Seven Days in Andalusia With Only the Free Bag: Seville to Málaga by Train and Bus

Andalusia in high summer is an oven. Seville's July afternoons often top 40°C, and the only sane plan between 2 and 6 p.m. is a shuttered room. By October the same streets sit in the mid-20s, Granada's nights cool to around 10°C, and the sea at Málaga is usually still warm enough for a swim. It is the best month to cross the region, and one of the easiest to do with nothing but the free bag that fits under the seat in front of you.

This is a seven-day, six-night route: fly into Seville, fly home from Málaga, and link Córdoba and Granada with two trains and a bus. No leg takes more than two hours, most stations are a walk from an old town, and you never need a car, a luggage locker or a baggage carousel.

Why this route suits a small bag

• The open jaw costs nothing extra. Low-cost airlines price every leg as a one-way fare, so flying into Seville and out of Málaga usually costs about the same as a return to either, and it saves you a day of backtracking.
• You carry the bag more than you fly it. Every change of city ends with a 20–30 minute walk from the station, over cobbles in Córdoba and up steep lanes if you sleep in Granada's Albaicín. On your back, that's a stroll. On two small wheels, it's a rattle.
• October wants layers, not volume. Warm days and cool evenings call for a few light pieces worn in combination, never a bulky coat.

The route at a glance

These times are typical, so check current timetables before you travel. Seville–Córdoba sits on the busy high-speed line to Madrid, served by several operators including Renfe, and fares are usually cheapest a few weeks ahead.

Day by day

Day 1: Land in Seville, cross to Triana

The EA airport bus runs from the terminal to the centre via Santa Justa station in roughly 35 minutes, for a fare of a few euros. Drop your bag at your room, then walk across the Puente de Isabel II into Triana, the old riverside quarter of potters and sailors, where tiled façades still line the streets. Take a table on Calle Betis as the evening light turns the river gold. Seville's kitchens fill after 9 p.m., so a tapa at 8 is the warm-up, not dinner.

Day 2: The Alcázar, the Giralda and the mushrooms

Be at the Real Alcázar for opening with a timed ticket bought in advance. Queues build quickly even in autumn, and the palace gardens are calmest before 11 a.m. Then cross to the Cathedral and climb the Giralda, its bell tower. You go up almost entirely by ramps, 35 of them, built wide enough for a rider on horseback. Spend the afternoon in the Plaza de España and the shaded Parque de María Luisa, both free, and end the day on the rooftop walkway of the Metropol Parasol, which locals call Las Setas, the mushrooms.

Covered shoulders are expected inside the Cathedral. A sleeved shirt thrown over a vest top solves it without packing anything extra.

Day 3: Train to Córdoba

The high-speed train from Santa Justa reaches Córdoba in about 45 minutes. From the station it's roughly 2 km, or 25 minutes on foot, to the Judería, the old Jewish quarter wrapped around the Mezquita. This is where a small backpack earns its place: no taxi queue, no wheels on cobbles, and you're at lunch while others are still wrestling with their luggage.

Make that lunch salmorejo, the thick, cold tomato-and-bread soup Córdoba claims as its own. Spend the afternoon at the Palacio de Viana, built around 12 patios that show off the city's famous courtyards even outside May's patio festival. At sunset, cross the Roman bridge to the Calahorra tower and look back at the city.

Day 4: The Mezquita at opening, Granada by evening

See the Mezquita-Catedral first thing. At that hour its forest of more than 800 columns and red-and-white arches is at its emptiest, and a Renaissance cathedral rises, improbably, from the middle of it. Check the opening hours the day before, because they shift around services.

Collect your bag and take a late-morning train to Granada, about 90 minutes on the high-speed line through Antequera. Drop your bag, then climb through the Albaicín to the Mirador de San Nicolás for sunset, when the Alhambra glows red with the Sierra Nevada behind it. Many bars in Granada still give you a free tapa with every drink. Two or three rounds on Calle Navas and dinner is done.

Day 5: The Alhambra

This is the one day you must book weeks ahead. Alhambra tickets are timed for the Nasrid Palaces, issued in your name and checked against ID, and if you miss your palace slot you don't get in. Buy through the official Alhambra website and allow three to four hours for the palaces, the Alcazaba fortress and the Generalife gardens. Your travel bag becomes your day bag: water, the sleeved shirt, a snack, your passport.

In the afternoon, visit the Capilla Real, where Ferdinand and Isabella are buried, then wander up to the cave houses of Sacromonte. Granada sits at around 740 metres, so the evening cools fast. The knit comes out tonight.

Day 6: Bus to Málaga, swim before dinner

ALSA buses link Granada and Málaga throughout the day in roughly one and a half to two hours. Granada's bus station is on the northern edge of the city, so take a city bus or taxi out to it. In Málaga the bus station sits beside María Zambrano train station, about 20 minutes' walk from the old centre. Climb the Alcazaba, and carry on up to Gibralfaro castle if your legs agree. Look down on the Roman Theatre at its foot, then walk east to La Malagueta beach for a late-afternoon swim. Dinner is espetos, sardines skewered and grilled over open fires on the sand, at the beach restaurants of Pedregalejo.

Day 7: Home on the C1

The C1 local train runs from Málaga Centro-Alameda and María Zambrano to the airport in about 10 to 15 minutes, roughly every 20 minutes. With no bag to drop, you walk from the platform straight to security.

Fitting October Andalusia into the free bag

Free allowances differ by airline, and they change: Ryanair's grew from 40 x 20 x 25 cm to its current size in 2025. Check your airline's current policy the week you fly.

Gate staff can ask you to put the bag in the sizer, and an oversized personal item is charged at the gate at well above the online price of a cabin bag. Pack so it fits with room to spare.

• Wear on travel days: walking shoes, trousers, a light knit and a thin jacket with pockets. Your bulkiest clothes ride on you.
• Pack: four quick-drying tops, one sleeved shirt for churches and dinners, shorts or a skirt, swimwear, something to sleep in, four sets of underwear and socks, and flat sandals if you want a second pair of shoes.
• Laundry: wash in the sink on your first night in Seville and again in Granada, and everything is dry by the second morning.
• Liquids: plan on 100 ml containers in a one-litre clear bag unless you've confirmed that both airports allow more. The rules are changing airport by airport as new scanners arrive.

If you're still looking for a bag that fits the sizer, Ryanwear's compression backpack is sized to fly free as a Ryanair personal item.

The souvenir trap

Andalusia's best souvenirs are liquids: olive oil, sherry, sherry vinegar. In the cabin they fall under the same 100 ml rule as your toothpaste. Buy them after security at Málaga airport, or choose solid alternatives such as olive-oil soap or saffron. A small piece of Granada's hand-painted pottery travels safely wrapped in your knit. If you're flying to the UK, check the government's current rules on bringing meat and dairy home before you buy jamón or cheese, because they tightened in 2025.

Book it in this order

1. The Alhambra slot. It's the scarcest thing on the trip, so build your dates around it.
2. Flights. One-way into Seville, one-way out of Málaga, personal item only.
3. Trains. Book a few weeks out, when fares are usually lowest. The Granada–Málaga bus can wait until closer to the day.
4. The Real Alcázar. Book your timed entry once your Seville days are fixed.

Opening hours at the big monuments change with the season and with religious services, so check Andalusia's official tourism site before you lock in each day. Seven days, four cities, and not one minute beside a baggage carousel.