malaga and rhonda?

[janines]

We are visiting malaga for 1 day. We would like to take a stroll thru the city and visit the antigua casa de guardia to taste the sherry. Is visiting Ronda worth the cost of an excursion or should we take a 1/2 trip to the countryside and visit wineries and olive farms.

thanks,

janines

[sandbox]

Ronda is very nice but not worth a whole day trip and is a bit of a journey if your only here for the day.

The bridge is amazing and there is the oldest bull ring in Spain.

But Malaga has changed a lot over the last few years and is a wonderful city with so much to see all within walking distance.

http://www.malaga.com/

Enjoy Antigua Casa de Guardia-there are so many to try 1.20 euros on average for a small glass.Dry Mediun-Sweet and they blend them as well.

ENJOY :)

[Hlitner]

Funny we would see this post as we were just in Malaga a few weeks ago (on the Prinsendam) and rented a car to drive to Ronda. In our case we had previously spent some time in this part of Spain and Ronda has many good memories. It is a pretty long drive to Ronda (depending on traffic in can be 1 1/2 hours) so we do not normally recommend this long of a drive (or excursion) for a first time visitor. There are many closer places for a first time visitor (besides Malaga) such as Mijas, Nerja, Marbella (and nearby Puerto Banus) etc. Whatever you choose to do its a very nice part of Spain.

 

Hank

[janines]

Thanks to both of you for your suggestions. I think we will tour the city and perhaps take the cruiseline excursion to a winery and see the countryside.

Have either of you been to Valencia? If so, should we take a city tour and wine tour? I think taking the excrusion to Granada takes too long and tooo fast to see it all.

janines

[Hlitner]

Thanks to both of you for your suggestions. I think we will tour the city and perhaps take the cruiseline excursion to a winery and see the countryside.

Have either of you been to Valencia? If so, should we take a city tour and wine tour? I think taking the excrusion to Granada takes too long and tooo fast to see it all.

janines

 

We did spend a few hours in Valencia (on our recent cruise) having taken the train down from Castello de la Plana. Valencia is certainly worth a half day and their market (best to go in the morning) is quite nice although not up to the standard of the market in Barcelona. We think that Valencia can be handled without paying for a tour (just do some pre-cruise homework) since most of the tourist-related sites are in one neighborhood (within walking distance from the North station).

 

As to Granada, for those who have never seen the Ahlambra it is well worth the long ride (be it by tour or rental car). Although we personally recommend that folks do a land tour (or just rent a car and drive) of southern Spain and spend 2 nights at the Parador located inside the Alhambra....many will only visit this place from a cruise ship. If you are not planning to get to Granada on a land trip then its a good choice from Malaga.

 

Hank

[kezza]

We did Ronda last year for the day and it is just amazing....a beauitful quaint township, loved every minute we were there....Malaga was amazing as well, much prettier than I thought it would be

[sharden]

Hank;

 

We are contemplating a tour from Malaga to Granada and the Alhambra on our upcoming cruise. Our ship docks at 8AM and departs at 4PM with "all aboard" at 3:30.

 

Considering the drive time is it realistic to expect a quality tour in the time available????

 

Thanks in advance for any help on this.

[Hlitner]

Hank;

 

We are contemplating a tour from Malaga to Granada and the Alhambra on our upcoming cruise. Our ship docks at 8AM and departs at 4PM with "all aboard" at 3:30.

 

Considering the drive time is it realistic to expect a quality tour in the time available????

 

Thanks in advance for any help on this.

 

This might be a case where the cruise line excursion makes a lot of sense since it takes away the worry of getting back on time. The driving time, round trip, would be about 3/12 to 4 hours depending on the traffic getting out of Malaga and to the Ahlhambra. This means you still can get a good 3 hours+ tour of the Ahlhambra which is certainly enough time to walk through the site and also visit the Generalife (wonderful gardens). You have really stumbled onto the downside of Med cruise vacations which is that it often seems like there is not enough time for quality indepth tours. In my case, after a few Med cruises we realized that we needed to return on land trips. Hence, we had many years when we would simply fly (or take a repositioning cruise) to Europe and rent a car for weeks of driving vacations.

 

For the benefit of other readers, we think the best way to really enjoy the Ahlhambra (and Granada) is to stay there for at least 2 or 3 days. As I have previously posted, the quasi-government Parador system operates a hotel inside the Ahlhambra and it is arguably the gem of the Parador chain. That particular Parador is actually built within part of the Ahlhambra Palace (13th century) and we recommend that anyone planning a driving trip in this part of Spain book some nights at this hotel. Or course the place is in great demand so its often necessary to plan far ahead (at least 6 months) to get a reservation.

 

Hank

[onespots]

Hi Hank,

 

Just read your post of May 23 2012. Would to ask some questions about touring these cities via email. We are sailing on the Reflection on Oct. 12 2012 with a stop at Malaga 8:00am-11:59 pm. Thanks for your help.

 

Best Regards, John Honegger

sfaigle@aol.com