Andalusia Spain Road Trip: One Week Itinerary

Andalusia (or Andalucía which is the correct Spanish spelling) is the southern part of Spain. This region has beautiful scenic mountains and stunning coastal beaches. You can explore many beautiful cities and towns in this Spain during a one-week road trip in Andalusia.

Tips for Planning Your Andalusia Road Trip

Renting a car gives you the ultimate flexibility to create a personalized itinerary and explore Andalusia on your own schedule. There is public transportation available via train, bus, or even plane, but you are limited to the schedules of your transportation. Below are a few points that you should consider before booking your rental car.

Rental Cars can be expensive – The best rental car rates are not found at the airport. We rented directly from our hotel in Madrid and this was both easy and affordable. One-way rentals are more expensive, so plan a round trip itinerary if possible. Also, remember that automatic vehicles come at a premium cost in Europe and they aren’t always guaranteed to be available. If you aren’t comfortable driving and parking with a manual then be sure to reserve your rental car in advance!
Gas costs can add up! – We spent a total of $140 on gas during our trip, this was nearly the price of our one week car rental. We noticed that gas prices were expensive near the beaches and we got our best rates right outside of a city.
Be prepared for toll roads – When planning our trip, we read that tolls in Andalusia can be expensive. We planned our route in Google Maps and compared how long the drive would be on toll roads vs. toll free roads. It turns out that avoiding toll roads, didn’t add time to our road trip. During our trip, we used the navigation settings and turned on avoid tolls under route options. We didn’t pay any tolls at all!
Parking – Ah, the dreaded part of renting a car is having to park in the smallest spaces and tiniest parking garages ever. We only had one minor parking incident, but stay positive – you got it when it comes to parking.

With only one-week to explore this region, we chose to rent a car to take full advantage of our time. Below is our 8-day itinerary and tips for how to make the most of each destination.

Day 1: Madrid to Seville (5-hour drive)

Your first day is a long drive, so start early! We arranged for our rental car to be picked up as soon as the rental counter opened. Since we booked our rental car from a hotel (Avis at Marriott Auditorium in Madrid) there wasn’t a large selection of cars and our first choice (compact car) wasn’t available. We had no choice but to take a mid-size vehicle and set out on our trip to Seville.

An easy 5-hour drive to Seville and we arrived at our AirBnB in the Triana neighborhood. We highly recommend staying in this neighborhood when visiting Seville. It is walkable to all of the popular spots and has local restaurants with amazing tapas!

Travel Tip: When on a road trip to areas with limited parking, search for an AirBnB that has parking included. Be sure to read through the comments to get a better understanding of the parking details from previous guests. All of the garage spots that we used were described as tiny, but the comments helped us know what we were getting into.

Day 2: Seville

Spend the day exploring Seville! Popular sites include: La Macarena District, Metropol Parasol, Real Alcazar de Seville, and La Giralda.

Travel Tip: Book your tickets to the Alcazar in advance of your trip to Seville, unless you enjoy spending your entire day waiting in the ticket line.

Day 3: Seville to Ronda w/ stops in Arcos de la Frontera & Zahara de la Sierra (3-hour drive)

The drive from Seville to Ronda will take you from highways to scenic mountain roads. We recommend breaking up this drive by stopping in two Pueblos Blancos (White Towns of Andalusia). The first stop is 1-hour from Seville: Arcos de la Frontera. We recommend parking at Paseo Andalucia and walking uphill to the pedestrian streets of the old town. There are beautiful views from Plaza del Cabildo and plenty of picturesque streets to explore.

Your second stop is 1-hour from Arcos de la Frontera: Zahara de la Sierra. This breathtaking white village is located on top of a mountain. We recommend parking in one of the spots along the road prior to reaching the top. Once you are in the village the road turns into a narrow one-way street filled with pedestrians and cafe tables during lunch time. Climb up to the castle for even more amazing views.

Leaving Zahara de la Sierra you are only 45 minutes away from Ronda. We stayed in a hotel in Ronda that had garage parking available for 20€ a night. The best part about staying in a hotel was the valet parking so we didn’t have to stress with this extremely tight garage (though the next day we did have to get the car out of the garage ourselves!)

Day 4: Ronda to Gibraltar (2-hour drive); Gibraltar to Calahonda (1-hour)

On Day 4 we diverted from our Andalusia Spain road trip to visit Gibraltar. The drive from Ronda to Gibraltar was the most scenic drive of the entire trip. As you leave Ronda we drove up and down a mountain road and through many small villages tucked away in the mountains. Plan extra time to stop in a few towns and enjoy the scenic viewpoints. This was the most scenic part of our Andalusia Spain road trip.

We parked our car at the FoCana parking garage in La Linea, Spain. This is the closest parking garage to the Gibraltar border. We walked across the border in less than 5-minutes and spent the day exploring the Rock of Gibraltar. Check out our One Day in Gibraltar blog post for all of the details!

After leaving Gibraltar we drove 1-hour to the beach town of Calahonda. We stayed in a beachfront AirBnB with amazing views!

Day 5: Calahonda to Malaga (45 min drive)

We enjoyed a relaxing morning at the beach before taking our shortest drive of the entire trip – only 45 minutes to Malaga. We explored Malaga during the afternoon and into the evening.

Day 6: Malaga to Cordoba (2-hour drive)

We finished exploring Malaga by going on a morning run to the Gibralfaro Castle. We worked up quite a sweat reaching the top, but the views were incredible. Travel Tip: Purchase a combo ticket to the Alcazaba and Gibralfaro Castle. You can use the ticket over two days and beat any crowds when arriving at the castle in the morning.

After spending the morning in Malaga, we checked out of our AirBnB and drove to Cordoba.

Day 7: Cordoba

Spend the day exploring Cordoba! Popular sights include: Plaza de la Corredera, Mercado de Victoria, Calleja de las Flores, the Jewish Quarter, Roman Bridge, Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos, and La Mezquita-Catedral.

Travel Tip: Wake up early to visit La Mezquita-Catedral, the Great Mosque of Cordoba – entrance is free if you visit between 8:30am-9:30am.

Day 8: Cordoba to Madrid w/ stop in Toledo (4.5 hour drive)

We woke up extra early on our final day to start the long drive back to Madrid, but we also wanted to spend a few hours exploring Toledo before returning the rental car. Toledo is one of the oldest cities and former capital of Spain. We recommend parking your rental car at Parking Gratuito Safont which is a free parking lot outside of the city walls. Even though it is a free lot, there is sometimes a man standing at the entrance/exit thats asks for a few euro. Toledo is unique as it is a walled city on top of a hill. We recommend taking the escalators into the city which are located across the street from the parking lot. Spend a few hours exploring the narrow streets of Toledo and try a few tapas.