Hi,
We are staying (4) nights in Seville (already booked), and want a good day tour of Cordoba that includes the Mezquita mosque and other sightseeing. Is it a better use of time to join a tour guide service or do it ourselves? We are pretty independent. Also, should we purchase tickets ahead of time for the mosque and are there long lines? All suggestions are welcomed!
You’re asking a personal preference question. There are pros and cons to taking a tour or doing it on one’s own. Our preference is to visit on our own. We see what we want for as long as we want. When we’re ready to move on, we move on and are not dependent on when a guide’s talk end. Most of what a guide says, I’ll never remember anyway. When taking an organized tour, if a meal is included, you go to where the tour takes you, not necessary a place you’d choose. If you decide on an organized tour, it should get the tickets for you.
I will add that we generally have a rental car and not dependent on an organized tour or public transportation to get us to and from. If going the independent route, the time of year you’re going will help determine if you should get tickets beforehand. Our last visit there was October 2011 and we just walked right up to the ticket window, no line. Just remember that most tickets bought beforehand are non-refundable so if your plans change, you’re out that money.
We stayed in Cordoba 4 nights this last fall. The ticket line for the Mesquita was long - we bought online in advance. There are free hours Mon to Sat 0830 to about 0920 before the services. No significant line but be there early to maximize your time inside. We rank Cordoba and Granada as highlights of our month long trip Visited Barcelona, Sevilla, Toledo & Madrid also.
When we visited Cordoba last January, we hired a private guide for a 2-hour walking tour of the city and then used the audio guide for the Mezquita.
This worked well for us. The private tour let us go at a pace that was right for us and we could ask any questions along the way. We received a ton of insights that we never would have known had we done a self-guided tour for this part of our visit.
On the other hand, I felt that the audio guide for the Mezquita was very good and covered the site and its history well, and while I’m sure a guide would contribute even more to the experience, I don’t feel it was necessary.
The guide we used was Isabel Martinez ([email protected]). She was excellent!
I spent 2 nights in Cordoba. I didn't have a private tour (or any group tour). Some advance background reading and good use of a paper map or google maps will help you avoid feeling like you have to pay for a private tour guide. It is a better use of time to do Cordoba yourself, un-guided. Once I did an expensive group guided tour in Rome, Italy; I paid too much attention to my tour guide and I didn't look at the monuments and ruins enough that the tour guide was lecturing us about.
Yes you should buy tickets for the Mezquita, in advance, before your trip. It is better to take the risk of not being able to take your trip and wasting your money on the tickets than to risk showing up at the Mezquita and finding out that tickets are sold out and they won't let any more people cram in. I bought advance tickets. This is actually a super-popular site. I don't remember exactly how long the line was. I vaguely remember the tickets being timed; you pick a time; I don't remember the line being super long. I didn't bother getting the audio guide. I am unsure how much, if anything, I missed by not having the audio guide. I did background reading before my trip.
We purchased a group walking tour for the Mezquita and were quite glad we did. We simply took a train to Cordoba, taxi to Mezquita and met up with the walking tour at the meeting point. We learned so much more than we would have from any guidebooks from a local who had great passion and knowledge.
We used Oway Tours.
https://owaytours.com/en/cordoba/guided-tour-mosque-cathedral-cordoba/
They also offer other tours that show more of Cordoba.
https://owaytours.com/en/cordoba/
