Córdoba in two days (and what to add with a third)

Day 1, the old town on foot

The first day is the full one-day itinerary with one advantage: you do not have to squeeze everything in. Mosque-Cathedral first thing (€15, or free Monday to Saturday from 8:30 to 9:30), the bell tower (€4), the Judería and its Synagogue, and before lunch the Alcázar or the Caliphal Baths.

In the afternoon cross the Roman Bridge to the Calahorra tower, come back along the river to Plaza del Potro and finish at the Corredera and the Roman Temple. The Mezquita to the Calahorra is about eight minutes on foot, the Mezquita to the Corredera about eleven. Keep your Mezquita ticket: it gets you into the Fernandine churches the next day.

Day 2 morning, Medina Azahara

Medina Azahara (Madinat al-Zahra) is the palace-city of the Caliphate of Córdoba, at kilometre 5.5 of the Palma del Río road, west of the city. The visit starts at the museum, where you park. Only the shuttle bus goes up to the ruins, about two kilometres uphill, and it is paid separately.

Entry is free for European Union citizens with ID and costs €1.50 for everyone else, so bring a passport or identity card. It closes on Mondays, except those that fall on the eve of a public holiday, and on Sundays and holidays it opens in the morning only. Hours change with the season and summer adds night visits, so confirm the day's timetable on the Junta de Andalucía website.

Museum, shuttle and ruins take up the whole morning. Allow about three hours including the trip from Córdoba. The site is open-air with no shade: in rain or strong heat, swap it for a museum.

Day 2 afternoon, Palacio de Viana

Viana is in the Santa Marina quarter, about twenty minutes' walk from the Mezquita and eleven from the Roman Temple. It opens Tuesday to Saturday 10:00 to 19:00 and Sundays and holidays 10:00 to 15:00; in July and August, Tuesday to Sunday 9:00 to 15:00. Closed on Mondays.

There are three tickets. The patios and ground floor cost €8.50 and you walk round on your own. The inside of the house is seen on a guided visit of about forty minutes (€9, in Spanish with a written translation in English and French). The combined ticket is €14. Children under 10 go free. The patios have ramps for wheelchairs and pushchairs, and the house has a lift.

Santa Marina, San Lorenzo and the Fernandine churches

The Fernandine churches are the parish churches built after Ferdinand III took the city in 1236, nearly all of them in the Axerquía, the eastern half of the old town. Santa Marina is three minutes from Viana and San Lorenzo about eleven from Santa Marina, both in neighbourhoods where locals live and few tourists pass.

The Cathedral Chapter has grouped them into a route with a single ticket: €6, or free if you show your Mosque-Cathedral ticket. Besides these two it includes San Pablo, San Francisco, San Pedro, Santiago, San Agustín and San Andrés, among others. General winter hours are 10:00 to 14:00 and 15:00 to 18:00. They are still working churches, so Mass may be under way when you arrive.

On the way between Viana and the centre, three minutes from the palace, is Plaza de Capuchinos with the Cristo de los Faroles, a stone crucifix ringed by lanterns. It looks its best at night, with the lanterns lit.

Which museum to choose

The Archaeological Museum is five minutes from the Mezquita, on Plaza de Jerónimo Páez. In winter (16 September to 15 June) it opens Tuesday to Saturday 9:00 to 21:00 and Sundays and holidays 9:00 to 15:00. Those long hours make it a good fit for the end of day two. It is free for European Union citizens and €1.50 for everyone else.

On Plaza del Potro you have the Fine Arts Museum, run by the Junta, and the municipal Julio Romero de Torres Museum (€5). A few steps away, in the Posada del Potro, is the Fosforito Flamenco Centre (€2). If you plan to visit several municipal sites, the general pass costs €15 and covers the Alcázar, the Caliphal Baths, Julio Romero, the Bullfighting Museum and Fosforito.

Ideas for the two evenings

The night visit to the Mosque-Cathedral, «El Alma de Córdoba», lasts an hour and costs €25 (€18 reduced), with the audioguide available in English. Sessions change by month: 20:00 and 21:30 in November and December, 21:30 and 23:00 in April and May, 22:00 and 23:30 from June to August.

On non-holiday Thursdays the municipal museums are free for the last two hours, 18:00 to 20:15 in winter. In summer 2026 several of them also opened from 21:00 to midnight, Thursday to Saturday, between late June and late August.

The rest is walking: the Roman Bridge lit up, the riverside, and the Judería once the groups have gone. Dinner starts late here, rarely before 20:30. For flamenco, theatre or concerts on your two dates, see the listings.

With a third day, the province

If you have a car, the third day calls for leaving the city. West along the Guadalquivir valley is the castle of Almodóvar del Río. South lies the Subbética hill country, with Zuheros and Priego de Córdoba, and the Montilla wine district with its bodegas. To the north the sierra begins at the very edge of town.

Without a car, a third day fills up inside the city too: whatever was left of the Alcázar or the museums, the full Fernandine route, or a quiet morning in the Judería before your train. The guides to day trips and villages give distances and how to reach each place.