I did this as a joint-trip to Córdoba and Sevilla in March 2025 with my wife and a friend of ours, and while I wanted to like Córdoba more, I think Sevilla ultimately beat it out. (Perhaps to the chagrin of someone like Clyde here on the site.) However, Córdoba is still worth seeing!

Everyone raves about the Mezquita-Catedral ("Mosque-Cathedral") and they are right to – I recommend planning in a decent amount of time for yourself to spend here, at least two or three hours. There is so much to see on every wall, floor, or ceiling, it reminded me of the cathedral in Toldeo, Spain or St John's Co-Cathedral in Malta. However, the audio guide is slightly lacking, sadly, and the map they give you to accompany it is a bit confusing to try and navigate. All three of us got lost while wandering around the Mosque-Cathedral trying to follow its guide.

People talk about visiting the Calleja de las Flores ("Alley of Flowers") and all of the little winding streets around it that are chock-full of small shops and places to eat. I do recommend visiting this, and it blends into the Judería ("Jewish quarter"). The synagogue is worth visiting for ~15 minutes and it is one of four that exist in Spain.

It's worth buying the combined ticket to see the Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos ("Alcazar of the Christian Kings"), the Baños del Alcázar Califal (the hammam baths of the Alcazar Calif), and the Museo Taurino Cordoba ("Cordoba Bullfighting Museum"), plus it comes with a pass to the art museum if you are interested in that. Each of these three locations are worth seeing, though none of them will blow your socks off.

Nearly on a whim we visited the Torre-Campanario ("Belltower") which hosts a museum inside and this was shockingly good! It was one of my favorite parts of visiting Córdoba and we spent almost an hour at this small history museum, despite me expecting it to be a quick, ten-minute stop.

Spending a half-day to take the bus ride out to Medina Alzahara (the ancient Muslim capital of Southern Spain under one of the reigning Califs) is another activity I'd recommend. There is a bus that runs twice a day taking people to and from the ruins/museum located just outside of Córdoba and it's a treat.