The Charm of Andalusia
from $9,800 per person
Spain guide
Private architecture and cultural tours in Spain
Spain's great buildings and living traditions, each with a guide who knows it, on a journey shaped around you.
By Ramin Jafari · Facts checked
Our private cultural tours take in Spain’s great buildings with a guide of your own: the Alhambra in Granada, the Mezquita of Córdoba, Gaudí’s Barcelona, the Roman theatre of Mérida, the Real Alcázar of Seville, the Guggenheim in Bilbao, the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela and the aqueduct of Segovia. Where a venue opens its doors outside its public hours, or holds a visit of its own, we ask for it on your behalf. Romans, Moors, the Catholic Monarchs and Catalonia’s modernists each left their mark, and a journey can follow one of them or all.
At a glance
- World Heritage
- 50 sites in Spain on UNESCO’s list, 44 of them cultural
- Best seasons
- April to June and September to October, almost everywhere
- Who guides
- Art historians and specialist guides, one for each place
- Beyond the public visit
- Only where the venue offers it: the Alcázar, the Prado, Gaudí’s houses
The sites
Eight sites, and what we arrange at each
A selection, not a limit: each with a guide of your own and, where the venue offers one, a visit beyond the public one.
Granada
The Alhambra
- Begun
- 1238, by the founder of the Nasrid dynasty
The Nasrid palaces, the Alcazaba and the gardens of the Generalife, worked in carved stucco and tile, with the Renaissance palace Charles V built inside the walls from 1526. It books up months ahead, so we reserve it as soon as your dates are fixed, with a licensed guide, and can add the Alhambra’s own night visit to the Nasrid Palaces.
Córdoba
The Mezquita-Catedral
- Founded
- 786–788; a cathedral since 1236
The great mosque of Córdoba, enlarged three times, its prayer hall a forest of columns under double arches of stone and brick, with a Renaissance crossing raised in its middle from 1523. We arrange a private guide for the quiet first hour of the morning, and the Cabildo’s own night visit on the nights it sets.
Barcelona
Casa Batlló, on the Passeig de Gràcia The Sagrada Família and Gaudí's houses
- Begun
- 1882; Gaudí took charge in 1883
Gaudí’s basilica is still being built, its tower of Jesus Christ crowned in 2026; it books up weeks ahead, so we reserve it as soon as your dates are fixed, with an architectural historian. On the Passeig de Gràcia, Casa Batlló’s first visit of the day finds its rooms almost empty, and La Pedrera’s own Premium visit, for a small group, opens the mezzanine, the rear courtyard and a lift of the period. More in our things to do in Barcelona.
Mérida, Extremadura
The Roman theatre
- Built
- Around 15 BC, for Marcus Agrippa
- World Heritage
- Mérida's archaeological ensemble, since 1993
Built for Marcus Agrippa, the son-in-law of Augustus, for six thousand spectators, the theatre keeps its stage front of two tiers of marble columns. It is a stage again: since 1933, when Margarita Xirgu played Seneca’s Medea there, it has held what its festival calls the oldest festival of classical theatre in Spain, every July and August. We arrange a guide to the Roman city, and seats for a performance in the festival’s weeks.
Seville
The Real Alcázar
- Allow
- 1½ to 2 hours
The Almohad palace and the Mudéjar palace of Pedro I side by side, with gardens, and the upper floor still the Royal Family’s residence in Seville, which we can add to your visit; HBO filmed Game of Thrones here. The Alcázar also takes requests for private visits outside its public hours, and we ask for one for your party, subject to its approval.
Bilbao
The Guggenheim Museum
- Opened
- October 1997
Frank Gehry’s museum in titanium and limestone on the bank of the river, with Richard Serra’s steel spirals inside. We arrange a private guide, or the museum’s own two-hour tour, which takes in corners of the building usually closed to visitors, on request.
Galicia
Santiago de Compostela Cathedral
- Begun
- 1075, the fourth church on the Apostle's tomb
Where the Camino de Santiago ends: a Romanesque cathedral behind a Baroque façade, the Obradoiro, with Master Mateo’s Pórtico de la Gloria inside. Numbers at the Pórtico are limited, so we reserve it as soon as your dates are fixed; 2027 is a Holy Year.
Castilla y León
The aqueduct of Segovia
- World Heritage
- The Old Town and its Aqueduct, since 1985
A Roman aqueduct of two tiers of granite arches, probably built around AD 50, strides across the town, with the Alcázar at its far end. A day from Madrid, with a driver and a local guide.
How we plan it
How we plan a cultural journey
We begin with what draws you, Moorish courtyards, Gothic cathedrals, Roman Spain or the modernists, and build the route around it at your pace, with a driver or the high-speed train between the cities and hotels in historic buildings where they suit. Each place has its own guide: an art historian for the Prado, an architect or architectural historian for Gaudí, a guide licensed for the Alhambra. Around them, each on request and subject to availability:
- Museums beyond the public hours, where the museum offers it: the Prado’s private hour before it opens, for a group; the Thyssen-Bornemisza’s early visit; the Museu Picasso’s private tours and the Fundació Joan Miró’s private visits in Barcelona.
- Music and flamenco: a private flamenco evening in Seville, or a concert in the gardens of the Real Alcázar on a summer night.
- Craft: the ceramics of Triana in Seville; in Córdoba, a house where the city’s gilded and painted leather, the guadamecí, is still made; a guitar maker’s workshop in Granada; or a potter’s workshop in Mallorca.
- Wine with a history: the Priorat beside the old charterhouse of Scala Dei, or a night in the restored abbey of Abadía Retuerta in the Duero valley.
- Cooking in the regions’ own traditions: see our culinary and wine tours.
- Walks with an architect’s eye through Barcelona, Seville and Toledo.
By region
Spain's art and architecture, region by region
Andalusia: the Alhambra, the Mezquita and the Alcázar, in three World Heritage cities a morning’s drive apart, and Ronda over its gorge.
Barcelona and Catalonia: Gaudí and the modernists, the Roman walls and the Gothic Quarter, and Roman Tarragona down the coast.
Madrid and Castile: the Prado, the Thyssen-Bornemisza and the Reina Sofía along the Paseo del Prado, the Royal Palace, and Toledo and Segovia a day away.
The Basque Country: Bilbao’s Guggenheim and old town, and the fishing towns of the coast.
Mallorca: Palma’s Gothic cathedral, La Seu, whose interior Gaudí reordered between 1904 and 1915, the old town’s streets down to the Arab Baths, and the villages of the Tramuntana.
Spain’s wine regions: the monasteries, hill towns and bodegas of Rioja, the Ribera del Duero and the Priorat.
Itineraries
Ideas for a cultural journey
Each of our itineraries is a starting point, shaped around you.
Two routes we plan often, with no page of their own: fourteen days of art and architecture from Barcelona through Valencia, Granada, Córdoba and Seville to Madrid, with Gaudí, the Alhambra, the Mezquita and the Prado each with its guide; and a week in Barcelona and Madrid, for the Sagrada Família, the Gothic Quarter and the great museums. Three of our published itineraries follow the same lines:
Catalonia Experience
from $13,200 per person
The Grand Spanish Tour
from $27,200 per person
Questions
Questions we are asked
When is the best time for cultural travel in Spain?
April to June and September to October suit almost the whole country at once. In July and August the south is hot, with Seville averaging 36°C, so we put the monuments early in the day; winter is quiet and mild in Andalusia, and good for the museums of Madrid. Our best time to visit Spain guide goes region by region.
Can we attend local festivals or performances?
Yes. We can build a trip around Holy Week in Andalusia, Seville’s Bienal de Flamenco, held every other year in September, or a concert or an opera in Madrid, Barcelona or Valencia, with the seats reserved. What is on depends on your dates, and we check the calendars as soon as they are fixed.
Can this be combined with food and wine experiences?
Often. Many of our clients pair the monuments with a table at a starred restaurant or a day among the wineries: wine tasting in Rioja, the Priorat or Jerez, which our wine regions guide covers. See also our culinary and wine tours.
Are these tours suitable for children?
Yes. For a family we shorten the visits, choose guides who tell the story to children, and add something hands-on, a ceramics workshop or a treasure hunt through the monument. See our luxury family trips to Spain.
City guides
- Barcelona travel guide
When to go, where to stay, the food, the great buildings and three days in the city.
- Madrid travel guide
When to go, where to stay, the food, the great museums and the palace, and three days in the city.
- Mallorca travel guide
When to go, where to stay, the food, Palma's landmarks and three days on the island.
- Seville travel guide
When to go, where to stay, the food, the great sights and three days in the city.
- San Sebastián travel guide
When to go, where to stay, the food, the sights and three days in the city.
Across Spain: the 12 treasures of Spain, Spain’s castles and palaces, our luxury travel guide to Spain and all our Spain destinations.
Plan your Spain trip
Tell us your dates and who is travelling. Everything else we can work out together.
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