I booked this tour based off of the glowing reviews, but I would have been better off staying the full day in Cordoba. First off, it's closer to a 2 hour drive and after you've picked up everyone from their own hotels note: it's a combination of groups that did not just book through viator and get to the city, you're not talking about a lot of time for the actual tour. We had a coach and a tour guide who gave her scripted commentary in Spanish then English mostly about crops or names of towns - which is very misleading based off of the booking information. She wasn't very good with any English off script. Once we arrived, we were greeted by another local group director who had to split us up based off of language we had two people who spoke French and were fortunate enough to have their own personal tour. We had one woman who spoke Spanish, but apparently understood English just fine. Regardless, after we broken up and met our actual local guide, we then spent the next 30 minutes in the gardens of the Alcazar waiting for everyone to make it through their bathroom visits. Our extensive visit of the palace included: the gardens, the baths, and the former room for the Spanish Inquisition now turned place for weddings and that was it. I couldn't believe we were leaving after having only seen that little of the palace. Then we got another 10 minute break so people could buy coffee and relax as if we had just done some strenuous walking in those compact places. We also picked up additional people to be on our English guided tour. We then walked the city to learn about the minimal Jewish synagogue was closed until September and Arabic influences before we made our way to the Mezquita where we picked up ANOTHER group of English speakers to our group. We then had to wait for the local group director to break us up into the original the people from the coach and the two dozen new people who were just joining us for the Mosque/Cathedral portion. We literally wasted another 30 minutes standing around the courtyard and our group was HUGE. We did spend a solid hour in the Mosque/Cathedral and our guide was very thorough, but you were left with about 1.5 hours of time for lunch and shopping. However, it was siesta time so everything is closed by 3pm and all of those cute little shops you passed through are not open for business. We had to meet the coach back at 4 PM so we could get back to our hotel by 6pm. The coach guide did not give any commentary on the way back it was your time for a siesta, but did expect gratuities when you exited.
Review by: Frederick G, April 2018
Amazing city. The mosque/cathedral was breathtaking. Very knowledgeable guide in a tour that was well paced and full of information. Nice that we had some time at the end of the tour to explore on our own as well.
Review by: Kobrosly, March 2018
Tour guide was excellent!
Review by: JANET Z, March 2018
great tour
Review by: hstephano, March 2018
This tour led by our tour guide, Angel, was amazing. He's very knowledgeable and funny too. So our history lesson was not boring at all! Plus the facts that the Mosque–Cathedral of Córdoba was really a masterpiece!
Review by: Sam C, February 2018
Really well organised trip, although I still can't quite work out if it would be quicker to take the train there and organise yourself - Cordoba isn't that large. Really enjoyed the three sights - Palace, Cathedral and Jewish Quarter. The trip runs to time and people joined in between sights as they had paid for individual parts. This meant that the group in the Cathedral was rather large. If i were to do it myself I'd also go to the cathedral first to avoid the crowds. You also have free time to see the roman bridge, get lunch etc. Reason it isn't 5 star is that the group for the cathedral was rather large and for the money paid, i felt like it should be smaller.
Review by: Amjad H, February 2018
The tour was well organized. Transport was comfortable. Tour in Córdoba was well defined and our Guide Paki was great. She had extremely good knowledge and simple way to explain to tourists like us. She was not in hurry and give extended detail of History.
Review by: joe c, January 2018
Amazing tour, a lot of explanation, the timing is perfect, and the guide is very professional and it is apparent that he is doing his job out of Passion.
Review by: Lois M, January 2018
Absolutely wonderful guide devoted to Córdoba and its history! I have travelled a lot and a good guide makes all the difference! Rafael by name and approximate!
Review by: Gita, January 2018
Awful tour operator, didn't pick us up, but kept our money
Review by: David H, December 2017
I took this tour on what was a holiday there that I hadn't known about beforehand. Still we didn't have any long waits except for the Jewish synagogue. The wait was due to it's small size. Even so, it wasn't that long a wait. One thing that I liked about the tour was the tour guide would stop walking every several minutes for a short break in a place where we could sit down which was much appreciated and at the end, we had a nice amount of time to shop around or get a bite to eat.
Review by: Steve E, December 2017
Pickup was thankfully easy. The guide was well-informed. I was one of six from Seville. We were joined by another four or so in Cordoba, so the group was not too large. A worthwhile trip.
Review by: William R, November 2017
Fabulous tour. Breathtaking sites and good tour guides. Strongly recommend
Review by: agodinez10, November 2017
Well worth the trip to Cordoba, the Mezquita was well worth it!
Review by: Leonard L, November 2017
This tour was amazing!
Review by: malika_mika, November 2017
If you have time, you should do this. We learned a lot about the cathedral mosque from our very knowledgeable guide. The cathedral mosque is absolutely gorgeous, and the little town around it is very touristy but cute.
Review by: Toko I, November 2017
A must visit to Cordoba cathedral. loved it more than Alhambra. Good tour, guide, beautiful Spanish town... loved it.
Review by: Lisa M, November 2017
Great day trip from Seville to Córdoba - pick up was from a hotel close to the one We were staying at, but unfortunately not our own hotel. The journey was comfortable and took about 1 hour 20 mins. María José, the guide for the journey, was pleasant and informative. The tour itself took us to the Alhambra, the Jewish Quarter and Synagogue, and then to the amazing Mesquita - which truly was the highlight of my whole trip to Andalucía. It is the most incredible place - not to be missed! The guide in Córdoba was Angel, who was very knowledgable and entertaining. We had 1.5h for lunch following the tour, and there are many small restaurants to choose from.
Review by: Rebecca A, November 2017
Pros: Efficient way of getting to all of the major Cordoba sites on a very busy weekend with a very good guide for the Mosque portion of the tour. Cons: Although the tour promised narration and background on the bus trip to Cordoba, there was practically none, and the commentary that there was was of the most elementary nature. This part of the tour was very disappointing and did not live up to what was promised. Of the 8-9 hours we spent with the group, only about 2.25 were actually spent with a guide who had any information to offer. As noted, the bus ride there had no meaningful information. When we arrived, we spent about 20 minutes using the very limited restroom, and again very little meaningful information offered. The synagogue portion was rushed and perfunctory - perhaps we spent a total of 6 or 7 minutes in the building . The mosque, which is truly amazing and well worth the detour to Cordoba, was covered in more depth and this part was worthwhile. But, given that this tour cost over 225.00 for our party of two, I think we would have been better served if we had gotten to Cordoba on our own and hired a private guide for the sites. Would not recommend this for travelers who want an in-depth introduction to Cordoba, or, have an expectation of more than about 2.5 hours of any real content.
Review by: janie.dobbs, November 2017
It was more expensive than going on your own, but I think it was worth it. The best part was having a knowledgeable guide that walked us through the Alcázar, the Jewish quarter and the Mezquita. It was much more interesting than doing an audio guide. Along the way, we also saw the Calleja de Flores, Casa de Sefarad, the Synogogue, Almodóvar Gate, and the Seneca and Maimonides Statues. Our guide, Angel, was experienced and well versed in the history and culture of Córdoba. We had about an hour and a half on our own to choose a place for lunch or go shopping or revisit anything we wanted before rebounding the bus to take us back.
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