Iberian Cultures
9 DAYS
Lisbon 2 • Algarve Coast 1 • Seville 2 • Madrid 2
Basic Inclusions
Accommodations
Accommodations in centrally-located three-star or four-star hotels. Rooming on a triple basis. Double rooms: $50 per night, per person.
Meals
All breakfasts. All dinners.
Transportation
Round-trip transportation on scheduled airline. Deluxe touring motorcoach. All public transportation tickets included where applicable.
Guide
Services of a specially-trained passports Tour Director throughout. All tips are included in the Program Cost. Whisper headsets included.
Travel Protection
Passports provides and pays for a Post Departure Travel Protection Plan that includes coverage for Trip Interruption, Trip Delay, Medical Expense and Evacuation and more.
Tour Summary
Itinerary Includes
Unlimited public transportation
Days 1-2: Arrival Lisbon
Arrival transfer
Day 3: Lisbon
Excursion to Sintra and Cascais: Local Guide, Visit to the National Palace of Sintra, Sightseeing stop in Cascais, Sightseeing stop at the Mouth of Hell seaside chasm, Headset receiver
Half-day city sightseeing: Local Guide, Visit to the Jerónimos Monastery
Optional Fado Performance
Day 4: Lisbon - Algarve Coast
Day 5: Algarve Coast - Seville
Flamenco show
Day 6: Seville
Half-day city sightseeing: Local Guide, Visit to Seville Cathedral (view Christopher Columbus' tomb) and the Giralda Tower, Visit to the Royal Alcázar of Seville
Optional Guadalquivir River Cruise
Day 7: Seville - Madrid
Guided walking tour in Córdoba, Visit to the Mezquita, AVE train Córdoba-Madrid, Arrival transfer
Day 8: Madrid
Half-day city sightseeing: Guide, Visit to the Prado Museum, Prado headset
Visit to the Reina Sofia Museum
Optional Entrance to the Amusement Park (Parque de Atracciones): Teleférico de Madrid cable car ride
Day 9: Departure
Departure transfer
UNPARALLELED STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE
CITY-CENTER HOTELS
Stay right in the heart of it. Why settle for staying outside of the city? Wake up in the city. Explore. Have dinner in the city. Explore. Return to the hotel at your convenience.
Check out our typical hotels
3-AND-4 STAR HOTELS
We’ve scoured each city for the finest hotels for our groups. Comfortable, conveniently located, clean and safe. That’s what we do.
HOTEL CHOICE
We give you options - but the choice is yours.
AMAZING FOOD
Student tour dinners don’t have to stink! Enjoy authentic, high-quality food, and lots of it. Three-course meals that you will want to post on social media.
Check out what our food is like
INDUSTRY BEST TOUR DIRECTORS
Passports contracts only the finest, A+ Tour Directors in the industry. With decades of experience, our team is second-to-none in terms of experience and professionalism. Read more about our amazing Tour Directors.
24-HOUR SERVICE
Your Tour Director will meet you at the airport and stay with you every step of the way until your return flight. They are your own personal travel expert.
INCLUDED FLIGHTS
We work with the airlines so you don’t have to.
BEST AVAILABLE ROUTINGS
We look for the best possible routings for your group with a minimal number of legs and ideal layovers. We try to get you in early - but not too early - to maximize your time overseas.
MORE INCLUSIONS
UNLIMITED PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION INCLUDED
You don’t want to have to worry about getting metro tickets when you’re pressed for time. We provide pre-loaded travel cards so that you can hit the ground running.
INCLUDED OVERSEAS MEDICAL COVERAGE
Passports provides and pays for a post-departure travel protection plan that helps protect you while on your trip with coverage for trip interruption, trip delay, baggage loss, theft or delay, emergency medical expenses, evacuation and more.
ALL TIPS INCLUDED OPTION
Tour Directors receive tips at the end of the tour. Including the tip in the up-front tour cost saves your group from carrying around extra money overseas or being surprised with an extra expense at the end of the tour. This is just another way that Passports is honest and up-front about all expenses. You can choose to include the tip ahead of time - or not to. Passports gives you the option.
NO ON TOUR UPSELL
Ever been pressured on tour to purchase an excursion? Or been shuttled into one workshop after another? Not with Passports.
VALUE VALUE VALUE
Dollar-for-dollar Passports is the best value you can get. Our tours are packed with included activities for a price that you can't beat with any other company.
HUMAN-FIRST POLICIES
FANATICAL CUSTOMER SUPPORT
We are here to be your partner. We support our group leaders 100%. Through thick and thin, we will work with you to make your travel program an annual success.
BEST REFUND POLICY IN THE INDUSTRY
Passports refunds 75% until 30 days prior to departure as our default policy. Early cancellations have fixed, low cancellation penalties. We would love for you to compare our cancellation policy to our competitors. Passports acts as the best partner we can, for every traveler, on every tour. That’s our promise.
SINGLE POINT OF CONTACT
Our Tour Advisors are amazing people who work with the group leaders during the pre-sale, enrollment, pre-departure, on-tour and post-tour periods. They check in when the group is overseas. They are the point of contact throughout the entire process to assist in all phases of the tour. This is more important than you would think unless you’ve been with another company and changed hands several times in the course of the tour. The point is: trust and accountability are critical in our relationship with a group leader.
NO HIDDEN CHARGES
No adult fee. With Passports, adults pay the same as students. Oftentimes adults will opt for a double room as they can’t room with students, and there is a charge for the double room. But there is no charge simply for being an adult.
No hidden airline fees. No hidden tripwire fees. With Passports, what you see is what you get.
Detailed Itinerary
Days 1-2: Arrival
It's a short night's sleep as you fly across the Atlantic to awaken with the dawn. Beneath you, glimmering in the early morning sun, is the wide and generous delta of the River Tagus, once Europe's main point of departure for the New World. This is Portugal and her capital city, Lisbon.
Get settled into your centrally-located hotel. Soon you're out enjoying the narrow streets, markets and squares of the city that was called Alis Ubbo ("pleasant bay") by its early settlers, the Phoenicians.
Overnight: Lisbon
Day 3: Excursion to Sintra and Cascais, Lisbon City Sightseeing, Optional Fado Performance
Set out on an excursion to a beautiful town classified by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. Lord Byron called Sintra a "glorious Eden," for its enchanting setting and its lush gardens adorned with trees and plants brought back from the far reaches of the Portuguese empire.
A half-day local guide, well-educated and specially-trained on the history and culture of Lisbon and its surroundings, will accompany your group.
Visit the Palácio Nacional de Sintra, a royal residence which dates back to the Middle Ages. It is recognizable by its two conical kitchen chimneys.
Enjoy a sightseeing stop in a fishing village that became a fashionable resort in the 19th century. Nowadays, tourists still come for its sand beaches and marina, as well as its Manueline church with Baroque paintings by the artist Josefa de Óbidos (1630-1684), one of the rare female painters of her time.
Less than two miles from downtown Cascais, you'll come across the spectacular Boca do Inferno, a grotto carved by the surf in the rugged coastline, best seen at high tide when thundering waves crash against the rock.
Discover historic and contemporary Lisbon on a city tour past iconic sights: St. George's Castle, the Belém Tower, the Vasco da Gama Bridge, the historic Alfama district, the popular cafés of the Praça do Rossio, the Monument to the Discoveries, and Lisbon's cathedral (Sé), which houses the baptismal font where a local baby who became St. Anthony of Padua was baptized in 1195.
A half-day local guide, well-educated and specially-trained on the history and culture of Lisbon and its surroundings, will accompany your group.
Visit one of Lisbon's great landmarks, the beautiful convent built of all white marble which was founded in 1502 to give thanks for the successful return of Vasco da Gama's fleet from the Indies. Said to be "built by pepper" (monies from the spice trade), the Jerónimos Monastery displays a profusion of marine motifs: seashells, ropes and anchors typical of the Manueline style that peaked during the reign of Manuel I (1495-1521).
Tonight, attend a performance of the hauntingly beautiful Portuguese music known as Fado ("fate"). This is the country's most famous musical form, traditionally performed by one singer accompanied by a twelve-string Portuguese guitarra.
Overnight: Lisbon
Day 4: Travel to the Algarve Coast
Travel to Portugal's ruggedly beautiful Algarve coast. The Algarve (Arabic for "the west") is Portugal's southernmost province, fringed with eerie rock formations and white-sand beaches. Traditional fishing villages with pastel houses color the shoreline.
Overnight: Algarve Coast
Day 5: Travel to Seville, Flamenco Show
Travel on due east past lemon and almond orchards on your way to one of the loveliest cities in all of Spain, Sevilla, the home of Carmen, Figaro, and Don Juan himself.
This evening, enjoy traditional entertainment, flamenco! The poet Federico García Lorca called it "the most gigantic creation of the Spanish people." You will long remember its complex and insistent rhythms, castanets, guitars and clacking heels as a highlight of your trip to Spain.
Overnight: Seville
Day 6: Seville City Sightseeing, Optional Guadalquivir River Cruise
Get acquainted with Sevilla on a tour of the city. You'll stop for photos at the Plaza de España and explore on foot the well-preserved Barrio de Santa Cruz, a picturesque maze of alleys and patios which once was the Jewish quarter. You will see the ancient minaret called the Giralda, the Parque María Luisa, the famous tobacco factory where Bizet's Carmen worked and the crenelated tower called the Torre del Oro, which was built in the 13th century to protect the port.
A half-day local guide, well-educated and specially-trained on the history and culture of Seville, will accompany your group.
A visit is included to the great Gothic cathedral, where you will see the flamboyant monument to Columbus, and the tomb of Ferdinand III: its trilingual inscription in Arabic, Hebrew and Castilian symbolizes this 13th-century king's vision of his kingdom as the home of all three faiths.
Then, climb the Giralda, a former minaret that stands near the cathedral. Instead of stairs, this tower was designed with an interior ramp which makes the climb almost effortless. From the top, visitors have a great overview of the cathedral's roof and buttresses.
Enjoy a visit to this UNESCO World Heritage Site over a thousand years old that's a stunning blend of Mudéjar and Christian architecture. Regarded as the most beautiful palace in Spain, El Real Alcázar de Sevilla was a residence of Spanish kings for nearly seven centuries after the Reconquista.
The afternoon is unscheduled.
Check out Calle Sierpes, the awning-covered street that is Sevilla's outdoor market.
Enjoy a scenic boat ride along the picturesque Guadalquivir River. Listen to the commentary while you enjoy the sights from a different perspective.
Overnight: Seville
Day 7: Córdoba, Train to Madrid
Travel to Córdoba, which was once as prominent as Baghdad in the Islamic world. At that time, Córdoba's cultural life was centered around its 70 libraries, with the Caliph's library alone holding 400,000 volumes! Throughout the ages exceptional scholars have blossomed here, including Seneca, the Roman author/statesman, and the medieval philosophers Maimónides and Averroës.
Discover the historic center, with the Jewish Quarter(Judería). See the statue of Maimónides, Calle Judíos, and the Sinagoga that dates back to 1315,: it's the only Andalusian synagogue to have survived the 1492 eExpulsion of the Jews.
Cross the Patio de los Naranjos, where orange blossoms bloom in the spring. Enter the Great Mosque, in the heart of which a large Roman Catholic Cathedral was built after the Reconquest by the Christian Kings.
Marvel at the Mezquita's forest of "candy cane" arches adorned with precious stones, at its ceiling of carved cedar and 4,000 bronze and copper lamps. View the Mihrab shrine, where the Koran was kept.
There's excitement aboard an Alta Velocidad train ride (no clickety-clacks on these smooth rails), all the way to Madrid. Time flies aboard the streamlined train which, inside, looks and feels like an airplane. En poco tiempo, you're in the bustling capital of Spain.
Get settled in your madrileño hotel and explore your surroundings.
Overnight: Madrid
Day 8: Madrid City Sightseeing, Reina Sofia Museum, Optional Casa de Campo Amusement Park
On a tour of the city, you will be introduced to the sights and the city grand squares: Plaza Mayor, Puerta del Sol, Plaza de España with the Cervantes Monument, Gran Vía, Calle Alcalá, Plaza de Colón, and Plaza de Cibeles with its fountains.
A half-day local guide, well-educated and specially-trained on the history and culture of Madrid and its surroundings, will accompany your group.
View world-famous paintings by El Greco, Goya, and Velázquez, and much. much more, at the magnificent Museo del Prado.
At the Centro de Arte Reina Sofía you will see the permanent collection of modern works by artists such as Dalí, Miró, and Picasso, notably Picasso's haunting Guernica, a memorial to the victims of the Nazi bombing of a Basque village, long kept out of Spain because of the artist's refusal to recognize Franco's dictatorship.
The afternoon is unscheduled.
You may want to check out the elegant El Corte Inglés department store at the Puerta del Sol.
Visit the Parque de Atracciones, the amusement park that's located in Casa de Campo, Madrid's largest public park. Rides, arranged in four zones, feature star attractions such as Fjords, with aquatic thrills, as well as Top Spin and Vertigo, known for their spectacular dives.
Enjoy a ride on the teleférico that goes up to Casa de Campo, the largest public park in Madrid.
Overnight: Madrid
Day 9: Departure
¡Adios España! Madrid's airport recedes and you're 500 miles closer to home with each hour in the air. Race the sun westward, arriving home later today, eager to share your experiences with family and friends.
CUSTOM TOURS
All tours can be customized to your particular needs.
Or start from scratch - we will build your dream tour!
Lisbon City Sightseeing
Visit to the National Palace of Sintra
Sightseeing stop in Cascais
Travel to the Algarve Coast
Seville City Sightseeing
Guided walking tour in Córdoba
Visit to the Mezquita
Madrid City Sightseeing
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