Granada Spain in 5 Days on a Budget (Day Trips)
Five days out of Granada: adding the coast
This plan takes the 4-day version , keeps Sierra Nevada, Cordoba, Guadix, and the Alpujarras exactly where they were, and adds a fifth day at the coast, either Nerja’s show caves or Granada’s own free Costa Tropical. A sixth day for Antequera’s free dolmens waits in the 6-day plan ; the full six-trip breakdown sits in the Granada as a base guide .
| Day | Day trip | Travel time from Granada | Rough spend (per person) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Sierra Nevada | About 45 min | EUR 20 in hiking season; EUR 65-90 with a winter ski pass |
| Day 2 | Cordoba (the Mezquita) | 1h20-2h by AVE | About EUR 55 (train, ticket, lunch) |
| Day 3 | Guadix | About 1 h | About EUR 20 (train, lunch) |
| Day 4 | The Alpujarras | 1-1.5 h | About EUR 85 (guided tour, tastings) |
| Day 5 | Nerja or the Costa Tropical | 1-1.5 h by bus | About EUR 30 (bus, optional Nerja Caves ticket) |
Book these before you go:
- A guided Sierra Nevada trip on GetYourGuide : worth the fee if you would rather not manage bus timetables and lift-ticket lines yourself.
- A guided Alpujarras day tour on GetYourGuide : the realistic way to see Pampaneira, Bubion, and Capileira without a thin bus schedule.
- A Nerja and Costa Tropical day tour on GetYourGuide : covers both towns in one trip if picking just one feels like leaving something out.
Day 1: Sierra Nevada
Catch an early ALSA bus from the Estacion de Autobuses (or drive), about 45 minutes and 31km out, to Europe’s southernmost ski resort. In winter (roughly mid-December through April, snow-dependent) a day pass runs from about EUR 47 at its cheapest to around EUR 66 over the Christmas holidays; buy it online through sierranevada.es rather than at the ticket window. Outside ski season the same ride buys a genuinely free day: hike from the Borreguiles plateau toward Mulhacen, mainland Spain’s highest peak, paying nothing beyond the bus fare. Check the mountain forecast that morning either way; conditions above 2,000m close roads and lifts on short notice.
Day 2: Cordoba and the Mezquita
Book an early AVE or Avant seat on renfe.com a few days ahead, not months ahead like the Alhambra back in Granada. The fastest run covers Cordoba in about 1h20, slower services closer to 2 hours. The Mezquita, a working cathedral built inside a former Great Mosque’s forest of horseshoe-arch columns, costs about EUR 13 for adults, or nothing at all Monday to Saturday roughly 8:30-9:30am (that free window skips the nave and choir, so treat it as a bonus rather than the full visit). Spend the rest of the morning in the Juderia, check current hours at turismodecordoba.org , and catch an afternoon train back.
Day 3: Guadix
Guadix is the cheapest full day on this list: about an hour away by train for roughly EUR 6, or a similarly priced bus. The cave houses here are still lived in today, not a museum piece, carved into the soft rock on the edge of town and free to walk past on your own. A short paid tour of one furnished cave-house museum runs a few euros if the free wander leaves questions unanswered. It is a genuinely different cave tradition from Sacromonte’s flamenco caves back in Granada, and cheap enough to pair with a lighter-spend day after Cordoba’s bigger outlay the day before.
Day 4: The Alpujarras
ALSA buses reach Pampaneira, but only a couple of times a day, thin enough that reaching more than one village and getting back the same day by public transport is a real risk. A guided day tour, from about EUR 70 to 90 per person, covers Pampaneira, Bubion, and Capileira in one run and usually beats a solo car rental once fuel and parking are counted for one or two travelers. Trevelez, the region’s highest village, is the place to buy jamon de Trevelez by the gram rather than a full leg, and a plato alpujarreno lunch (ham, chorizo, morcilla, egg, potatoes) runs about EUR 12-15 in any village bar.
Day 5: Nerja or Granada’s own Costa Tropical
Granada’s own coastline is the Costa Tropical (Almunecar, Salobrena, Motril), about 1 to 1.5 hours by ALSA bus and free once you are there, dark volcanic-sand beaches instead of an entry fee. Nerja itself sits further on, in Malaga province, and its main draw is the Nerja Caves, a large show-cave system costing about EUR 16 to enter. Doing both towns in one day works only with an early start or a booked tour that handles the timing; picking one over the other is the cheaper, saner plan for a single day. Salobrena’s whitewashed old town under its Moorish castle is the better pick for a genuinely free mountains-to-sea contrast day.
Is Nerja or the Costa Tropical the better budget pick?
The Costa Tropical, Granada’s own coast, costs nothing beyond the bus fare and delivers the mountains-to-sea contrast this day trip is really about. Nerja adds its show caves for about EUR 16 but sits further away, in a different province. Pick Nerja specifically for the caves; pick Salobrena or Almunecar for the free version of the same day.
Is 5 days enough for Granada’s day trips?
Five days covers five of the six real day trips, everything except Antequera’s dolmens. The 6-day plan adds that free day next. The Alhambra and the Albaicin sit outside this family entirely, in the 5-day Granada city plan instead, if that city time still needs covering.
Book the Sierra Nevada and Alpujarras logistics first, since those two carry the real planning risk in this five-day plan; the coast day is the one where skipping a paid ticket entirely, at Salobrena instead of Nerja, is a genuinely defensible budget move.