Highlights of Andalucia

This week-long small-group tour from Explore Worldwide starts in Granada, where the Alhambra Palace and the winding Albaicin quarter showcase the city’s blend of Spanish and Moorish heritage. Accommodation is simple but well located, giving direct access to tapas bars beside the Plaza Campo del Principe.

Next, the group moves to Cordoba for an afternoon visit to the Mezquita, known for its striped arches and peaceful orange grove courtyard. After a morning free to poke around Cordoba’s streets, the tour delves into rural Andalucia, staying two nights in Castano del Robledo, a village seemingly untouched by time within the oak woods of Sierra Aracena National Park.

Walking features notably here, with trails through whitewashed villages like Alajar and Galaroza, before the tour concludes in Seville. The city’s vast Gothic cathedral, the Mudejar architecture, and the lively neighbourhoods around the Real Alcazar and Plaza Santa Cruz offer plenty to see, although only one free day is allotted to explore all of it.

New to Spain? Our Spain guide has the practical essentials: money, plugs, visas and when to go.