BEN’S ITINERARY

After an early morning flight to Málaga and a swift rental car pickup, head inland. You immediately pass through dramatic mountains that jag sharply upwards from the coast before giving way to mile after mile of dusty olive groves, then the fertile plains around Granada. The city’s narrow, pedestrianised streets are a nightmare for drivers, so drop the car off in a car park either at Plaza Puerta Real or Avenida de la Constitución and set off on foot. Hotel 1800 (hotelcasa1800granada. com) is a lovely old palacete, extending out from a wooden galleried central patio.

We start with an afternoon tour of the gates of the city’s Moorish quarter, the Albayzín. Begin at the Puerta de Elvira, puff your way up the hill to the Puerta Monaita before heading for the Iglesia de San José, with its scarcely disguised alminar. Further up the street, nip into the Palacio Dar Al-Horra, a little-visited palace that was once the home to Aixa, sharp-tongued mother of the last Moorish king of Granada, Boabdil. Moving on, you pass by the 11thcentury walls of the Muralla Ziri, before dropping down through the Puerta de las Pesas and ending up at the Puerta de Fajalauza in the high Albayzín.

That night, a trio of wine bars await in the city’s former Jewish quarter, the Realejo. With access gained only by slipping round the back of a butcher’s counter, La Trastienda (0034 958 22 69 65; Plaza de Cuchilleros 11) has a hidden, speakeasy feel; Taberna La Tana (0034 958 22 52 48; Placeta del Agua 3) is crowded but has one of the best wine lists in town. Finally, Casa de Vinos (0034 958 22 25 95; Calle Monjas del Carmen 2) is perfect for long, summer nights sitting out.

A full day is needed to explore the Alhambra Palace – Spain’s most visited monument needs time to do it proper justice. First, some practicalities: in peak periods, tickets can sell out or take hours of queuing to secure. To be on the safe side, you should buy online – up to three months before a visit – from alhambra-tickets.es.

Where to start? While the complex is enormous, there are obvious highlights worth lingering over. These range from the highly decorative – the Palacio Nazaríes, all ornate tilework, honeycombed muqarnas and dizzying Arabesques (make sure you don’t miss your allocated one-hour slot) – to the ancient and austere Alcazaba, via Los Lances beach in Tarifa, above; the Alcázar in Seville, right; the Alhambra Palace in Granada, below left. Cover image: the Roman Bridge in Córdoba another striking but rather incongruous intervention from Charles V, the Renaissance palace that bears his name. Finish up in a quiet, shady corner of the Generalife gardens with a copy of Washington Irving’s Tales of the Alhambra. Make sure you leave plenty of time to explore the surrounding hill, where the keyhole arch of the Puerta de Bib Rambla is just one of many evocative structures peeking out from the undergrowth.

Winding your way down the steep pathway of Cuesta de los Chinos to the town below is the perfect way to end the day.

That evening, go along to dine at El Claustro (restauranteelclaustro. com) in the AC Palacio de Santa Paula hotel. Both Juan Andrés Morilla’s food and the 16th-century cloistered setting are spectacular. Afterwards, for highquality flamenco, head for either Peña Flamenca La Platería (laplateria. org.es) on Thursdays or Saturdays or, for a livelier atmosphere, Tabanco del Tio Gregorio (eltabanco. com). Performances tend to get under way at about 10-11pm.

After a two-hour drive through the rolling vine-crossed hills of Lucena, Monturque and Montilla, our next stop is Córdoba. On arrival at Hospes Palacio del Bailío (telegraph.co.uk/ttpalaciodelbailio), the valet will whisk your car away, leaving you free to explore the hotel’s lovely patios, before lunch served on top of the immaculate mosaics of a Roman villa.

It’s hard to overstate the simple beauty of Córdoba’s Mezquita. After passing through the imposing Puerta del Perdón and the orange tree-lined ablutions courtyard of the Patio de los Naranjos, you enter a vast space where the hundreds of columns, arches of brick and stone and shafts of light pouring in create a forestlike feel.

Only a Renaissance cathedral plonked in the middle – much to Charles V’s apparent regret – breaks the unity. Outside, keep an eye out for the ninthcentury latticework of the Puerta de San Esteban and the Puerta de San Miguel with its Visigothic roots. Then wind your way back to the hotel through the Juderia’s narrow streets for a dip in the stunning pool.

Start the evening on the roof of Balcón de Córdoba (balcondecordoba.com) surrounded by swirling swallows and the Mezquita shining golden in the evening sun. Head down to the river where La Flamenka (0034 957 47 22 75) dishes out imaginative takes on classic Cordobés dishes. End the night in tiny and utterly typical Paseo Ibérico (0034 957 47 15 30), whose friendly owner Argimiro serves up plates of jamon, cheese and fried mushrooms washed down with an ice-cold MontillaMoriles fino or two. The 10th-century palace city of Medina Azahara is a short drive from Córdoba. While only a fraction of Abd-ar-Rahman III’s huge complex has been uncovered, there’s still plenty to explore, from caliphal halls and palaces, bath houses, gardens and reception areas to fabulous arched administrative rooms and a mosque. Continuing on up into the Sierra Norte in the foothills of the Sierra Morena, stop off in pretty Cazalla de la Sierra, where the church of Nuestra Señora de la Consolación, supported by the old Almohad wall and displaying the usual charming mishmash of