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8-Nights Highlights of Spain - Small Group from $4,295
Insight Vacations
OFFER ID 1700819
Highlights Of Spain - Small Group
Travel across Spain with your Small Group, linking Barcelona, Valencia, Granada, Seville, Córdoba and Madrid. In Barcelona, you’ll step onto Passeig de Grcia and inside Gaudí’s Sagrada Família, and sit down to dinner at La Pau, a social initiative restaurant. Visit the Alhambra in Granada, and join a flamenco class at the Cristina Heeren Foundation in Seville. Stand on Córdoba’s Roman bridge, trace the arches of the Mezquita and spend time with Madrid’s galleries, parks and evening squares before your journey wraps up in the capital.
Dining Summary
- 4 Dinner (D)
- 8 Breakfast (B)
- Hand sanitizer is freely available on board for you to use throughout the day.
- Personal radio headsets give you the freedom to wander during visits to famous highlights, without missing any of your Local Expert's fascinating commentary.
- Hotel and restaurant tips are included - you'll never have to worry about how much to give, nor search for foreign currency. We also include all taxes and porterage charges at hotels.
- We carry your bags for you and promptly deliver them to your hotel door.
- From time to time, your Travel Director will delight you with an Insight Flourish, which is a local specialty representing the destination.
- Stay connected with friends and family with our complimentary coach and hotel Wi-Fi (where available).
- If your arrival and/or departure flights are as per the itinerary start and end dates, then transfers are available at scheduled times. If your flights are outside these times, or you have booked additional nights accommodation with Insight Vacations, you may purchase transfers or make your own way from/to the airport.
- Barcelona: At La Pau, you’ll sit down to a seasonal Catalan menu in a restaurant built around social impact. Dishes are prepared and served by young people in training, many moving on from care or disrupted schooling. Paid work, mentoring and a clear structure help them gain skills in the kitchen and dining room as they move towards independent living. Your visit directly supports United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities.
- Seville: The Cristina Heeren Foundation promotes the teaching and preservation of flamenco and is supported by a TreadRight Foundation grant. Meet students, learn a few basic steps and watch them perform, gaining insight into how the school trains young artists in guitar, singing and dance. Your visit directly supports United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4: Quality Education.
- Barcelona: Enjoy early access to the Palau de la Música Catalana, a Catalan Modernist concert hall known for its stained-glass skylight and sculptural detail. Take in the Lluís Millet Hall and settle into the main auditorium as an organ performance fills the room.
- Barcelona: Explore Barcelona with a Local Expert who sets out the city’s shape from street level — the long run of Passeig de Grcia, the sharp grid of the Eixample and the way the skyline shifts as the Sagrada Família comes into view. The route ties together the city’s Modernista detail and its ongoing architectural change.
- Peñíscola: See Peñíscola’s 14th-century castle rising above the old town, set on a limestone headland that divides the shoreline. From this viewpoint, you can take in how the fortress once controlled movement along the coast and how its walls still define the outline of the medieval quarter below.
- Valencia: Get your bearings in Valencia’s Old City as your Travel Director points out the surviving medieval gateways and the street grid shaped by centuries of expansion. The walk contrasts the tight lanes of El Carmen with the broad lines of the Turia riverbed, now home to the City of Arts and Sciences, a reminder of how the city blends long history with confident modern design.
- Seville: Explore Seville with your Local Expert, viewing the Giralda bell tower, the exterior of Seville Cathedral and the former Jewish quarter. You’ll also see María Luisa Park, laid out for the 1929 Ibero-American Exposition, with its tiled fountains, pavilions and formal gardens reflecting the city’s layered architectural character.
- Córdoba: In Córdoba, you’ll join your Travel Director for a short orientation that helps fix the city on the map. Walk by the Roman bridge over the Guadalquivir, pass the old gateway towers and step into the historic center, where whitewashed houses, small squares and hidden patios show how this older part of the city fits together.
- Córdoba: Visit the Mezquita with a local historian to trace how a mosque became a cathedral. You’ll step into a forest of striped arches and columns from the original Islamic building, then see later Christian additions including the central choir and chapels.
- Madrid: Explore Madrid’s Old Quarter with a Local Expert who outlines how the district developed from a small medieval citadel into the center of Habsburg Madrid. You’ll see the compact street grid, market squares and civic buildings that shaped the early city, and trace how each layer of expansion created the foundations of the modern capital.
- Granada: Visit the Alhambra Palace with a Local Expert and walk through its courtyards, carved plasterwork and palace rooms from the Nasrid period. You’ll see how water channels, gardens and intricate detail define the complex, and how this hilltop site shaped Granada’s cultural and political story for centuries.
- Madrid: Visit the Prado Museum with an art historian who places key works within their historical setting. With your historian’s expert guidance, you’ll examine paintings by Velázquez, Goya, Titian and Rubens, noting their connection to
8 nights from $4,295 per person
Insight Vacations: Highlights of Spain - Small Group
Day 1 - Welcome to Spain
Your journey begins in Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia and home to Gaudí’s landmark Modernist architecture, set between the Mediterranean coast and the Collserola hills. After checking in, you’ll meet your Travel Director and fellow travelers joining your small group journey. Dinner tonight is at La Pau, a community-minded restaurant supporting teenagers and young adults as they move towards independent living, offering a first look at the city’s strong culture of social initiatives and local care.
Accommodations: NH Collection Barcelona Constanza
Meals: Dinner
Day 2 - Explore the Sights of Barcelona
Start with an experience at the Palau de la Música Catalana, where you’ll see the stained-glass skylight and hear a short organ performance in the main auditorium. Meet a Local Expert this morning for a Barcelona walking tour. You’ll follow Passeig de Grcia, an avenue known for its Modernist buildings and some of Gaudí’s most recognizable work. From here you’ll move into the Eixample for time inside the Sagrada Família*, Gaudí’s basilica begun in 1882 and still under construction, where the tall nave, tree-like columns and shifting stained-glass color give a clear sense of his ambition and detail. The afternoon is yours to explore — browsing the stalls at La Boqueria, walking the waterfront at Barceloneta or exploring the quieter streets of Grcia. *Access to the basilica may be restricted due to special masses, pilgrim visits, or official ceremonies, and entry cannot be guaranteed. In such cases, you will instead visit the Hospital de Sant Pau, a striking example of Catalan Art Nouveau by Gaudí’s contemporary, Domènech i Montaner. Afterwards, join your Local Expert in the gardens surrounding the Sagrada Família to admire the extraordinary exterior of Gaudí’s iconic masterpiece.
Accommodations: NH Collection Barcelona Constanza
Meals: Breakfast
Day 3 - Along the coast to Valencia
You’ll travel with your small group along the Costa Dorada, passing the rice fields of the Ebro Delta on the way to the seaside town of Peñíscola, where a hilltop castle featured in the film El Cid. From here you’ll continue through orange-growing country towards Valencia, taking time to see the City of Arts and Sciences and the medieval streets of the Old City.
Accommodations: Barceló Valencia
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Day 4 - Discover the Alhambra
Travel south into Andalucía with your small group, passing Lorca where a hilltop castle overlooks the town, and the cave districts of Guadix, where homes are dug into soft rock to stay cool in summer. Continue towards Granada, once the last Muslim stronghold in Spain. With a Local Expert, you’ll explore the Alhambra, a fortified palace complex from the Nasrid period, walking through tiled halls, courtyards and water channels. Afterwards, you’ll enter the Generalife gardens, the former summer retreat laid out with terraces, pools and views back towards the city.
Accommodations: AC Palacio de Santa Paula
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Day 5 - Granada and Seville Your Way
The morning in Granada is yours. Time could be spent around the cathedral and Royal Chapel, dropping into cafes off Plaza Nueva or walking up to the Mirador de San Nicolás for a clear view of the Alhambra. You could also join an Optional Experience to the Albaicín quarter with a Local Expert, tracing its narrow streets and older Moorish layout. Later, travel on with your small group to Seville. The evening is open for your own plans, whether that’s exploring the lanes around the cathedral and Giralda tower, finding tapas in the Santa Cruz district or taking a gentle walk along the Guadalquivir river.
Accommodations: Meliá Sevilla, Catalonia Giralda, Seville
Meals: Breakfast
Day 6 - Flamenco and History in Seville
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 your small group, 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.
Accommodations: Meliá Sevilla, Catalonia Giralda, Seville
Meals: Breakfast
Day 7 - Córdoba, La Mancha and on to Madrid
Set off along the Guadalquivir Valley towards Córdoba and pause at the Roman bridge, first built in the 1st century BCE to carry traffic across the river and later rebuilt in the medieval period. From here you’ll meet a local historian and visit the Mezquita, tracing its forest of columns and layered Islamic and Christian history. In the afternoon, travel through La Mancha, a region known for its wide plains, vineyards and windmills, before arriving in Madrid.
Accommodations: Canopy by Hilton Madrid Castellana, NH Madrid Balboa
Meals: Breakfast
Day 8 - The Sights of Spain’s Capital
Join a Local Expert this morning for a sightseeing tour of Madrid, taking in main avenues, the Plaza de España and views towards the Royal Palace before driving through the streets of the Old Quarter. You’ll then visit the Prado Museum, where works by Velázquez, Goya and El Greco help trace Spain’s royal and artistic history. The afternoon is open – time to rent a boat on the lake in Retiro Park, drop into the glass pavilion, linger in Plaza Mayor or visit the San Miguel market for snacks – or you could join an Optional Experience to the hilltop city of Toledo. In the evening, gather for a farewell dinner with your Travel Director and fellow travelers, marking the end of your small group journey.
Accommodations: Canopy by Hilton Madrid Castellana, NH Madrid Balboa
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Day 9 - Adios Madrid
Your journey ends in Madrid after days spent tracing Spain’s cities, coastlines and older quarters with your Travel Director and fellow small group travelers. Bid them farewell before a transfer takes you to the airport for your flight home or onward travel.
Meals: Breakfast
Vacation Details
* This departure has been designated a guaranteed departure by the operator, meaning that the minimum number of guests has been met, although still subject to weather and other conditions.
Fine dining, on-site bars or lounges and room service with extended hours are characteristic of deluxe establishments. Guest services usually include valet parking, concierge services, baggage assistance and laundry services. Other on-site facilities often include shops and boutiques, full service spas, full fitness facilities with pools and tennis courts. Business amenities may include available up-to-date technology and support staffs available for services. Attention to detail is apparent in the guestrooms which typically have stylish furnishings, quality bedding and bath products and often provide an evening turn down service.
All fares are quoted in US Dollars.
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Escape Travel Agency
(904) 239-7870