6 days in Granada, Cordoba, and Seville - affordable must eats

Thank you so much for your input on the Madrid part of our trip. In addition, we plan to visit Granada for 2 nights, 1 day in Cordoba, and 3 nights in Seville.

We are a group of 8 people — 5 adults and 3 kids (age 7, 7, and 4) from Los Angeles and visiting for the first time. I’ve been reading the printed travel guides, food blogs, and these forums for recommendations, but need some help narrowing down our options. We are looking for more affordable Spanish restaurants and tapas bars with reasonable portion sizes, and not Michelin fine dining spots. More $/$$ rather than $$$/$$$$ places. We tend to eat a lot so filling spots are a must.

This is what I have put together so far. It would be great to get your input on which ones are musts, any overrated spots, and any other suggestions you have.

Granada Restaurants - 2 dinners, 1 lunch
• Saint Germain Wine Bar
• Oliver
• Los Diamantes II
• Taberna La Tana
• Bar Aliator Los Caracoles
• Taberna Malvasia
• Bar Poe
• Om Kalsum
• La Sitarilla
• Bar Avila
• Pasteria Lopez Mesquita

Cordoba - 1 lunch
• snail stands?
• Casa El Pisto
• Bodegas Mesquitas

Seville - 3 dinners, 3 lunches
• Bodeguita Antonio Romero
• Bodeguita Romero
• Casa Morales / Hijo de Morales
• Casa Roman
• Blanca Paloma
• Las Teresas
• Petite Comite
• La Brunilda
• Casa Moreno
• Amara
• La Casapuerta
• Augurio
• Bar El Comercio
• La Carboneria – free flamenco show
• Manu Jara
• Productos de la Sierra
• Bolas gelato

@krystle920

For some of these on your list, your party will need or may need to split up, and they are small

Granada:
St Germain
Oliver
Los Diamantes (the one at Plaza Nueva has the most seating)
Taberna la Tana is tiny, needs prior reservations and wine focused, so not great for the kids
Ditto to Taberna Malvasía, wine focused
Bar Aliator, if the group likes snails, the specialty
Pastelería López Mezquita for pastries for your apartment

I don´t know the rest

Córdoba:
Snail stands you’ll find in many locations and even in some bars during the season
Casa el Pisto is a must—the most atmospheric of the legendary Cordoban tabernas
Bodegas Mezquita----cheap, large menu, handy, since there are many branches, but mostly forgettable cuisine (you’ll dine better at Casa el Pisto, the tavern of Bodegas Campos, Casa Pepe de la Juderia and Taberna Salinas)

Seville:
Bodeguita Antonio Romero at Antonio Diaz for its piripi, but go early because it gets quickly packed
Ditto to Bodeguita Romero on Harinas for its pringá, as the crowd spills out into the high tables on the tiny terrace
Ditto to Casa Morales, standing room only at the bar. If you go when it opens, you may be able to snag some high tables in the back room with its enormous wine vats, but it will be tough seating most all the time
La Brunilda, again, tough to snag tables for all as it gets very, very busy with tourists
Casapuerta I love for its almadraba caught tuna dishes from the coast
Augurio----well recommended, new, but I haven’t yet been
Bar El Comercio for churros and chocolate, but you may need to split up, and there is only minimal seating in the back room, but a constant ebb and flow
Manu Jara’s pastry stand in the Gourmet Experience, top floor of El Corte Inglés for take away pastries for your apartment
La Carbonería—haven’t been in years, for impromptu flamenco, free with the purchase of a drink, popular mostly with the young crowd and foreign students

There are many heladerías throughout the city for ice cream—can’t say which is best–just go to the one that’s handiest.

Productos de la Sierra, I don’t know. There are many, many ham stores around the city for Iberian ham to go.

2 Likes

In your Granada list, I do find it interesting that you list so many places that are bars or are otherwise places that have mostly counter seating or high-top seating. In those places, some people will be even standing up and eating.

In the US, the place-names of Bar or Cafe or Bistro is fairly meaningless, but in Spain, Bar means something. It really is a bar. And in Granada, if you order a drink, a tapa comes with it.

I also am not sure you list any places in the Albaicin… is there a reason for that? BTW, the Cave-House museum is very interesting and visually exciting plus it’s especially great with kids.

Downscale for a first-time visitor is great in Spain, you have access to all kinds of memorable food.

@krystle920
My post above was written hurriedly so I didn’t have the time to explain in more detail what some of the places on your list are like—

in many instances these are bars with limited counter seating, high top tables with 2 or 4 chairs or no counter seating at all with locals having tapas the traditional way standing up (perfect example, the front room of Hijos de Morales). That’s why I mentioned that because they get extremely crowded and any seating is at a premium and sometimes impossible during the tapas “rush hour”, you may need to divide your group.

This is the case of Bodeguita Antonio Romero, Bodeguita Romero, Casa Román, Las Teresas, Casa Moreno in Sevilla.

In Sevilla, you will have low table seating at Petite Comité (one of my favorites), Amara (which is Basque and more expensive), La Casapuerta, Augurio, La Brunilda, all for which one should reserve, especially with the size of your group and you may or may not not be able to have a large table for your group.

In Granada you’ll find low table seating at the larger Los Diamantes on Plaza Nueva and on Plaza Bib Rambla. The original on Navas is tiny and packs them in like sardines. I’ve been to all of them over the years.
At Saint Germain you have an outdoor terrace with high top tables and inside, stools.

In Córdoba to secure a table or tables for your entire group you must reserve. Bodegas Mezquita takes walk-ins and has several branches in the historic Judería quarter–usually not a problem there and it is inexpensive, but not memorable.

As to the Albaicín, the Bar Aliatar Los Caracoles, the one I know, the one in the whitewashed building off the Cuesta del Chapiz, IS in the heart of the Albaicín on the Plaza Aliatar.
I´ve sat there on low tables on a warm day in February right in the middle of the square, to enjoy my snails and beer.
It’s where Bourdain filmed a segment of his Granada episode of season 2, Parts Unknown. Inside, locals usually stand but there are a few low tables, as I recall.

Speaking of Bourdain, he also filmed a segment of that episode at the bar of Oliver, where we have tapas standing at the bar (yes, a complimentary tapa with each drink is served). But in the attractive dining room behind the bar, there is plenty of sit down space, but again, you should reserve. They do serve the acclaimed quisquillas from Motril.
They also have an outdoor terrace with high top tables.
https://restauranteoliver.com

This bar is found on the right side of the very steep Cuesta del Chapiz, the road that leads up to the Albaicín from the Paseo de los Tristes, beside the river. The bar sits beyond, north, of the left turn on to Carril San Agustín that would take you to just below the famous Mirador de San Nicolás viewpoint and square, where people gather to soak up the gorgeous sunset views of the Alhambra.

Be very careful with your belongings on the Plaza de San Nicolás, as motorcycle thieves or “observers” have been known to take advantage of people gathering there distracted as they photograph the lovely views or take selfies.

To get an idea of the inside seating of any of those on your list, you might want to look at Google images.

1 Like

Just to echo Maribel, who sent me there: El Pisto is GREAT!!! And not expensive…I think I ate there twice and would have gone many more times if I had longer in the city. And it’s very reasonable in price. Remember you can ask for half-orders In many restaurants.

Yes, Taberna San Miguel Casa el Pisto (full name) is the type of place I could happily dine in once a week. It oozes typical Cordoban atmosphere and charm.

@krystle920
If you decide to venture into Sacromonte, to the east of the Albaicín, to reach the Cave-Museum, you can take the minibus C34, which goes to Sacromonte for a loop then continues to the Albaicín.
Fare is 1.40 and you should have the exact change. And seating is limited on these C30. C31, C32, C34 minibuses.

Sigh, I just realized we are going to be in Cordoba on a Monday so Casa El Pisto will be closed. We’re only there that day because we’re driving from Granada to Seville and just stopping by for the day.

Btw, any quick must stops between Granada and Cordoba, and Cordoba and Seville that would be easy to do since we will have a car?

“Quick stops” is the operative word here when doing the drive from Granada to Sevilla going on a detour north through Córdoba. I assume that you plan to drive via Córdoba for a stop to tour the Mosque-Cathedral?

The direct drive from Granada to Sevilla would be through Loja, Archidona and Osuna, the straight east to west route. See www.viamichelin.com. This direct drive should take around 3 hours.

If you have your heart set on stopping in Córdoba to see the Mosque-Cathedral, the drive from Granada through Córdoba to the north, then southwest to Sevilla will take 4 hours, 15 minutes without stops. So this won´t give you much time for Córdoba sightseeing or dining. Just so that you´ll know.

There is a public pay underground garage within walking distance to the Mosque Cathedral that I highly suggest that you use. Driving inside the Moorish maze that is Córdoba can be very stressful for the uninitiated.
https://www.parkinglamezquita.es/parking-la-mezquita-cordoba-english/

The other option we are considering is to take the train from Granada to Cordoba, see the Mesquita and have lunch, then take the train from Cordoba to Seville. The only challenge is having all our luggage with us so we would have to look for lockers near the Cordoba station.

Another option is to just take the train direct from Granada to Seville. Then use 1 of our 2 days in Seville to do a day trip to Cordoba.

No option seems like the clear winner here. Driving involves picking up and dropping off the rental van, driving, gas, parking, etc.

Your first other option:
taking the train from Granada to Córdoba, leaving your luggage in the luggage lockers (consigna) of the bus station right across from the rail station (c.c. payment), seeing the Mezquita and having a quick lunch, then taxi back to the rail station for the train to Seville.
This will require 2 separate rail tickets purchased online in advance (they do sell out), pre-purchased tickets to the Mezquita (there could be a long wait of several hours for admission if securing these upon arrival) and very good time coordination.
We have done this, and it isn’t optimum.

Your other option:
to take one of your 2 only days in Seville for a day trip to Córdoba.
We’ve also done this, however…
dedicating 3-4 full days to enjoy the many delights of Seville and an extra day for the Córdoba day trip.

The picking up rental van (often time consuming), driving this route (much slower than the fast trains), finding and paying for the underground garage in Córdoba, finding the rental car office and dropping off the van in Sevilla, preferably at the Santa Justa rail station, not in the center of the Moorish maze, this can be stressful and time consuming.

Since the inauguration of these fast trains, I have never made that long drive, Granada-Córdoba-Sevilla in one day with time for sightseeing and a quick lunch. Just too much of a hassle for me and very time consuming with little time to enjoy Córdoba.

The train does seem more relaxing. The only reason we even considered renting the van is because of the size and composition of our group. It’s 5 adults but one of them is my dad who is 75 years old. And then the 3 kids ages 7, 7, and 4. It seemed challenging to have to wrangle 4 large checked bags plus any backpacks/rolling carry on. I also heard that the Cordoba bus lockers sometimes gets full which means we would have to walk a few blocks with our luggage to look for alternative luggage storage.

I tried looking on the Renfe website for the Granada to Cordoba route and this message pops up. Does this mean we have to transfer to a bus? That’s what it seems like when I use Google Translate, but not sure if that pertains to another section of the route.

ALVIA 02087
Por obras de Adif en la infraestructura, el trayecto entre Almería y Huércal se realizará en autobús. No se admiten bicicletas ni mascotas en los trayectos con origen o destino Almería

Yes, it´s challenging to wrangle that much luggage onto the train then try to fit some of them (large?) into the very small luggage storage pace at the end of each car. There will be shared overhead space above your seats, but you must be able to lift these large bags up and not take up the overhead space of other passengers.

The Córdoba bus station lockers may get full by late in the day, but if you take the 11:13 Alvia train, you should be ok.

You must purchase your tickets online in advance, as they can sell out a few days in advance. That 11:13 departures on Feb. 8, Saturday is already sold out.

That message referenced above I don’t see when looking at the Granada-Córdoba route. Almeria and Huércal are not on the route.