Moorish Andalucia

Was a very enjoyable holiday up until being told we didn't have tickets to the Nasrid Palaces at the Alhambra. This spoilt the whole trip for me otherwise everything else went as planned.

The trip was generally good but one of hotels was quite a long way out of the centre of Seville. We were unable to visit the palaces of the Alhambra and were only informed of this the day before we were due to go there. I’ve travelled with explore several times before but this will impact on my confidence that the major highlights of the trip will be delivered. This issue is being followed up with a complaint

Great Tour, lots of Cities covered. Favourite places were Malaga, Seville, Cordoba & Granada. Hotels were as you would expect from an Explore Tour with good locations with lots of places to eat and drink. Found a couple of great Bodegas in Cordoba & Granada to really enjoy the Spanish "Pub" culture. I will not comment on the Guide in this review as I have completed a more in-depth review via Explore's initial review request email sent as we were on our way home. We are now planning our next adventure with Explore.....

The Explore group was small and the experience was very good - the itinerary of the tour was enough to be able to see and experience the various villages, towns and cities of Andalucia. It really provides a taster so you can know where you would like to visit again in more depth.

A full itinerary visiting some amazing cities and palaces. Adding extra days in Malaga was a good decision as there’s lots to see. I booked a day trip to the caminito del rey, great experience.

Organisation of the trip was really good - including all transport, hotels and activities. The expert guides were excellent. Make sure you take Euros for payment of the group meals and flamenco dancing. To improve the trip, it would be good if the group leader gave some information on the bus trips eg when driving into Seville would be good to have landmarks pointed out.

Very good trip, excellent leader, good accommodation.

The transport was very well organised and the tour leader was always contactable and efficient in dealing with any issues. The itinerary was excellent and the guides at the Alcazar in Seville and the Mosque in Cordoba were very knowledgeable and able to communicate the information well. The Flamenco show was also an enjoyable and interesting option. It was a very good trip but a few improvements would make it better: Our visit to Grazalema was very short. We only had 10 minutes to walk to the view and see the town after we had had lunch. This needs to be extended so it makes the visit worthwhile. We did not visit Cabra; instead we stopped at a service station which sold hand-cream and olive oil. I would have preferred to have seen the village mentioned in the itinerary. Most of the group opted to go to a restaurant for Paella. The seafood Paella looked like Risotto, was extremely salty and mine had two tiny tentacles in it and no other seafood. We were also served a very small beer. The cost was 25 euros. Our tour leader managed to get a 5 euro reduction but most of us left the meal as it was very unpleasant and so a very disappointing evening. Therefore, I would not recommend this option unless there is a significant improvement ie. Paella with fresh seafood is served with a full glass of beer. There are several other optional activities on the documentation where no information was given about how and where to book. The prices for the options need updating as the Flamenco evening cost 40 euros.

Thoroughly enjoyed the trip, the itinerary and the company of all the other group members. Our tour leader was pleasant and informative, but I did feel that she gave us less information than the leaders I've had on previous trips ( this was my 5th trip with Explore) and at times it felt as if her heart wasn't entirely in it. On the other trips I've done it felt as if we were getting quite specialist information, whereas much of what she told us I already knew from the guide books I had read. Still a great experience overall though.

This is a tour I had wanted to do for a long time, and it was worth the wait. There was so much more than the Alhambra in Granada. Malaga was a surprise with its museum offer. Rhonda and its surrounds were a great way to see the mountains. After the walk down into the gorge to see the bridge, climbing the church tower to see over the rooftops of Rhonda was a lovely contrast. It's also worth visiting the Rhonda museum in Mondragon Palace, and if you want a great view of the Roman bridge find the hidden viewpoint at the Arab baths (it's after the garden). The olive oil tour and tasting was fantastic. It's definitely worth buying some to take home (if weight allowance allows) or paying for it to be shipped. There is so much to do in Seville and Cordoba that I hope to take a short break out there in the future to either see what we didn't have time for or to spend longer in some places. Standouts in both places for me were the Alcazar in Seville and Mezquita in Cordoba. The highlights in Granada were the Alhambra and the flamenco. Top tip is to be able to use your mobile abroad as lots of the optional places to visit have downloadable audio guides (bring headphones/ earpods). Many locations do offer wifi, but it seemed to be much quicker if you already had data to use. Also, for the group meals bring Euros as many places struggled to produce separate bills. It became easier to work the bill out ourselves and pay in Euros. It was very hot in June, so if you are impacted by the heat consider the trip in a different month.

The trip was very interesting. The group lead and the expert guides at the major sites were excellent. The transport between sites was good, the hotels and breakfasts good. There is a lot of walking. The trip gets a lot packed in. The trip itinerary should visit the Madinat al-Zahra (Medina Azahara) as this is a major site of Moorish Spain and is very close to Cordoba. I really enjoyed the trip.