Andalusia in southern Spain is truly amazing and can keep you spell bound.
This tour run by Julia travels is excellent - has very good ground arrangements - good coach and driver, good hotels ( we opted for the 3* category ,which were good and excellently located - very central , which enabled us to pack in a lot more on our ' to do ' list ), a good tour director ( we had ' Marina' who was good ) and good local guides who were passionate about their history and culture .
Would suggest however you study the itenary in detail and cover additonal areas not covered under the tour. At Caceres ( which is a short stop at Extramadura ) would suggest a visit to the Tourism centre - which is at Plaza Mayor ( very central) pick up a map and get an overview - it has a rich historical past and beautiful Mujedar architecture .
Would also suggest you prebook entrance tickets online ( as there are long queues ) to visit the Alcazar at Seville ( including the Cuarto Alto upstairs if available- there are limited tickets each day) which is not covered under the tour . Also visit the inside of the Cathederal at Seville ( not covered under the tour) which is awesome. The queues for the Cathderal are lesser in the afternoon and you can get tickets on the spot. Also visit the Cathederal and Capilo Real at Granada ( which is not covered under the tour itenary). The tour offers an optional Flamenco tablao at Palacio Al Andaluz - which is captivating and beautiful to watch and worth going for . Do read " The Tales of the Alhambra " by Washington Irving before visiting the Alhambra . It does bring the Alhambra alive !
All in all an excellent tour which gives one a feel of the rich history of the ages gone by at Cordoba , Seville, Granada and Toledo . May mention the tour was bi- lingual ( Spanish and English) - a major part of our tour group was Spanish speaking ( though we were not !) but though there were repitions in both languages , the tour director and guides were good and managed to retain our attention and interest . Very good tour !
