Spain: Madrid, Andalusia and Barcelona

1. Jour 1 : Arrive in Madrid

   Madrid-Barajas Airport to your hotel in central Madrid

   • Environ 30 min de route
   • Welcome dinner
   • Nuit : Madrid
   Détail du jour 1

   Fly into Madrid-Barajas Airport (MAD), about 15 km from the centre, where a driver meets you in the arrivals hall and takes you to your hotel. Plan to land by about 3 pm so you can rest before the evening. At about 6 pm your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a short briefing on the twelve days ahead, then leads a first walk through the old city as the streets fill for the evening: Puerta del Sol, the arcaded Plaza Mayor, the lanes of the Madrid de los Austrias, and on to the 18th-century Royal Palace and the gardens of Plaza de Oriente as the light goes. Spaniards eat late, so we finish with a relaxed welcome dinner at a local restaurant, a chance to meet the group over shared plates. If you arrive early, the Royal Palace interior or a first look at the Retiro park fills the afternoon.

   Compris

   • Pick-up at Madrid-Barajas Airport (MAD)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Evening walk: Puerta del Sol, Plaza Mayor, the Madrid de los Austrias and the Royal Palace from Plaza de Oriente
   • Welcome dinner

   Activités en option

   • Royal Palace interior for early arrivals

   Temps libre : Free until the evening briefing

   Activité : About 3 km of easy walking in the evening.

   

2. Jour 2 : Toledo, the city on the Tagus

   Madrid to Toledo and back

   • Environ 2 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Madrid
   Détail du jour 2

   We leave Madrid at about 8:30 am and drive an hour south to Toledo, a walled city on a rocky hill wrapped on three sides by a bend of the Tagus, listed by UNESCO in 1986. The first stop is the Mirador del Valle across the river, for the whole city in the morning light. Then we ride the public escalators up into the old town and walk with a local guide, on reserved group entries: the Primate Cathedral, Gothic outside and crowded with chapels and gilded altarpieces inside; the church of Santo Tomé, where El Greco's Burial of the Count of Orgaz still hangs in the chapel it was painted for; and the Synagogue of Santa María la Blanca, with its rows of white horseshoe arches. Lunch is a sit-down meal in the old town, perhaps partridge stew, with Toledo marzipan after. We are back in Madrid by about 4 pm, and the evening is yours.

   Compris

   • Mirador del Valle viewpoint over Toledo
   • Toledo with a local guide: the Primate Cathedral, Santo Tomé and El Greco's Burial of the Count of Orgaz, and the Synagogue of Santa María la Blanca
   • Sit-down lunch in Toledo

   Activités en option

   • Museo Reina Sofía and Picasso's Guernica in the evening

   Option plus facile : Stay on the level streets around the cathedral and wait in a café while the group walks down to the synagogue quarter.

   Temps libre : Evening free in Madrid

   Activité : Toledo is steep and cobbled; about 4 km on foot with escalators for the main climb. Departures never put this day on a Sunday, when the cathedral is closed to visitors in the morning.

   

3. Jour 3 : The Prado, then the fast train to Córdoba

   Madrid to Córdoba by high-speed train

   • En train
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Córdoba
   Détail du jour 3

   We are at the Prado as its doors open at 10 am, ahead of the tour coaches, for two hours with a licensed guide through the core of the Spanish collection: Velázquez's Las Meninas, Goya from his court portraits to the dark Black Paintings, and Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights. Lunch is a sit-down meal in the Barrio de las Letras, a few streets from the museum. In the early afternoon we take the high-speed AVE train from Madrid Puerta de Atocha to Córdoba, about one hour and forty-five minutes across the plains of La Mancha and into the olive country of Andalusia. Our driver meets the train and takes the luggage to the hotel. In the early evening we walk the whitewashed lanes of the Judería, Córdoba's old Jewish quarter, and the Calleja de las Flores, and finish on the Roman bridge over the Guadalquivir as the light fades over the Mezquita.

   Compris

   • The Prado at opening with a licensed guide
   • Sit-down lunch in Madrid
   • Reserved high-speed AVE train, Madrid to Córdoba
   • Evening walk in the Judería and on the Roman bridge

   Temps libre : Free time in Córdoba before dinner

   Activité : Bags go by vehicle from the hotel to the station and from Córdoba station to the hotel; you carry only a day bag on the train.

   

4. Jour 4 : The Mezquita, then on to Seville

   Córdoba to Seville

   • Environ 2 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Seville
   Détail du jour 4

   We go into the Mezquita-Catedral when it opens to visitors at 10 am, before the day-trip groups arrive. With a licensed local guide you walk through the forest of columns and red-and-white striped double arches raised from the 8th century, to the gilded mosaics of the mihrab, then to the shock at the centre: a Renaissance cathedral built inside the mosque in the 16th century. Afterwards there is time in the Patio de los Naranjos, the courtyard of orange trees, and a sit-down lunch nearby with salmorejo, Córdoba's thick cold tomato soup. In the mid-afternoon we drive about 140 km down the Guadalquivir valley to Seville, around an hour and three quarters. After a rest, we cross the Isabel II bridge into Triana, the old district of potters and flamenco singers, for an evening walk along the river, past the tile workshops to the Triana market.

   Compris

   • The Mezquita-Catedral of Córdoba with a licensed local guide
   • Sit-down lunch in Córdoba
   • Drive to Seville
   • Evening walk in Triana with your guide

   Temps libre : Late afternoon free in Seville

   Activité : About 4 km on foot, level. Departures never put this day on a Sunday, when Mass splits the Mezquita's visiting hours.

   

5. Jour 5 : The Real Alcázar, the Cathedral and flamenco

   A full day in Seville

   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Seville
   Détail du jour 5

   The Real Alcázar opens at 9:30 am and we take the first entry, while its courtyards are cool and quiet. A licensed guide leads you through the 14th-century Mudéjar palace of Pedro I, with its carved plaster, tiled halls and the Courtyard of the Maidens, then out into the gardens of fountains, palms and orange trees. Next door is the Cathedral, built over the great mosque of the Almohads, holding the tomb of Christopher Columbus. You climb the Giralda, the mosque's former minaret, by 35 gentle ramps rather than stairs, for the view over the rooftops. The afternoon is free for a long lunch and the siesta Seville keeps in the heat, or for the Plaza de España, built for the 1929 exposition. In the evening the group meets for a tapas dinner and a flamenco performance, the city's own art, in a small venue.

   Compris

   • The Real Alcázar at first entry with a licensed guide
   • Seville Cathedral and the climb up the Giralda
   • Tapas dinner and a flamenco show

   Activités en option

   • Hospital de los Venerables and its Velázquez paintings
   • A boat trip on the Guadalquivir

   Option plus facile : Skip the Giralda climb and rest in the Patio de los Naranjos while the group goes up.

   Option plus active : In the free afternoon, walk with your guide's map through the Parque de María Luisa to the Plaza de España and back along the river, about 5 km.

   Temps libre : Afternoon free in Seville

   Activité : About 6 km on foot, mostly level, plus the 35 ramps of the Giralda.

   

6. Jour 6 : Setenil and Ronda

   Seville to Setenil de las Bodegas, then Ronda

   • Environ 2.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Ronda
   Détail du jour 6

   We leave Seville at about 9:30 am and drive into the hills of the Serranía de Ronda, a little over two hours with a coffee stop. Setenil de las Bodegas is a white village built into the gorge of the Río Trejo, where whole streets of houses sit under overhanging rock instead of roofs; we walk the Cuevas del Sol and Cuevas de la Sombra and sit down to lunch in the village. Ronda is twenty minutes on. In the afternoon your guide walks you across the Puente Nuevo, the 18th-century bridge over the El Tajo gorge that splits the town in two, through the old Moorish quarter and past the Plaza de Toros, one of the oldest bullrings in Spain. Most visitors to Ronda come on day trips from the coast and leave by late afternoon. Staying the night means you can walk back out onto the bridge in the evening, when it is quiet and the gorge turns gold.

   Compris

   • Setenil de las Bodegas with your guide
   • Sit-down lunch in Setenil
   • Ronda walking tour: the Puente Nuevo, the old town and the Plaza de Toros from outside

   Activités en option

   • The Plaza de Toros and its museum
   • The Arab baths of Ronda

   Option plus facile : Stay on the level clifftop paths of the Alameda del Tajo for the views, without going down into the old town.

   Option plus active : Walk down the steep path below the Puente Nuevo to the viewpoints at the foot of the gorge and back up, about an hour.

   Temps libre : Evening free in Ronda

   Activité : About 5 km on foot, with steep cobbled lanes in Setenil and Ronda.

   

7. Jour 7 : The Antequera Dolmens and the Albaicín at sunset

   Ronda to Antequera, then Granada

   • Environ 2.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Granada
   Détail du jour 7

   An unhurried breakfast, then about an hour and a quarter through olive groves to Antequera. On its edge stand the Dolmens of Menga and Viera, burial mounds built from huge stone slabs more than 5,000 years ago and listed by UNESCO in 2016. You walk inside Menga, roofed by single stones weighing many tonnes, and see how its entrance faces the Peña de los Enamorados, a mountain shaped like a face. Lunch is a sit-down meal in Antequera, where the local dish is porra, a thicker cousin of salmorejo. Granada is about an hour further on, and we arrive in the mid-afternoon. As the light fades we walk up through the Albaicín, the old Moorish quarter of steep lanes and walled gardens, to the Mirador de San Nicolás, where the Alhambra glows red on its hill with the Sierra Nevada behind it at sunset.

   Compris

   • The Antequera Dolmens: Menga and Viera
   • Sit-down lunch in Antequera
   • The Albaicín and sunset at the Mirador de San Nicolás with your guide

   Option plus facile : Ride a local minibus up to San Nicolás and walk only the downhill lanes back.

   Temps libre : Evening free in Granada

   Activité : The Dolmens close on Mondays, so departures are set so this day never falls on one. The Albaicín walk is steep and cobbled, about 3 km.

8. Jour 8 : The Alhambra

   A full morning at the Alhambra, Granada

   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Granada
   Détail du jour 8

   Today is the reason Granada gets two nights. Our Nasrid Palaces entries were booked as soon as sales opened for your departure, on a morning time slot, and a licensed Alhambra guide takes the group through. We start at the Alcazaba, the fortress at the western tip of the hill, and climb the Torre de la Vela for the view over the white houses of the Albaicín. Then into the Nasrid Palaces at our set time: the Court of the Myrtles with its long pool, the carved stucco and honeycomb ceilings of the Hall of the Ambassadors, and the Court of the Lions. After the Renaissance Palace of Charles V we walk across to the Generalife, the summer palace and gardens of water channels and cypress. Lunch is a sit-down meal back in town, and the afternoon and evening are free for the Royal Chapel, a hammam or a nap.

   Compris

   • The Alhambra with a licensed guide: the Alcazaba, the Torre de la Vela, the Nasrid Palaces on a timed entry, the Palace of Charles V and the Generalife
   • Sit-down lunch in Granada

   Activités en option

   • The Royal Chapel, burial place of Ferdinand and Isabella
   • An Arab-style bath
   • A flamenco zambra in a Sacromonte cave

   Option plus facile : Our vehicle drops you at the Alhambra gate and collects you after the palaces, skipping the upper Generalife gardens.

   Option plus active : Walk up to the Alhambra from Plaza Nueva through the woods of the Cuesta de Gomérez instead of riding.

   Temps libre : Afternoon and evening free in Granada

   Activité : About 3 to 4 hours inside the Alhambra and 4 km on foot, with slopes and steps.

   

9. Jour 9 : By train to Barcelona

   Granada to Barcelona Sants by direct train

   • En train
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Barcelona
   Détail du jour 9

   Granada and Barcelona are about 860 km apart by road, two long days in a vehicle, so we take the direct train instead, which at present runs once a day. The morning is free: the Royal Chapel and the Cathedral, the old silk market of the Alcaicería, a walk up into the Sacromonte, or a slow coffee on Plaza Nueva. Check out by midday; the hotel holds your bags, and in the early afternoon our driver takes you and the luggage to Granada station. The train currently leaves at about 2:30 pm and reaches Barcelona Sants about six and a half hours later, around 9 pm; these times are indicative, and we confirm them when we book your seats. A packed lunch from a Granada deli travels with you, and the café car sells drinks and light suppers. A vehicle meets the train in Barcelona and takes everyone and the bags to the hotel. If you still have energy, your guide offers a short optional stroll around the hotel's streets; otherwise it is straight to bed. If the timetable changes, we fly from Granada instead and tell you before you travel.

   Compris

   • Reserved direct train, Granada to Barcelona Sants
   • Packed lunch for the train
   • Station transfers with luggage at both ends
   • Short optional evening stroll with your guide

   Option plus facile : Skip the evening stroll and go straight to your room.

   Temps libre : Morning free in Granada

   Activité : The long travel day of the trip: about six and a half hours seated on the train, with the café car to stretch your legs. Train times are indicative until we book the seats.

10. Jour 10 : The Sagrada Família

    Barcelona: the Sagrada Família and the Eixample

    • Petit-déjeuner
    • Nuit : Barcelona
    Détail du jour 10

    We are at the Sagrada Família for its first entry of the day, at 9 am, on tickets booked as soon as sales opened for your date. Begun in 1882 and taken over by Antoni Gaudí the year after, the basilica is still being built. A licensed guide reads the Nativity facade with you, the part Gaudí saw finished and the one UNESCO listed in 2005, then leads you inside, where the columns branch like trees and the morning sun pours through the stained glass on the east side in blues and greens. Afterwards we walk through the grid of the Eixample, the 19th-century extension of the city, to the Hospital de Sant Pau or along the modernist houses of the Passeig de Gràcia. The rest of the day is yours: lunch where you like, the beach at Barceloneta, or one of the Gaudí houses inside, with your guide on hand to help book.

    Compris

    • The Sagrada Família at first entry with a licensed guide
    • Eixample walk with your guide
    • Public transport in Barcelona

    Activités en option

    • The Sagrada Família towers
    • Casa Batlló or La Pedrera inside
    • The Picasso Museum

    Temps libre : Afternoon and evening free in Barcelona

    Activité : About 5 km on foot, level. Departures never put this day on a Sunday, when the basilica opens at 10:30 am.

    

11. Jour 11 : Park Güell and the Gothic Quarter

    Barcelona: Park Güell, the Gothic Quarter and El Born

    • Petit-déjeuner et repas du soir
    • Nuit : Barcelona
    Détail du jour 11

    An early start for Park Güell, on the first timed entry to its monumental zone, when the mosaic serpent bench and the gatehouses look out over the city before the crowds. We ride back down into the old city for the rest of the morning on foot: the Gothic Quarter with Barcelona Cathedral and the medieval Plaça del Rei, then into El Born and the soaring Catalan Gothic of Santa Maria del Mar, built in the 14th century by the people of the port. We finish at La Boqueria, the market off the Rambla, where your guide points out what to taste. The afternoon is free for the beach, the Picasso Museum or the cable car to Montjuïc. In the evening the group gathers for a farewell dinner of Catalan dishes, a last long table together before everyone goes their own way.

    Compris

    • Park Güell monumental zone on a timed entry
    • The Gothic Quarter, Barcelona Cathedral and Santa Maria del Mar with your guide
    • La Boqueria market
    • Farewell dinner

    Activités en option

    • The Picasso Museum
    • The Montjuïc cable car

    Option plus facile : Take a taxi between Park Güell and the Gothic Quarter, and skip the market.

    Temps libre : Afternoon free in Barcelona

    Activité : Park Güell is on a hillside, with steps and slopes; about 6 km on foot over the day.

    

12. Jour 12 : Depart from Barcelona

    Your hotel to Barcelona El Prat Airport

    • Environ 30 min de route
    • Petit-déjeuner
    Détail du jour 12

    The trip ends after breakfast. A driver takes you to Barcelona El Prat Airport (BCN), about 15 km and 30 minutes from the centre, at a time set by your flight, so any departure time works; we time the transfer from the flight details you give us when you book. If your flight is in the evening, the hotel can hold your bags and the morning is free for one last walk: the Ciutadella park, the seafront at Barceloneta, or a coffee in a square of the Gràcia district. Your guide says goodbye at breakfast and checks everyone's transfer time. If you would like to stay on in Barcelona, or travel on to another part of Spain, ask us when you book and we can add hotel nights before the trip in Madrid or after it here.

    Compris

    • Drop-off at Barcelona El Prat Airport (BCN)

    Temps libre : Free until your transfer

    Activité : Book any flight time; the airport transfer is timed to it.

Faune et météo : Spring and autumn bring warm days and mild evenings. July and August often pass 40 °C in Seville and Córdoba, so in summer we visit early and rest at midday; winter is mild in the south but cold in Madrid and Granada at night.

• Madrid2 nuits
• Córdoba1 nuit
• Seville2 nuits
• Ronda1 nuit
• Granada2 nuits
• Barcelona3 nuits