Ismael is a master historian and guide. He is a cut above the rest. Been on many excursions and he is by far the most knowledgeable. The local guides in Cordoba, Sevilla, and Granada were also very good. Constructive criticism: we needed an hour or two more at Cordoba to cross the Roman bridge and enjoy this amazing city. Use the 30 minutes of free time wisely. An extra hour in Ronda would have been nice also to walk through the old part of town. If we had left Torremolinos earlier to arrive at Granada by noon, we could have seen a bit more there also. The Aalbaicin neighborhood is a must. This is an ambitious tour that covers many cities, each worthy of a full hiliday season. Plan ahead and study the places you will visit to maximize your experience. The roads in Spain are stupendous. The rest stops top-notch. The hotels we selected were the tourist quality because they were nearer to the hsitoric centers. The Melia in Torremolinos was very luxurious. Sevilla and Granada hotels were a bit tired and dated. Overall, we are very satisfied with this trip. It was easier and cheaper than renting a car and planning each site and tour individually. Try it and you'll see. It was a total thrill.
Review by: Barbara, December 2017
This was not our favorite.. the food at the hotels we stayed at were sub-par. We ended up not eating at the hotels and venturing on our own to get food. Spain has such wonderful food.. you don't want to waste eating hotel prepared food.
Review by: Linda L, December 2017
This was a wonderful fact filled trip of the history and culture of Spain. I booked the tourist class hotels and was very satisfied. Our guide knowledgeable and helpful. He went over and above with his service.
Review by: Brian R, November 2017
I agree with previous reviews I've read of this tour. While the itinerary is quite full, there is ample free time to be able to relax and catch your breath. The towns of Caceres, Cordoba, Seville, Ronda, Granada and Toledo are completely wonderful. The Mesquite in Cordoba, Plaza de Espana in Seville and the Alhambra in Granada are absolutely breathtakingly beautiful. The local guides in Cordoba and Seville were outstanding - the best tour guides I've ever had. The local guide in Granada was also wonderful but unfortunately had some microphone issues and walked a bit fast for some members of our group. The local guide in Toledo was not great. Our main guide for the entire trip was lovely and very knowledgeable. Our driver was very good though not all that friendly. The hotels were great and it was good to have all of the dinners arranged - though they are quite basic. We really loved the Granada flamenco show in the gypsy cave and our local guide was delightful, however we didn't get back to our hotel until after midnight. We found the flamenco show in Seville to be too touristy for us, though many of our travelling companions loved it. Overall a fabulous tour - highly recommended.
Review by: SL, November 2017
Excellent tour ! Well organized and we managed to cover southern part of Spain quite extensive in this 5 days. _br/_ Our tour guide Ismael Julia Travel did an excellent job in coordinating and making all the arrangement with clear detail and he is very knowledgeable of the cities and very informative. All itineraries are in schedule. Beautiful experiences in all the cities covered. _br/_ Thank you for making the trip extremely enjoyable and memorable !
Review by: judimarieb, November 2017
My 2 children and I had an amazing time! It was my first ever group travel experience. For location, upgraded hotels were worth it. Our guide Margarita from Julia travel was very knowledgeable and fun. Our local guides were great too especially Gloria in Sevilla. We saw so much in a short time!
Review by: benny_garcia, November 2017
Excellent 5 days tour. Our tour guide Ishmael, made the trip memorable. Excellent knowledge of the cities, history and activities. He was excellent in keeping the travelers on time and focus on the trip._br/_ Saw everything I wanted to see in the Andalusian Province in 5 days. Highly recommend it.
Review by: cforeman12, November 2017
This was a very well organized, variety-filled, and informative tour. Sonsoles was an excellent tour guide sharing a balance of knowledge, humor, story-telling skill, and a kindhearted, almost family member demeanor, which made us all bond easily throughout the tour. We were able to learn and receive a variety of day tours, while also having plenty of free time to do as we wished at each location. My only regret is that I wasn't prepared ahead of time to use this free time to its maximum potential.
Review by: Susan, November 2017
The ideal tour to see the highlights of the Andalusian places in six days. The Mesquite, Alhambra, Generalife Gardens, Seville Cathedral,_br/_ and Toledo are tops. It showed Spain's amazing history and rich cultural legacies. Our eyes were stuffed with overwhelming wonder and treated our bellies with the delicious paella, callos, tapas, etc. The pace of the tour was just right. Though the majority of the superior hotels were comfortable and nice and food was acceptable, the Hotel Macarena in Seville was a standout with poor dinner food. Our superior hotel in Torremolinos - Hotel Pablo was very impressive. Food was very good and amenities very satisfactory. Our tourist guide was very patient, knowledgeable and fun.
Review by: Yan Yan Grace M, November 2017
Beaytiful places! Tour was operated by Julia Travel. Itinerary, guides and bus driver were good. Superior grade hotels and breakfasts were generally good as well. Optional activities: Flameco and Real Alcaza/River cruise in Secille are worth it. A higher rating would have been deserved if the tour size was more reasonable. There were 70 to 80 people during most part of the tour which was double the size of what I would expect for a large group tour. Everyone were generally punctual and considerate otherwise, it could have been worse. The arrangement of merging tours and changing bus after a few hours on the first day was very confusing and unexpected. Such details should have been indicated at the time of booking.
Review by: Ana A, November 2017
The trip was good but not enough time to explore the cities.The tour in Ronda was not guided and the tourist guide did not even give us any information on what to see on this city. Cordoba was very short tour, no time to take photos. Hotels are great location except the Los Angeles Hotel in Granada, it's out of town and the room has no privacy, wall is so thin that you can hear the people next door snoring. The hotel in Seville Catalonia hotel was good location and food but the wall was so thin you can hear everything next door and also the street light bothers me. The tour was great because it save us time to tour the south spain. I wish they give us more time to take photos. Foods for breakfast and dinner was great.
Review by: winnie.chanlee, October 2017
This was a 6 day tour with a stop at Caseres. This tour was contracted to Julia Tours. We tried to inquire about daily details before the start of the tour but got the standard response of the tour guide will give you all the info at the start of the tour.
Review by: richard t, October 2017
The itinerary was fine, the bus was not. Driver was very good but bus was very uncomfortable. I did not like bilingual tour, too much talking in another language made it very boring. Too choppy. Hotels were nice but air conditioning was poor in all hotels. Food at hotels was also sub par, and we were on the upgraded package. I would not do a bus tour again anywhere.
Review by: carol w, October 2017
Excellent locations to visit but the tour was supposed to be in english. We were mixed up with a Spanish tour all the time and the groups could be 75 to 120 in total. Timekeeping was appalling by other people on the tour. We paid for the upgrade for the hotels. However the food in general was poor and the location of the hotels was out of town. By all means see these wonderful locations in Andalusia but choose a tour company that operates only in your language and with smaller groups
Review by: Michelle O, October 2017
I, actually, was pretty disappointed in Viator. However, let me share some of the positives first!
Review by: Laura M, October 2017
The tour guide was excellent, and the itinerary was quite good. There was quite a bit of walking, but that was disclosed up front. There were opportunities for side tours that required cash money, and I was not prepared for that. I was able to get money from an ATM but I would have gotten cash up front if I had known it would be required._br/_ The group we were with was also wonderful. I did not expect to be with such a nice bunch of fellow travelers.
Review by: Charles B, September 2017
My husband and I were disappointed with this trip...the sites were well worth while seeing but the tour was poorly organized. We were very surprised to be in a bus with 67 people on board. Our impression was that we signed up for a smaller group tour from the Viator description so that could have been our error. There was a lot of waiting, problems at one site with local tour guides and the buffet dinners were disappointing. Itinerary was brief and not provided until on board a very uncomfortable bus with no leg room and very limited overhead space. We got to the beach site at 5pm with plans to leave the next morning. The hotels were okay but you had little or no information at check in as the tour guide provided keys. We will be careful regarding signing up for any further tours in future travels. You go to really experience the country and this tour lacked an ability to do much more than see the sites as they timed them out...sometimes missing the main event. Toledo...we just saw the outside of the Cathedral and we were encouraged to eat fast food to be back in time for the tour. We have used Viator and been happy with our tours the last 2 years but this one was disappointing.
Review by: Donald A, September 2017
Got to see a terrific number of sites in an efficient and timely way. Tour guide Ismael was very polite and conscientious. For the number_br/_ of days the tour included, really covered a lot of ground .Had time to wander off on your own. The places visited are beyond description and fascinating. Hotels were fine, There were opportunities to extent the tour and the prices were reasonable. Nice group of people from all over also. Just have to make sure you are aware of bus depot sites, wasn't that clear in Madrid near Opera it was underground.
Review by: Zulema G, September 2017
The tour was very organized, got to see alot in just a few days. hotel selection was great, every city we visited is a must see for every traveler that goes to spain, unbelievable expericence,,,
Review by: gitsham2, August 2017
In the main, this trip met expectations. It was always going to be hard to see everything in such a relatively short period of time. Julia Travel had it pretty well organised, although the constant changing of fellow travellers was a bit annoying. It appears that JT have buses crisscrossing Spain and we had people hopping on and off as their tours progressed. We did have a core of passengers that were on this particular tour and we all had a great time. The sites we saw were fantastic the accommodation we went with the upgrade was largely good, as were the meals provided. We need to remember the old adage you get what you pay for so don't expect everything to be top of the range. The local guides in each town ranged from excellent Cordoba and Granada to adequate Toledo, but perhaps we were getting a bit tired by then. Our main guide / host was good, but perhaps a bit impatient if the tour logistics were questioned. The tour bus was great, except the on-board toilet was out of bounds which was poor, but I go back to you get what you pay for. We would have preferred to stay in Ronda rather than Costa del Sol. There was no logical connection between medieval villages and a coastal resort, but this was a consequence of JT's network of tours ... we had to drop off people on the coast to connect with another bus._br/_ Overall, a good tour, enhanced by the company of other travellers. Appreciate that you can't do everything you want to do on a tour of this type, but everything went well and it was worthy of a solid 4 star rating.
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