:45h, Bank Holidays - 8:15 a 14:45h.
Day 4: Ronda and Juzcar the Smurfs town
Before you start your walk through Ronda, make sure to mark the car close to the Turist office.
There you can get the Bono Turístico Ronda, which is a voucher to visit some of the museums of the city. You also get a map and free information. It’s 8 euros.
1) The New bridge
This is the bridge that’s pretty instafamous. It’s a bridge of 120 meters hight, that connects the old center to the new city.
2) Casa Del Rey Moro
The Casa: Opening hours: Winter (October-April):From 10am to 8pm. Summer (May-September): From 10am to 9:30pm.
It’s a palace built in the 18th century. You can enjoy the Moorish styled garden and you can check out the beautiful gorge views there. If you don’t mind a couple of hundreds of stairs, you can visit the water mine as well. We visited this and it was lovely. You can walk all the way down to the turquoise colored water in the gorge.
3) Baños Arabes
These baths were my favourite in the city. They’re from the 13th century and pretty in tact still. It’s a walk through the city to get there… but it’s a lovely walk. it’s downhill, so if you want to get back to the city, you have to walk uphills again.
Opening times and ticket prices (but included in the city bono).
4,5 euro Sunday 10:00 h- 18:00 h Monday 10:00 h- 14:00 h --15:00 h- 18:00 h Tuesday 10:00 h- 18:00 h Wednesday 10:00 h- 18:00 h Thursday 10:00 h- 18:00 h Friday 10:00 h- 18:00 h Saturday 10:00 h- 14:00 h -- 15:00 h- 18:00 h
4) Iglesia de Santa Maria la Mayor
The big church in the old city center.
Opening times and ticket prices: Tickets are 4,5 euros. It’s open every day, except December 25th y January 1st. From 10:00 till 18:00 (November to February), 10:00 till 19:00 (March and October),
10:00 A 20:00 From April to September.
This is the biggest church of the city. You can walk upstairs to explore the tip of the church and from there you can walk through the terraces. Here you have beautiful views over Andalucia.
5) Palacio Mondragon
Price: 4 euros, Open on Sunday 10:00 h- 15:00 h Monday 10:00 h- 14:00 h -- 14:00 h- 18:00 h Tuesday 10:00 h- 18:00 h, Wednesday 10:00 h- 18:00 h Thursday 10:00 h- 18:00 h Friday 10:00 h- 18:00 h Saturday 10:00 h- 14:00 h -- 14:00 h- 18:00h
It’s a mini palace with a beautiful view over Ronda in its garden. It has lovely ceramics though.
6) The Casa del Gigante
This is a small private home from the 13th century, in Nasrid architecture. Now you can still spot some of it’s original state but there’s not too much to see in this house…
It’s 2,5 euros and open: Sunday 10:00 h- 18:00 h Monday 10:00 h- 14:00 h -- 15:00 h- 18:00 h Tuesday 10:00 h- 18:00 h Wednesday 10:00 h- 18:00 h Thursday 10:00 h- 18:00 h Friday 10:00 h- 18:00 h Saturday 10:00 h- 14:00 h -- 15:00 h- 18:00 h
Then we went back to the car and drove to Juzcar. It's about 30 minutes from Ronda. The town used to be a regular small town in the middle of the hills of Andalucia. To promote the Smurfs movie, the entire village was painted in blue. It's quite fun to see actually!
After a short stroll through town, we went back to Nerja. We had to drive past Marbella and on our way home, we were able to see Gibraltar and even Morocco. What a beautiful sight!
Day 5: Malaga, our last day!
We started our day with visiting the Moorish palace. Then went to the rest of the city center and ended our day at a fairy castle!
1) The Alcazaba and the Castle of Gibralfaro
The Alcazaba and castle are open all days. On Monday, you can use the lift which allows you to go directly to the Nasrid Palaces of the Alcazaba is closed. Winter time (1 November – 31 March): It opens at 9:00 AM and it closes at 6:00 PM (Last entry time at 5:15 PM). 5,50€ combined Alcazaba and Gibralfaro
Main entrance (Calle Alcazabilla – close to the tourist info point)
We visited the Alcazaba- the Moorish palace first. It’s quite lovely to visit. It’s yet another Moorish palace! It has old Moorish rooms and gorgeous decorations. The castle started as a fortress, in the th century. It's actually the best preserved Alcazaba in Spain.
After that, we took the hike uphills to the Gibralfaro castle. On the way there, you can enjoy beautiful views over the city. It’s a steep hike but not a long one, it’s about 1 km away from each other.
The castle was built in 929 AD by Abd-al-Rahman III a Caliph of Cordoba. It used to be a Phoenician place. Sadly, there's nothing left of it. I'm currently reading a book about the Phoenicians so I love learning more about them.
2) Teatro Romano
Then we went back down and stopped by the Teatro Romano. This is an old Roman theatre, just next to the Palace.
3) Cathedral
Only 500m away from the palace, there’s the main Cathedral. After all the other cathedrals we visited in the area, this one was the least impressive one to visit, in my opinion…. Even though it’s a massive construction from the 18th century.
Opening times: from monday till friday: 10:00h – 19:30h. Saturdays:10:00h – 18:00h. Sundays: 14:00h – 18:00h. (Last access 45 minutes before closing)
Tickets are 8 euros but the acces is free on Monday to Saturday: 8:30h – 9:00h. Sunday: 8:30h – 9:30h.
4) Castillo de Colomares
In the afternoon, we went to the Castillo de Colomares. Another instafamous spot in the area. It’s only 15 minutes away from the airport so a great pitstop. The castle is a handmade piece of art from the ‘90s. it’s straight out of a fairytale so great to visit with children. It’s open every day, except on Tuesdays, from 10 till 18h. It’s only 3 euros to visit.
And that was our last visit in this gorgeous area.
We went to Andalucia before and visited the West side... and now we visited the more East side. The weather in february was nice... but can really change from time to time. We checked the weather forecasts a lot, to find out the best weather for each city to visit. All cities aren't close to each other so the weather can be quite different. Around the sea, the weather is the best... and around Ronde it's the coldest.
Would you visit Andalucia?
X Steph