Spain and Portugal: Lisbon, Seville, Granada, Madrid and Barcelona

1. Day 1: Arrive in Lisbon

   Lisbon Airport (LIS) to your hotel in central Lisbon

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Lisbon
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Lisbon's Humberto Delgado Airport (LIS), which sits inside the city about 7 km from the centre, so the drive in takes under half an hour. A driver meets you in arrivals at any time of day and takes you to the hotel. If you land early, walk down through the grid of the Baixa, rebuilt after the 1755 earthquake, to the riverside arcades of Praça do Comércio, or ride the Santa Justa lift up to Chiado. In the early evening your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a short briefing on the fortnight ahead: how the days are paced, which tickets are timed, and where the trains and the long road day fall. Then we walk to a neighbourhood restaurant for a welcome dinner of Portuguese dishes, grilled fish or a slow-cooked stew, and a glass of vinho verde.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Lisbon Airport (LIS)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Welcome dinner in central Lisbon

   Free time: Free until the early-evening briefing

   Activity: Plan to land by mid-afternoon to join the briefing; later arrivals are met and briefed the next morning.

2. Day 2: Belém at opening, Alfama by evening

   Lisbon: Belém, then Alfama

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast and dinner
   • Stay in Lisbon
   Day 2 details

   We drive out along the Tagus to Belém and are at the Jerónimos Monastery when it opens, before the coach groups. With a local guide we walk the double-storey cloister, carved in the Manueline style with ropes, shells and sea creatures, and stand at the tomb of Vasco da Gama in the church. The monastery and the nearby Belém Tower, which we see from the riverbank, are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Next door is the bakery that has sold pastéis de Belém since 1837, and we stop for a warm custard tart dusted with cinnamon. After a look at the Monument to the Discoveries we head back to the centre, and the afternoon is yours. In the early evening we climb into Alfama, Lisbon's oldest quarter, through stairways and laundry-hung lanes to a viewpoint over the river, then sit down to dinner with live fado.

   Included

   • Jerónimos Monastery at opening with a local guide
   • Pastéis de nata tasting in Belém
   • Belém Tower and the Monument to the Discoveries from the riverside
   • Evening walk through Alfama to a viewpoint
   • Dinner with live fado in Alfama

   Optional experiences

   • São Jorge Castle in the free afternoon (entry on the day)
   • Tram 28 through Graça and Alfama

   Easier option: Skip the Alfama climb: we meet you by taxi at the fado restaurant.

   Free time: Afternoon free in Lisbon

   Activity: Alfama is steep, with stairs and polished cobbles; good shoes help.

   

3. Day 3: Sintra's palaces

   Lisbon to Sintra and back

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Lisbon
   Day 3 details

   Sintra fills with day-trippers by late morning, so we leave Lisbon early and take the first timed entry at Pena Palace, the yellow and red 19th-century royal palace on a hilltop above the town. Inside are the rooms the last Portuguese kings used, and from the terraces you look over the Moorish Castle walls to the Atlantic on a clear day. The hills, palaces and gardens of Sintra are a UNESCO cultural landscape. A shuttle brings us down to the old village for a sit-down lunch, then we walk to Quinta da Regaleira, an early 20th-century estate of grottoes, towers and tunnels, where a spiral staircase called the Initiation Well winds nine levels down into the rock. We are back in Lisbon by late afternoon, with the evening free to try a tasca in Bairro Alto or a sunset drink at a miradouro.

   Included

   • Pena Palace on the first timed entry with your guide
   • Sit-down lunch in Sintra village
   • Quinta da Regaleira and the Initiation Well

   Easier option: Skip Quinta da Regaleira and spend the afternoon over coffee and travesseiros in Sintra village.

   More active option: Walk down from Pena through the park and past the Moorish Castle to the village, about 45 minutes on forest paths, instead of the shuttle.

   Free time: Evening free in Lisbon

   Activity: Pena and Regaleira both involve steep paths and steps; the Initiation Well is a narrow spiral stair.

4. Day 4: Évora and across the border to Seville

   Lisbon to Évora, then into Spain to Seville

   • Drive about 5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Seville
   Day 4 details

   This is the trip's long road day, and the reason is simple: no direct passenger train links Lisbon and Seville, and flying costs as many hours in airports. So we drive, and break it in the middle. After an hour and a half across the cork oak plains of the Alentejo we reach Évora, a walled university town and UNESCO World Heritage Site, by mid-morning. Your guide walks you past the columns of the Roman temple, through the Cathedral and into the Chapel of Bones, lined in the 16th century with the skulls and bones of the town's dead, then along a stretch of the aqueduct finished in 1537. A long sit-down lunch of Alentejo cooking follows. In the afternoon we drive on via Badajoz to Seville, about 3 hours 15 minutes with a stop, and put the clocks forward an hour at the border. We reach Seville in the early evening: about 9 hours door to door, under 5 of them on the road.

   Included

   • Walking tour of Évora with your guide: the Roman temple, the Cathedral and the Chapel of Bones
   • The Água de Prata aqueduct
   • Sit-down lunch in Évora
   • Drive to Seville with a rest stop

   Free time: Evening free in Seville

   Activity: About 4 hours 45 minutes of driving in total, split into 1 hour 30 and 3 hours 15 by four hours in Évora; about 9 hours door to door, leaving Lisbon around 8:30. Spain is one hour ahead of Portugal.

   

5. Day 5: The Alcázar, the Cathedral and Triana

   Seville: Santa Cruz, then Triana

   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Seville
   Day 5 details

   We are at the gate of the Real Alcázar when it opens, while its courtyards are still cool and quiet. With a licensed local guide we walk through the Palace of King Peter, built in the 14th century by Moorish craftsmen for a Christian king, past the plasterwork of the Courtyard of the Maidens and out into the gardens of orange trees, pools and tiled pavilions. Next door is the Cathedral, one of the largest Gothic churches anywhere, with the tomb of Columbus and the Giralda, the former minaret, which you climb by 35 ramps rather than stairs for the view over the city. The Alcázar, the Cathedral and the Archive of the Indies are listed together by UNESCO. The middle of the day is free, when Seville rests. In the early evening we cross the Guadalquivir to Triana, the old potters' and sailors' quarter, for its market and tile workshops, then a flamenco show.

   Included

   • Real Alcázar at opening with a licensed guide
   • Seville Cathedral and the climb up the Giralda
   • Evening walk in Triana: the market, the tile workshops and Calle Betis
   • Flamenco show in the evening

   Optional experiences

   • Hospital de los Venerables and its Velázquez painting, in the free afternoon
   • Plaza de España and María Luisa Park

   Easier option: Skip the Giralda climb and wait in the Patio de los Naranjos.

   Free time: Afternoon free in Seville

   Activity: About 7 km on foot, mostly flat; the Giralda is 35 gentle ramps and a short stair.

6. Day 6: Córdoba by fast train

   Seville to Córdoba by high-speed train and back

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Seville
   Day 6 details

   A high-speed train takes about 45 minutes from Seville's Santa Justa station to Córdoba, so we spend the day there and sleep in Seville again instead of packing. From the station we walk into the old town to the Mezquita-Catedral. Begun as a mosque in 785 and enlarged over two centuries, it holds a forest of more than 800 columns joined by red and white striped arches, with a Renaissance cathedral built into its centre after 1236. A licensed guide takes us through the prayer hall to the gilded mihrab. Afterwards we wander the Judería, the old Jewish quarter, past the small medieval synagogue and into lanes of whitewashed houses with flowered patios, and cross the Roman bridge for the view back. Lunch is a sit-down meal of Córdoba dishes such as salmorejo and flamenquín. We are back in Seville by late afternoon with a free evening for tapas.

   Included

   • Reserved high-speed train from Seville to Córdoba and back
   • The Mezquita-Catedral with a licensed guide
   • Walk through the Judería, the synagogue and the Roman bridge
   • Sit-down lunch in Córdoba

   Easier option: After lunch, rest in a café in the Judería instead of walking to the bridge.

   Free time: Evening free in Seville

   Activity: About 6 km on foot, flat. Covered shoulders are expected in the Mezquita.

7. Day 7: Alhama de Granada and the Albaicín at sunset

   Seville to Alhama de Granada, then Granada

   • Drive about 3.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Granada
   Day 7 details

   We leave Seville after breakfast and drive east through olive country on the A-92, about 2 hours 45 minutes with a coffee stop, to Alhama de Granada, a white town on the lip of a deep river gorge. Its capture by Castile in 1482 began the ten-year war that ended with the fall of Granada, and a Spanish ballad still laments it. We walk the old lanes to the edge of the gorge. The vaulted Moorish baths by the hot springs below the town are an optional stop, offered only if visits are confirmed before you travel. Lunch is a sit-down meal in the town. It is under an hour from there to Granada, our base for two nights. In the late afternoon your guide leads a walk up through the Albaicín, the old Moorish quarter of steep alleys and walled gardens, to the Mirador de San Nicolás, where the Alhambra turns red against the Sierra Nevada at sunset.

   Included

   • Walk in Alhama de Granada to the edge of the gorge
   • Sit-down lunch in Alhama de Granada
   • Guided walk through the Albaicín to the Mirador de San Nicolás at sunset

   Optional experiences

   • The Moorish baths by the hot springs, only if visits are confirmed before departure

   Easier option: Ride the small Albaicín minibus up to San Nicolás and walk down with the group.

   Free time: Evening free in Granada

   Activity: The Albaicín is steep and cobbled, about 1 hour uphill at an easy pace.

   

8. Day 8: The Alhambra, early

   Granada: the Alhambra and the Generalife

   • Breakfast and dinner
   • Stay in Granada
   Day 8 details

   Today is why the tickets were bought in your name as soon as your departure was confirmed. We go up to the Alhambra for an early timed entry to the Nasrid Palaces, the 13th- and 14th-century rooms of the last Muslim rulers of Spain, with a licensed guide. Walk through the Mexuar and the Comares Palace, past the long pool of the Court of the Myrtles, into the Court of the Lions and under the honeycomb ceiling of the Hall of the Two Sisters. Then the Alcazaba fortress, with the view across to the Albaicín you looked from last night, the Renaissance Palace of Charles V, and the terraced water gardens of the Generalife. The Alhambra, the Generalife and the Albaicín are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We are back in town by early afternoon, and the rest of the day is free. In the evening your guide takes the group around a few tapas bars, where a small plate still comes free with each drink.

   Included

   • The Alhambra with a licensed guide: the Nasrid Palaces on a timed entry, the Alcazaba, the Palace of Charles V and the Generalife
   • Tapas evening with your guide (dinner)

   Optional experiences

   • Granada Cathedral and the Royal Chapel, with the tombs of Ferdinand and Isabella
   • An Arab-style bathhouse in the old town

   Easier option: Take the minibus up to the Alhambra and back instead of the walk up the Cuesta de Gomérez.

   More active option: In the free afternoon, walk out to the Sacromonte caves and the abbey above them with your guide.

   Free time: Afternoon free in Granada

   Activity: About 3 hours on foot at the Alhambra, with gravel paths, stairs and some slopes. Bring your passport: tickets are checked against it.

   

9. Day 9: By train to Madrid and the Prado

   Granada to Madrid by train

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Madrid
   Day 9 details

   A morning train runs direct from Granada to Madrid in about three and a half hours, across the olive groves of Jaén and up onto the plateau of La Mancha; a vehicle takes our bags from the hotel to the station so there is no dragging cases over cobbles. We arrive at Atocha around midday, check in and break for lunch on your own around the Paseo del Prado. In the afternoon an art guide takes us through the Prado for about two hours, choosing the rooms that matter most: Velázquez's Las Meninas, the court portraits and dark late paintings of Goya, El Greco, and Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights. Then a short walk with your guide through Puerta del Sol and the arcaded Plaza Mayor to get your bearings, and the evening is free. Madrid eats late, so a 9 pm table is early.

   Included

   • Reserved direct train from Granada to Madrid
   • The Prado with an art guide
   • Orientation walk: Puerta del Sol and Plaza Mayor

   Free time: Evening free in Madrid

   Activity: About 2 hours standing in the Prado, with benches in most rooms.

10. Day 10: Toledo

    Madrid to Toledo and back

    • Drive about 2 h
    • Breakfast and lunch
    • Stay in Madrid
    Day 10 details

    Toledo is about an hour south of Madrid by road, set on a rock almost wrapped by the Tagus, and we go in the morning before the day-tour coaches crowd its lanes. First a stop at the Mirador del Valle across the gorge, for the view El Greco painted. Then a local guide leads us through the old city, a UNESCO World Heritage Site where Christian, Muslim and Jewish communities lived side by side for centuries. We visit the Cathedral, with its carved choir stalls and the Transparente, a baroque altar lit through a hole cut in the vault, then the church of Santo Tomé for El Greco's Burial of the Count of Orgaz, and the Synagogue of Santa María la Blanca with its white horseshoe arches. Lunch is a sit-down meal in the old town. We are back in Madrid by mid-afternoon, with time for the Retiro or the Royal Palace.

    Included

    • The Mirador del Valle viewpoint
    • Toledo with a local guide: the Cathedral, Santo Tomé and the Synagogue of Santa María la Blanca
    • Sit-down lunch in Toledo

    Optional experiences

    • The Royal Palace of Madrid or the Reina Sofía museum in the free afternoon

    Easier option: Toledo's public escalators climb from the river to the old town; we use them rather than the steep streets.

    Free time: Late afternoon and evening free in Madrid

    Activity: Toledo is hilly and cobbled; about 5 km on foot.

11. Day 11: Fast train to Barcelona and the Gothic Quarter

    Madrid to Barcelona by high-speed train

    • Drive about 30 min
    • Breakfast
    • Stay in Barcelona
    Day 11 details

    The morning is yours in Madrid: an early walk in the Retiro, a look into the Royal Palace, or chocolate and churros near Sol. Before noon we take a reserved high-speed train to Barcelona, about two and a half to three hours across Aragon and down to the Mediterranean, while a vehicle takes the bags. We check in to our hotel for three nights by mid-afternoon. In the late afternoon your guide walks you through the Gothic Quarter, the medieval core of the city, past the Cathedral and the Roman columns of the Temple of Augustus, into Plaça del Rei and the narrow lanes of the old Jewish quarter, then across Via Laietana into El Born and up to the Gothic church of Santa Maria del Mar, built by the city's merchants and dockworkers in the 14th century. The evening is free in a city that dines even later than Madrid.

    Included

    • Reserved high-speed train from Madrid to Barcelona
    • Walking tour of the Gothic Quarter and El Born with Santa Maria del Mar

    Free time: Morning free in Madrid, evening free in Barcelona

12. Day 12: The Sagrada Família and Park Güell

    Barcelona: the Sagrada Família, then Park Güell

    • Drive about 30 min
    • Breakfast
    • Stay in Barcelona
    Day 12 details

    We are at the Sagrada Família for a 9 am timed entry with a licensed guide, when the morning sun comes through the stained glass on the east side and the nave glows blue and green. Antoni Gaudí worked on the basilica from 1883 until his death in 1926, and building still goes on; your guide explains how the tree-like columns carry the vault and what the Nativity and Passion facades tell. The Nativity facade and the crypt are part of the UNESCO listing of Gaudí's works. From there our vehicle takes us up to Park Güell for a timed visit to the monumental zone, with the mosaic dragon on the stairs, the columned market hall and the serpentine bench looking over the city to the sea. The afternoon and evening are free: the Boqueria market, the beach at Barceloneta, or a vermouth in Gràcia.

    Included

    • The Sagrada Família on a 9 am timed entry with a licensed guide
    • Park Güell monumental zone on a timed entry

    Optional experiences

    • A tower lift at the Sagrada Família (booked with your entry, subject to availability)

    Easier option: Park Güell is hilly; your guide keeps to the main terrace and the bench for anyone who prefers.

    More active option: Walk up from Park Güell to the Bunkers del Carmel viewpoint, about 30 minutes uphill.

    Free time: Afternoon and evening free in Barcelona

    Activity: Bring your passport; Sagrada Família tickets are in your name.

    

13. Day 13: Casa Batlló, the Boqueria and a farewell dinner

    Barcelona: Passeig de Gràcia, then La Rambla

    • Breakfast and dinner
    • Stay in Barcelona
    Day 13 details

    We start at Casa Batlló when it opens, before the queue forms on the Passeig de Gràcia. Gaudí remodelled this apartment house in the early 1900s with a facade of broken tile and bone-like balconies and a roof shaped like a dragon's back; inside, the stairwell shades from deep to pale blue so the light is even on every floor. Afterwards we walk up the boulevard past Casa Milà, La Pedrera, and the other Modernista houses of the Eixample, then down to the Boqueria market on La Rambla to taste jamón, olives and fruit at the stalls. From there the afternoon is free, for the Picasso Museum, the Palau de la Música, the hill of Montjuïc or a last swim. In the evening we gather for a farewell dinner of Catalan dishes in the old town, and your guide goes over flights and transfers for tomorrow.

    Included

    • Casa Batlló at opening
    • Walk along the Passeig de Gràcia past Casa Milà
    • Tasting walk through the Boqueria market
    • Farewell dinner in the old town

    Optional experiences

    • The Palau de la Música Catalana guided visit
    • A half-day trip to Montserrat

    Easier option: Skip the Boqueria walk and rest before dinner; the hotel is central.

    More active option: Walk or take the cable car up Montjuïc in the free afternoon for the castle and the view over the port.

    Free time: Afternoon free in Barcelona

14. Day 14: Depart Barcelona

    Your hotel to Barcelona Airport (BCN)

    • Drive about 30 min
    • Breakfast
    Day 14 details

    The trip ends after breakfast. A driver takes you from the hotel to Barcelona El Prat Airport (BCN), about 15 km and 30 minutes away, at a time set around your flight, so flights at any hour of the day work. If you are flying out late, leave your bags at the hotel and spend the morning in the city: the Picasso Museum in El Born, a last coffee in Plaça Reial, the beach promenade at Barceloneta, or the Hospital de Sant Pau, a Modernista hospital complex that is now open to visitors. If you want more time in Spain, ask us about extra nights in Barcelona, or a few days on the Costa Brava or in Girona, and we will quote for them. Your guide says goodbye at breakfast and checks that everyone's transfer and flight details are right before the group goes its separate ways.

    Included

    • Drop-off at Barcelona Airport (BCN)

    Free time: Free until your airport transfer

    Activity: Any flight time works; allow 2 hours at the airport for international flights.

Wildlife and weather: Spring and autumn are mild and the best time for walking cities. In July and August Seville, Córdoba and Granada often pass 40 C, so we sightsee in the morning and rest at midday; winter is cool and showery with short days but quiet sites.

• Lisbon3 nights
• Seville3 nights
• Granada2 nights
• Madrid2 nights
• Barcelona3 nights