Spain Classic Culture – The Highlights of Andalucía

Welcome to Granada, Spain!

Welcome to Malaga, meet your driver with whom you will spend the next 8 days exploring Southern Spain. Then, drive along the scenic road to transfer to the hotel in Granada's historic center.

In the evening, you will be taken on a short orientation walking tour to get acquainted with the city and especially the Albaycin Moorish quarter, constructed on a medieval town plan with cobbled streets and small squares, which will lead you to the San Nicolas viewpoint, offering magnificent views of the Alhambra, Granada, and the Sierra Nevada. Your guide will then take you to some of the most authentic tapas bars in town to sample traditional dishes and get you immersed in the “granadino tapas” culture and traditions.

Granada - Visit Alhambra Palace & Beautiful Generalife Gardens

In the morning, after breakfast, enjoy a tour of the Alhambra Palace & beautiful Generalife gardens with your English-speaking art historian guide. In this tour, you get skip-the-line access. The Alhambra is Granada's - and Europe's - love letter to Moorish culture, a place where fountains trickle, leaves rustle, and ancient spirits seem to mysteriously linger. Lunch will be at a nearby restaurant with beautiful views.

Afternoon free time to simply relax, or explore the city on your own or maybe do some shopping. For those looking for something a little different, we recommend a nice session at the famous Arabian Baths or a Flamenco show in the evening.

Granada was first settled by native tribes in the prehistoric period and was known as Ilbyr. When the Romans colonized southern Spain, they built their own city here and called it Illibris. The Arabs, invading the peninsula in the 8th century, gave it its current name of Granada. It was the last Muslim city to fall to the Christians in 1492, at the hands of Queen Isabel of Castile and her husband Ferdinand of Aragon.

Granada - Explore the Home of the Famed "Gran Capitan" and Visit Olive Oil Mill and Winery

After breakfast, we venture out into the countryside to explore the beautiful hills of Montilla. Here you visit two family-run boutique establishments; an olive oil mill and a winery. You learn about the production process and enjoy tastings of their award-winning products along with a delicious traditional tapas lunch showcasing this region's products.

Montilla is home to the famed "Gran Capitan", Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, a Spanish general who fought in the Conquest of Granada and the Italian Wars. Montilla is also the center of the Designation of Origin wine zone known as Montilla-Moriles.

Afternoon transfer to Cordoba and upon arrival start your orientation walk. Get acquainted with this beautiful and historical city walk focused on the city center and the San Basilio district, famous for featuring some of the most hidden treasures and private courtyards in Cordoba.

Overnight at the hotel.

Cordoba - Discover UNESCO listed city

After breakfast in the hotel, start a walking tour with your guide to discovering the main sites of this UNESCO-listed city. Cordoba guided tour Includes the Mosque and Cathedral, the Jewish quarter, and the Royal Alcazar Palace. The tour will end at the Julio Romero Museum (the Old Charity Hospital from the 16th century), where you will have some free time to visit the museum on your own.

Lunch will be at the famous "Bodegas Campos", a traditional Cordoba house with stunning courtyards and a private wine cellar.

Cordoba was an important Roman city and a major Islamic center in the Middle Ages. It's best known for La Mezquita, an immense mosque dating from 784 A.D., featuring a columned prayer hall and older Byzantine mosaics. After it became a Catholic church in 1236, a Renaissance-style nave was added in the 17th century.

Free afternoon to relax or explore the city on your own.

In the evening, enjoy the marvelous equestrian exhibition in which purebred Spanish horses are the main protagonists. The stage is an emblematic and magical historical building, once the birthplace of the Andalusian Horse and now an unparalleled setting for this enchanting equestrian show.

Medina Azahara & Seville

After having breakfast and checking out, your driver and art historian guide will meet you at the lobby of your hotel to take you to explore the archaeological site of Medina Azahara, approximately 20 min. north of Cordoba. Here you will have a guided tour including a presentation video, a tour of the archaeological museum, and a visit to the site itself.

The medieval palace city of Medina Azahara, once the seat of the Caliphate of Cordoba that existed in the 10th and 11th centuries, has been added to the UNESCO Heritage list in June 2018. It is the 47th World Heritage List site to be inscribed in Spain, which already has forty cultural, four natural, and two mixed sites listed.

On the way to Sevilla, stop in the picturesque town of Carmona, where you will enjoy a delicious lunch at the Parador Hotel. The restaurant here offers the most spectacular views over the Guadalquivir valley and crops. Carmona, known as the "shining star of Andalusia" is a hidden gem situated on a low hill overlooking a fertile plain planted with fields of barley, wheat, and sunflowers. Carmona is a small, picturesque town that has burst beyond its ancient walls. Founded by the Carthaginians in the 3rd century BC probably on the site of a Turditani Iberian settlement.

After lunch, a short drive to arrive at your hotel in Seville.

In the evening, the orientation walk of Sevilla to get acquainted with this charming city with its highlights Murillo Gardens, Plaza de Espana, Maria Luisa Park, and the Torre del Oro.

Seville - Discover the Main Historic Sites of Seville

After breakfast, your journey starts with a discovery of the main historic sites of Seville. The guided walking tour of the city includes the Cathedral, Royal Alcazar/Palace, and Santa Cruz Jewish quarter. This tour includes "skip-the-line" access to all the main sites.

Lunch at the tapas tour with your guide in the Santa Cruz neighborhood to taste some of the local specialties. Some cities blast you away, others slowly win you over. Sevilla disarms and seduces you. Its historic center lorded over by a colossal Gothic cathedral, is an intoxicating mix of resplendent Mudejar palaces, baroque churches, and winding medieval lanes. Flamenco clubs keep the intimacy and intensity of this centuries-old tradition alive whilst aristocratic mansions recall the city's past as a showcase Moorish capital and, later a 16th-century metropolis rich on the back of New World trade.

An evening of art & emotion at one of the most emblematic 'tablaos' in Sevilla. Witness the excitement and 'duende' of Flamenco firsthand and enjoy a delectable a la carte dinner with dishes of high Andalusian cuisine.

Malaga - Admire the Picturesque Town of Ronda

Today you will spend a wonderful day outdoors exploring the most spectacular Andalusian countryside and mountains. You will enjoy a very scenic drive through the Grazalema Natural Park and can take great picture shots and admire the most breathtaking viewpoints at the charming white village of Zahara de la Sierra. We leave the best for the last on this superb day trip by taking a guided tour of the picturesque town of Ronda.

After a quick early morning coffee at your hotel in Sevilla, your private driver and tour guide will pick you up from your hotel and will take you on a very scenic drive through the spectacular Grazalema Natural Park to the charming town of Zahara de la Sierra where you will enjoy a lovely Spanish breakfast at a very cozy restaurant with a terrace offering breath-taking views to the lake of Zahara. Zahara de la Sierra is quite simply a place that takes your breath away. It is, without a doubt, one of the most picturesque of all the Pueblos Blancos (white villages) in the Sierra de Grazalema, if not in the whole of Andalucia. The town enjoys an extraordinary setting, sitting at the foot of the Sierra del Jaral, perched on top of a hill, and surrounded by the turquoise waters of the Zahara-el Gastor reservoir. Standing guard above the village are the remains of a Moorish castle that commands views over the surrounding countryside and the white-washed village beneath.

After a short visit to the town, you will be driven to the picturesque town of Ronda where you will have an introductory walking tour including the old town, the cliffs, the new bridge, and the famous bullring in the city center. Ronda is a mountaintop city that sits in the heart of the Serrania de Ronda. Set dramatically above a deep gorge and surrounded by lush river valleys, it is a breathtaking place. The gorge, El Tajo, separates the city's 15th-century new town from its Moorish old town. Puente Nuevo, a stone bridge spanning the gorge, has a lookout offering stunning views and the new town's Plaza de Toros, a legendary 18th-century bullring, is one of the city's most recognizable landmarks.

After the guided tour and before heading to your next destination, you will have some lunch at the Reina Victoria Hotel in Ronda which offers spectacular views of Ronda's gorge and cliffs.

In the afternoon, you will continue on to Malaga. After checking in at the hotel, you will have the rest of the evening free to explore the city at your leisure. Our Zitango Destination Partner provides you with maps, tips, and recommendations for local bars & restaurants.

Explore Malaga City then departure

In the morning, after breakfast, the art historian guide meets you in the lobby of your hotel for a guided tour of Malaga. The tour will include an orientation walk through the historic old town to help you get your bearings around this beautiful Mediterranean city and understand the past and the present of its history and traditions. Then, enjoy a guided visit to the famed Picasso Museum and get to learn all about this Spanish artist's relationship with his birthplace.

Along the tour, you will get architectural and historical explanations of the most important sites of the city and their role in the shaping of modern-day Malaga: the Renaissance Cathedral, the Roman theatre, the Alcazaba or Moorish Fortress, the Thyssen Museum, main squares such as Plaza de la Merced and Plaza de la Constitucion. You will also go off the beaten track to get a feel for Malaga's authentic essence.

This tour will be completed with a farewell lunch at one of the most authentic restaurants in Malaga.

After lunch, transfer to the Malaga Airport to fly back home.