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Adding On To Tour

I am considering booking a commercial tour that includes

Flying into Lisbon
2 nights Lisbon including day trip to Evora
2 nights Seville including day trip to Ronda
3 nights Torremolinos including day trip to Granada and tour of Alhambra

then, my husband and I would be on our own for another 10 or 12 days. I'm thinking we head into Morocco via Tarifa (2 nights) for a day trip and go to Madrid (5 days, allowing for side trips) and Barcelona (2 days), flying out of Barcelona. That leaves us 1-3 days to add to the itinerary.

The benefit of the commercial tour is that it includes transportation for the part of Spain that seems difficult to navigate by public transportation and probably saves us some money by bundling. The down-side is that it is more rushed than I'd like, allowing little time to explore Seville and Granada.

I'm looking for advice on ways to spend the remaining 10-12 days that will allow us to sink in a little deeper - take a tapas bar crawl, cooking lesson, tour a winery and just explore a neat town. What backdoor experiences would you recommend to balance out the packed commercial tour?

We are in our early 30s, no kids, adventurous, but trying to do public transit.

Posted by
7175 posts

Gee, the trip you describe must be a good price. But is it good value?

If you plan 60% on your own, then why not make that 100%?

Barcelona - 4 nights
Granada - 2 nights
Ronda - 2 nights (check out white hill towns)
Sevilla - 3 nights (check out Córdoba)
Madrid - 4 nights (check out Toledo, Segovia)
Lisbon - 4 nights (check out Sintra, Evora)

Posted by
5294 posts

Kenbarra,

Flying into Lisbon
2 nights Lisbon including day trip to Evora
2 nights Seville including day trip to Ronda
3 nights Torremolinos including day trip to Granada and tour of Alhambra.

This "commercial tour", sounds insanely rushed!

Keep in mind that 2 nights in Lisbon means you'll have one full day in Lisbon & if you'll be taking a day trip to Evora, when will you actually see Lisbon?
Same question for Sevilla & Granada...

David, makes a good point.
Why not plan your trip & actually spend some time visiting each of your destinations?

If you want to visit Sevilla, Ronda Granada, Barcelona & Madrid. I'd skip Lisbon & save it for another trip.

You may also consider visiting Córdoba & Toledo.

I hope you'll reconsider & plan your own trip. If you've not booked your flights yet, look into getting "multi-city" tickets, that way you'll avoid backtracking. You could fly into Madrid & out of Barcelona, or vice versa.