About Avelia
Private guides, matched to you
How we choose them, and how we match them to you.
The Court of the Lions, the Alhambra
A good guide is not enough. At Avelia Travel, Ramin Jafari chooses each private guide for the person travelling as well as for the site, because the right guide depends on how you like to learn.
By Ramin Jafari · Facts checked
At a glance
- What it is
- A private guide for each visit, chosen for the traveller and the place
- How the match is made
- We settle the kind of guide on the planning call, and brief in writing
- Where
- Spain, including the Canary Islands, Italy and France, the same way
A trip with us typically includes hotels, private transfers, guided days and restaurant reservations, and always support while you travel.
Advisor’s note
If you want an academic for the Prado or the Uffizi, I find one. If you are travelling with children and want the story told, I find a storyteller. If you want someone who knows the Jewish history of Andalusia, I find that guide. The site is the same for everyone. The guide shouldn’t be.
The right guide
Why the same guide can be right for one traveller and wrong for the next
A guide’s knowledge tells you little about how a day with that guide will feel. We have seen one traveller find a highly knowledgeable guide too much like a lecture, and another family find the same guide outstanding on a different kind of visit. Neither was wrong, and the guide had not changed. What differed was what each of them wanted from the day, which is why we ask before we choose.
Story
- Told the story
- History as conversation rather than lecture
Scholarship
- Taken through the evidence
- An academic for the Prado or the Uffizi
How we choose
How we choose a guide
Who we choose from
Long-standing relationships
Our guides come from long-standing relationships: guides and suppliers Ramin has worked with before.
Speak with the guide or their manager
Before booking, Ramin speaks with the guide directly. Where a guide works for a larger provider, Ramin speaks with their manager.
Profile before booking
Either way, we always have the guide's profile before booking. No guide is booked without one.
Client feedback
If a client's feedback on a guide is poor, we stop working with that guide.
What we ask before choosing
On the planning call we ask about:
Pace:
how quickly you like to move, and how long each of you can comfortably walk or stand.
Depth:
how much detail you want from a morning.
Story or scholarship:
whether you would rather be told the story or taken through the evidence.
Children:
their ages, and how long they can stay interested.
Particular interests:
art, architecture, faith, food, a period of history.
Continuity:
whether you would like the same guide across several days.
Your guide is then briefed on all of it, in writing, before the day.
Specialisms
Specialisms we arrange, by destination
Spain
The Prado, the Thyssen and the Reina Sofía.
Art historians, for the three museums along the Paseo del Prado.
The Alhambra and the Mezquita-Catedral.
Islamic and Nasrid history, from the palaces the Nasrid dynasty began in 1238, by day, or the Nasrid Palaces by night, to the great mosque of Córdoba, founded in 786–788.
Sefarad.
The Jewish history of Spain: Córdoba’s Judería, Seville’s Santa Cruz, Toledo’s El Tránsito synagogue and Sephardic Museum, and Lucena.
Gaudí's Barcelona.
An architectural historian along the Passeig de Gràcia and around the façades of the Sagrada Família.
The Canary Islands
Volcanic terrain.
Hiking guides, who read the group’s pace before committing to a route, and the Teide Observatory, then the night sky with a Starlight guide.
Italy
The Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel.
Art historians, through the Raphael Rooms to the chapel. With the Vatican’s own guides: the dawn opening with the Key Master, and the Scavi beneath St Peter’s (from age 10, booked months ahead).
The Uffizi.
An art historian in the galleries, and the Vasari Corridor, reopened in December 2024 (closed Mondays).
Ancient Rome and Pompeii.
Archaeologists for the Colosseum, the Forum and Ostia, and for Pompeii, the Roman town Vesuvius buried in AD 79.
France
The Louvre and the Musée d'Orsay.
Art historians, with the visit built around what you most want to see.
The Normandy landing beaches.
Historians of D-Day, licensed in France, for the beaches, the batteries and the American Cemetery.
Families, everywhere
Guides who tell the story to children.
Examples
Five examples from trips we've planned
Travellers in Andalusia who wanted history as conversation rather than lecture: their Granada guide briefed for storytelling, with room for questions and breaks, and the same guide for the Alhambra and the next day's walk.
Travellers with a serious interest in modern art: we chose a guide with museum experience and an artist's own perspective, and checked the guide's training before booking.
Travellers who needed a particular art historian: we kept a day on its original date rather than move it, because the historian was not free the day after.
A traveller in Catalonia: one guide for the whole week, because continuity mattered.
A walking day in the Canary Islands: the gentler forest section first, so the guide can see the group's pace before the harder volcanic terrain, where vehicle access is limited.
These examples come from Spain, where most of our trips are; the approach is the same in Italy and France.
Honest limits
Some sites allow only licensed or accredited guides inside. At the Alhambra a guide needs the Andalusian licence and must be accredited at the site for each visit. At the Vatican Museums a guide is accredited by the Museums each year. At the Louvre a guide holds France’s national guide-conférencier card.
Some museums and sites assign their own guides. Inside the Sagrada Família, for example, the visit is the basilica’s own. Where that happens we say so in the proposal, and pass on your brief where the venue allows it.
A particular guide is never guaranteed until confirmed.
Planning with Avelia
How we plan your trip
Guides are one part of a trip. Ramin Jafari plans every trip from Málaga, and the guides are chosen with the rest of it.
Share your plans
Tell us your dates, who is travelling and the pace you like, and how you like to learn, from scholarship to story.
Shape your trip with us
Before any payment, we send a written proposal with a quoted trip price and what it includes — such as which visits are guided and the kind of guide for each — and refine it with you.
Travel with our support
Once you approve the proposal and complete the agreed booking requirements, we confirm your arrangements. We coordinate the details and support you while you travel.
Peace of mind
Financially protected. Your payments for a package trip are covered against our insolvency by a guarantee with AXA. Plan with peace of mind
In their words
What travellers say
His recommendations on accommodations, restaurants, hiking and biking guides, tour guides, etc. were spot on.
Paul Oetter
The suggested itinerary was thoughtful and collaborative. And, consequently, Ramin's selection of guides and hikes proved very satisfying as were the hotel selections.
Andrew Chiodo
Questions
Questions we are asked
How do you choose a guide?
On the planning call we find out how you like to see a place and how much you want to know. Ramin then chooses a guide for you and briefs that guide in writing before the day.
Can I ask for a particular kind of guide?
Yes: scholarship or storytelling, a period of history, a faith, or someone who is good with children.
Can the same guide stay with us for several days?
Where availability allows, and it is often worth asking for.
Are your guides licensed?
Where a licence is required, always. Some sites add rules of their own, which we set out above.
Do your guides speak fluent English?
Yes. All our guides speak fluent English, in every country, because most of our clients are American.
When will I know who my guide is, and how do I reach them?
You receive your guide’s name and contact details before you travel, usually about two weeks ahead. The exact timing depends on the provider, but it is always before the day itself.
How long is a guided visit?
Most guided visits last around one and a half to two hours, and some up to three, depending on the place and the kind of visit. Walking and hiking days are longer, sometimes a full day. We set the length to your pace when we plan the trip.
Can I book a guide on its own?
Our guides are arranged as part of a trip we plan with you.
What if a guide isn't the right fit?
Tell us that day, or that evening. Often a word from us to the guide is enough: a slower pace, more story, less detail. If it still isn’t right, we find a different guide for the days that follow, as quickly as availability allows. Where only a few licensed guides can work inside a site, that can take a day.
Related pages
- Private architecture and cultural tours
Spain's great buildings, and what each venue lets us arrange.
- Family trips to Spain
Days planned around the children, and guides who tell them the story.
- Planning a luxury trip to Spain
How we design a trip, the hotels and experiences, and when to go.
- Italy
Rome, Florence and the Amalfi Coast, planned privately.
- France
Paris, Provence and the Riviera, planned privately.
- Ramin Jafari
Who plans your trip, and how to reach him.
- Plan with peace of mind
What protects your trip.
Start planning your trip
A guide chosen for how you like to see a place: tell us your dates and who is travelling.
Usually answered within one business day.