13 Day Spain & Portugal Tour including Gibraltar

Gear up for an exciting morning of sightseeing in Barcelona, joining your Local Specialist who knows all the best spots in town. Capture the sights and sounds of La Rambla, Passeig de Gracia and the ornate La Sagrada Família as you tour the city. Spend the rest of your day exploring on your own. Head to the Gothic Quarter or seek out the fanciful façades of Spanish Art Nouveau architect Antoni Gaudí, whose plentiful works of art and architecture lend a fairy-tale feel to Barcelona’s skyline. Consider joining an Optional Experience to Montserrat with its hidden monastery, home to the revered La Moreneta, and later opt into a scenic drive of Montjuic, host to the 1992 summer Olympics, before indulging in a delightful Catalonian feast with drinks.

Today we’ll skirt along the Costa Dorada, a gleaming strip of the Mediterranean coastline, travelling past expansive orange groves to Peñíscola. You’ll see its imposing 13th-century Templar Castle, famed as the dramatic backdrop for the Hollywood classic El Cid. Then continue to Valencia, catching a glimpse of the iconic highlights of this bustling modern metropolis on your orientation tour with your Travel Director. View the Art Nouveau, Train Station Estación del Norte, the Towers of Serrano and Quart. Next, leave the present behind and admire the futuristic ‘City of Arts and Sciences’, a cultural complex built into the Turia riverbed.

Explore a slice of Britain when you cross the border into Gibraltar, the much-contested gateway to the Mediterranean Sea. Maybe join an Optional Experience to get up close to the Barbary apes and visit the cave of St. Michael at the Rock of Gibraltar, the Roman and Greeks’ former pillar of the “known world”. Next, we return to Spain, travelling north through the Andalusian countryside to sizzling Seville.

A Local Specialist is on hand today to reveal Seville’s special allure and, standing amidst the pavilions and fountains of Maria Luisa Park, you’ll hear all about the elaborate Ibero-American Exposition of 1929 which put this sleepy Spanish city on the global map. See the world’s largest Gothic Cathedral and its Giralda Bell Tower, then consider joining an Optional Experience to the Alcázar, built by a Christian king who loved Mudéjar architecture. This lavish palace complex has witnessed key moments in Spanish history and welcomed great Spanish kings and queens over the centuries. After dinner at your hotel tonight, you might consider an Optional Experience to see the whirling skirts and fiery passion of a flamenco show. This foot-tapping extravaganza is not to be missed.

The highlights of your Spain and Portugal value tour just keep on rolling and for now it’s adiós Sevilla and a warm olá to Portugal, as we journey through the golden and green plains of the Alentejo to Lisbon. Pastel and azulejo-clad façades line the Portuguese capital’s narrow streets which ramble across and over its seven hills from St. George Castle to the Tagus River. You’ll be drawn to the city’s vibrant nightlife in the Bairro Alto and beyond, so head out with new friends for a night on the town or join your Travel Director for a poignant Optional Experience including a traditional meal accompanied by the authentic sounds of fado.

Visit the banks of the Tagus River this morning, joining a Local Specialist for a guided sightseeing tour that will take you past the iconic Hieronymite Monastery and Belém Tower, built in the 16th century to defend the city. Later, you’ll want to hop on one of the city’s signature trams to explore the city’s hilly bairros or find a corner café to sample some of the local pastries – pasteis de nata anyone? You could choose to leave the city limits behind this afternoon and visit the beach playgrounds of Estoril and Cascais, as well as Sintra, on an Optional Experience of the iconic Golden Triangle – the choice is yours.