Highlights of Spain

Join your Travel Director and fellow travelers for dinner at local restaurant La Pau. This MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience supports teenagers and young people to transition to their adult life. Learn about local life through the eyes of the youth.

With your Local Expert, drive along the Passeig de Gràcia, adorned with elegant wrought-iron street lamps and some of the most flamboyant Modernist buildings. Continue through the Eixample district for a visit inside Gaudí’s extraordinary masterpiece, the Sagrada Família*, to see the central nave with its giant, tree-like pillars, spectacular vaulting and the beautiful rainbows flooding in through the intricate stained-glass windows. Enjoy the afternoon at leisure to explore or perhaps join an Optional Experience to Montserrat and The Black Madonna. *Please note that access to the basilica may be restricted for special masses, pilgrim visits or official ceremonies, and we are unable to secure tickets to visit. Should this occur during your tour, you will visit the Hospital de Sant Pau instead, a striking example of Catalan Art Nouveau designed by Gaudí’s contemporary, Domènech i Montaner. Afterwards, join your Local Expert in the gardens surrounding the Sagrada Família and take in the extraordinary exterior of Gaudí’s iconic masterpiece.

Follow the sunny Costa Dorada, past the rice fields of the Ebro Delta. Stop at the seaside resort of Peñíscola and see the hilltop castle used in the film 'El Cid'. Pass through the famous orange groves to Valencia and see the City of Arts and Sciences. Later see the Old City and take in its medieval charm. Valencia is home to one of the world's greatest dishes, paella. Meet the chef of a local family-run restaurant in the heart of the Old City and learn how to make this local specialty during a cooking demonstration. Later, indulge in the delicious flavors of this classic dish with a glass of wine at your dinner.

Travel south toward Andalucía, passing the castle at Lorca and troglodyte dwellings hollowed out of the soft rock near Guadix. Enjoy distant views of the Sierra Nevada mountains as you approach glorious Granada. This historic city was a Moorish kingdom for almost eight centuries and was the last stronghold to fall to the Catholic monarchs of Spain in 1492. Overlooking Granada stands the Alhambra, one of the most remarkable fortresses ever built. Led by your Local Expert, explore this exquisite palace, built as a citadel by the Moors in the 13th century: a fantasy of arabesque gardens, fountains and stone cut like lace. Later, stroll through the elegant gardens of the Generalife, the royal summer residence.