Jewels of Spain

Day 1 - Albir

Join your tour group at the hotel.

Days 2-4 - Albir

Located on a quiet stretch of the sun-washed Costa Blanca, the small town of Albir has classic Spanish ‘wish you were here’ good looks. Over the next three days we head out on two included excursions, with plenty of free time to stroll down to the beach or relax. The first included excursion is to the Valencian village of Guadalest - a terracotta-roofed village that clings to the mountainside beneath a precariously perched white tower. A taste of traditional rural life, we explore cobbled streets, pretty squares and duck into artisan shops. The second included excursion takes us to Valencia, with a straw-coloured sweep of beach, modernist architecture and a historic quarter peppered with Roman, Arabic, Gothic and art nouveau buildings. Plus, a 7km green park that snakes through the city. Flanked by two city gates, our guided tour takes us to the old town and into a maze of narrow streets, museums and boutiques. We visit the Gothic Valencia Cathedral, UNESCO-listed Silk Exchange and art nouveau Mercado Colon - where wine bars and pinchos plates sit beneath the cathedral-esque arches and powder-green iron rafters.

Day 5 - Albir - Murcia - Águilas

Today we leave the Costa Blanca and drive south to Águilas in the province of Murcia. On the way we stop at the city of the same name. Built by the Moors in the 9th century, over 500 years of Islamic rule has left its architectural mark on the city. With an old town that rivals bigger Spanish cities but minus the crowds, our tour manager will lead a walk past Moorish, Gothic, Renaissance and baroque buildings – including the city’s centrepiece, the Cathedral of Murcia. After lunch in a local restaurant, we continue to our seafront hotel just outside Águilas - an ancient Roman port known for its baths, 18th-century castle, and rocky seabed providing crystal-clear conditions for snorkellers and scuba divers.

Days 6-10 - Águilas

Striking the balance between city and beach (there are 36 on this stretch of coast, including a wide stretch of golden sand next to the hotel), over the following five days we explore with three included excursions. Our first is an orientation walk around Águilas to get our bearings. The second takes us inland to Lorca - an ancient sun-faded city at the foot of the Sierra del Caño. We visit Fortaleza del Sol Castle, Archaeological Park, Sinagoga & the Embroidery Museum. A former frontier city that separated Muslim and Christian Spain, Lorca’s past reads like a historical hymn sheet of Visigoth and Moor battlegrounds, Roman ruins, 9th-century castles, 15th-century synagogues and Renaissance cathedrals. It’s little wonder Lorca is known as the ‘City of 100 Coats of Arms’. Another full-day excursion backtracks along the coast to Cartagena, a sandcastle-coloured ancient city wrapped around a deep blue harbour. Originally a Roman military port in the 3rd century BC, we visit the town’s archaeological masterpiece - the Roman amphitheatre unearthed in 1988, and the Castillo de la Concepción - a 12th-century Moorish fort built on the site of a Roman temple.

Day 11 - Águilas - Salobreña

Crossing over from Murcia into Andalucia, we start to see the architectural landscape change - with sand-coloured Moorish towns giving way to whitewashed Mediterranean villages. On our way to our hotel near Salobreña we stop at Mojácar - a white hilltop village dotted with pastel shutters and fuchsia bougainvillea, and Sorbas - a mountaintop town built on a flat plateau where stone houses hug the edge of a steep ravine. We enjoy a panoramic coastal drive to Mojacar Pueblo with lunch included in the Tabernas, Almeria area. After lunch, we continue to Salobreña. We stay a few miles away in a clifftop hotel with stunning views across the Mediterranean.

Days 12-14 - Salobreña

The next three days are a mix of free time and included excursions. The first is an orientation walk of Salobreña. Known as the ‘Jewel of the Costa Tropical’, Salobreña stretches out in a sea of blinding white buildings and sugar cane plantations up to a weathered Moorish fort. Both the views and the steep streets of Salobreña are breathtaking. Our next excursion is to Granada, a stronghold of the Moorish empire at the foot of the snow and gravel marbled Sierra Nevada. We'll visit the Royal Chapel of Granada (Capilla Real), the burial place of Queen Isabella I and King Ferdinand sitting alongside the 16th-century cathedral. Our final included trip is to the Lecrin Valley - an area of outstanding natural beauty home to quaint white hamlets, woven farmland and meandering blue rivers. The valley has over 300 species of wildflower and is especially beautiful in the spring, when the almond trees are in blossom and the distant peaks of the Sierra Nevada are still capped with snow.

Day 15 - Salobreña

Say goodbye to your tour group for your onward travel.