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Holidays

Use our Travel forum for recommendations on everything from day trips to the best family-friendly holiday destinations.

Andalucia with late teens

11 replies

bringonyourwreckingball · 03/02/2026 20:17

dd2 is doing her a levels this year so finishing early and we want to have a week to 10 days in Andalucia in early June. Her older sister is coming too. I am really struggling to decide where to base ourselves. We will fly to Malaga and I am open to hiring a car but would prefer to be somewhere we can access restaurants without driving. Anyone know the area and have some top tips?

OP posts:
schnauzerfest · 03/02/2026 20:25

Granada is lovely as is Seville. Make sure you book the Alhambra (Moorish palace) ahead as it gets very busy

Ilovegoldies · 03/02/2026 20:28

I'd do a little tour, Malaga, Cordoba and a few days in Nerja. It can all be done without driving.

Lincslady53 · 03/02/2026 21:03

Take your teens to Marbella and Puerto Banus. They will enjoy seeing the flash cars and boats.

7238SM · 03/02/2026 21:10

You can do a day trip via train from Malaga to Ronda to see the famous bridge. I'm not a bridge aficionado, but the trip was very memorable and lots of great restaurants in Ronda too.

En-route on the train, we passed people walking along ropes and passages on the side of a cliff. Certainly not something I'd fancy, but possibly sometimes teens might like 😬

BertieWoostersChaps · 03/02/2026 21:15

Malaga itself is amazing, lively and loads to do so don't just use it as a base. Nit a fan of Marbella and Puerto Banus personally.

TheDogsMother · 03/02/2026 22:23

We stayed for a week over Christmas in Malaga. We had a great serviced apartment just off a very central Plaza. It’s a great city and very walkable with so many restaurants/ bars. For one day we hopped on a train and headed east then hired a car for another day and drove to Neeja.

Bjorkdidit · 04/02/2026 04:42

Don't try to do too much. Andalucia is vast so you're only ever going to see a tiny amount in one trip. We must have been over 50 times and still have a huge list of places we've never been and would like to see.

As you're flying to Malaga, I would stay in the city, so you can walk to restaurants, wander around, also go to museums, the Gibralfaro etc - there's two 'ruins' sites in the city that are accessed separately but you might be able to get a combined ticket. If I'm staying somewhere unfamiliar, on the first day I generally just wander around and have a look in the tourist information centre for inspiration, also just follow the signposts to see where they take me.

You can get the train down the coast as far as Fuengirola, which has a castle and you can walk through parks by the river as well as walk along the seafront, so might want to do that, if your teens like shopping, there's a huge outdoor shopping mall, Plaza Mayor, that they might like, it has it's own train station on the line. Or could go somewhere like Benalmadena.

Taking the high speed line to Cordoba would also be a good trip, but you need to book in advance to get the best price. But it depends on what you and they like. The Mesquita is stunning but it might be boring to teens.

The 'cliff walk' mentioned above is El Caminito del Rey, which is a great day out. We did it when it first opened but I think it's probably easiest to do an organised tour now, especially from Malaga, when we did it, we had a hire car and there was a shuttle bus running between the start and finish.

Mydogisagentleman · 04/02/2026 06:25

Have a look at Travel man. Joe Lycett and David O'Doherty start in malaga.

sakura06 · 04/02/2026 06:31

Granada is amazing. We drove there from Malaga. It took about an hour and a half. Two days is enough to see it, but as others said, pre-book the Alhambra. The caves in Nerja were superb. I intend to go back to Malaga, Ronda, Cordoba and Seville.

YessicaHaircut · 04/02/2026 06:58

Agree a trip to Granada is a must, the Alhambra is fantastic and a really memorable day out. Ronda is amazing too.

You can get a train from Malaga to Fuengirola and do a boat trip from there to see dolphins in the sea which is magical.

Mijas is a beautiful place to visit, we also did a chocolate making workshop when we visited.

I went during my late teens with my dad and these are the things I really enjoyed and remember about the trip. DH and I stayed in the area again on our honeymoon.

Grumpypumpy · 04/02/2026 07:12

Amazing trip. My parents did the same with us when we studied Spanish. The cathedral in Cordoba has the chains hanging outside which were used by the Moors to shackle the Christians. They were hung there by Isabella and Ferdinand when they liberated Spain. Ferdinand and Isabella were Katherine of Aragon’s parents! The palacio de viano is amazing too. Enjoy your trip!

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