Andalusia is the Spain most people picture before they ever land: orange trees, whitewashed alleys, flamenco leaking out of bars at midnight. The good news for backpackers is that it is also compact, cheap by Western European standards, and stitched together by fast, frequent public transport. We did this loop in fourteen days and never once wished for a car.
The shape of the loop
Fly into Seville, ride trains east through Cordoba to Granada, then swing south-west by bus through Ronda to Cadiz on the Atlantic, and close the circle back in Seville. Six stops, no backtracking. Budget around 45 to 55 euros a day: dorm beds run 22 to 30 euros in 2026, a menu del dia lunch is 13 to 16 euros, and most transport legs cost under 20 euros if you book Avant or media distancia trains a few days out.
Seville to Cordoba
Give Seville three nights. Climb the Setas at sunset, get lost in Triana, and skip the pricey flamenco dinner shows for La Carboneria, where the music is free and you pay for your drink. The train to Cordoba takes 45 minutes on the fast services and costs 15 to 25 euros. Cordoba works as a single overnight: the Mezquita opens free from 8.30 to 9.30 most mornings, and standing under that forest of striped arches with almost nobody around is worth setting an alarm for.
Granada and the Alhambra
The direct train from Cordoba to Granada takes about 90 minutes. Book your Alhambra ticket the moment you know your dates, ideally three to four weeks ahead, because the roughly 20 euro general ticket with Nasrid Palaces entry sells out constantly. Granada rewards three nights: free tapas still come with every drink in most bars around Calle Elvira, so dinner can genuinely cost you three rounds of beer. Walk up to the Mirador de San Nicolas for sunset, then keep climbing into Sacromonte where the cave bars are.
Ronda and the white towns
From Granada, a direct bus reaches Ronda in about two and a half hours for 12 to 15 euros. Ronda sits split in two by a gorge a hundred metres deep, with an eighteenth-century bridge stapled across it. Stay one night so you see the Puente Nuevo lit up after the day-trippers leave. If you have a spare day, local buses reach Setenil de las Bodegas, where houses are built directly under an overhanging rock shelf.
Cadiz and the close of the loop
The bus from Ronda to Cadiz takes around three hours. Cadiz is the exhale at the end of the trip: a peeling, salt-blasted port city on a thumb of land in the Atlantic, arguably the oldest continuously inhabited city in Western Europe. Eat fried fish in paper cones at Freiduria Las Flores, swim at La Caleta, and watch old men play dominoes in the plazas. Trains run back to Seville roughly hourly, take about an hour and forty minutes, and cost around 17 euros.
When to go and what to watch
April, May, September and October are the sweet spots. July and August regularly hit 42 degrees inland; Seville and Cordoba become ovens and half the hostels crank prices for no extra comfort. Book Semana Santa and Feria accommodation months ahead or avoid those weeks entirely. Carry a refillable bottle, since every town has public fountains, and learn the rhythm: nothing meaningful happens between 2 and 5 in the afternoon, and nobody eats dinner before 9. Fight the schedule and Andalusia will exhaust you; surrender to it and two weeks will feel like a month in the best way.
