• 6 Dinner (D)
• 17 Breakfast (B)
• 1 Lunch (L)

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

• Valencia: Spend time with a chef in a family-run kitchen to see how Valencian paella is built from its base — the heat of the pan, the saffron stock, the type of rice and the order ingredients go in. Afterwards, sit down to eat the finished paella, tasting the layered flavour and socarrat crust you’ve just watched being made.
• Barcelona: Your final evening brings the group together around the table in Barcelona. It’s a chance to share dinner in the Catalan capital, reminisce over the days you’ve travelled and mark the end of your journey across Spain and Portugal with one last meal together. 

• Granada: Visit the Alhambra Palace with a Local Specialist 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.
• 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.

• Santiago de Compostela: Join a city tour with a Local Specialist and visit Praza do Obradoiro to admire the cathedral facade festooned with architectural frills.
• Santiago de Compostela: Embark on a scenic walk on part of the Way of St. James with a Local Specialist, through parks and gardens that transform with the seasons.

Pause at Peñíscola to view the sea-washed ramparts and the Peñíscola 14th-century castle rising over the whitewashed old town. The limestone headland cleaves the coastline, creating a dramatic setting between beaches and fortress walls.

Stroll the lanes or the seafront as you frame the limestone headland and sea-lapped walls in your photos. Coastal breezes and the cry of gulls accompany a moment to pause for photos and reflection on this storied promontory.

Explore Valencia’s Old City on an orientation that maps the historic core from the cathedral squares to the Silk Exchange quarter. Your Travel Director points out the surviving medieval gateways that once guarded the city, such as the Torres de Serranos and Torres de Quart.

Hear how centuries of expansion shaped the street plan and lively plazas, where orange trees scent the air. Take time to admire facades and fountains, and to pause for photos and reflection amid the patched stones and sunlit arcades.

Watch a local chef learn to cook authentic paella from the pan up—heating the paella pan, toasting the sofrito, and layering shellfish or meats over bomba rice. Saffron perfumes the air as the saffron-rich stock is ladled in and the surface begins to shimmer.

Sit down in a family-run restaurant to taste the coveted crackling socarrat crust and compare textures across the pan, paired with regional wine. Stories from Albufera’s rice fields complete this delicious masterclass in Valencia’s emblematic dish.

Explore with a Local Specialist the hilltop Alhambra, a Nasrid citadel of filigreed stucco, lattice screens, and quiet courtyards. Reflecting pools and cedar-scented halls reveal a courtly world shaped by water, geometry, and rhythm.

Wander the Generalife gardens, where terraces, cypress walks, and rills cool the Andalusian sun. Carved arabesques and patterned tilework speak to refined craftsmanship that defined Granada’s Moorish golden age.

Join a guided walk through the Santa Cruz quarter, a maze of narrow lanes, jasmine-scented patios, and intimate plazas shaped by Seville’s medieval Jewish community. Whitewashed walls and iron balconies set a romantic Andalusian scene.

Step inside Seville Cathedral, the world’s largest Gothic church, to admire its vast nave and chapels. View the Giralda, once a 12th-century minaret, transformed into a bell tower that overlooks orange courts and palm-topped rooftops.

Experience a MAKE TRAVEL MATTER moment at the Cristina Heeren Foundation, where you’ll learn a few basic steps and rhythmic palmas from aspiring artists. Meet students training in guitar, song, and dance inside classrooms dedicated to flamenco’s living tradition.

Take your seat to watch a live performance that channels cante jondo’s raw emotion. Your visit to the Cristina Heeren Foundation directly supports Quality Education and the preservation of this UNESCO-listed art form.

Trace Córdoba’s layers from the Roman Bridge and gate towers into whitewashed alleys and flower-filled patios. A short orientation fixes the historic centre on the map, linking plazas, lanes, and courtyards.

With a local historian, step inside the Mezquita to encounter a forest of striped arches around delicate columns. See how the later cathedral choir and chapels were woven into this former mosque, revealing a dialogue between Islamic and Christian artistry.

Explore Madrid’s historic barrios on a guided exploration through arcaded Plaza Mayor and the Habsburg-era streets of the Old Quarter. Elegant facades and lively cafés sketch the Spanish capital’s layered personality.

At the Prado Museum, an art historian illuminates masterpieces by Velázquez and Goya, placing them within courtly patronage and European currents. Learn how the museum’s royal collections, founded in 1819, grew into one of the world’s great galleries.

Join a Local Specialist to navigate arcaded streets that funnel pilgrims toward Praza do Obradoiro, the monumental stage for the cathedral’s baroque facade. Hear how centuries of devotion shaped this Galician capital and its rhythms.

Admire the cathedral’s sculptural exuberance and the scallop-shell symbolism of the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage. This is one of two join a city tour choices available during your time in Santiago; select the experience that best suits your style.

Embark on a scenic walk along a tranquil section of the Way of St. James, tracing leafy paths, parks, and gardens that skirt the city. The pace invites conversation, contemplation, and easy appreciation of seasonal flora.

Waymarkers, scallop shells, and shaded benches guide the route through green spaces that transform with the seasons. This relaxed outing offers time to pause for reflection and is an included alternative to the Santiago city tour.

Meet locals for a farm-to-table lunch showcasing produce grown and prepared on site. Traditional recipes, field-fresh salads, and rustic breads celebrate Asturias’ green bounty.

Learn the ritual of pouring sidra from high to aerate the drink and sample traditional Asturian cider. This MAKE TRAVEL MATTER experience supports Responsible Consumption and Production while sharing techniques and flavors passed down through generations.

View Asturian Pre-Romanesque architecture on the slopes of Monte Naranco, where delicate stonework frames 1,000-year-old wall paintings. These compact sanctuaries reveal the distinct Pre-Romanesque art of Asturias.

In Oviedo’s heart, enter the Cathedral of the Holy Saviour to admire its renowned Gothic retable—one of the finest altarpieces in Europe. Your Local Specialist brings to life the era when Oviedo served as the capital of Christian Spain.

Visit the Holy Cave of Covadonga, set above a cascade, to see the tomb of Pelayo, the Asturian ruler linked to the first Christian victory over Moorish forces in 722.

Continue into the Picos de Europa National Park, where limestone massifs, glacial lakes, and pastures unfurl beneath misty mountain passes. Scenic viewpoints and village glimpses reveal the wild heart of northern Spain.

Walk the cobbles of Santillana del Mar, often cited among Spain’s loveliest villages. Stone manor houses bristle with carved heraldic stonework, and wooden balconies overflow with geraniums.

The route gathers at the Romanesque colegiata and its quiet square, where arcades and weathered capitals frame local life. Take a moment to soak in the village atmosphere before continuing along Cantabria’s coast.

See the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao from the riverside, its Frank Gehry’s titanium curves rippling like sails against the Nervión. Even from outside, the building reshaped Bilbao’s identity.

Follow the Costa Vasca past fishing villages and surf-washed coves, pausing in Getaria to view ‘El Ratón’ at Getaria, the mouse-shaped hill that shelters the harbor. Coastal scenery and Basque charm share the spotlight.

Join a guided walking tour through San Sebastián’s Parte Vieja to Old Quarter and Plaza de la Constitución, where arcaded balconies once marked bullfighting seats. Narrow streets hum with cafés and the scent of grilling seafood.

By the harbor, uncover the harbour’s maritime heritage before curving along the promenade for views of La Concha Bay. Basque traditions, elegant Belle Époque facades, and Atlantic freshness mingle in this favorite seaside city.

Explore the hillside lanes of the Albaicín quarter with a Local Specialist, tracing Moorish cisterns, whitewashed cármenes, and fragrant gardens. Stepped alleys offer intimate glimpses of tiled roofs and citrus courtyards.

At the Mirador de San Nicolás, the Alhambra glows across the valley with the Sierra Nevada beyond—an icon of Moorish Granada. This is an Optional Experience at additional cost, bookable on tour.

Step into Casa de Pilatos, a 16th-century aristocratic residence blending Italian Renaissance symmetry with Andalusian grace. Lavish Mudéjar tilework, carved ceilings, and sculpted gardens surround quiet courtyards.

Admire galleries lined with classical statuary and intimate Renaissance patios where water and shade choreograph the mood. This is an Optional Experience at additional cost, bookable on tour.

Visit the Royal Alcázar of Seville, a palace of Islamic-Mudéjar craftsmanship where honeycombed arches, carved plaster, and patterned tiles surround reflecting pools and orange trees.

Continue to the Plaza de América in Parque de María Luisa to admire graceful pavilions from the 1929 Ibero-American Exposition. This is an Optional Experience at additional cost, bookable on tour.

Journey to hilltop Toledo, a mosaic of Christian, Jewish, and Islamic heritage. Wander winding lanes to viewpoints over the Tagus and the crenellated walls of Spain’s former capital.

See the medieval city of Toledo, take in broad Tagus River viewpoints, and explore quarters linked to El Greco heritage. This is an Optional Experience at additional cost, bookable on tour.

Discover Segovia’s old quarter beneath the towering Roman aqueduct of Segovia, a feat of granite arches soaring above the city since antiquity. Stone lanes lead toward lively squares and cafés.

Visit the cliff-top Alcázar of Segovia and admire the cathedral’s late-Gothic silhouette, steeped in the Old Castile atmosphere. This is an Optional Experience at additional cost, bookable on tour.

Travel into Catalonia’s serrated massif to visit the Montserrat Monastery, a Benedictine sanctuary nestled among weathered pinnacles. Pilgrims and hikers converge beneath sandstone spires and blue Catalan skies.

Inside, view the venerable Black Madonna, then step outside for panoramas over valleys and vineyards spread beneath serrated mountain peaks. This is an Optional Experience at additional cost, bookable on tour.

Cross into France to stroll Saint-Jean-de-Luz, a picturesque Basque fishing port of timbered houses and bobbing boats. Markets, pâtisseries, and linen boutiques line its old streets.

Walk the Atlantic coast promenade and harbor quays to absorb sea breezes and village rhythms around the Basque fishing harbour. This is an Optional Experience at additional cost, bookable on tour.

Insight Vacations

Discover Barcelona with a guided panoramic tour, tracing the elegant length of Passeig de Gràcia past Modernista facades and into the ordered grid of the Eixample. Glimpses of tapering spires announce the approach to Sagrada Família, Gaudí’s ever-evolving basilica.

When internal access is available, step into the nave to watch stained-glass light paint the stone “forest” of tree-like columns. If access is restricted, visit the Art Nouveau complex of Hospital de Sant Pau and admire Sagrada Família’s sculpted exteriors from the surrounding gardens.