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Overview Itinerary Reviews Hotels, flights & FAQ

Grand Tour of Spain

with Barcelona extension

Duration: 14 or 16 days
Group size: 15-38
Reviews: 315

Culture, history, and cuisine, all with Spanish flavor.

Spain's charismatic locals and cosmopolitan cities shine on this tour, which take you from the museums of Madrid to the sands of the Costa del Sol. Barcelona and Madrid compete for the title of cultural capital, both boasting incredible art and architecture. Andalusia is a showcase of mosques, churches, and Moorish castles. Sample it all on this guided tour of Spain, traversing the country from north to south and back again.

Your tour package includes

12 nights in handpicked hotels
12 breakfasts
5 dinners with beer or wine
7 guided sightseeing tours
Expert Tour Director & local guides

Included highlights

Royal Palace
Prado Museum
Córdoba
Seville Cathedral
Ronda

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Day-by-day itinerary

Overnight Flight1 night

Day 1: Travel day

Board your overnight flight to Madrid today.

Madrid3 nights

Day 2: Arrival in Madrid

Included meal: Dinner

Welcome to Spain! Gather with your Tour Director and fellow travelers at a welcome dinner.

Day 3: Sightseeing tour of Madrid

Included meal: Breakfast

Get an insider’s view of Madrid with a local guide.

• View the Royal Palace, Spain’s largest royal residence

• Pass by the Temple of Debod, a reassembled temple from ancient Egypt

• See the city’s many squares, including Plaza de España, Plaza Mayor, and the bustling Puerta del Sol

• Explore the Prado, a world-class art museum that began as the private collection of the Spanish monarchy and is home to the works of Goya, Velásquez, and more

Enjoy a free evening in Madrid or add an excursion.

Traditional Spanish Evening

Excursion (additional cost)

Day 4: Free day in Madrid

Included meal: Breakfast

Spend a free day in Madrid or add an excursion.

Toledo

Excursion (additional cost)

Seville2 nights

Day 5: Seville via Córdoba

Included meals: Breakfast, Dinner

Ride the high-speed train to the town of Córdoba and explore the Mezquita, a UNESCO World Heritage site that was built in the eighth century as a mosque and then transformed into a cathedral during the Christian Reconquista of 1236.

Continue to Seville, stopping en route at an olive oil farm for a tasting. Then, sit down for an included dinner this evening.

Day 6: Sightseeing tour of Seville

Included meal: Breakfast

Uncover the beauty of Seville, the historic Andalusian capital, on a guided sightseeing tour.

• View the tiled pavilion of the Plaza de España

• Pass the whitewashed homes of Barrio de Santa Cruz

• Step inside the Gothic Seville Cathedral, the third largest church in the world

Enjoy a free evening or add an excursion.

Traditional Seville Flamenco Show

Excursion (additional cost)

Costa del Sol2 nights

Day 7: Travel to Costa del Sol via Ronda

Included meals: Breakfast, Dinner

On your way to the beaches of Costa del Sol, stop in Ronda, a famous cliffside town in Andalusia.

• View the staggering Puente Nuevo, an 18th-century bridge that spans a deep gorge

• Admire the town's picturesque white buildings and enter the Plaza de Toros, which was constructed in the late 1700s

• Walk by the Mondragón Palace and visit the terraced Cuenca Gardens

Continue on to the Costa del Sol and sit down for an included dinner.

Day 8: Free day on the Costa del Sol

Included meal: Breakfast

Spend a day on the beaches of Costa del Sol or add an excursion.

A Day in Gibraltar

Excursion (additional cost)

Granada1 night

Day 9: Sightseeing tour of Granada

Included meals: Breakfast, Dinner

Travel farther into Andalusia for a guided tour of Granada.

• Explore the Alhambra, the Moorish sultans’ last stronghold in Spain

• Admire the blend of Western art and Islamic design

• Stroll through ornamented courtyards

Sit down for an included dinner this evening.

Valencia2 nights

Day 10: Valencia via Guadix

Included meal: Breakfast

On the way to Valencia, stop in the cave district of Guadix, where nearly half of the residents live underground.

Day 11: Sightseeing tour of Valencia

Included meal: Breakfast

Discover Valencia on a guided sightseeing tour.

• Pass the City of Arts and Sciences, a symbol of Spain’s modernist architecture

• View Valencia Cathedral during a walk through the Old Town and stop for a tasting of the decadent beverage known as horchata

Enjoy free time in Valencia or add an excursion.

Valencia Cooking Class & Dinner

Excursion (additional cost)

Barcelona2 nights

Day 12: Travel to Barcelona

Included meal: Breakfast

Pass through Peñíscola, a seaside fortress, on your way to Barcelona.

Day 13: Sightseeing tour of Barcelona

Included meals: Breakfast, Dinner

Follow a local on a guided tour of the Catalonian capital.

• Step inside La Sagrada Família, Gaudí’s famous masterwork-in-progress

• Drive along Passeig de Gràcia, past Gaudí’s “house of bones”

• Stop at Montjuïc, where the 1992 Olympic Games took place, and stroll through Mirador de l’Alcalde Park

• Pass Plaça d’Espanya and view the soaring monument to Christopher Columbus

Enjoy a free afternoon in Barcelona or add an excursion.

Celebrate your trip with your group at tonight’s farewell dinner.

Park Güell & La Pedrera

Excursion (additional cost)

Flight Home

Day 14: Departure

Included meal: Breakfast (excluding early morning departures)

Transfer to the airport to board your flight home or continue exploring Barcelona.

Extension to Barcelona

From the twisting Gothic Quarter to the whimsical creations of Antoni Gaudí and the visionary beauty of the Eixample district, Barcelona's architectural eye candy has no equal. And its music, theater, art, gastronomy, and fashion set the pace for European style. (Plus, its nightlife will have you dancing until dawn.)

Barcelona2 nights

Day 14: Free day in Barcelona

Included meal: Breakfast

Enjoy a free day in Barcelona or add excursions.

Picasso & Gothic Barcelona

Excursion (additional cost)

Barcelona Home-Hosted Dinner

Excursion (additional cost)

Day 15: Free time in Barcelona

Included meal: Breakfast

Spend the day exploring Barcelona at your leisure or add an excursion.

This evening, enjoy a farewell drink as you celebrate your trip with your fellow group members.

Montserrat

Excursion (additional cost)

Flight Home

Day 16: Departure

Included meal: Breakfast (excluding early morning departures)

Transfer to the airport to board your flight home.

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Reviews

315

4.7 average

Manuel Sueiras, our tour guide, was amazing!

06/19/2019 by 2nd time traveler Juanita W.

Spain is a beautiful place - the people, the architecture, the food, the landscape - all of it! And our travel partners were amazing - we now have new lifetime friends. But I cannot do a proper review without telling about our tour guide, Manuel Sueiras. Manuel went above and beyond the call of duty...

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Excellent Grand Tour of Spain tour

06/19/2019 by 2nd time traveler Judy H.

We loved the itinerary of the Grand Tour of Spain. We got to see more of Spain than any other tour offers—not just Madrid or just Barcelona. We loved our tour director Leonor and the group we were with. We hated to leave all of them. The trip is demanding as we had to pack and unpack multiple tim...

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Go Ahead Tours replied on 06/19/2019

Dear Judy, Thank you for taking the time to writ...

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06/19/2019 by 8th time traveler Eileen S.

Our tour director was very well educated and pass her knowledge on to us. She was very helpful to all of us and quickly called us by name. We all enjoyed her discussions along the way and her sense of humor. I would go with her again on another one of her tours. I was somewhat disappointed in the...

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Go Ahead Tours replied on 06/19/2019

Dear Eileen, Thank you for leaving us a review o...

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Learned so much!

06/19/2019 by 3rd time traveler Brian Z.

Overall the tour was terrific. I would like to take this opportunity to offer a few comments. #1 - Starting off with the strongest element of the tour- our Director LUIS!!! I hope you realize what you have in this man!! He was an EXCELLENT director and is a GREAT representative of your organization....

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Go Ahead Tours replied on 06/19/2019

Dear Brian, Thank you for choosing Go Ahead to e...

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Excellent tour- accommodations average

06/04/2019 by 2nd time traveler Florence W.

Tour director and main driver were excellent! Pace of tour included many wonderful sights mixed with time to relax. Food was excellent. Beds in first hotel were very hard. I travelled as a single person and all of my rooms, except one, looked at walls. I would have liked to have had a room with a v...

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Our reviews are authentic and unedited.

Hotels, flights, & FAQ

Here's the nitty-gritty—where you’ll stay, how you’ll get there, and what to know about your destination before you go.

Hotels

We handpick every hotel to strike the balance of comfort, location, and local charm. Specific accommodations will vary based on your departure date, but these are frequently used hotels for this tour and we're confident you'll be satisfied.

NH Zurbano

This contemporary hotel is located the El Gancho district. Guests enjoy a fitness center, hotel bar, and free Wi-Fi. Nearby, you'll find Plaza de Toro...

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Catalonia Giralda

This charming hotel is located in the San Bernardo neighborhood. Guests enjoy Wi-Fi, laundry services, and a hotel bar. Nearby, you'll find La Giralda...

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Flights

Round-trip flights are one more thing we handle to make your journey as smooth as possible. Our team of travel experts will find the best flight itinerary for you at a competitive rate, thanks to our partnerships with top airlines.

Add our airfare package and you'll get:

Round-trip flight for your tour
Airport transfers at your destination
A great price locked in today
24/7 support from our dedicated service team
Options for arriving early, staying longer, or requesting an upgrade
Flexible rebooking options if your tour itinerary changes

Find out more about flights

FAQ

Passport & visa requirements

In order to enter Spain and Gibraltar (a British colony), U.S. and Canadian citizens need a valid passport with an expiration date extending at least six months beyond the date of reentry.
We recommend having at least one blank passport page for entry stamps.
There is no visa required for U.S. or Canadian citizens.
If you are not a U.S. or Canadian citizen, you must contact your destination country’s consulate for your specific entry requirements.

Tour pace

You will walk for about 2.5 hours daily across moderately uneven terrain, including paved roads and cobblestone streets, with some hills.
Travelers should be healthy enough to participate in all included walks without assistance. Adding optional excursions may increase the total amount of walking on your tour.
You should feel comfortable managing your own baggage at times, as well as getting in and out of trains.
Go Ahead Tours and the Tour Director who accompanies your group are unable to provide special, individual mobility assistance to travelers on tour. The responsibility of the Tour Director is to ensure the group as a whole enjoys a relaxing and informative journey, and he or she cannot be relied upon to provide ongoing, individualized assistance to any one traveler.
If you have any mobility concerns or physical restrictions, please contact our Customer Experience Team.

Transportation & arrival information

Round-trip flights booked through Go Ahead Tours arrive in Madrid and depart from Barcelona. A representative from Go Ahead Tours will meet you at the airport and take you to your hotel. Please remain in the arrival lounge, as the representative might be escorting one of your fellow travelers to the bus at the time of your arrival.
Transfers to and from the airport at your destination are included for travelers who have purchased their flights through Go Ahead Tours. Travelers who purchase their own flights may request airport transfers with Go Ahead Tours for an additional cost.
A train ride from Madrid to Córdoba is included in the price of your tour.
All other included transportation on this tour is by private motor coach.

Baggage allowance

Please note that our travelers are limited to one checked bag and one carry-on bag per person due to storage limitations on motor coaches and other transfers, which may include train connections or flights.
Contact your airline(s) for baggage size and weight restrictions for your flights, which may include on-tour flights in addition to your round-trip flights to and from tour. Please note that your included on-tour flights may have more restrictive baggage limits.
Some airlines may impose additional charges if you choose to check any baggage or exceed baggage size and weight restrictions. Be advised that you are responsible for any baggage fees incurred on all flights.
Make sure you label your baggage and keep valuables, medication, and documents in your carry-on bag.

Clothing & packing tips

We recommend packing lightweight, loose-fitting clothing that can be easily layered to accommodate varying temperatures, as well as a light jacket or rainwear.
A sturdy pair of walking shoes or sneakers is recommended for sightseeing.
You may want to pack dressier attire if you plan to visit a high-end restaurant or attend a special performance.
It is preferable not to visit churches or other religious sites with bare legs and shoulders (and entrance may be denied on this basis).

Health

There are no major health risks associated with traveling to Spain.
At least 60 days prior to departure, check with your doctor or healthcare provider for the latest updates and entry requirements, or visit the Center for Disease Control and Prevention website at cdc.gov.
If you have medication that you take daily, be sure you have enough for each day of the tour as well as any possible delays encountered.
If you have dietary restrictions and/or food allergies please notify Go Ahead Tours at least 30 days prior to departure by logging in to your account and updating your traveler info. To update this information closer to your departure date, please call our Customer Experience Team.

Cuisine

In Spain, breakfast like a local with just a pastry and coffee. Then, tuck into a three-course lunch featuring a Spanish staple like savory seafood paella or grilled meat and fried potatoes. Dinner is less hearty than lunch and is served late, between 9pm and midnight. Snack on small plates called tapas any time of day.
Cuisine in Spain's southern Andalusia region is heavily influenced by surrounding countries, and has many Arabic elements. Kebabs are popular, and desserts are often prepared with almonds, honey and cinnamon. Be sure to try Serrano ham, which is considered a regional delicacy, as well as the famous chilled soup known as gazpacho.
Catalan cuisine, which can be found in Barcelona, is markedly different from food in other parts of Spain. Nearly every restaurant will offer _pa amb tomàquet_—toasted bread with tomato and olive oil. Fresh seafood, hearty meat dishes, cheeses, and locally grown vegetables, such as wild mushrooms, are culinary mainstays.

Electricity & air conditioning

Spain operates on the European standard 220-240 volts and uses Types C, E, or F plugs with two small, round pins.
We recommend packing a universal adapter, as well as a voltage converter if you plan on using your own hairdryer or other device without a built-in converter.
The strength of the air conditioning in European hotels is often not as strong or as cool as what you might be used to in the U.S. or Canada. When air conditioning is available, it is usually regulated seasonally and controlled centrally by the hotel.
Your hotels may provide hairdryers, irons, and other small appliances. However, these amenities cannot be guaranteed.

Connectivity

Wi-Fi is available in most hotels, though some charges may apply.
There is no Wi-Fi on any of the motor coaches.
Please contact your mobile service provider for information on roaming charges.

Time zones

Spain is one hour ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) and six hours ahead of Eastern Time (ET).
When it’s noon in New York, it’s 6pm on tour.

Currency

You will use the euro in Spain.
Better rates of exchange are usually available overseas, although it’s worth ordering some currency from your local bank to use when you first arrive.
We strongly advise that you take debit/bank cards and credit cards, which can be used to withdraw cash at local banks as needed.
You can use most debit/credit cards at ATMs on the international networks Cirrus and Plus, but make sure to check with your home bank about withdrawal fees.
Inform your bank and credit card company of your travel plans so that they won’t confuse your international purchases for fraudulent charges.
International banks and businesses primarily accept debit and credit cards that work with the EMV chip system. If you do not already have at least one debit or credit card with a chip in it, we strongly recommend requesting one from your bank prior to your tour.

Tipping

At the conclusion of your tour, it’s customary to offer your Tour Director and driver a gratuity in local currency. Please keep current exchange rates in mind.
We recommend tipping the equivalent of $7USD to $10USD per person per day for your Tour Director and the equivalent of $3USD per person per day for your driver.
If applicable, we also recommend the equivalent of $2USD per local guide.
Tips can only be paid in cash.

Purchasing excursions on tour

Most optional excursions will be available for purchase while you are on tour.
Your Tour Director will only accept cash (in USD only), Visa, or MasterCard as payment for excursions.
Please be advised that if you pay for an excursion by credit card while on tour, it may take up to three months for your card to be charged.
Some optional excursions may only be purchased in advance. See page four of your tour itinerary for more information. International travel is, by its very nature, unpredictable. We must therefore reserve the right to change this itinerary, without advance notice, to meet with local conditions at the time of travel. We appreciate your understanding. Please refer to our website for Terms & Conditions, dates, and prices.

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61 Departures

Tour prices are per person, before flights, and based on two travelers per hotel room.