I know how most folks feel about an organized tour but feel that I must speak out for those of us who maybe would not travel otherwise or would be hesitant, not speaking the language.
Our
Globus tour was in early November and I thank God for that Bus and our wonderful tour director. Not speaking Spanish ourselves, it was nice to go with a group where some did, and we could get directions, tips, professional city-tour guides, and a lot of history. I know that we saw more in those 9 days than we could have on our own and learned alot more too. (And we got to rest our poor feet!)
Of course, we had an exceptional bunch of folks, no laggers, complainers etc., and were probably lucky! And don't get me wrong, we left the group a few days to explore on our own, that's where this site came in and I especially thank you for Mijas.
We stayed at 4 star hotels, all very nice, had all our breakfasts included and a couple buffet dinners where we could sample different foods, and we actually got an intro to Tapas our first night. And actually had a lot of free time.
We had first 2 days in Madrid then saw Cordoba Mosque enroute to Sevilla, 2n. did Jerez Sherry and Horses, saw Ronda enroute to Costa del Sol where did Mijas on our own, then to Grenada and the Alhambra, and finally Toledo enroute back to Madrid. And a lot more, wheew!
I know you're all thinking that we didn't experience Spain, but I think it was a wonderful into and now we know what to see when we come back. All this was $1700 pp. including airfare from Atlanta. We didn't do any "optionals" and we didn't have any complaints. I'm curious to hear if anyone can really deny the value of this trip.