Cordoba: what to see, where to stay and how to get around
In the tenth century Córdoba was the largest city in Western Europe and the capital of an independent caliphate, and in it Muslims, Jews and Christians produced a golden age of science, poetry and philosophy. Its two greatest minds, the Muslim Averroes and the Jewish Maimonides, were born here twelve years apart. This route walks the Judería and ends in the great mosque. Two hours, flat, in lanes too narrow for cars.
A short history of Cordoba
The Romans made Córdoba the capital of a province of Hispania, and the philosopher Seneca was born here. In 756 Abd al-Rahman I established the Umayyad emirate here, and in 929 Abd al-Rahman III proclaimed a caliphate. In 785 work began on the Great Mosque, and the city was then one of the largest and most important in Europe. In this period the Jewish community also flourished here, and in 1138 Maimonides was born in the city. In 1236 Ferdinand III, King of Castile, captured it, and in the 16th century a cathedral was built inside the mosque. The 14th-century synagogue in the Jewish quarter still stands today.
The ten best sights in Cordoba
1Mezquita-CatedralA forest of red-and-white arches with a cathedral built in its middle; free early on weekdays
2Synagogue of CórdobaBuilt in 1315, one of only three medieval synagogues left in Spain; Hebrew on the walls
3Maimonides StatueIn the small square named after Tiberias, where he is buried
4Casa de SefaradA small museum of the Jews of al-Andalus, opposite the synagogue
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5Calle Judíos
The main lane of the old Jewish quarter
6Puerta de AlmodóvarThe gate into the Judería from the west, beside the walls
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7Averroes Monument
The philosopher born here in 1126, by the city walls
8Calleja de las FloresA narrow lane of flowerpots that frames the cathedral tower
9Roman BridgeAcross the Guadalquivir to the Calahorra tower; best at dusk
10Torre de la CalahorraA gate tower at the end of the bridge with a museum of the three cultures
Scan with your phone camera to open the map there
What is an audio walk?
Tours in Cordoba →A guide in your headphones: open the walk on our site, walk from stop to stop, and at each one your phone tells its story. No guide, no group, and free. This is the first walk in Cordoba:
Free walking tours in Cordoba
Three peoples in one quarter
In the tenth century Córdoba was the largest city in Western Europe and the capital of an independent caliphate, and in it Muslims, Jews and Christians produced a golden age of science, poetry and philosophy. Its two greatest minds, the Muslim Averroes and the Jewish Maimonides, were born here twelve years apart. This route walks the Judería and ends in the great mosque. Two hours, flat, in lanes too narrow for cars.
- Puerta de Almodóvar · The western gate of the walls, and the way into the Judería, the Jewish quarter that grew in the shadow of the caliph’s palace. Its most famous son in the tenth century was Hasdai ibn Shaprut, physician and foreign minister to the caliph, who received ambassadors from Byzantium and wrote a letter to the Jewish king of the Khazars.
- Synagogue of Córdoba · Built in 1315 by a man named Isaac Moheb, a single small room whose plaster walls are carved with Hebrew verses from the Psalms among Mudéjar patterns. After the expulsion of 1492 it became a hospital for rabies and then a chapel of the shoemakers’ guild, and its inscriptions were found again under the whitewash only in 1884. It is one of only three medieval synagogues left standing in Spain.
- Maimonides Statue · Moses ben Maimon was born in Córdoba in 1138. When he was about ten, the Almohads took the city and gave Jews and Christians the choice of conversion or exile, and his family left, wandering through Spain and Morocco before settling in Egypt. He became the physician of Saladin’s court and wrote the Mishneh Torah and the Guide for the Perplexed. The square where his statue sits is named after Tiberias, where he is buried.
- Casa de Sefarad · A house opposite the synagogue made into a small museum of the Sephardic world: the music, the festivals, the women poets of al-Andalus, and the Ladino that the exiles took with them from here to Salonica, Istanbul and Sarajevo.
- Averroes Monument · Ibn Rushd, Averroes to the Latins, was born in Córdoba in 1126 and was a judge and physician here. His commentaries on Aristotle were translated into Hebrew and Latin and taught in the universities of Europe for centuries, so much so that Dante calls him simply the one who made the great commentary.
- Mezquita-Catedral · Begun in 785 and enlarged by caliph after caliph into a hall of some eight hundred columns carrying double arches striped in red brick and white stone. The mihrab was covered in gold mosaic by craftsmen the Byzantine emperor sent. In 1523 a Renaissance cathedral was built in the middle of it, and Charles V, seeing the result, is said to have told the canons that they had destroyed something unique in the world to build something found everywhere.
The river, the kings and the patios
South of the mosque the town runs down to the Guadalquivir, crossed by a Roman bridge, and along the bank stand the palace where the Christian kings received Columbus and the baths of the caliphs. North of it is the town of patios, courtyards crammed with flowerpots that open to the public every May. Half a day, flat.
- Roman Bridge · The bridge was built by the Romans and rebuilt by the Moors, and for two thousand years it was the only way to cross the river here. At its southern end the Calahorra tower guarded the crossing; inside is a museum of the three cultures of Córdoba.
- Albolafia Mill · A great Moorish waterwheel that lifted river water up to the gardens of the palace. The story told in Córdoba is that Queen Isabella, staying in the Alcázar, had it stopped because its creaking kept her awake. It was rebuilt in the twentieth century and stands in the river again.
- Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos · In 1486 Ferdinand and Isabella received an unknown Genoese sailor here who wanted ships to sail west to the Indies; they made him wait six years. For more than three centuries from 1482 the building was also the seat of the Inquisition in Córdoba. The gardens are terraces of long pools and orange trees.
- Caliphal Baths · The bathhouse of the caliph’s palace in the tenth century, with the hot, warm and cold rooms of a Roman bath under star-pierced vaults. It lies below a modern square, and it is all that remains above ground of the palace of the caliphs inside the town.
- Calleja de las Flores · A lane a metre or two wide with geraniums in blue pots on every wall, opening into a tiny square that frames the bell tower of the cathedral. It is the most photographed corner of the town, and early morning is when it is empty.
- Palacio de Viana · A noble house built around twelve patios, each planted differently — orange trees, cypresses, a garden of pools. Every May the people of Córdoba open their own patios to visitors for the festival of patios, and this palace is the place to see all the styles at once.
The caliph’s city and the olive hills
In 936 the caliph Abd al-Rahman III began a palace-city outside Córdoba so splendid it became a legend, and seventy-four years later it was sacked in a civil war and lost. West along the river is a castle from a television saga; south are the wine and olive towns of the Subbética hills. A full day and a car.
- Medina Azahara · The caliph built it on three terraces against the mountain, with reception halls carved in stone lace and, the chroniclers say, a bowl of quicksilver that threw sunlight around the room. In 1010 Berber troops sacked it in the civil war that broke the caliphate, and its stones were carried off for centuries. Excavation began only in 1911, and about a tenth of it has been uncovered.
- Almodóvar del Río · A Moorish castle on a cone of rock over the Guadalquivir, rebuilt in the early twentieth century by a count who wanted a perfect medieval castle. It was used for Highgarden in Game of Thrones, and from the keep the river plain runs to the horizon.
- Montilla · The wine here is aged like sherry, under a film of yeast, but from grapes so ripe they need no added alcohol. A style of sherry that imitated it took the name amontillado — in the manner of Montilla — and the original is still poured in the bodegas of the town.
- Baena · The hills around Baena are olive trees to the horizon, and its oil was one of the first in Spain to get a protected name. The old mills in town open their doors for tastings, done like wine from small blue glasses so the colour cannot sway the judge.
- Zuheros · A white village tucked under a crag with a castle on top, in the limestone hills of the Subbética. Above it is the Cave of the Bats, lived in since the Stone Age, and the village makes a goat cheese that wins prizes.
- Priego de Córdoba · A town that grew rich on silk in the eighteenth century and spent it on baroque churches. Its Fuente del Rey is a stepped basin of statues fed by over a hundred spouts, and the old Moorish quarter of white lanes ends at a balcony over the valley.
Getting to Cordoba and getting around
- Córdoba Station · High-speed trains: Madrid in under two hours, Seville in forty-five minutes; the nearest big airport is Seville
Cheap eats in Cordoba
Córdoba’s own dishes are cold and fried. Salmorejo is a thick, cold cream of tomato, bread and olive oil, topped with ham and egg; flamenquín is a roll of pork and ham, breaded and fried; and berenjenas con miel are fried aubergine sticks drizzled with cane honey, a Moorish taste. A tapa and a glass of the local Montilla wine cost a few euro at the bar.
- Plaza de la Corredera · Salmorejo, flamenquín and honey aubergines at the bar
- Calle Judíos · Tapas in the patios of the Judería
- Montilla · Fino and Pedro Ximénez in the town bodegas
- Baena · Olive-oil tastings in the mills
- Zuheros · Goat cheese from the village dairy
- Plaza de las Tendillas · Churros and chocolate in the cafés of the square
Museums in Cordoba
Córdoba’s museums tell the story of a city that was Roman, then the capital of Islamic Spain, then Christian, and that for centuries was home to one of the great Jewish communities of Europe. The best of them are the buildings themselves.
- Casa de Sefarad · The Sephardic world, opposite the synagogue
- Synagogue of Córdoba · Hebrew verses carved in the plaster, 1315
- Torre de la Calahorra · The three cultures of al-Andalus, with models of the city
- Archaeological Museum · A Roman theatre in the basement
- Medina Azahara · The caliph’s city and its museum
- Museo de Bellas Artes · Painters of Córdoba in an old hospital
Nature and day trips near Cordoba
Córdoba lies in the valley of the Guadalquivir, between the oak-covered Sierra Morena to the north and the olive hills of the Subbética to the south. The summers are the hottest in Spain, so the gardens are built around water.
- Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos · Terraced gardens of pools and orange trees
- Palacio de Viana · Twelve patios, twelve gardens
- Hornachuelos · The Sierra’s oak forests and vultures
- Zuheros · The Subbética park and its cave
- Roman Bridge · The river islands below, full of birds
- Priego de Córdoba · The fountain of a hundred spouts
Things to do in Cordoba with kids
Córdoba is flat and compact, and the gardens and pools of the Alcázar and the patios are easy with children. The summer is the problem: in July and August it is over forty degrees by afternoon, so plan the mornings and evenings.
- Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos · Towers to climb and fountains
- Almodóvar del Río · A real castle with battlements
- Roman Bridge · A walk across the river at sunset
- Plaza de las Tendillas · A clock that plays the guitar on the hour
- Palacio de Viana · Garden after garden to run through
- Medina Azahara · A ruined palace city; go in the morning
Holy places in Cordoba
Córdoba holds the most famous building of the three faiths of medieval Spain — a mosque with a cathedral inside it — and a few lanes away, a synagogue that survived when the Jews did not. The town was also where Maimonides, the greatest Jewish thinker of the Middle Ages, was born.
- Maimonides Statue · The statue in Tiberias Square
- Synagogue of Córdoba · One of three medieval synagogues left in Spain
- Mezquita-Catedral · A mosque with a cathedral built in its heart
- San Lorenzo · A Fernandine church with a minaret for a tower
- Cristo de los Faroles · A crucifix among lanterns, lit at night
Nightlife in Cordoba
Córdoba lives at night in summer, when it finally cools down: tapas in the patios of the Judería, flamenco in small tablaos, and the Roman bridge lit over the river. In May the patios, the crosses of flowers and the town fair fill the whole month.
- Roman Bridge · The bridge and the Mezquita lit up at night
- Plaza de la Corredera · Terraces under the arcades until late
- Calle Judíos · Flamenco in the small tablaos of the Judería
- Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos · Evening shows of light and water in summer
- Plaza de las Tendillas · The modern town’s bars around the square
Frequently asked questions about Cordoba
What is there to see in Cordoba?
The top sights in Cordoba are Mezquita-Catedral, Synagogue of Córdoba and Maimonides Statue. The full list on this page has 10 sights, each with a photo and a short note.
How many days do you need in Cordoba?
Three to four days are enough to see the best of Cordoba without rushing, including at least one walking tour.
Is there a free walking tour in Cordoba?
Yes. sleepntrip has 3 free audio walks in Cordoba, with no guide and no group: your phone tells the story at every stop. The first one: Three peoples in one quarter.
How do you get to Cordoba and get around?
The main ways are Córdoba Station. Full details are in the transport section on this page.
Where to stay in Cordoba, and for how much?
sleepntrip shows only rooms in Cordoba that meet nine conditions: a good location, high guest scores, cleanliness, and a price of up to $80 a night for two. Pick your dates and see what is free.
Looking for a hotel in Cordoba for your dates?
Only rooms that meet nine conditions, up to $80 a night.