Córdoba in one day: a walking itinerary, hour by hour

8:30 to 11:00, the Mosque-Cathedral and its tower

General admission is €15 (€12 for over-65s and students aged 15 to 26, €8 for children aged 10 to 14, free under 10). In November it opens Monday to Saturday from 10:00 to 18:00, and both the ticket office and the doors close half an hour earlier. On Sundays and religious holidays visiting is split around Mass: the official leaflet gives 8:30 to 11:30 and 15:00 to 18:00 from November to February.

Early risers get in free from Monday to Saturday between 8:30 and 9:30. It is an individual, silent visit with no groups or guides, and at 9:20 the doors close because staff start clearing the building. That leaves a good forty minutes inside, enough for the forest of columns and the mihrab, tight if you want to stop at every chapel.

The bell tower is a separate ticket (€4) with a climb every half hour from 9:30. Free entry at 8:30 and the tower at 9:30 or 10:00 takes care of the first part of the morning. Allow an hour and a half if you go in on a standard ticket with an audioguide. The building is a working cathedral, so dress as you would for any church.

11:00 to 12:00, the Judería

The old Jewish quarter begins at the Mezquita's own gate. The Synagogue is about eight minutes away along Calle Judíos and takes a quarter of an hour: it is a single 14th-century room. It is run by the regional government (Junta de Andalucía), is free for European Union citizens and closes on Mondays unless the Monday is a public holiday or the eve of one. Its hours have changed several times in recent years, so check them on the day.

Plaza de Maimónides and the Zoco craft market are close to the Synagogue. You do not need a map: the quarter is small and every lane ends up back at the Mezquita wall or at the city wall by the Almodóvar gate.

12:00 to 13:30, the Alcázar, the Caliphal Baths and San Basilio

The Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos is about seven minutes from the Mezquita. It has been under restoration since 2025 and for months only the gardens could be visited, so look at the city council's museums page to see which part is open before you go. The municipal rate is €7. Winter hours for the municipal museums (16 September to 15 June) are Tuesday to Friday 8:15 to 20:15, Saturday 9:30 to 17:30, and Sundays and holidays 8:15 to 14:15.

Next door, on Campo Santo de los Mártires, the Baños del Alcázar Califal (Caliphal Baths, €3, same hours) take half an hour and make a good substitute if the Alcázar is restricted. A combined ticket for both costs €7.50.

Five minutes further on is San Basilio, also called the Alcázar Viejo quarter, the patio neighbourhood closest to the monuments. The houses are private homes and open during the Patios Festival in May. For the rest of the year, walk its whitewashed streets and, if you want to be sure of seeing patios from the inside, keep the Palacio de Viana for the afternoon.

13:30 to 14:30, the Roman Bridge and the Calahorra tower

From the Alcázar you drop down to the river through the Puerta del Puente gate. Crossing the Roman Bridge to the Calahorra is about 600 metres from the Mezquita, eight minutes, and the best view of the whole ensemble is from the far bank, with the Mezquita rising above the bridge.

The Calahorra tower houses the Museo Vivo de al-Andalus. General admission is €4.50 and includes an audioguide (English available) and access to the roof terrace. From November to February it opens 10:00 to 18:00; in March, April, May and October until 19:00; from June to September the day is split, 10:00 to 14:00 and 16:30 to 20:30.

The afternoon, from the Potro to the Corredera and the Roman Temple

Lunch in Córdoba runs late, from about 14:00 to 16:00. Afterwards follow the riverside to Plaza del Potro (six minutes from the Mezquita). The Fine Arts Museum, the Julio Romero de Torres Museum (€5) and the Fosforito Flamenco Centre (€2) are all there. With a single day, pick one at most.

From Plaza del Potro to the Corredera is another six minutes. It is a closed, rectangular main square with arcades all round, and a good place to sit for a while. Four minutes uphill you reach the columns of the Roman Temple, which you see from Calle Claudio Marcelo without paying anything, and four more bring you to Plaza de las Tendillas.

If you still have energy and it is Tuesday to Saturday, the Palacio de Viana is about eleven minutes from the Roman Temple and stays open until 19:00 (15:00 on Sundays and holidays). The patios visit costs €8.50.

What to book ahead

Tickets for the Mosque-Cathedral and the tower slot are sold on the Cathedral Chapter's official online ticket office. On long weekends, in Holy Week and in May, buy them in advance with a time. The night visit «El Alma de Córdoba» (€25, one hour, 100 people at most, audioguide in nine languages) is booked there too; in November and December the sessions are at 20:00 and 21:30.

The municipal museums sell tickets at their own machines, by card only, and at the kiosk on Campo Santo de los Mártires opposite the Alcázar. A visit with an official guide helps most in the Mezquita, where the extensions of each period blur into one another at first sight.

If your day is a Monday

The Mosque-Cathedral opens on Mondays, free hour included, so the morning does not change. Almost everything else closes: the Alcázar, the Caliphal Baths, the Julio Romero de Torres, the Bullfighting Museum, the Archaeological Museum, the Synagogue and the Palacio de Viana.

On a Monday give more time to the Mezquita and the tower, cross the bridge to the Calahorra and spend the afternoon outdoors: Judería, San Basilio, riverside, Corredera and Roman Temple. All of it is free and none of it depends on opening hours.

In summer, and if your train gets in mid-morning

In July the average daily high is 36.9 °C according to AEMET, the Spanish weather agency. From 16 June to 15 September the municipal museums open only from 8:15 to 14:15, and in July and August Viana opens 9:00 to 15:00. The summer plan is the winter one turned round: monuments before 14:00, lunch and a rest indoors, and back out from 20:00, when the bridge and the riverside are in shade. The Mezquita night visit moves to 22:00 and 23:30 from June to August.

If your high-speed train arrives at 11:00, the Mezquita is about 1.7 km from the station, a 25-minute walk down Avenida del Gran Capitán and through Tendillas. Aucorsa city bus line 3 links the station with Tendillas, San Fernando and the riverside (€1.30, paid on board, contactless accepted) and a taxi takes five to ten minutes. In that case enter the Mezquita around 12:00, eat late and leave the Alcázar and the bridge for afterwards. Walking back to the station from the Roman Temple takes about twenty minutes.