Discover Andalucia Tour (Guadalquivir)

Two weeks round Andalucía, from the Mediterranean up into the Sierra Nevada and across to the Guadalquivir. Caminos arrange it as a fly-drive with the hire car included, and it is the only tour in their range that has nothing to do with the ferry, because it is a long way south of the ports.

Málaga opens it with two nights, which is more interesting than its airport suggests: a Picasso museum, a Thyssen and a branch of the Pompidou, with El Torcal’s karst rock formations an hour inland at Antequera. Then two nights in Granada for the Alhambra, which needs booking well ahead, and the Albaicín quarter opposite it, with the Sierra Nevada rising behind the city.

The middle of the trip is the part most visitors miss. Úbeda and Baeza are Renaissance towns in the olive country of Jaén, both UNESCO-listed and both largely ignored. The Sierra de Cazorla beyond them is the largest protected area in Spain and holds the actual source of the Guadalquivir, the river that made Córdoba and Seville possible. Two nights in Córdoba follow, with the Mezquita, the Jewish quarter and the ruined caliphal city of Medina Azahara outside town.

Fourteen nights, circular, finishing where it started. The price is per person for two sharing, bed and breakfast, with the car included; flights are extra. Caminos have not published the last six days of the itinerary, and Seville, Cádiz, Ronda and Grazalema appear in their highlights without appearing in the day plan, so ask them to confirm the second week. It suits anyone who wants Andalucía beyond the three famous cities.