Madrid & Southern Spain

with optional Barcelona Extension

Length: 8 - 10 days  
Guaranteed Dates Available
 

Madrid and Southern Spain Educational Tour | Madrid Building
 
Map of Madrid & Southern Spain Educational Tour
 
Madrid and Southern Spain Educational Tour | Flamenco Singers
 
  • Day 1 Start Tour
  • Day 2 Hola Madrid
    Meet your Tour Director and check into hotel
    Madrid City Walk 
    Puerta del SolPlaza MayorPlaza de España
    Details: Madrid City Walk
    Life in Madrid is centered around talking, toasting and tapas-eating. In a walk through this crowded and social city, your Tour Director will help you get to know the lay of the land. Then stroll over to the Puerta del Sol, the bustling city center. Next, you'll relax at the Plaza Mayor, a grand square where every sort of human drama has taken place-trails of faith, public burnings of heretics, royal marriages, the canonization of saints and countless balls and bullfights. End at the Plaza de España for a stop at an outdoor café.
    Details: Prado visit
    Visit the Museo del Prado, home of works by Spain's great masters, including Francisco Goya, Diego Velázquez, and El Greco. Please note that on some occassions the Prado could be substituted for the Reina Sofia Museum, featuring works from Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dalí amoung others.
  • Day 3 Madrid Landmarks
    Madrid Guided Sightseeing Tour 
    Calle MayorGran ViaCibeles fountainAlcala GateColumbus squareRoyal Palace visit
    Optional  Toledo Guided Excursion   $60
    CathedralChurch of Santo ToméSt. Mary’s Synagogue
    Details: Madrid Guided Sightseeing Tour
    Take a taste of Spain's cultural, political, and economic center with a tour led by a licensed local guide. See Madrid's mix of traditional and modern as you visit the Royal Palace, an 18th-century masterpiece. The enormous Baroque palace currently has more rooms (2,800) than any other European palace, but it was originally supposed to be four times as large. The palace is dripping with porcelain, jeweled clocks, amazing ceiling frescoes — the most magnificent, in the Throne Room, was done by the Venetian artist Tiepolo when he was in his seventies. Next take a look at the Neoclassical architecture of the Prado Museum and the Puerta de Alcala triumphal arch, built to honor Carlos III’s entry into Spain.
    Details: Tapas dinner
    Tapas purportedly originated when bartenders set a small plate ("tapa") over patrons' glasses of sherry and wine to keep the flies out. The bartenders starting piling the plate with cold cuts, olives, or salad, and the bite-size snack was born. (We're unsure how they kept the flies out of the cold-cuts... maybe that's how the sandwich was invented?) Over time these working-class snacks have become more elaborate, with each region adding its own specialties and cooking techniques to create unique tastes and combinations.
  • Day 4 Madrid--Granada
    Travel to Granada via Aranjuez
    Aranjuez Palace visit
  • Day 5 Granada--Seville
    Travel to Seville
    Details: Guided visit of Alhambra
    Granada sits on three gentle hills, which are dwarfed on a clear day by the majestic snowcapped peaks of the Sierra Nevada. Atop one of these hill sits the imposing but delicate Alhambra palace. Golden pink hues give this sprawling Moorish castle an otherworldly aura. One of the best rewards of climbing up to see it is the view of the city mixed in with orchards, tobacco fields and poplar groves.
  • Day 6 Seville Landmarks
    Seville Guided Sightseeing Tour 
    Giralda TowerAlcázar visitColumbus’ gravesiteCathedral visit
    Seville City Walk 
    Barrio de Santa Cruz
    Details: Seville Guided Sightseeing Tour
    See the twisted alleyways and cobbled streets of Seville with the help of a licensed, local guide. Your first visit will be to the Barrio de Santa Cruz, formerly the old Jewish quarter of the 17th-century. Now, lovingly restored, these properties are among the city’s more exquisite and expensive. Next you will enter the high, fortified wall of the Alcázar, a palace built by a Christian king named ‘Pedro the Cruel’. Now it is the official residence of the king and queen of Spain. End the day with a visit to Columbus’ gravesite.
    Details: Seville City Walk
    Charming white-washed houses and ochre-colored palaces with ornate façades. Jasmine-covered balconies and luxuriant parks. Jean Cocteau listed Seville (along with Peking and Venice) as one of the three most magical cities in the world. Santa Teresa proclaimed its beauty was the work of the devil. Decide for yourself as you stroll the streets with your Tour Director. Climb to the top of the Giralda Tower, the greatest symbol of the city. It was once the minaret of Seville’s greatest mosque, built between 1184 and 1196. Later, Christians destroyed the mosque but couldn’t bear to tear down the tower, so they incorporated it into their new cathedral.
    Details: Flamenco evening
    Originating from gypsy music and dance in Southern Spain, flamenco dancing has become a Spanish institution. Dancers use intricate footwork and elaborate arm gestures to convey the mood of the music, which can range from lamentation to celebration.
  • Day 7 Seville--Madrid
    Mezquita guided visit
    Details: Travel to Madrid via Córdoba
    Stop at Córdoba to visit one of Spain’s most impressive monuments, the Moorish Mezquita, which dates from the 8th to the 10th centuries. Walk through narrow white-washed alleys, passing tile covered patios, dotted with vibrant colored flowers. Don’t miss the beautiful back quarters.
  • Day 8 End Tour

  • Or
  • Day 8 Start Extension to Barcelona
    AVE train to Barcelona
  • Day 9 Barcelona Landmarks
    Barcelona Guided Sightseeing Tour 
    Gaudí’s Sagrada Familia Visit Parque GüellMontjuïc Hill
    Barcelona City Walk 
    Mercat de la BoqueríaLas RamblasColumbus Monument
    Paella dinner
    Details: Barcelona Guided Sightseeing Tour
    See brilliant Barcelona, a city of graceful Gothic churches, wrought-iron balconies and wide, grand avenues filled with outdoor cafés. Throughout the city, daringly innovative buildings sit side-by-side with the medieval past. A licensed, local guide will show you some of the high points of this architectural showcase. First stop: the pointy spires of the La Sagrada Familia (Church of the Holy Family), a half-finished church complex that became the obsession of Barcelona's famously eccentric architectural genius, Antoni Gaudí. Then step back to the past with a journey up to Montjuïc (Hill of the Jews). See the fortress built atop an ancient Jewish cemetery. Site of numerous battles to control Barcelona, this hill was also the location of the 1992 Olympics.
    Details: Gaudí’s Sagrada Familia
    This breathtaking church, said to be the master-work of architect Antoni Gaudí, has been under construction since 1882 and is not expected to be completed until 2026! Despite its unfinished state, the church has 18 spindle-shaped towers that soar above the church itself, making for a striking addition to Barcelona’s skyline and more than worth the visit.
    Details: Barcelona City Walk
    Flowers, pedestrian boulevards, and decorative pavement make Barcelona a great walking city, and your Tour Director will show you where to stroll. See the Mercat de la Boquería, where the bright colors of fruits and vegetables, spices, fresh seafood and meat -- not to mention about a hundred different types of cheese -- vie for space in the market stalls. In the city center you'll see the Monument a Colom, a towering statue of Christopher Columbus. Gaze at the city stretched out before you, the mountains in the distance, and the Mediterranean Sea at your back. Then it's on to the best walk in the city, Las Ramblas, a mile-long pedestrian street that offers up the carnival of urban Barcelona. Have your palm read or browse through the strip's famous open-air shops. Enough walking for one day? Pull up a chair, order a café con leche, and watch the parade of street performers from your seat.
  • Day 10 End Tour
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    Tour Includes:
    • Round-trip airfare
    • 6 overnight stays (8 with extension) in hotels with private bathrooms
    • Full European breakfast daily
    • Dinner daily
    • Full-time services of a professional Tour Director
    • Guided sightseeing tours and city walks as per itinerary
    • Visits to select attractions as per itinerary
    • Tapas Dinner
    • Flamenco Evening
    • Tour Diary™
    • Note: On arrival day only dinner is provided; on departure day, only breakfast is provided