Seville suits first-time visitors to Spain, anyone coming from Madrid by train, winter travellers, and anyone who has not booked yet. Granada suits travellers for whom the Alhambra is the point of the trip, who already hold a Nasrid Palaces ticket, and who are happy walking uphill.

Seville is easier to reach. Spain’s official tourism site, Spain.info, puts Madrid to Seville at around two and a half hours by high-speed train, and Madrid to Granada from three and a half hours. Over a return journey, Granada costs you at least two more hours on the train.

That gap matters most on a short trip. Two hours is a morning in the Alcázar, or the difference between arriving for an afternoon Nasrid Palaces slot and missing it.

The two cities are linked to each other as well. Trainline’s timetable page lists the fastest Seville–Granada train at about 2 hours 37 minutes, with some services needing a change. Journey times shift with engineering work, so check the rail operator’s timetable for your dates rather than relying on any article, this one included.

In Seville, UNESCO describes the Archivo de Indias as holding documents from the archives of Spain’s colonies in the Americas. The Cathedral’s own visitor rules describe the Giralda as a climb of 34 ramps and 17 steps to a height of 80 metres.

Crown Tours’ Seville Cathedral, Giralda & Royal Alcázar Guided Tour covers all three main sights in about two and a half hours, with roughly 1.5 km of walking. That leaves the rest of the stay for the city itself.

Granada has the more famous single sight, and the higher stakes. The Patronato de la Alhambra y Generalife, which runs the site, limits the Nasrid Palaces to 300 people every half hour and does not admit anyone who misses their slot. In Seville, no single ticket decides whether the trip worked.

The Patronato’s FAQ adds two rules first-time visitors miss. Tickets are personal, and each visitor must carry their own ticket and an ID document for the whole visit. Online purchases are final.

Only the palaces are timed. The Patronato says the gardens, the Generalife and the Alcazaba fortress can be visited at any point during opening hours, so the day is planned around one fixed half-hour. 

If you would rather not manage the slot yourself, Crown Tours runs an Alhambra & Nasrid Palace Guided Tour of about two and a half hours, in English, covering the palaces, the Generalife, the Alcazaba and the Palace of Charles V. What “skip the line” does and does not mean is explained in our guide to skip-the-line tickets.

Seville fills more days. UNESCO’s World Heritage listing for Seville covers three separate monuments, the Cathedral with the Giralda, the Real Alcázar and the Archivo de Indias, all in the old centre. Granada’s listing covers the Alhambra, the Generalife and the Albayzín quarter opposite. That fills one full day, two at most.

In Granada, UNESCO describes the Alhambra and the Albayzín as standing on two adjacent hills separated by the river Darro. The Albayzín is the old residential quarter, and the natural place to spend whatever part of the day the Alhambra leaves free.

On breadth, Seville wins clearly.

Neither city is mild in July and August, and Seville is the hotter of the two. Spain’s weather agency AEMET gives a 1981–2010 average July high of 36.0 °C at Seville airport and 34.8 °C at Granada airport. In winter the order flips: Granada averages about 48 frost days a year, Seville about three.

The nights show the difference most. AEMET’s average January low is 0.0 °C at Granada airport and 5.7 °C at Seville. In July, the averages are 15.7 °C and 20.3 °C.

These are airport stations, not the city centres, and Granada’s sits at 560 metres. Treat the figures as a comparison between the two cities, not a forecast.

In spring and autumn, the weather will not decide it. In winter, Seville wins. In high summer, Granada is the slightly cooler choice, mostly after dark.