We visited Córdoba during a sunny day in May. We started from Seville by high speed AVE train and arrived in 45 min to Córdoba station. A 15 min walk from the Station takes you in the heart of the city. It is all very compact and easy to access, perfect for a day trip.

The only slight challenge was pushing a pram on the cobblestone streets of the Juderia but with a bit of patience we managed to navigate them with our old and faithful McLaren Quest.

The first stop we would recommend is the Mezquita Catedral de Cordoba, an UNESCO heritage site that is a bit less popular that the Real Alcazar of Seville. You still might have to queue for 10 minutes but it usually moves pretty quickly. Once you are inside, there are hundreds of columns and arches to admire or, if you are with a toddler, play hide and seek. There is a bell tower as well of you missed your daily exercise and are keen on climbing nummerous narrow steps. You can spend a good hour if not longer taking photos, admiring the architecture and running after your child among the many columns. Another plus, kids under 10 do not pay the entrance fee.

Córdoba has its own Alcazar de los Reyes Cristianos and, if visiting for more than a day, it is definitely worth a look. We had already visited the Real Alcazar in Seville the previous day and preferred to spend time discovering lovely Patios (vertical gardens in traditional Spanish houses) rather than push and carry our stroller through another castle. If you have a smaller child, a carrier would save you a bit of sanity and a lot of energy as obviously these old mnuments have limitations in terms of accessibility.

As we visited Córdoba during the weekend celebrations of Fiesta de los Patios. The interior gardens or patio in Spanish (a feature typical of Cordoba old residences) of the locals were exceptionally open to visitors and the city was pretty busy. Without having done too much itinerary preparation, finding a place for lunch proved to be challenging. We finally left the inner city waited for a roadside table at the Canadian Bar and Tapas. Although the name did not sound too promising, the line was full of locals.  Finally, the tapas were tasty, plenty and moderately priced so we were happy to have followed the locals and taken the risk (and by risk I mean go for a place rated under top 10 on TripAdvisor). A good choice if you are after a no frills place.

After lunch we continued to visit some of the patios participating in the competition follwoing the map downloaded in advance from the Tourism Office website. The most popular ones already had queues taking at least 20-30 min as only a handful of people were allowed inside. If you happen to be there at this time, download a map of the patios and head down early. We noticed several walking tours of the Córdoba most popular patios were available.

If visiting at other times of the year, a great place to admire the lovely interior gardeners that Córdoba is famous for is Palacio de Viana. Here you are stepping from one small garden to the next in a lovely landscaped circuit. There are small water fountains everywhere making it refreshing to wander around, even in the Summer heat. The interior garden of the Museo de Bellas Artes is also worth a look. Washing your hands in the interor fountain is not part of the experince but our son was very fast and determined after walking around in the Sun for most of the day and I was too busy with the camera.

With the main sites checked, allow yourself enough time to then wander around the Juderia, part of the historic Center of Córdoba that was designated a UNESCO world heritage site. If in need of refreshments, the ice tea and plate of sweets at Salon de te was great, as was the Moroccan inspired interior. Even if you are not hungry, this will be a worthwhile pitstop.

On the way back to the station we stopped at the Parque Infantil Los Patos. There is a playground of course and lots of place to run around if your kids still have energy after all the sightseeing.

Have we missed any children frinadly gem in our day trip to Cordoba? Leave a comment below to let us know so we do not make the same mistake next time :).

Thanks for reading and happy travels!

CGK