THE BEST OF SPAIN in 13 days
My Best of Spain Tour connects the varied cultures and rich history of the largest nation on the Iberian Peninsula. You’ll experience the “drippy” architecture of Gáudi in Barcelona, the Royal Palace and Prado Museum in Madrid, the massive Alhambra in Granada, and the jaw-dropping Cathedrals in Toledo and Sevilla. Along the way, we’ll visit sleepy little towns, far off the beaten tourist path, to experience the diverse cultures of the country. This, coupled with authentic dining experiences and laid-back sightseeing strategies, makes this my best way to experience Spain in 13 days.
Your Adventure Starts Here!
| PRICE FROM | DATES | |
|---|---|---|
| $5289 + air | May 1-13, 2026 |  |
| $5289 + air | Sep 25-Oct 07, 2026 | |
Barcelona – 2 nights
Madrid – 2 nights
Segovia – 1 night
Toledo – 1 night
Granada – 2 nights
Nerja – 1 night
Arcos – 1 night
Sevilla – 2 nights
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Single Room Additional Cost ~$960
ITINERARY
DAY 1: BARCELONA – Let’s plan to gather at our Barcelona hotel at 5:00 p.m. for introductions and a welcome drink. Then we will set off on an orientation paseo, including the modernista architectural style of Antonio Gaudí’s “Block of Discord.” We will finish up with a typical tapas dinner at a favorite restaurant. Sleep for 2 nights in Barcelona. Dinner.
DAY 2: BARCELONA – We will begin the day with a stroll through Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter, pedestrian-friendly streets and markets, and the grand harbor promenade. Later, visit Gaudí’s architectural masterpiece, La Sagrada Familia. You’ll have the remainder of the day to explore more of the city on your own.
DAY 3: FAST TRAIN TO MADRID – Enjoy a ride on the high-speed AVE train to Madrid. After checking into our hotel, we will join a local guide for a tour of the massive Palacio Real, the royal palace of Spain. Then, let’s top off the day with dinner at a favorite restaurant. Sleep for 2 nights in Madrid. Dinner.
DAY 4: MADRID – Today, we will meet our local guide at the Museo del Prado for a personal tour of the museum’s most important works of art. Then, enjoy a stroll through the massive El Retiro Park and a break for lunch. The remainder of the day and evening is free for you to discover more of Madrid on your own.
DAY 5: EL ESCORIAL AND SEGOVIA – After breakfast, we will head to the hills, making a stop in El Escorial, home of the impressive 16th-century palace of King Phillip II. Later, in Segovia, enjoy a walking tour of the compact town center and a tasty dinner together. Sleep for 1 night in Segovia. Dinner.
DAY 6: TOLEDO – You’ll have a good deal of free time in Segovia this morning. Later, travel to the medieval fortress city of Toledo. Once the capital of Spain, it is now a tourist’s delight. During the day, enjoy the impressive cathedral, shopping streets, and of course, some of El Greco’s most famous works. Sleep 1 night in Toledo.
Day 7: LA MANCHA TO GRANDA – Driving through La Mancha, we’ll get a glimpse of whitewashed windmills, saffron-selling vendors, and stories of Don Quixote. In Granada, we will visit the lavish tombs of Ferdinand and Isabella, who took Spain into the age of exploration of the Americas. Sleep for 2 nights in Granada. Dinner.
DAY 8: THE ALHAMBRA – Enjoy an informative visit to the massive Alhambra palace and gardens. Perhaps the greatest of all “Moorish” palaces, the Alhambra will wow you with its style and artistic flair. You’ll have the remainder of the day and evening to explore more of the Alhambra and back lanes of the old historic town.
DAY 9: THE MEDETERRAIN COAST – Today, we will head south to the sun-soaked Costa del Sol and set up in the pleasant town of Nerja. Perched on a cliff, it has a quiet old town, and pleasant sandy beaches and English is spoken everywhere. With no sightseeing plans, we’ll take an orientation walk around the small little town and have the whole day and evening to rest, relax, and enjoy. Sleep 1 night in Nerja.
DAY 10: THE WHITEWASHED VILLAGES OF ANDALUCÍA – The mountains between Granada and Sevilla are loaded with whitewashed villages perched high in the hills. We’ll set up for the afternoon and evening in my favorite, Arcos de la Frontera. Enjoy a sky-high vista of the surrounding countryside and wander its well-worn cobbled lanes. Later, we will meet for dinner at the top of the hill in the old town. Sleep 1 night in Arcos. Dinner.
DAY 11: SEVILLA – We will head directly to Sevilla to make the most of the day ahead. Join a walk through the whitewashed lanes of the Barrio Santa Cruz, with a glimpse at the “weeping Madonna” and the largest gothic-era church in the Christian world. We will meet later tonight for a flamenco music and dance performance. Sleep in Sevilla for 2 nights.
DAY 12: THE ROYAL ALCÁRZAR – Today, enjoy a tour of the Moorish-influenced Alcárzar Palace, home of Spain’s royalty, for more than half a century. You’ll have the remainder of the day to poke around Sevilla on your own. We will meet tonight for a grand farewell dinner toasting our adventure in Spain. Dinner.
DAY 13: TOUR OVER AFTER BREAKFAST – Your tour guide will be happy to assist in making transportation connections to the airport or train station. Enjoy your journey!
Itinerary specifics are subject to change.
INCLUSIONS
Transportation is provided by coach, minivan, and train from your Barcelona hotel to your hotel in Sevilla.
12 nights accommodation in centrally located hotels, guesthouses, and B&B’s. All rooms have private en-suite baths.
All tips and gratuities to guides, drivers, restaurant, and hotel staff.
Guaranteed Small Group consisting of 6-18 travelers.
All breakfasts and six of your dinners.
Traditional and gourmet dining experiences at some of David’s personal favorite restaurants. Eating well is a priority and you’ll enjoy fine regional fare featuring the best the locale has to offer.
Water is included with all group meals. Sodas, wine, beer, and other drinks are your responsibility.
Tours and admissions to the following attractions, experiences, and sights: Guided orientation walking tours in Barcelona, Madrid, Segovia, Toledo, Granada, Nerja, Arcos and Sevilla ▪ Entrance and/or local guided tour of the following sites: La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Palacio Real and Prado Museum in Madrid, the Cathedral of Toledo, the Alhambra in Granada, and the Alcázar and Cathedral in Sevilla, and much more.
A full-time Exploring Europe guide and local experts dedicated to bringing to life the art, history, and culture of the tour destinations.
David’s tour handouts are delivered electronically and detail each day’s historical and cultural experiences.
Free luggage tags and David’s custom-designed drawstring backpacks.
Our Unconditional Tour Price Guarantee, once locked in, will never change.
$50 Tour Alumni discount for each David McGuffin tour you’ve taken prior to this travel year.
EXCLUSIONS
Comprehensive Trip insurance. We strongly recommend comprehensive insurance for tour.
Fee for passports.
Beer, wine, spirits, and soda during the tour.
Laundry, phone, internet, and personal items
Extras and optional activities.
Anything not mentioned in the itinerary.
TERMS & CONDITIONS
CANCELLATION POLICY
CANCELLATIONS AND REFUNDS:
Deposits- Deposits for tours are fully refundable for 30 days from your initial application and deposit date, unless otherwise noted. If you book a tour less than 90 days before its departure date, full payment is due immediately, and the entire tour cost becomes non-refundable after seven days. After these dates, deposits are not refundable and will be forfeited if you cancel your tour reservation.
Payments- Tour payments are due in full 90 days before your tour departure date. If you find you must cancel between 90-0 days before your tour departure, please contact us immediately. We will work with you to transfer your payments to another tour departing within 18 months. We strongly recommend that everyone purchase comprehensive travel insurance that covers tour cancellations, emergency medical, and other unexpected events.
Cancellations will be effective when the written notification is received at David McGuffin›s Exploring Europe by mail, e-mail, or fax.
SIGN UP BY EMAIL OR POST
If you do not want to sign up online:
You may download a tour application and send it to us with payment.
-OR-
You may return it by:
- FAX 1-800-570-1351
- Email – info@davidmcguffin.com
- email – take a photo of the form with your smartphone and attach it to an email
- TXT – take a photo with your smartphone and TXT to 904-612-8149
KEY TO WALKING & ACTIVITY
Walking and Physical Activity: We have planned this trip to provide maximum tour experiences. The basic nature of Europe does require some degree of physical activity to get out and see the sights, especially in the big cities. To help you plan, we’ve included a daily projection of physical activity. Here is the key for our walking activity ratings:
Light – Walking done on level surfaces with some hills and elevation gains. Two miles or less of required walking during the day.
Moderate – Walking done on paved and gravel paths and cobbled city sidewalks. To enjoy the full tour experience, some uphill and downhill walking is expected, as is standing while viewing sights or museums. Four to six miles of walking per day.
Strenuous – Walking done on rugged and rocky paths and city-cobbled sidewalks. There will be steps and stairs. Up to three hours standing in museums or experience sites. Up to eight miles of walking per day.
Your Choice – No matter what your walking ability, we will help you find alternative ways to enjoy and experience all Europe has to offer. To get the most out of our tours, you should be able to operate at the light level every day with spurts of moderate and strenuous.
PRE-TOUR RESOURCES
Now that you’ve decided to join this tour, we are sure you’ll have some questions. Don’t worry. We are here to help you through each aspect of your tour from start to finish.
DAVID’S 60 SECONDS DESTINATION VIDEOS
Join David as he shares impromptu moments from his travels in the United Kingdom. Watching these short 60-second segments are a great way to experience David’s travel style and adventures. Watch David Explores Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.
David’s TRAVEL TALK TUESDAY almost-weekly broadcast and Video Series Blog.
Every week, when David is not traveling in Europe, he presents a LIVE broadcast on Zoom and Facebook. Check it out on Tuesdays at 7:30 PM Eastern Time.
Each Travel Talk Tuesday session is recorded. Watch them here.
DAVID’S BLOG ARTICLES
David and his team have answered many travel-related questions, and they are all tucked away on his blog. But, no need to go there. Just type in a keyword in the search box at the top or bottom of this page (it’s the gray rectangle with a small magnifying glass icon), and you will get results for your query.
PLEASE SEND US AN EMAIL OR GIVE US A CALL.
We are happy to answer your travel questions and give advice and suggestions. tours@davidmcguffin.com or 800-570-1351.
Testimonials & Reviews of our Tours
I’m quite pleased with my first experience with David McGuffin tour company. The itinerary was spot on - from sites (expected tourist highlights to less known treasures) to hotels (especially Barr Na Straide) & restaurants (Rinuccini❣️) to planned time balanced with free time. And our guide David Grey was THE BEST! David is respectful, thorough, flexible, & a wealth of knowledge and all the while just being plain fun. As my late mother would say, “he’s a keeper.”
We were a family of 5 with three adults and two children 7 and 9. In London we had great food, site seeing and special moments like tea at Harrods, seeing Wicked live and a trip to Harry Potter WB studio experience as well as a trip to Abbey Road for a photo moment. We rode The Eye, boats, busses and the subway. John and Audra guided us expertly . On to Paris via train and more wonderful sites and food. We absolutely loved the Eiffel Tower both from the top and from the river. Spectacular experience of seeing the lights coming on at dusk. Took a cooking class and it was fantastic. The macarons were delicious. Lots of walking. This hotel was convenient to transportation but room too small for a family. All the hotels had delicious breakfasts. Flew to Rome and the hotel there was very nice. Very hot here but enjoyed all the sites and food. No water in Trevi Fountain but lots of other things to enjoy. Had a wonderful memorable time. Came home exhausted but with lots of lasting memories. Thanks to David, Leslie John and Audra for a trip of a lifetime.
The trip to Ireland was just GREAT. David McGuffin Exploring Europe really provides a very nice itinerary and very comfortable everything, very nice hotels, great food, highlighted places and experiences. The part I liked best was David the personal full time tour guide, he was exceptional. The company took care of all of the details like where to go, where to stay, all attraction payments, the beautiful motorcoach. All we had to do is relax and enjoy. And what a great group of people. It couldn't have been better!
My wife and I traveled to Italy last month for David’s “Essence of Italy” tour and we had a great time. Traveling with David and Charlotte was so much easier not having to worry about our hotel, food, and transportation arrangements.
Due to the Jubilee and the Pope’s death, Rome was extremely crowded. We missed the Sistine Chapel and Saint Peter’s Basilica because of the Conclave. We plan on returning to Rome with David to see these sites.
The train ride to Cinque Terre was fun with a lot to see. Once there, we were able to visit a few of the five villages using local trains. The views of the mountain villages next to the ocean were fantastic.
Our next stop was to the hilltown of Volterra in Tuscany. Now I know why David calls Volterra one of his favorite places. It’s really beautiful and has a lot of history. We would never have thought of visiting some of the locations David took us.
We finished our trip visiting Siena and Florence. The museums, Cathedrals, and famous historical sites were great to see.
Traveling with David, Charlotte and our group was very enjoyable. We have already booked our next trip with David in 2026.
Essence of Italy 10 days our first David McGuffin Tour and we were thankful to have David and Charlotte with us on this tour. Rome was quite the experience 2 full days of site seeing with the Vatican, Spanish Steps, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain to name a few all so beautiful, but a little over whelming with the crowds.
Our hotels in every location were quaint and lovely! Not having A/C is some of them was an adjustment , I definitely recommend you bring the portable fan that David mentions to bring we used it.
We really enjoyed our small group 10 people including our guides it was perfect. We had so much fun at our group dinners having a guide for the restaurants was definitely a plus, as well as what food to order.
Cinque Terre- Monterosso was my favorite village and Volterra the Tuscany area was also a favorite of ours! The tour guides in Rome (Guilai was amazing) and Volterra were informative and enjoyable as well as David and Charlottes information on each area.
We packed just like David suggested and we didn’t have any issues or problems handling our own luggage but we did do laundry once while there. David’s tour prep instructions were spot on.
We had the most enjoyable time making new friends and seeing beautiful Italy our next adventure is hopefully Greece!
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