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Best time
Mar-Nov
Price
From £ 2,795 pp
Ideal length
14 days
Flight time
2hrs 30 mins
Currency
Euro
Language
Spanish
In many ways, Andalucía is Spanish duende at its most intense. It’s where flamenco is its most passionate, fiestas at their most fervent. But it’s also a sizzling marinade of Christian and Islamic influences and this fourteen-day trip will show you how this cultural melting pot has made Andalucía one of Spain’s most enchanting regions.
You’ll fly into Madrid, so it would be rude not to spend a couple of days in the Spanish capital before your tour of Andalucía. Begin with a skip-the-line pass to the Museo del Prado, one of the finest art galleries on the planet and includes works from the likes of Goya, Velázquez and more. You’ll follow up that treat for your eyes with a feast for your stomach. Your own personal guide will have you mingling with locals and drooling over the country’s delicious charcuterie and wine on a city-wide tasting tour of its taverns. You’ll also nibble on tapas in several of Madrid’s historic markets, including the wrought-iron-and-glass beauty of Mercado de San Miguel.
With your belly full, we’ll let you digest as you take the train to your first Andalucían gem, Córdoba. The Moors (Muslims from North Africa) ruled chunks of Andalucía for around eight hundred years from the eighth to fifteenth centuries and their legacy is still apparent today. In Córdoba you won’t have to look far: its Mezquita (mosque) is often seen as one of the pinnacles of Islamic architecture and an art historian will peel back the past behind its Arabic excellence. A cathedral now stands in its core, a reminder of the cultural melting pot that is Andalucía. This is something you’ll be dazzled by further with an equestrian show at the city’s Royal Stables that pays tribute to King Felipe II’s love of horses.
It’ll then be time to trot off to your next historic city, Seville. It’ll win you over instantly, with a private guided walking tour getting you up close and personal with its grand Real Alcázar, a divine mix of Christian and Mudéjar influences, and its Cathedral – the largest gothic cathedral in the world. Your guide will also take you beyond Seville’s big hitters down its Moroccan-inspired medieval lanes to its aristocratic Moorish mansions and pulsing flamenco clubs. With another day at leisure in this enchanting city, you won’t be short of places to explore by yourself.
It won’t be long before the Arab-imbued streets of Granada come calling. Nestled at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, Granada was the last Moorish stronghold and so their legacy is felt strongest here in the town’s hammams and twisting lanes and teahouses of Albaicín, Granada’s Arab quarter. By far and away though its premier sight is the UNESCO-listed Alhambra, a sprawling hilltop complex that represents Moorish architecture at its zenith. It’s the most visited sight in Andalucíá, so your queue-jump pass will be invaluable to sneak in before the crowds and discover its ramparts, palace, leafy gardens and Alcazaba fortress. Granada is also known as one of the birthplaces of flamenco and you’ll be treated to a cosy evening performance in the caves of Sacramento.
Your final stop on your luxury holiday in Andalucía will be the city that gave the world Picasso, Málaga. An art historian will take you along the cobbled streets to discover its ancient ruins, inventive street art and ending your creative tour, and time in Spain, with a visit to the Picasso Museum – the greatest tribute to Málaga’s most famous son.
Experience highlights
- You’ll be granted a skip-the-line guided visit to one of the world’s greatest art galleries, the Museo del Prado. Home to over thirty thousand pieces of art, including over seven thousand paintings, your guide will explain how this museum was born out of Spain’s sixteenth and seventeenth monarchs’ love for art and began life as a site for their personal collections.
- Go on a tapas-style tasting tour of Madrid’s markets, snacking of some of the most delicious hams, cheeses and wines the city has to offer. Stomach satisfied, you’ll spend the evening making friends with locals in its lively taverns.
- Allow an art historian to untangle the sheer beauty of Córdoba’s colossal Mezquita, once the world’s largest mosque. They’ll sprinkle ancient anecdotes and interesting facts among the striped archways of its prayer hall and its gold, silver and copper Islamic architecture.
- Be wowed by an elegant equestrian show at Córdoba’s Royal Stables, established by King Felipe II in 1570. His love for horses led him to create a the Andalucían horse, a pure Spanish thoroughbred, and thanks to the highly skilled horsemanship and cowboy dressage on display you’ll see them at their best.
- Enjoy a guided city tour of Seville’s snaking medieval lanes, churches and palaces. The highlight will undoubtedly be its Real Alcázar, a gorgeous marriage of Christian and Mudéjar architecture with its dreamy courtyards, gothic halls and wall tapestries.
- Bypass the queue and head straight into quite possibly Andalucía’s grandest building, the Alhambra in Granada. Before the crowds fully assemble, you’ll be able to wander this sprawling hilltop complex’s original Alcazaba citadel, quaint courtyards and sun-dappled gardens. This is Moorish design at its most supreme.
- On your last night in Granada, revel in a flamenco show in one of the caves of Sacramento, the city’s gypsy district. This is flamenco at its most atmospheric and intense.
- Join an art historian on a walking tour of Málaga, where they’ll demonstrate the city’s creative juices through the stylish architecture and lively street art of its Soho district. You’ll end at the Picasso Museum, where your guide will add colour to the displays of this great painter’s canon of work laid out across five medieval palaces.
Experience highlights
Visit one of the world's finest art galleries with queue-jump access, the Museo del Prado
Follow your appetite on a tasting tour of Madrid's tavernas and markets
One of the markets you might visit is the strikingly designed Mercado de San Miguel
Stay in the smart Madrid bolthole Hospes Puerta de Alcalá in the leafy Salamanca district
Have your breath taken away by the Moorish magic of Córdoba's Mezquita
The crimson and cream-striped archways of its ginormous prayer hall are among its most impressive features
Be transfixed by the strength and elegance of Andalusian horses when you watch a captivating equestrian show at Córdoba's Royal Stables
Soak up historic splendour everywhere you turn during a stay as Hospes Palacio del Bailío
See Seville through the eyes of a local on a guided walking tour
You'll wander one of Seville's icons, the palatial Real Alcázar, which is featured on Game of Thrones
The whitewashed walls and orange tree-lined patio of Hospes Las Casas del Rey de Baeza is like staying in a traditional Andalusian home
Steal a march on the crowds with priority entry to the Alhambra, Granada's fortress complex
Explore the Alhambra's Nasrid Palaces, leafy courtyards and extensive ramparts
Make sure you allow time for its Alcazaba fortress, the oldest part of the Alhambra
Be treated to an impassioned flamenco performance in Seville's atmospheric Sacramento caves
Stay in a nineteenth-century former palace at Hospes Palacio de los Patos
On a private walking tour of Málaga with an art historian you'll see its eclectic street art
Visit the Picasso Museum, which not only displays some of his greatest works but also shows off the connection Málaga's most renowned resident had with the city
Soak up panoramas of both Málaga city and the Mediterranean Sea from the hilltop Parador de Málaga Gibralfaro
Request your tailor-made itinerary to Andalucía
Where you’ll stay
Hospes Puerta de Alcalá, Madrid
Housed in a grandiose townhouse in the capital’s upmarket Salamanca district and near El Retiro, once a leafy park exclusively reserved for royalty, Hospes Puerta de Alcalá is in one of Madrid’s smartest locales. Featuring interiors inspired by the nineteenth Bourbon Restoration, the hotel’s calm aura and muted colours exude a soothing atmosphere that’s always pleasing to return to after exploring the city. Its Bodyna Spa is a restorative sanctuary that’s among the best in the city.
Hospes Palacio del Bailío, Córdoba
You’ll be staying in a little slice of history at Hospes Palacio del Bailío, as this urban retreat is set within a sixteenth-century former mansion on top of the ruins of a Roman villa. This creates a mish-mash of influences, from the expertly carved Moorish gates to the frescoes inspired by Tuscan artists. But the fact it was once home to royalty means you can be certain that historic grandeur and class will ooze from every inch of its courtyards, geranium-dressed balconies and marble corridors.
Hospes Las Casas del Rey de Baeza, Seville
Beginning life as a corral de vecinos (shared courtyard house) in Seville’s Old Town in the 18th century, Hospes Las Casas del Rey de Baeza hasn’t changed too much. The string of cobbled patios, stone millstones and ochre-yellow and white façade are still there but inside it’s had a tasteful contemporary uplift with wrought-iron bedframes, modern art and marble-tile bathrooms. Baskets of help-yourself oranges, lemon trees and banana palms remind you of its farmhouse origins, reaffirming this is Andalucían rustic-chic at its finest.
Hospes Palacio de los Patos, Granada
In many ways Hospes Palacio de los Patos is Granada in microcosm. It comprises two distinctly different buildings: one is a nineteenth century lemon-yellow palace and the other is a futuristic alabaster structure and the rooms themselves are a mix of smart loft-style or laced with palatial grandeur. The well-manicured gardens are a welcome city oasis, especially after a busy day exploring – the city’s cathedral is only a ten-minute walk away, the Alhambra only twenty minutes on foot.
Parador de Málaga Gibralfaro, Málaga
Parador de Málaga Gibralfaro offers the best of both worlds: excellent views of the city and the Mediterranean Sea, both made even better from the rooftop pool. With the Moorish Gibralfaro castle as its next-door neighbour, the hotel really feels like a hill-perched outpost where you can gaze out over your kingdom. The proximity of the Mediterranean makes it into the food, with Parador’s restaurant conjuring up specialities like oven-baked hake and gazapachuelo (tomato soup with monkfish and king prawns).
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