Visit the Prado Museum with an art historian and examine works by Velázquez, Goya, Titian and Rubens. Expert interpretation places the paintings within the worlds of royal patronage and European art.

Founded in 1819, the museum became a principal home for Spain’s royal collections. Rather than simply passing through its galleries, you will explore how artists portrayed power, faith and everyday life across several centuries.

Meet a chef in a family-run Valencia kitchen and watch a paella cooking demonstration. Learn how the pan’s heat, rice, stock and order of ingredients contribute to the finished dish before sitting down to eat it.

Paella has deep roots in the Valencia region. Tasting the freshly prepared rice, including its prized socarrat crust, connects the chef’s techniques with one of Spain’s most recognisable food traditions.

Meet your Travel Director and fellow travellers over an included dinner at a local Madrid restaurant. Share food and wine while getting acquainted with the group in the Spanish capital.

The meal offers an introduction to madrileño flavours and the city’s sociable dining culture. It is a hosted occasion rather than an independent restaurant visit, with time to settle into conversation around the table.

• 5 Dinner (D)
• 14 Breakfast (B)
• 2 Lunch (L)

• Madrid: Visit the Prado Museum with an art historian who places key works within their historical setting. With your historian’s expert guidance, you’ll examine paintings by Velázquez, Goya, Titian and Rubens, noting their connection to royal patronage and the broader European tradition. Learn how the museum, founded in 1819, became a principal repository for Spain’s royal collections and major works from across the continent.
• Granada: Visit the Alhambra Palace with a Local Expert and walk through its courtyards, carved plasterwork and palace rooms from the Nasrid period. You’ll see how water channels, gardens and intricate detail define the complex, and how this hilltop site shaped Granada’s cultural and political story for centuries.

Insight Vacations

• Hand sanitizer is freely available on board for you to use throughout the day.

• Business class coach with extended leg room
• Top-rated dining, from farm-to-table to local restaurants
• 4 & 5-star stays

Explore Madrid’s Old Quarter with a Local Expert, tracing the capital’s growth from a compact medieval citadel into the centre of Habsburg Madrid. See the close-set streets, market squares and civic buildings that shaped its earliest neighbourhoods.

Your expert connects the historic street pattern with later stages of expansion, revealing how different rulers left their mark. The experience gives you a clearer sense of the city behind Madrid’s grander avenues.

Walk Segovia’s historic centre with a Local Expert, following medieval streets to views of the Alcázar, a fortified royal complex documented from the 12th century. See how the city’s commanding position helped shape its history.

At the Roman aqueduct, study soaring granite arches built to bring mountain water into Segovia. The contrast between Roman engineering, medieval streets and royal architecture makes the city’s long history visible in one compact setting.

Explore Salamanca with a Local Expert, taking in the arcaded Plaza Mayor, cathedral surroundings and historic university buildings. The city’s warm sandstone gives its streets and squares a distinctive golden colour.

Salamanca grew into one of Europe’s early centres of learning after its university was founded in the 13th century. Look for elaborate Plateresque stonework as your guide explains how scholarship shaped the city’s identity.

Visit the port wine cellars of Vila Nova de Gaia, across the Douro from Porto. Walk past casks, learn about ageing and blending, and taste different styles of port, including the distinctions between tawny and vintage wines.

Port has been stored and shipped from this riverbank for centuries. The cellar visit connects wines grown in the Douro Valley with the merchants and traditions that carried them to tables around the world.

Explore the Sanctuary of Fátima, Portugal’s best-known pilgrimage destination. View the Chapel of the Apparitions, the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary and the broad esplanade where large gatherings take place.

The sanctuary developed following reported Marian apparitions in 1917. Its open spaces and devotional buildings offer insight into the role Fátima continues to play in Portuguese Catholic life and international pilgrimage.

Walk within Óbidos’ medieval walls, following narrow lanes past whitewashed houses and small churches. Sample ginja, the local cherry liqueur associated with the town.

Óbidos retains a close-knit street pattern that speaks to its long history, from Roman settlement to its association with Portugal’s queens after the 13th century. Its fortified setting and distinctive local drink make this a compact introduction to the country’s smaller historic towns.

Explore Lisbon with a Local Expert, travelling through the Baixa district and towards Belém’s riverside monuments. See the Monument to the Discoveries and Belém Tower beside the Tagus.

Baixa’s broad, ordered streets reflect the reconstruction that followed the devastating earthquake of 1755. Belém tells a different story: its waterfront landmarks recall Portugal’s maritime expansion and the voyages that departed from Lisbon’s shores.

Taste pastéis de Belém in the Lisbon district that gave these custard pastries their name. Bite through crisp pastry into a soft filling, traditionally finished with a little cinnamon.

The bakery has made its pastries since 1837 using a closely guarded recipe. This tasting offers a small but telling connection to Belém’s food traditions, where the scent of baking remains part of the neighbourhood’s appeal.

Visit Lisbon’s National Coach Museum to see an extensive collection of horse-drawn carriages, including vehicles used for royal ceremonies and diplomatic occasions. Examine the craftsmanship, gilding and decorative details that distinguished different coaches.

Dating from the 16th to the 19th centuries, the collection reveals how transport could project status and political power. Changes in carriage design also trace shifts in European court taste and ceremonial life.

Walk the Santa Cruz quarter with a Local Expert, moving through narrow lanes, small plazas and enclosed courtyards near Seville Cathedral. Its intimate layout offers a marked contrast to the city’s monumental avenues.

The quarter’s street pattern reflects its history as a centre of Seville’s medieval Jewish community. Your guide helps place its surviving architecture within the city’s wider cultural story, making the neighbourhood more than a picturesque maze.

Step inside Seville Cathedral and walk through its vast Gothic nave and chapels. See the Giralda, the bell tower that began life as the minaret of the 12th-century Almohad mosque.

Completed in the 16th century, the cathedral is recognised as the world’s largest Gothic cathedral and is associated with the tomb of Christopher Columbus. Its scale and layered construction reveal the site’s transition from Islamic to Christian use.

Meet students at Seville’s Cristina Heeren Foundation, learn a few basic flamenco steps and watch young artists perform. The visit introduces the interplay of dance, singing and guitar through the people training to carry these traditions forward.

Flamenco is a living Andalusian art form, shaped by close attention to rhythm and expression. This MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® visit supports the foundation’s teaching and preservation work, backed by a TreadRight Foundation grant.

Explore the Rock of Gibraltar with a Local Expert and visit St. Michael’s Cave, known for its dramatic limestone formations. Look out for Gibraltar’s Barbary macaques and take in views towards the surrounding coastline.

Long associated with one of the ancient Pillars of Hercules, the Rock stands where the Mediterranean approaches the Atlantic. Its position gives this visit an unusual combination of natural history, mythology and far-reaching sea views.

Walk through Alfarnatejo’s whitewashed village centre, set among the mountains of rural Andalucía. See the 18th-century Iglesia del Santo Cristo de Cabrilla and the modest streets of a community with fewer than 500 residents.

Far from the region’s larger cities, Alfarnatejo offers a closer look at everyday village life. Its mountain setting and compact centre give the walk a quieter perspective on Andalusian architecture and local traditions.

Visit a rural olive mill near Alfarnatejo and taste several olive oils with local bread. Learn how harvest timing, growing conditions and the age of the trees can influence flavour.

Olive cultivation has shaped Andalusian landscapes and kitchens for generations. Sampling the oils side by side makes their differences tangible, while the mill visit connects a familiar ingredient to the groves and production methods behind it.

Share a home-cooked lunch with a local family in Alfarnatejo. In a small group, sit down to dishes made with fresh, seasonal produce and flavours typical of rural Andalucía.

Conversation around the table offers insight into how food is prepared and shared in this mountain village. More personal than a standard restaurant meal, the visit creates space to hear residents’ stories and experience local hospitality firsthand.

Explore the Alhambra with a Local Expert, discovering palace rooms, courtyards, gardens and intricate carved decoration. Notice how water, fountains and carefully framed views shape the experience of this hilltop complex.

Developed as a citadel and royal seat under Granada’s Nasrid rulers from the 13th century, the Alhambra is a defining work of Islamic architecture in Spain. Its detailed surfaces and garden spaces speak to centuries of artistic and political history.

Get your bearings in Valencia as your Travel Director points out medieval gateways in the Old City and the striking City of Arts and Sciences. See how the city’s historic street pattern contrasts with its modern architectural landmarks.

Valencia’s surviving gates recall its once-walled centre, while the contemporary cultural complex represents a very different phase of urban development. This orientation brings both sides of the city into view without requiring an interior visit.

View Peñíscola’s 14th-century castle rising above the old town on a limestone headland. Its stone walls stand against the Mediterranean, with water on either side of the town’s distinctive setting.

Built by the Knights Templar, the fortress later became associated with Pope Benedict XIII. This is a scenic view of the castle rather than a stated interior visit, offering a memorable glimpse of the Spanish coast’s fortified past.

Visit a cava bodega in Sant Sadurní d’Anoia for a tasting paired with a light lunch. Sample Spanish sparkling wines and learn how the traditional method shapes their character.

The vineyards around this Catalan town have supplied cava houses since the 19th century. Insight into bottle fermentation and ageing on the lees adds depth to the tasting, connecting each glass with the region’s long-established winemaking craft.

Explore Barcelona with a Local Expert, travelling along Passeig de Gràcia and through the orderly streets of the Eixample. Look for ornate facades, wrought-iron details and the changing skyline as the Sagrada Família comes into view.

The tour connects the district’s planned street grid with the expressive architecture of Catalan Modernisme. Expert commentary helps explain why Barcelona’s late-19th- and early-20th-century buildings remain central to its visual identity.

Visit Gaudí’s Sagrada Família in Barcelona and look up through its central nave at tree-like columns and soaring vaults. Coloured light from the stained-glass windows shifts across the interior.

Gaudí’s basilica brings natural forms, structural invention and Christian symbolism together on a remarkable scale. Access can occasionally be restricted for special events; if tickets are unavailable, the tour instead visits the Hospital de Sant Pau and views the basilica’s exterior with a Local Expert.

Join your fellow travellers for an included farewell dinner at a local restaurant in Barcelona. Gather around the table to share food and conversation in the Catalan capital.

This hosted meal is a chance to reflect together on the places, traditions and flavours encountered across Spain and Portugal. Its value lies as much in the shared occasion as in the dinner itself, marking the close of the group’s journey.

Choose an optional seafood dinner at a family-run restaurant in Lisbon. The experience centres on traditional Portuguese seafood and the convivial setting of a locally run dining room.

Portugal’s Atlantic coast has long shaped its cooking, making seafood a fitting way to explore Lisbon’s food culture. This experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour; the specific dishes served are not stated in the itinerary.

Choose an optional excursion to the Portuguese Riviera, the coastal area beyond Lisbon associated with seaside resorts, surfing and royal leisure. Explore a different side of the region from the capital’s streets and monuments.

The coast’s resort history and Atlantic setting give it a character distinct from central Lisbon; it has also served as a James Bond filming location. This experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour. Specific stops are not detailed.

Choose to visit Seville’s Pilatos Palace, a historic residence celebrated for its blend of architectural styles. Explore its courtyards and decorative details for a closer look at the city’s aristocratic heritage.

Also known as the Casa de Pilatos, the palace brings together Mudéjar, Gothic and Renaissance influences. This visit is an optional experience at additional cost, bookable on tour, for travellers interested in Seville’s domestic architecture as well as its larger monuments.

Choose an optional visit to the Alcázar of Seville and nearby Plaza América. Discover the royal palace’s layered architectural heritage and see pavilions associated with the 1929 Ibero-American Exposition.

The Alcázar reflects centuries of royal use and a meeting of Islamic and Christian artistic traditions. Plaza América adds a later chapter to Seville’s architectural story. This experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour.