I'm currently filling in the details of our trip to Spain in April and May. Flight, apartments, trains, and obligatory advance tickets like the Alhambra, have been easy. And I thank everyone for the help in putting together the itinerary.
Now I have a train puzzlement. We would like to see a horse show in Jerez del la Frontera. Generally all shows are on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 12:00 and practices are at 12:00 during the week. We will be in Seville from the 25 to the 29th of April. The 26th is a Thursday and the 28th is the one Saturday of the month on which there is a show.
I went to Locco to check for trains and discovered that in April the earliest train leaves around 11:00 and arrives in Jerez at 12:15, which would makes us at least a half hour late to the show or practice. I'm not even sure they would seat us. So I looked into buses and found the situation the same. 12:15 appears to be as early as we can reach Jerez by public transportation in April. But Rome2rio and Google both suggest there are many earlier trains, but when I give our dates they disappear.
If anyone knows of a good way to get to Jerez by 11:45 or earlier in April, please let me know. Or if there is something stupid I'm doing looking at tickets. I did try both Tuesday and Saturday as my initial thought was that fewer trains run on Saturday.
Barring that, I'm looking for tours to the Jerez Horse Show from Seville. This one by Andalsur Viajes Congresos y Excursiones, https://www.getyourguide.com/seville-l48/from-seville-jerez-cadiz-and-andalusian-horses-day-trip-t96717/ which I can find only on consolidators, gets good reviews. It also includes a pre-show sherry tour and tasting (before noon is a little early for me when it comes to tasting) and goes on to Cadiz afterwords (not a bad thing) and runs roughly 8:00 to 20:00. All for $116 each. Not bad considering it includes admission to the winery and horse show. Does anyone know anything about this company?
There are also a couple of private tour companies running a similar program, or just a winery plus the horse show, but where I can imagine paying a $150 or so each for an all day trip with entertainment, I really can't imagine spending the $600 to $1300 for a day charged by the private guides I've found via Google. It's not that I don't think they are worth it, only that I can't afford them.
Rick Steves recommends All Sevilla Guided Tours. However, their website suggests a minimum of 950 pounds for a mini van of up to 6 people for a similar trip or one combining Arcos de la Frontera and Jerez. There are just two of us, so unless we could round up 4 companions, it would also be too expensive for us though we would have more control over the itinerary. ---- Edit: I didn't look deep enough in the website here. We may be able to just book this for two at a reasonable 112 Euros each. Has anyone used this company?
Any tour suggestions?