Medina Azahara - Conjunto Arqueológico Madinat al-Zahra

Great archaeological site. Small but some areas are somewhat well preserved. Some areas were under works so our tour was a bit limited. Highly recommend going early morning to avoid the crowds. Entry is €4.5 for non EU visitors and free for eu residents. The bus up to the complex is €3

Tickets are free but it's a 2 kilometers bus ride to the site which you pay €3 return, on the bus. Why not charge €3 and have the bus for free? Mornings are very busy so queues for bus can be long. Historically it's an interesting site but visually, a lot of walking up and down walls to see a few, admittedly interesting Moorish arches. Great views of the countryside from the site. Museum is attached to car park and is free. If you are not an EU citizen the charge for the site is €1:50. I noticed that on our visit to the site, which took about an hour, the same people were on the bus, there and back. Prices in the shop are outrageous. If you are not very mobile it's difficult to visit.

Must visit in cordoba. You can get the O1 bus from cordoba centre which drops you off at the side of the main road, it is then a 10 minute walk down a road with no path until you reach the museum. The entrance to the museum is €1.50 and gives you a full background on the medina and also houses a bunch of artefacts taken from the excavation site. Once you have seen the museum there is a shuttle which comes around every 10 minutes which takes you up the hill to the site of the ruins (€3 return ticket). The ruins are very interesting. Unfortunately the area where the mosque and garden (where the place with the nice red and white arches area is) was closed when I visited (I think they are doing maintenance or restoration).

The museum offers a spacious parking lot with plenty of spots, making parking hassle-free. Admission to the museum is free, but to explore the ruins, you’ll need to take a bus that costs €3 per person for a round trip. It’s an amazing place and I highly recommend a visit!

Very majestic. Surprisingly well preserved. If you watch the film in the museum before visiting the site, it will give you an even greater appreciation of what the city once was. Well worth the 1.5 euros entrance fee.

Imagine stepping into a lost city from the 10th century, in the middle of hills near Córdoba. built by Abd al-Rahman III to show the power and glory of Islamic Spain. You can still see the remains of grand arches, delicate carvings, and what once were beautiful gardens. Walking through its ruins, it feels like uncovering a secret masterpiece, frozen in time.

Fascinating site of the short-lived capital of the Caliphate. Well-organized museum and interesting film (Spanish with English subtitles) complement the site. Visited in January so not too crowded or hot. Couldn’t imagine walking around here in the crowds of springtime

This is the crown jewel of any trip to Cordoba with its open and expensive columns from the original mosque, along with the addition of the cathedral elements blended within. It gets crowded very quickly, so try to secure an early appointment so you can enjoy the peacefulness of the space without distribution. Although the history here is a marvel, it feels as though there is an intentional effort to minimize the Islamic history of the space, and an undue emphasis on the modern cathedral restoration elements. Many of the informational guides in the facilities take an almost aggressive stance towards the establishment of the mosque, implying with little evidence of backing that the establishment of the mosque was in some ways and affront to the Christians (who claim a church was destroyed to create it). In reality, it's clear that the mosque was an effort to improve upon the existing church which may have been in disrepair. There are many pieces of Islamic history in the facilities which have gone untranslated. It would be of benefit to do so for non-arabic speakers. Similarly, while there is ample descriptions of the Christian elements of the facility, there is no indication of the significance of certain Islamic components of the mosque-cathedral. For a facility that represents the amalgamation of two deeply established religious pasts, it's disappointing to see its history displayed so one-sidedly. Also, before entering, the staff profiled us to notify us that it was forbidden to engage in any kind of non-christian worship in the facility. While understandable, it was strange to be singled out in this way. Nevertheless, the space is breathtaking. History is told by its victors, and this is one such case of that in practice. Yet, no trip to Cordoba is complete without a stop here.