Alhambra Tour Cancellation May Best of Spain Tour

The first thing I'd do is contact the tour office and ask Why? And if there were other options for you to get there on your own.

If you have free time in Granada check out the Alhambra website as tickets are coming available for dates in May

If it's truly impossible to tour the Alhambra but you have free time in Granada, I suggest you visit the Madrasa. It is located near the Cathedral and will give you some sense of the beauty of Nasrid architecture and design.

Hopefully you can see it on your own while you're in Granada. I don't blame you for being upset. I do think you're entitled to an explanation.

After you call the Rick Steves' (Europe thru the Backdoor) office in Seattle, please share with us the WHY.

I see the RS Spain tour still lists the Alhambra as a key thing to visit, so curious why you received the email. Is it closed for a private event that day? Did the tour office just fail to arrange tickets in time?

There are companies thru which you can arrange group tours of the venue, and you can sign up as an individual to join one of those group day tours. Check with Emily at South Ole Spain Tours to see if she has seats available.

Yes, unless there is some situation that is truly out of the ordinary (such as a closure of the entire Alhambra for a private event that day) that is totally out of the RS tour group's control, yes, I would be truly upset/frustrated. If it is something the RS team could not control, I would just be disappointed. But, typically, good tour providers would be able to just rearrange the itinerary slightly to allow the group to tour the day prior or day after, etc.

The Alhambra was a very special highlight of our personal (not a group tour) trip to Spain. We even stayed at the Parador within the walls of the Alhambra. I hope you get to visit it some way or another.

Please share with us the RS tour office's explanation and also why they apparently can't wiggle around the itinerary.

P.S. I do find it odd that apparently the email you just received offered no explanation..........that just makes one assume some ball was dropped by the tour office. If it were something out of the RS office control, surely they would have stated that.

Odd...really odd.

Would you post here the specific wording in the email you received, please.

Thanks Everyone!
It is comforting to share this with others and hear your thoughtful suggestions!

Here is a copy of the email we received. Would love to hear your thoughts!

We are writing to inform you of a change on your upcoming Best of Spain in 14 Days tour. Due to recent problems with the Alhambra’s booking system, we have been unable to secure tickets to visit the interior of Granada’s Alhambra Palace. We are not alone — this is impacting the majority of tour operators this month.

However, we will still provide a guided tour through the Alhambra grounds which includes several beautiful gardens, the Generalife Palace exterior, and the Alcazaba Fortress. In addition, we are adding a morning guided walking tour of Granada and we’ll finish the day with a guided “tapas tour” of the city’s famed culinary scene.

The quality of your upcoming trip means everything to us. We sincerely apologize for any disappointment this unexpected change may cause you. Thanks very much for your understanding.

Happy Travels,

Thanks for posting the actual email language you received.

That's odd. My initial thoughts are: For as long as Rick's group has been taking tours to Europe, you would think there would be some contact they would have to see what's up. But, likely they are using a local ground operator for the Alhambra arrangements, and it sounds like that company may not have secured tickets early enough????? This is truly odd. Going into the Alhambra is a BIG part of the experience. It is still nice to be able to see the outside and the gardens, but being that close, it is a shame you will not be able to see inside the palace, etc. SURELY they could work out something for a group of less than 24 if they really, really wanted to work it out, since it was promoted as part of the tour. Maybe a nice donation from RS Tour company to the Alhambra historical society (or whatever it might be called) could help to allow the group a quick look, afterall it is not like 100 tickets would be needed....it's a small group tour.

Is this happening on ALL of RS' Spain tours, or JUST for your group? If just your group, what caused the problem on just that day?

Just to give you a comparison:

When Tauck Tours (another group tour provider) was not able to get us into the Vatican Museum for a special, private after-hours visit (because of the beatification of John Paul, which was unknown earlier since the beatification was not a known event and the Vatican controls such things, and the whole facility was closed for beatification-related activities that night, Tauck did two things:
1) they provided a letter to us informing us that this closure was out of their control, but that they arranged for us to get a special private early viewing of the Vatican Museum the next morning.
2) additionally they promised to send a check for a refund of the related special after-hours viewing and tour........I can't remember the amount, MAYBE $250 to each participant.......and the checks were in our mailbox when we arrived home.

Handling tour clients in that manner made us become very brand loyal to Tauck.....one knows they are in good hands and promises will be fulfilled or exceeded. Tauck's business, I understand, is word-of-mouth based for a good portion, and a very large portion is repeat travelers. Both of my sisters and their families have traveled multiple times with Tauck as a result of our sharing our many good experiences.

That said, we had good experiences on our two RS tours years ago. The only odd thing was that the tour director on one of our RS tours asked to borrow cash from us so he could pay the bus driver, and then I had to remind him about it well after he would have had time to get to an ATM the next day (and he had been to the ATM, just was not very proactive about paying us earlier in the day......I waited to let him approach us several times before reminding him.......hmmmmm.) I always recall that when I read all the posts some posters on the RS site make saying it is stupid to take local cash to Europe and to rely just on credit cards and ATMs....yet an RS guide was caught short.

I also second doing what a previous poster suggested. Go to the Alhambra web site and see if you can personally book a ticket to the palace. If you can buy it (and surely RS Tours would reimburse you your cost).

Also, put in (without buying them) 24 tickets and see if you would be able to book them (if you wanted to).

Then, if you can, call RS Tours and tell them!!!!!!!!!

This may be an easy fix (or not).

I heard that there is a problem with individuals purchasing large quantities of tickets for popular tourist attractions and then selling at a huge mark up. Perhaps the Alhambra is working on addressing that? It is my understanding that the Alhambra areas they are taking you to are free.

I second trying to buy tickets on your own. You might miss their city tour, but you can do some wandering on your own.

McReynolds,
This is so unfortunate, especially since you weren’t notified with more advance notice; thus you may have been able to book your own tickets.

I just checked every possible option, including Dobla de Oro General or night visit, and Granada Card for your dates and there’s no longer any availability.

I do hope you enjoy the rest of your tour!

Edited to add...
I just called the Alhambra and was informed that every night at midnight (Spain time), the Alhambra website is updated, and if any tickets have been returned, they will be posted on the calendar. So keep checking for: Alhambra General, Dobla de Oro General or night visit tickets to the Nasrid Palaces, for both days you’ll be in Granada.

I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you.

https://compratickets.alhambra-patronato.es/reservarEntradas.aspx/?opc=2&gid=2&lg=en&ca=0

May 10 & 11 show tickets (limited #) available at this particular moment.

Not sure which days you'll be in Granada, but as Priscilla suggested keep checking. Things to open up...we've often switched tickets at various places (for earlier times) just by last-minute checking. And, possibly your hotel in Granada will be able to help. I know the Parador keeps tickets for guests on a first-available basis each day (we didn't chance it...we purchased ahead of time).

We spent today at the Alhambra and we sure didn't see any signs that tour groups were having difficulty booking, i.e. there sure were a lot of them in the Palacios Nazaries.

And no the other parts of The Alhumbra, while very nice, are no substitute for the Palacios Nazaries.

Obviously this is a massive cock-up by your tour company. And it is particularly odd for them to blame it on the Alhambra ticketing system when clearly plenty of other tour companies have got hold of tickets. Nevertheless, the mistake is a debate for tomorrow, and today you need to get on and buy tickets yourself. Although, as said above, the direct tickets seem sold out, googling "Granada tickets" does show some companies with a few to sell for May - but not many, so don't wait. This will certainly be expensive, but presumably your original tour company will pay given their mistake. Even if they won't, I would not hold on. Granada is great and has many other interesting sights, but unless you think you will back soon you will kick yourself for going to Granada and not going into the Nasrid Palaces

I went to look on the web site. Nothing available until July (except for 10 May).

There are many blogs reporting the current unavailability of tickets for most of the summer and this seems to have taken many by surprise. Nothing mentioned on the web site about closures or reduced admittance during this time. Just guessing, but I would think it might be repairs or other construction that will require the sight to be closed through much of that time.

Maggie, the tour guide asking for cash was truly unbelievable. (Much like that Ryanair plane that had to make an unexpected landing and then the pilot asking for cash so they could buy enough fuel to get to their actual destination.) Of the 10 RS tours I have ben on, nothing even close to that had ever happened. Wondering what the payment to the driver was for? The bus companies are paid well in advance by RS company and the drivers work based on the salary paid by the bus company directly to them. Could have been an unexpected parking charge which is the only thing that makes sense to me. But the tour guide not keeping enough cash on hand to cover these things is an issue with that specific guide, not the company as a whole. That guide probably wasn't used by RS after that incident.

This will certainly be expensive, but presumably your original tour company will pay given their mistake.

(and surely RS Tours would reimburse you your cost)

I tend to disagree with these statements. It appears that due to whatever reason, the tour has had to make an unexpected change and the tour co (RS/ETBD) has substituted something else for what was originally planned. This happens sometimes with tours and, as far as I know, the tour co is under no obligation to reimburse you for expenses you incur choosing to go to the original sight/experience on your own.

I fully realize that this is a big disappointment for you and I hope you do find some way to go on your own anyway, just don't expect the tour co to reimburse you. If they did, they would have to give that same amount to all tour members and I don't think that's likely. However, not knowing how this particular co handles these occurrences, don't quote me on that.

EDIT: From RS tour information page: "Itineraries are subject to change: Europe is full of surprises, and we need to be flexible enough to take advantage of whatever comes along so that we may provide you with the best possible tour. Uncompleted portions of the tour itinerary are not cause for refund." emphasis mine.

I understand being disappointed. However, you (and several others) jumped fast into the blame game without getting many facts. I thought the email was pretty clear that RS tours had not been able to acquire the needed tickets.

There have been threads on and off for the last few months about difficulties with these tickets and the website. Probably no one felt worse about this situation than the person in the Rick Steves office that had to send out the emails.

People have given you other options to try. In addition, I would suggest that the most important option you have at this moment is the choice about how much you are going to let this setback impact your enjoyment of your trip. That is the one thing you can control. My guess is that your trip is going to be a wonderful experience that will build many happy memories for you to enjoy for years to come.

I was looking into tickets for my trip in November and noticed that they seem to be saying if you by the Granada tourist card, you can almost always get into the Alhambra. Just thought I'd pass on. http://granadainfo.com/alhambra/bono.htm

While this is certainly a major disappointment, I would like to counter the comments here that have seemed to dump on the Rick Steves tour company. I have taken 9 RS tours, with a 10th and 11th coming up this season, and I have ALWAYS found the company and every individual staff member and guide, dedicated to the positive and enjoyable experience of every one of their travelers. Stuff can happen, and RS Tours bends over backwards to find the most satisfying response possible, in my opinion and experience.

Regarding Julesmenssen’s comment:

I was looking into tickets for my trip in November and noticed that
they seem to be saying if you by the Granada tourist card, you can
almost always get into the Alhambra. Just thought I'd pass on.

Please keep in mind that one still needs to select a date & time for the Nasrid Palace during the buying process of the Granada Card, so buying this card does not guarantee entrance to the Alhambra.

Julesmenssen,
Since your trip is not until November, start checking the Alhambra website 3 months in advance and you should be able to book your tickets then.