Planning on visiting Spain in March @ 3/26. Wanted to do a day trip to one or the other. What is recommended. The travel books indicate that the Andalusian belt is great to see to the moorish landscape, olive groves. Will I be able to see all that in a day.

I am having a little trouble trying to figure out how to answer your question.

Do you have a car, or will you be using public transportation?

I would say that almost any permutation of your answer would yield the sentiments that it would be more than a day trip.

If you are going to be in Madrid, then conceivably you could take the fast train (AVE) to Sevilla or Córdoba, and make that a day trip.

Give us more info, and I am sure you will get specific comments...

My wife an I spent a week in Madrid four years ago and took a day trip to Valencia via rail (I studied there in the 80s and wanted to see how it had changed). It is a long day trip (the ride was about 3 hours each way), but there are regular trains between the two cities so adjusting return plans was easy. Valencia has a lot of historical places and museums to see and no shortage of places to eat. There is also a huge open-air market a couple of blocks from the Estacion del Norte (Estacio del Nord?) where we scored some bargains. The Bull Ring is also right next to the station.

We also took an easier 1/2-day trip to Toledo. It was nice too.

I can't comment on Cordoba, but I have been to Granada and Sevilla and enjoyed both a great deal. There is the bullet train to Sevilla, but I remember the fare being prohibitively expensive for a day trip.

Have fun wherever you decide to go.

A day trip is definitely doable from Madrid to Cordoba but you will definitely have to take the high-speed AVE train. This will set you back about 50Euros one way or about 100 roundtrip but it makes the journey in about 2 hours. Visit this website for schedules and prices.

http://horarios.renfe.es/hir/ingles.html

Cordoba is my second favorite city in Andalucia, second only to Cadiz and so I definitely think it's worth it. The main attraction would be the Mezquita, the Christian Cathedral / Islamic Mosque. The city definitely has a lot of character.