Spain and Portugal vacation, historic cities & villages
A circular 15-day journey through Spain and Portugal, from Madrid to Barcelona, with a few days in each destination to explore, taste the local tapas or sip some port, and unwind.
GranadaSevilleAlgarveLisbonPortoSantiago de Compostelawalk a section of the Camino de SantiagoBarcelona
Up to US $1140 off selected dates. Late availability on these dates: 15 Apr, 26 Apr, 29 Apr, 03 May, 10 May, 13 May, 20 May, 24 May, 27 May, 03 Jun, 10 Jun, 17 Jun
The Spanish must be laughing. For half a century, tourists have colonised the beaches, the bars, the islands and city centers, thinking this is “Spain...
Portugal once ruled a global empire but today quietly tends its own patch. Those looking in discern immense coastline, glorious little-explored interi...
Reviews
2 Reviews of Spain and Portugal vacation, historic cities & villages
5 out of 5 stars
SHOW
2
0
0
0
0
Reviewed on 15 Jun 2022 by Kevin Wood
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your vacation?
All of it.
2. What tips would you give other travelers booking this vacation?
Pack light, you are moving around a lot!
3. Did you feel that your vacation benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
Yes.
4. Finally, how would you rate your vacation overall?
Excellent. We were very happy with our tour of Spain & Portugal. Our tour leader, Isabel, was the best! She is knowledgeable, kind and fun. The tour had the right mix of time with the leader and time on our own. Isabel was excellent at communicating each day's details and gave us plenty of guidance and suggested activities for our free time including web addresses for tickets and even links for map directions. I would definitely use the operator again and specifically would love to have Isabel as our guide again.
Reviewed on 29 Jul 2018 by Rehab Bitane
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your vacation?
Monasteries of Meteora and Acropolis of Athens
2. What tips would you give other travelers booking this vacation?
Keep your baggage as small as possible.
3. Did you feel that your vacation benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
Yes, I do.
4. Finally, how would you rate your vacation overall?
Very good
Responsible Travel
As the pioneers of responsible tourism, we've screened this (and every) vacation so that you can travel knowing it will help support the places and people that you visit, and the planet. Read how below.
Planet
As a global tour operator, we are committed to operating every one of our trips in a way that respects and benefits local people, their culture and economy, while minimising our impact on the natural environment.
Every journey is made by public transport, to keep our carbon footprint to a minimum. Mostly we travel on public buses, but we also take trains from Granada to Seville, Santiago de Compostela to Burgos, and Burgos to Barcelona. We get about within cities by metro or on foot wherever possible.
When in the Algarve, we enjoy a picnic of local produce when we take a coastal walk, and in Porto we indulge in a tasting of the locally-fortified wine for which the region is renowned. There are opportunities to visit markets, such as La Boqueria in Barcelona which offers a wealth of fresh produce.
People
We travel in small groups – on this trip the maximum group size is 12 passengers – which means we can stay in small, locally-owned or family-run hotels and in Lisbon we spend two nights in a pension (guesthouse).
One of the stops on this tour is Santiago de Compostela, which is the finish point for the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage. Although some undertake this for non-religious reasons, the city has a religious significance for many and when visiting the cathedral and other religious sites we request that passengers dress respectfully, covering their shoulders and ensuring they don’t wear skimpy tops or shorts. This is just one of the responsible travel guidelines that we expect our passengers to follow, along with recycling where possible and minimising the use of plastic bottles.
So that you have flexibility over where you eat, very few meals are included as part of the tour. Your tour leader will suggest authentic, local restaurants, bars, markets and other eating places where you can sample local produce and regional specialities. Southern Spain is famed for its tapas, so in Seville and Granada we are likely to eat a series of small dishes in different bars which is a good way to support a number of small businesses.
