Best of Spain & Portugal – Small Group end Madrid

Arrive in Madrid, Spain’s capital since the 16th century, where the grand layout of the Bourbon period meets older barrios built around markets and neighbourhood squares. Meet your Travel Director and your small group over dinner in a local restaurant, sharing a meal and getting to know the people you’ll be travelling with across Spain and Portugal.

Explore Madrid’s central neighbourhoods with your Local Expert, moving through the Old Quarter that grew around the city’s original medieval fortress and later expanded under the Habsburgs. Continue to the Prado Museum, founded in 1819 and recognised for its extensive European collection. You’ll join an art historian to view works by Velázquez, Goya, Titian, Rubens and others, gaining clear context for the artists who shaped Spain’s cultural record.

Travel to Segovia and walk its historic streets with a Local Expert, viewing the Alcázar fortress that once guarded the approach to the Castilian plain. After your stop at the Alcázar, you’ll continue to the Roman aqueduct, a 1st-century engineering work that supplied the city with water for centuries. From here, you’ll journey on to Salamanca, passing the medieval walls of Ávila. On arrival, your inimitable Local Expert will guide you to Plaza Mayor and the university buildings that shaped the city’s academic life from the 13th century.

Cross into Portugal and travel to Porto, a city shaped by its medieval Ribeira district and long history of Atlantic trade. Begin at the wine cellars of Vila Nova de Gaia, where port has been stored and aged since the 18th century, and join a guided tasting that introduces the region’s unmistakable flavours, from the golden tawny to deep red rubies. Continue with an orientation tour led by your Travel Director through the key riverside quarters and stepped streets. Afterwards, you’ll have time to explore spots such as the São Bento station’s tile panels, the riverside lanes of the Ribeira, or the compact merchants’ quarters around Clérigos Tower.

Travel south to Fátima, Portugal’s most renowned place of pilgrimage, marked by the Sanctuary complex built after the reported apparitions of 1917. Continue to Óbidos and walk within its medieval walls, moving through narrow lanes and whitewashed houses that reflect the town’s fortified character. Try the local cherry liqueur, ginja, traditionally served in small chocolate cups, before travelling on to Lisbon, a coastal capital shaped by Moorish foundations and centuries of maritime trade. You may choose to join an Optional Experience and dine at a family-run restaurant known for its traditional Portuguese seafood.

Explore Lisbon with a Local Expert, beginning in the Baixa’s Lower Town and the broad Pombal Square, rebuilt after the 1755 earthquake. Continue into the Belém Quarter to view the Monument to the Discoveries and the Belém Tower, and pause to try pastéis de Belém, the custard tarts first baked by Jerónimos monks in the 19th century. Visit the National Coach Museum to see its collection of royal carriages from the 16th to 19th centuries. Later, enjoy free time to follow the riverfront paths of Belém, browse Chiado’s shops or take the tram up to Alfama.

Depart Portugal this morning and travel south into the Algarve, pausing in one of the region’s coastal towns for lunch. Long shaped by fishing, trade and a warmer Atlantic climate, the Algarve brings a different character to the day before you continue east and cross into Spain. From here, travel through the landscapes of Andalucía and arrive in Seville later in the afternoon. The evening is at leisure in Seville, giving you the chance to make the most of the city after dark. You might stroll through Santa Cruz, settle into a tapas bar in Triana where flamenco has deep roots, or head to a rooftop terrace for views across the historic centre.

Meet your Local Expert and explore Seville, viewing the symbolic Giralda bell tower and the Moorish-inspired María Luisa Park, with its tiled fountains, pavilions and ponds, before seeing the exterior of Seville Cathedral and walking through the former Jewish quarter. Spend the rest of the morning at leisure with time to visit the Plaza de España or wander the lanes around the riverfront near Torre del Oro. In the afternoon, take part in a MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience at the Cristina Heeren Foundation, where a flamenco instructor will guide you through the basic rhythms and movements taught at this renowned school dedicated to preserving Andalusia’s artistic traditions.

Cross into Gibraltar for a closer look at this unique slice of the peninsula. Head up the Rock with a Local Expert and explore St. Michael’s Cave — a vast limestone chamber shaped by thousands of years of water and mineral movement. Keep an eye out for the Barbary macaques that live here under protected status. You’ll then follow the road along the Costa del Sol, tracing the shoreline past small coves and resort towns before rolling into Torremolinos for the evening.

A free day on the Costa del Sol gives you room to set your own pace. Wander Torremolinos’ old fishing quarter in La Carihuela, stopping for fried pescaíto or grilled sardines along the promenade. Walk the beachfront path towards Benalmádena, or head into Málaga for its Alcazaba, cathedral and small neighbourhood markets. If you prefer to keep things simple, spend the day drifting between cafes, shade and sea.

Travel into the hills around Alfarnatejo and walk the small town centre with your Travel Director, passing quiet squares and the Iglesia del Santo Cristo de Cabrilla. You’ll head out to one of the area’s oldest olive groves to see how the trees are tended on this dry mountain terrain. At a rural mill, taste a few of the local oils with fresh bread and hear how each blend changes with the harvest and the age of the trees. Sit down to a home-cooked lunch with a local family — simple Andalusian dishes, seasonal produce and a chance to hear how life moves in this part of the region. Afterwards, continue to Granada for a guided visit to the Alhambra with a Local Expert, stepping through courtyards, carved plasterwork and gardens that trace the long Nasrid period of the city.

Upon arrival to Valencia stop to see the City of Arts and Sciences, the striking cultural complex built along the former Turia riverbed after the river was diverted in the 20th century. Continue through the ancient city gates to the Old City. You may wish to browse the shops, stop for a drink or take a short walk through the city centre before dinner. This evening, join your group in a local restaurant for Paella Valenciana, the rice dish that has its roots in the fields and kitchens of this region.

Follow the coast north to Peñíscola and where you’ll pause to view the 14th-century castle built by the Knights Templar, set high above the sea on a rocky headland. Continue along the Costa Dorada towards Sant Sadurní d’Anoia, long recognised as the heart of Spain’s cava industry. Stop at a local bodega for a light lunch and a tasting, with an explanation of how the traditional method — secondary fermentation in the bottle, long ageing on the lees and hand riddling — shapes the character of each style. Travel onwards with your group to Barcelona, crossing into the wider metropolitan area before reaching the city centre later in the day.

Enjoy early access to the Palau de la Música Catalana, stepping into a Modernist concert hall to explore and enjoy an organ performance. Take a drive through Barcelona with a Local Expert along Passeig de Gràcia, where you’ll pass balconies, stonework and rooflines shaped by the Modernista architects who rebuilt the city’s identity at the turn of the 20th century. Continue into the Eixample, following the sharp grid and open junctions that make this district easy to read from above and at street level. You’ll visit the Sagrada Família and stand close enough to see the differences between Gaudí’s early stonework and the ongoing construction that rises around it. In the evening, meet your group for a final dinner, raising a glass to the days you’ve spent travelling through Spain and Portugal and the moments that stitched the trip together.   *Please note that access to the basilica may be restricted for special masses, pilgrim visits or official ceremonies, and we may be unable to secure tickets to visit. Should this occur during your tour, you will visit the Hospital de Sant Pau instead, a striking example of Catalan Art Nouveau designed by Gaudí’s contemporary, Domènech i Montaner. Afterwards, join your Local Expert in the gardens surrounding the Sagrada Família and take in the extraordinary exterior of Gaudí’s iconic masterpiece.

Today, bid farewell to your journey across Spain and Portugal as you transfer from Barcelona to Madrid.