One Day in Cadiz, Madeira Portugal

Presuming you mean 8 hours in each. Cadiz - see Cathedral, churches, walk old quarter, old mansions, see home/manse which has Goya paintings, have a meal of fine seafood. Madeira - take the trip organised by your ship, you cannot organise it yourself well enough.

Thank you, yes, I did not make that very clear. Cadiz (Seville) Spain and Funchal (Madeira) Portugal. We will be at each location one day.

When we were in Cadiz our ship was docked near the train/bus station which I assume is where most cruise ships dock. We took the train to Jerez and the bus to Arcos - stations side by side. Arcos will described in Steves' Spain book. Spent several hours there and then caught a bus directly back to Cadiz from Arcos. Still have a couple of hours in Cadiz. Cadiz has some interesting walking tours. You get the map at the TI. The walking tours are color coded - red, yellow, etc. They have actually painted colored strips on the sidewalks so that you cannot get lost on the walking tours.

Thank you Frank. Sounds good.
It sounds like we could take the train in Cadiz to Jerez and a bus from Jerez to Arco. Then a bus from Arco back to Cadiz. Do I understand that correctly?

It has been three years so my memory is foggy. I think reason we took the train/bus was a timing issue. I think the train/bus was quicker than waiting for a direct bus to Arcos. The bus station and train are across the parking lot from each other so you can quickly check both. The Steves guide book has good info for getting around Arcos. It was worth the trip. As usual we packed a picnic lunch from the ship's breakfast.

Got it. I am ordering the RS Spain book. Will check it out as you suggested. Thanks so much for the input.

You can always use your local library and copy what you need.

We are also traveling to Cadiz and Madiera in Nov. on a cruise as we did last year. This year we are taking a taxi from Cadiz to Jerez to see the horse show at the Royal Andulusian School and then to tour a sherry bodega. Last year we went to Seville. Too far for a day trip in my opinion. I would never take a ship excursion as they are a huge waste of funds. Last year we did Madiera on our own and had a fine time. We walked to the cable car depot near the cruise port then walked the fabulous botanical garden at the top of the cable car route. This year we are a group of 6 taking a 5 hour tour of the west side of the island with Daniel Madiera Taxis. I think it is only 20 Euros per person and the company has been great to work with. The highest seaside cliffs in Europe are on the west side of Madiera and that is our priority to see. We are on Holland America's Nieuw Amstredam.

We are also traveling to Cadiz and Madiera in Nov. on a cruise as we did last year. This year we are taking a taxi from Cadiz to Jerez to see the horse show at the Royal Andulusian School and then to tour a sherry bodega. Last year we went to Seville. Too far for a day trip in my opinion. I would never take a ship excursion as they are a huge waste of funds. Last year we did Madiera on our own and had a fine time. We walked to the cable car depot near the cruise port then walked the fabulous botanical garden at the top of the cable car route. This year we are a group of 6 taking a 5 hour tour of the west side of the island with Daniel Madiera Taxis. I think it is only 20 Euros per person and the company has been great to work with. The highest seaside cliffs in Europe are on the west side of Madiera and that is our priority to see. We are on Holland America's Nieuw Amstredam.

Thank you Peggy. We are also sailing on the on the Niew Amsterdam. You must be on the same cruise? :-) We considered going with a small group to Madeira - same side. The group is coming back at 4:30 and the cruise must be boarded by 5. I was a little nervous about the short timeline to be back - we have never done anything like that before. (This is our first Mediterranean cruise). Are you going to Madeira with Liz and her group? I think we will do what you did on your first trip. Maybe another time we will be braver. lol!

Hi Gail. We are getting very excited and leaving in 48 hours for a few days in Paris before making our way to Venice. In Madiera we are touring with the 3 other couples we are traveling with. We will make sure we are on board at least an hour before sailing;our driver will have to adjust to our time schedule. This will be our second transatlantic cruise. We really had a fabulous and relaxing time last year and look forward to the same this year. I hope you have a great trip!

Any good suggestions? We are arriving by ship to Funchal port on Madeira. We will be there almost 9 hours. What to see? Do we need a guide? We are only going to Madeira not Cadz

Marianne and Gail, You should look at http://www.cruisecritic.com/. In addition to all kinds of information about ports, you can join the "roll call" of others on your sailing, so you can joinn others in organizing private excursions for less money than the ones offered by the ship, going just where YOU want to go, and in a smaller group.