Spain's three great cities each reward a car and a guide for a different reason: in Madrid the sights are further apart than they look, in Barcelona Gaudí is spread across the city, and in Seville the heat decides the day.
Madrid: six hours
The Royal Palace and the Almudena cathedral, the arcaded Plaza Mayor and the old Habsburg lanes, the Paseo del Prado with its three great museums, and the Retiro gardens with the Crystal Palace. It starts at 07:00 or 13:00; in July and August the morning one is better. There is a stop for coffee or a vermut along the way.
Museum and palace tickets are not included. The Prado is free in the last two hours of the day, and your guide will tell you whether that queue is worth joining. From €590.
Barcelona: seven hours
The Sagrada Familia, begun in 1882 and still unfinished. Park Güell, with the mosaic bench and the view back over everything. Casa Batlló and La Pedrera on the Passeig de Gràcia. Then the Gothic Quarter on foot with your guide: the cathedral, the Roman wall built into the houses, and the squares you would walk past without being told what they are.
Book ahead: the Sagrada Familia and Park Güell both use timed entry and sell out, weeks in advance in summer. Tickets are not included, and we cannot get you in without one. From €650.
Seville: eight hours
The cathedral and the Giralda, the Real Alcázar and its gardens, a walk and lunch in the old quarter of Santa Cruz, and the Plaza de España, built for the 1929 exposition with a tiled alcove for every province in Spain.
Book ahead: the cathedral and the Alcázar both use timed entry, and the on-the-day queue for the Alcázar can be two hours in season. Seville regularly passes forty degrees in July and August; the day is built around shade and an early start. We can also end the day at a flamenco show in Triana. From €600.
Prices
All three are private, for your group alone, with pick-up anywhere in the city. The prices above are for up to four people; the price depends on the size of your group, up to 16.
Go with us
Private city tour
Madrid Private Highlights Tour
The Royal Palace, Plaza Mayor, the Prado quarter and Retiro, in six private hours with your own driver-guide.
Private city tour
Barcelona: Gaudí & Gothic Quarter Private Tour
The Sagrada Familia, Park Guell and the Gothic Quarter, in seven private hours with your own driver-guide.
Private day tour
Seville Private Day Tour
The Alcazar, the cathedral, Santa Cruz and the Plaza de Espana, in a private day in Seville.