Seville or Granada: which one, if you only have time for one

This is the single most common question about a first trip to Andalucia, and it is almost always asked the wrong way round. People ask which city is better. The cities are not really comparable, and the honest answer is that they are good at completely different things, so the useful question is which one suits the trip you are actually taking.

Both are worth a week. If you have three or four days and one flight, here is how to decide.

The short answer

• First trip to Spain, want the atmosphere: Seville.
• Here for one extraordinary building: Granada.
• Travelling with people who like eating and sitting outside: Seville.
• Travelling in July or August: Granada, for the altitude.
• Three nights or fewer: Seville, because Granada is largely one very big thing and it deserves more time than that implies.

Now the reasoning.

Seville is a city. Granada is a monument with a city around it

That sounds dismissive of Granada and is not meant to be. It is simply the structural difference, and it determines everything else.

Seville has no single unmissable sight. It has the cathedral, the Alcazar, the Plaza de Espana and the whole of Triana, and none of them is the reason to come. The reason to come is the city itself: the way it smells of orange blossom in March, the fact that dinner starts at ten, the walk over the river at midnight. You could see nothing on a list and still have an excellent four days.

Granada has the Alhambra, which is one of the two or three most remarkable buildings in Europe and worth crossing a continent for. Everything else in Granada is very good rather than exceptional. That is not a criticism. It means your trip has a centre of gravity, and you should plan around it rather than pretend otherwise.

The Alhambra, and the booking system that guards it, is worth reading before you commit either way, because the tickets are the deciding factor for a lot of people.

Weather, which matters more than anyone admits

Seville regularly passes forty degrees in July and August. Not warm: genuinely difficult, in a city whose pleasures are almost entirely outdoors. Locals leave. Restaurants close for a fortnight. The city is beautiful and it is trying to tell you something.

Granada sits at around seven hundred metres with the Sierra Nevada behind it, which takes several degrees off the afternoon and gives you evenings that actually cool down. In midsummer this is the whole argument, and it is a strong one.

From October to May, Seville is the better weather bet. Granada gets genuinely cold in January and February, with snow on the mountains an hour away.

Eating

Seville, comfortably. It has more restaurants, more range, and an evening culture that runs late enough to be a proper part of the day. Alameda and Triana in particular are as good as casual eating gets in Spain.

Granada has one enormous compensating advantage: free tapas. Order a drink and food arrives, unasked and unpriced, and it is often good. Three rounds is dinner. Students have lived on this for generations and visitors are frequently delighted by it. If you are travelling on a budget, this alone can decide it.

Getting around, and getting there

Seville is flat, compact and walkable end to end in about forty minutes. Granada is on a hill, and the Albaicin, which is the prettiest part, is a sustained climb on uneven cobbles. If anyone in the party struggles with hills, that is a real consideration rather than a footnote.

Seville has the bigger airport and far more direct flights from the UK and northern Europe. Granada's airport is small, so most people fly to Malaga and drive ninety minutes, or come by train. The AVE from Madrid reaches both.

The two are two and a half hours apart by car or three by bus, so combining them is entirely reasonable on a week-long trip. In that case: Seville first, Granada second, and finish on the Alhambra so the trip peaks rather than sags.

Seville is the city you will want to return to. Granada is the building you will not stop thinking about. Both are true, and they are not the same holiday.

Where to stay in each

In Seville, the district decides the trip: Santa Cruz for a first visit and the postcard, Alameda for anything over three nights, Triana if you are watching the budget. The full breakdown is here.

In Granada, stay in the Realejo or the lower Albaicin. Both put you within fifteen minutes of the Alhambra gates on foot, which matters enormously when your entry slot is at half past eight in the morning.

So, which

If it is your first trip to southern Spain and you want to fall for the place, go to Seville. If you have been before, or if you are the sort of traveller who will happily build four days around one building, go to Granada.

And if you can manage six nights, do both, in that order, and drive between them through the olive country. It is the best week in Spain.