The city of Cordoba offers many opportunities to get to know its heritage, history, art and culture from different viewpoints: the monuments of Cordoba, its houses and palaces, the Fernandine churches, convents, gateways and city walls, and so on.
On Internet, the Cordoba Tourist Board allows you to design your own visits and make virtual tours of Cordoba. You can also make online reservations or request a visit “à la carte”.
Tourist board website. Map or Cordoba
Tourist board website. What to visit?
Tourist board website. Fiestas and events
Tourist board website. Virtual visit
Tourist board website. Visit á la carte
ROUTES
The city is included in different routes which help travellers get a wider picture of its patrimony and history:
The Route of Roman Baetica (Ruta de la Bética Romana)
The Route of Roman Baetica passes nowadays through fourteen cities from the provinces of Seville, Cadiz and Cordoba. It runs through what were formerly the most southerly provinces of Roman Hispania and includes territories which were crossed in ancient times by the Via Augusta. The stunning countryside along the route includes areas of great geographical and natural interest, such as the Natural Park of the Subbetica in Cordoba, the Natural Park of the Bay of Cadiz or the Valley of the Guadalquivir.
The Route of the Andalusian Legacy and the Route of the Caliphate (Ruta del Legado Andalusí, Ruta del Califato)
The Andalusi Legacy Foundation focuses on the reappraisal and dissemination of the Spanish-Muslim civilization, through its artistic and cultural heritage, as well as in its social and historical relations with the Arab world, Mediterranean countries and Latin America. These aspects are reflected in the Routes of The Andalusi Legacy, which have been named by the Council of Europe as a Major Cultural Route. These routes consist of traditional, historic paths or those formerly taken by ancient travellers, and are hoped to provide a new inland tourist attraction for the community of Andalusia. This network of routes helps tourists discover towns and other places of interest which, for various reasons (for their monuments or location, or for their historical, literary or legendary references) are linked to the Andalusi civilization. The Route of the Caliphate, one of the Routes of The Andalusi Legacy , links the cities of Cordoba and Granada, passing through the territory of the province of Jaen. The itinerary takes us through attractive, fertile countryside and includes a number of towns which are famous for their monuments and artistic heritage, as well as places which witnessed times of both war and peace between the Moslem and Christian kingdoms.
The Montilla-Moriles Wine Trail (Ruta del Vino Montilla-Moriles)
The Association for the Promotion of Wine Tourism (AVINTUR) invites you to discover the history and culture of the wines from the Montilla-Moriles Denomination of Origin, and to enjoy the people, the countryside, the cuisine and the rich monumental heritage which go hand in hand with the production of these wines. These full-bodied wines originate in the heart of Andalusia, in the south of the Cordoba province, especially in the Superior Quality areas of the Montilla hills and the Los Pagos area in the Moriles hills.
In the city of Cordoba, there are several routes to choose from to visit the historic quarter on tours of the artistic and historical monuments:
The Manolete Route (Ruta de Manolete)
The Manolete Route allows you to take a tour of all the significant places in the life of the bullfighter - his birthplace, where he lived, where he trained - even the taverns he frequented, where nowadays they display so much memorabilia of this Cordoban figure so universally loved and admired.
The Route of "Seneca's Cordoba" (Ruta “La Córdoba de Seneca”)
The route of "Seneca's Cordoba" takes the visitor back to the first century AD, one of the most fascinating eras in the history of Cordoba, when Roman rule in the city was in its full splendour, and when the Patrician city of Corduba, the capital of Hispania Ulterior and later the capital of Betica, underwent a period of large scale urban expansion and monument building under the auspices of the Emperor Augustus. There is no better way to bring that period of Cordoba's history closer to the general public than through that universal citizen of Cordoba, Lucius Anneus Seneca, philosopher and politician, who held a number of important positions, including that of tutor to the young Emperor Nero. Seneca, together with Plato, Aristotle and Socrates, is one of the fathers of classical thought, and his work has inspired philosophers and thinkers throughout the ages.
Fernandina Route (Ruta de las Iglesias Fernandinas)
The Fernandine Route consists of organized visits to the 11 churches which Fernando III "The Saint" ordered to be built between the mid 13th and the early 14th centuries in different areas of the city - which is why they are known as "Fernandine Churches". There are three different routes by which to get to know the artistic merits of these medieval churches in Cordoba.
Tourist board website. What to do
TOURIST NETWORKS
Cordoba, because of its history, its present, its future and its growing importance in the tourism sector nationally and internationally, belongs to different tourist networks which ultimately have only one objective: uniting cities, provinces, regions with similar characteristics in order to work together to promote tourism.
As part of this incentive, Cordoba is a member of:
The Network of Cathedral Cities
This is a network which promotes tourist and cultural cooperation among its member cities. Its objectives are: to act jointly to promote and protect the urban heritage, the architecture, the environment, history and culture of its member cities, especially the heritage of their cathedrals, to establish policies to exchange experience and results and plan a joint policy for tourism and culture consistent with its objectives.
The Network of Cathedral Cities
The “Paths of Sepharad” - the Network of Jewish Quarters in Spain
This is a public association that aims to defend the urban heritage, and the architectural, historical, artistic and cultural legacy of the Sepharad in Spain. Members of the network act together in defence of their heritage, to promote cultural, tourist and academic projects by exchanging national and international experiences.
The “Paths of Sepharad” - the Network of Jewish Quarters in Spain
The Network of World Heritage Cities
This network was created to promote joint action in defence of the historical and cultural heritage of the cities which have been awarded this title by the UNESCO and to maintain and enhance the lifestyles which are characteristic of these historic quarters, by carrying out joint projects and proposals and establishing policies to exchange experiences ... All this should be done while maintaining the personality of each of these cities and recognizing that the true wealth of a historic quarter lies in its individuality.
The Network of World Heritage Cities
Since 2001, Cordoba has been the Regional Secretary of the World Heritage Cities of Southern Europe / Mediterranean, which links the World Heritage Cities of Spain, Greece, Italy, Malta and Portugal.
Regional Secretariat Southern Europe/Mediterranean
The Network of AVE Cities
One of the objectives of this Network is to promote the cities which are linked as tourist destinations by the High Speed Train, by devising strategies and carrying out promotional activities aimed at tour operators and other professionals, and establishing policies for sharing experiences and results, as well as working together to analyze the impact and evolution of the arrival of the AVE in its member cities. This allows them to develop, manage and disseminate cultural activities in joint projects and proposals and to exchange information between the different tourist offices and, in this way, help to promote the member cities.
The “European Cities Tourism” Group
This organization comprises nearly 90 cities in 30 countries whose common aim is to of investigate new ways of improving the tourist industry and to learn from the experiences initiated by other member cities. The requirements for membership of the association are to be a city of over 100,000 inhabitants and to have over 3,000 hotel beds, facilities for conferences, an important historical and monumental heritage and a regular programme of cultural events.
