Spain: The Artist’s Grand Tour

Overnight flight to Madrid, Spain.

Arrive in Madrid. Afternoon panoramic tour around the city with a top historian. See the most important monuments, including Las Ventas Bullring, Plaza Cibeles, Plaza Neptuno, and Puerta del Sol. Continue with a visit to Reina Sofia’s contemporary art center where Picasso’s Guernica is housed. The museum contains the best collection of twentieth-century art by Spanish artists. Gather for a welcome dinner. (3 Nights)

Spend the morning at The Prado Museum, which houses one of the finest art collections in the world. Our visit will focus on Spanish masters Velázquez, Murillo, Zurbarán, and Goya. After lunch walking tour of the Old Quarter followed by a special guided tour of the Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum.

This morning, depart with an art historian guide to the Sorolla Museum, a tribute to Joaquin Sorolla, known as the painter of natural light. It is housed in what was Sorolla’s home and studio. Continue with a visit to Museo del Romanticismo housed at the former palace of the Marquis of Matallana, built in 1776, and which contains a fascinating collection of nineteenth-century paintings by Goya, Esquivel, Madrazo, Alenza, and the Bécquer brothers.

Depart on the High-Speed Train to Córdoba. Visit the incredible Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba. Continue on a walking tour in one of the most important Jewish quarters in Spain. Then, visit the Alcazar, which was built under the Castilian rule in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. This fort/palace was where the Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, made their first acquaintance with Columbus in 1486. The Alcazar’s terraced gardens—full of fish ponds, fountains, orange trees, and flowers—are a delight to stroll around. After lunch, transfer to Seville by motorcoach. (2 Nights)

Start your tour of Seville with a visit to the Reales Alcázares (Royal Palace), which is one of the purest and greatest examples of Mudejar (Christian-Muslim) architecture containing Moorish, Gothic, and Renaissance elements. Then, visit the magnificent Cathedral which rises on the site of the great twelfth-century mosque. Finish your tour with a stroll through the Old Jewish Quarter. After lunch enjoy a horse carriage ride through nineteenth-century Maria Luisa Park to admire the incredible tile work at Plaza de España. End the day with a Flamenco show and dinner.

Depart for a visit to the Museo de Bellas Artes, one of the most important art museums in Spain after El Museo del Prado in Madrid. It exhibits the most famous paintings of the Seville School (fifteenth–seventeenth centuries) featuring an impressive collection of works by Murillo, Valdés Leal, Zurbarán, El Greco, and Seville-born Diego de Silva y Velázquez. Depart for Ronda. Built on an isolated ridge of the Sierra, Ronda is split in half by a gaping river gorge, El Tajo. After lunch tour of Ronda historic medieval quarter, its beautiful monumental bullring, and the old Moorish town, including el Bosco, which is a modernist palace decorated with Arab style and regional ceramics. Transfer to Málaga. (3 Nights)

Begin your visit to Málaga with the Picasso Museum housed in the Palacio de Buenavista. The permanent collection includes many works by the artist. Continue walking in the Old Quarter by the Picasso Foundation to see Picasso’s birthplace. Then, visit the Alcazaba, a restored Moorish fortification built for King Badis of Granada around the eleventh century. Lunch, then the rest of the afternoon is free to explore Málaga with its many museums and which has recently become a cultural hub for art collectors. (2 Nights)

Depart for a full-day excursion to Granada. On arrival, enjoy a tour of the Alhambra palaces complex and the Generalife Gardens. The Alhambra is a UNESCO World Heritage site and Spain’s single biggest attraction. Next, transfer to the center and visit the beautiful Royal Chapel, the final resting place of Ferdinand and Isabella, the Catholic Monarchs who helped fund Christopher Columbus’s voyage to the New World. After lunch, return to Málaga. Farewell dinner.

Individual departures to the airport for flights to the U.S. or continue on Barcelona extension.

Spend 3 nights in Barcelona with guided visits to masterpieces by Catalonia’s most famous architect, Antonio Gaudí. Visits include La Sagrada Familia cathedral, Park Güell, Casa Mila, Picasso Museum, and more. (3 Nights)