Things to do in Córdoba: 10 must-sees, from the Mezquita to Medina Azahara

Begun in 785 under the emir Abd al-Rahman I, then enlarged several times until the late 10th century, the great mosque of Córdoba became a cathedral in 1236, after the Christian conquest. You enter through the Courtyard of the Orange Trees, then walk into the prayer hall and its forest of columns topped with two-tone red-and-white arches, up to the mihrab and its mosaics.

In the middle, a Renaissance cathedral was built inside the mosque itself, so you pass from one world to the other in a few steps. The bell tower, a former minaret, is visited separately, in half-hour slots.

The present building was raised in 1328 on the orders of Alfonso XI, on the site of the former Umayyad fortress; a royal residence since the conquest of 1236, it later housed the Inquisition, then a prison from 1822 to 1931. You can visit its towers and wall walk, the rooms with Roman mosaics and the royal baths.

The terraced gardens, with their long pools, cypresses and orange trees, take up most of the visit and look out on the cathedral tower.

North-west of the Mezquita, the Judería is a tangle of whitewashed lanes, carriage doors opening onto patios and small squares. The philosopher and physician Maimonides, born in Córdoba in the 12th century, has his statue on the little Plaza de Tiberiades.

On Calle Judíos, the medieval synagogue is one of the few preserved in Spain: a small room whose walls are covered in stucco and Hebrew inscriptions. Nearby, the narrow, flower-lined Calleja de las Flores frames the cathedral tower.

Built in the 1st century AD, under Augustus, to carry the Via Augusta over the Guadalquivir, the bridge has been rebuilt several times and has sixteen arches. Today it is for pedestrians only.

Halfway across stands a statue of the Archangel Raphael, the city's protector. From the south bank, at the foot of the Calahorra Tower, you get the classic view of the bridge, the Puerta del Puente and the outline of the Mezquita.

Eight kilometres west of Córdoba, at the foot of the Sierra Morena, the first caliph of al-Andalus, Abd al-Rahman III, had a palace-city built around 936-940 to house his residence and government. Destroyed less than a century later, it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2018.

You explore its terraces, porticoes, the House of Ja'far and the caliph's reception halls. The visitor centre museum shows finds from the excavations before you go up to the site.

North of the centre, on Plaza de Don Gome in the Santa Marina district, this palace with 14th-century origins grew around twelve patios and a garden. Each courtyard has its own style: orange trees, pools, arcaded galleries, pots of geraniums.

Inside, the rooms keep the collections of the Marquises of Viana: paintings, ceramics, tapestries, azulejos, firearms, embossed leather (guadamecíes) and a library from the 16th to 18th centuries.

In Córdoba's traditional houses, life revolves around a patio lined with flowerpots hung on the walls, a well or a fountain. Every May, during the Festival of the Patios, inscribed on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2012, residents open these courtyards to the public and compete for the most beautiful.

The San Basilio district, behind the Alcázar, has several of the best known. Outside the festival, some patios can be visited all year, and the Palacio de Viana has twelve of them.

This fortified tower has guarded the southern end of the Roman Bridge since the Middle Ages; its present form dates from 1333 and it has been a national monument since 1931. It houses the Museo Vivo de al-Andalus, which tells the story of caliphal Córdoba and the coexistence of Muslim, Jewish and Christian cultures through models and audio-guided rooms.

The rooftop terrace gives one of the best views of the bridge and the Mezquita across the river.

Housed in a Renaissance palace on Plaza Jerónimo Páez, between the Mezquita and the Corredera, the museum traces the city's history from prehistory to the Islamic period: Roman sculptures and mosaics from Corduba, capitals, ceramics and bronzes from the caliphate.

In the basement, you walk among the remains of the Roman theatre found under the building, a good complement to a visit to Medina Azahara.

Beneath the Plaza del Campo Santo de los Mártires, next to the Alcázar, the baths of the former caliphs' palace survive, dated to the 10th century. The route follows the cold, warm and hot rooms, vaulted and pierced with star-shaped skylights, with the remains of the underfloor heating system.

The site is small and takes half an hour; it pairs well with the Alcázar to picture the palace quarter before the Christian conquest.