Highlights of Andalusia

This tour includes comprehensive private touring of Andalusia’s most fabled cities—Seville, Cordoba and Granada.

Begin in Seville, the capital of Andalusia and a city flavored as much by the sounds of flamenco and the smell of orange blossoms as by its 500-year domination by the Moors. With your expert local guide, take an insider’s tour of this beautiful city, visiting the charming neighborhoods of Santa Cruz, the gardens and mosaic tile-covered rooms of the Reales Alcazares—a spectacular Moorish palace, specialty boutiques and markets, and other cultural highlights.

One day, enjoy a private excursion to Jerez de la Frontera, the sherry capital of the world, where a wine expert will lead you on a tasting tour through local sherry bodegas (wineries). Also stop in nearby Sanlucar de Barrameda, a beautiful whitewashed beach town, to sample some of its renowned manzanilla. Alternatively, tour Ronda, the most dramatic of Andalusia's famed whitewashed villages and a favorite of Ernest Hemingway and Orson Welles. En route, visit a modern olive oil mill in the Andalusian mountains and taste a selection of oils from what is considered to be the best producer in the area.

Next, spend a night in Cordoba, a capital under the Romans and the Moors. Cordoba has a fascinating history, which you will learn about as you explore the town’s whitewashed backstreets and visit sites in the UNESCO-listed ancient city center such as the Mezquita, a vast mosque with a forest of horseshoe-shaped pillars, stunning stucco decoration and a Gothic cathedral built right in the middle.

Continue to Granada, one of the richest and most populated cities in Europe during Moorish rule and still one of Spain's most breathtaking cities. During private touring, explore the extraordinary Alhambra—one of the highlights of Spain—a stunning Moorish castle, palace and garden complex on a hillside overlooking the town. Visit the Generalife, the country retreat of Moorish royalty just behind the Alhambra. With a local resident, wander the labyrinthine streets of the Albaicin—the old Arab Quarter—and discover a world full of winding, hilly streets and alleys; Moorish ramparts, fountains and cármenes (traditional villas); and restaurants, shops and teterías (Arabic tearooms).