The Insider's Andalucía

Join us on this fascinating Taste of Andalucía Tour. Included are the top must-see places. We have hand-selected every tapas bar, restaurant, winery and hotel to ensure that you taste and experience the best of what Andalucía has to offer. We are guided in all things Spanish by our passion for outstanding food and wine, and on this trip it shows.

You will visit the celebrated cities and towns in Andalucía while getting an insider’s taste of the cuisine, wines and culinary traditions. Your culinary experiences will include indulging in specialties of Andalucía like jamón de Trevélez (Serrano ham) in Granada, pescaíto frito (fried fish) in Cádiz, gazpacho in Sevilla, and fresh prawns in Sanlúcar de Barrameda.

Andalucía is Spain’s preeminent tapas region. You will witness the scope and appeal of these little dishes on your many tapas tours. Visits to top sherry and Montilla-Moriles producers in Cádiz and Córdoba provinces will steep you in Andalucía’s most famous wines. And you will try a variety of select Spanish wines.

The flavors and ingredients of Andalusian cuisine are Phoenecian, Roman, Moorish and New World. The flavors are direct and honest, with notes of olive oil, smoked pimentón, saffron and garlic predominating. Many of the ingredients were introduced into Spain by the settlers and conquerors: the olive tree from the Phoenecians; the grapevine from the Greeks; citrus fruits, almonds, artichokes, rice, sugarcane and cumin from the Arabs and Berbers; and tomatoes, peppers and potatoes from the New World. Andalusian cuisine combines those influences with Mediterranean and Atlantic seafood, superbly fresh produce, grass-fed beef and lamb, ham from the Iberian pig, and wild fowl.

Passionate Andalucía

Andalucía may be Spain’s most evocative region with its Moorish architecture, hidden patios, flamenco and vibrant food culture. Andalucía’s cities are especially enticing. Sevilla, always seductive, is Spain’s capital of tapas and home to a mind-boggling variety of them. Córdoba, whose cuisine may be Andalucía’s best-kept secret, surprises you at every turn of the narrow winding streets of the ancient barrio judío.

Cádiz, an enchanting off-the-radar coastal city, specializes in fried Atlantic fish and seafood, using a technique inherited from the Moors. The sherry towns of Sanlúcar de Barrameda, El Puerto de Santa María and Jerez de la Frontera captivate you with their sherries and their culinary skill.

Our tour takes also takes you to Granada, home to the fourteenth-century Moorish Alhambra, and Ronda, the spectacular town sitting astride a 300-foot deep gorge and the site of one of the oldest bullrings in Spain.

Your Guides

Gerry Dawes, Spanish food and wine writer (Wine News, Santé), correspondent on Spain for Food Arts, and recipient of Spain’s prestigious National Gastronomy Award, is your guide for A Taste of Andalucía. Gerry brings a commanding network of long-time connections with top local and national chefs, beyond-the-beaten-path restaurants, vintners, artisanal food producers, and culinary specialists throughout Spain.

After 30 years of traveling in Spain and guiding countless others in their culinary discoveries, Gerry says “I still ferret out little known producers and drive many kilometers out-of-the-way just to eat a dish in a little-known regional restaurant and … look beyond rusticity (or fancy trappings in some places) to find the core of something that is undeniably wonderful and unique to Spain.” It’s that undeniably wonderful and unique to Spain that we bring to you on this tour.

Jane Gregg, culinary tour guide with a passion for Spain, accompanies Gerry in guiding the trip.

9 Days/8 Nights

The Alhambra of Granada

Day 1 - Madrid - La Mancha - Granada

We will leave Madrid in the morning and drive through La Mancha, stopping to see a couple of Don Quixote-related spots and on to legendary Granada, where we will have lunch at a special restaurant. After lunch, we will tour of one of the world’s greatest monuments, the Alhambra, the splendid 14th century Moorish palace. We then stroll through the gardens of the Generalife which was the summer palace of the Nasrid sultans of Granada.

In the evening we venture down to the Campo del Principe, with its many tapas bars. We try the ham of Trevélez, a Granada specialty cured in caves high up in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Then there will be the option of going on to the gypsy caves of Sacromonte to watch a zambra–a type of flamenco dance–performance.

Moorish Granada and the Gorge of Ronda

Day 2 - Granada - Ronda

We visit the Cathedral in Granada and see the tombs of the Catholic Monarchs Isabella and Ferdinand, along with the exquisite collection of Flemish miniatures that belonged to Isabella and were hidden from view for centuries.  After strolling through the labyrinthine streets of the Albaicín, the ancient Moorish quarter, we have lunch before leaving for the magical city of Ronda.

Ronda is a spectacular mountain town as well as a former bandit stronghold and Hemingway favorite, with one of the oldest, most beautiful bullrings in Spain. Sitting astride a 300-foot deep gorge, Ronda resembles a set from Carmen.  In fact, a version of Carmen (Francesco Rosi, 1984) was filmed here.

At the end of an exhilarating day, we will have dinner in Ronda across from the historic bullring in an ambience-filled restaurant, itself a museum.

Pueblos Blancos and Cádiz

Day 3 - Ronda - Pueblos Blancos - Cádiz

We explore Ronda taking in the Puente Nueva, the 120-meter-high bridge spanning the canyon before driving through the unique pueblos blancos– the stunning white mountain villages of Cádiz province– which are among the most striking in Europe.  Lunch in the village of El Bosque, will be delicious fresh trout from the southernmost trout stream in Europe, cooked with artisanal mountain ham according to a traditional recipe.

After lunch we will visit Arcos de la Frontera, one of the most spectacular hill towns in Spain and end up in the lovely, but little-visited, African-like city of Cádiz, which is surrounded on three sides by the sea. In the afternoon and evening we will explore this marvelous walking city of narrow streets and elegant 19th-Century buildings.  Cádiz, the oldest continually occupied city in the western world, is a superb town for chilling out.  There will be the option of taking a carriage ride around the city, where the views and sunsets from the esplanades are truly splendid, then sample tapas in old Cádiz and relax in an outdoor cafe.

Seafood in El Puerto de Santa María

Day 4 - Cádiz - El Puerto de Santa María - Cádiz

In the morning, we will visit Cádiz’s lively, colorful market, then we will take a short ferry ride across the Bay of Cádiz to El Puerto de Santa Maria for a casual seafood lunch, where we buy pre-cooked shellfish by the kilo at one place, superb freshly fried fish at the other, then spread it all out at tables under the archways, order big salads, El Puerto’s excellent fino sherry and plenty of good Spanish beer.  After lunch we will return to Cádiz, where the afternoon is free for strolling, hanging out, and, of course, the optional siesta.  In the evening, we will dine on local seafood specialties in one of Andalucia’s best restaurants in the old quarter of Cádiz.

Sherry and Manzanilla Wines

Day 5 - Cádiz - Jerez - Sanlúcar de Barrameda - Sevilla

We will leave Cádiz in the morning, tour one of Jerez’s colorful and exotic sherry bodegas and take a walking tour of the city. Then we will head for the wonderful sherry town and fishing port of Sanlúcar de Barrameda where we meet up with a top sherry producer. Seafood accompanied by Manzanilla sherry will be our lunch in one of Spain’s greatest traditional restaurants on Bajo de Guia beach overlooking the Guadalquiver River.

In the late afternoon we arrive in one of Spain’s loveliest cities, Sevilla, the city of Carmen.  Sevilla is an exceptionally charming, magical, historic city that will be one of the highlights of your trip.

In the evening we will take a tapas-hopping tour of the Old Jewish quarter of Sevilla, a city your guide knows intimately. We take in a flamenco performance in this top flamenco center in Spain.

The Barrio de Santa Cruz in Sevilla

Day 6 - Sevilla

In the morning we take a guided tour of the Sevilla’s famous Gothic Cathedral, the Moorish Alcázar and the Barrio de Santa Cruz–the old Jewish quarter.

The afternoon will be free for shopping, sightseeing and exploring this lovely city.  Dinner will be at a colorful, typical Andalusian restaurant.

La Mezquita and Tapas in Córdoba

Day 7 - Sevilla - Córdoba

We will leave in the morning for the historic Roman, Moorish and Jewish city of Córdoba, home of a magnificent Roman bridge, the Catedral-Mezquita (Cathedral inside the splendid mosque), the atmospheric old Jewish and Moorish quarter with its flower-bedecked patios.  We have lunch at a renowned restaurant in the old quarter.

In the afternoon, there will be a guided tour of La Mezquita–the Moorish Mosque–the ancient Jewish quarter, the Roman bridge, the exotic Julio Romero de Torres Museum, and the marvelous patios of this charming old city.

The rest of the afternoon and evening we will continue exploring evocative Córdoba, perhaps spend some relaxing time at the Moorish baths, then have tapas at a one of Córdoba’s legendary tabernas, whose owner is a flamenco aficionado. After tapas, there will be the option of sampling Córdoba’s flamenco scene.

Montilla-Moriles Wine

Day 8 - Córdoba

In the morning, we will visit nearby Montilla and tour a picturesque winery that produces Montilla-Moriles, the sherry-like wines of Córdoba province. Afterwards, a typical lunch in a local restaurant.

On the way back to Córdoba, we will explore the ruins of the magnificent Medina-Azahara palace, where the caliphs of Moorish Córdoba lived in exotic splendor. 

We will have our farewell dinner in a traditional Cordoban restaurant housed in a lovely ancient building with a first-rate wine cellar (the wines are kept in an old Roman cellar).

Train to Madrid

Day 9 - Córdoba - Madrid Airport - USA

In the morning, you will take the AVE high-speed train from Córdoba to Madrid, then transfer to Barajas airport for your flight back to the U. S.

What We Include:

• 8 nights accommodation
• Breakfast daily
• 7 lunches
• 4 dinners
• 4 tapas tours
• Transport Madrid-Granada
• Transport Córdoba-Madrid
• All restaurant gratuities
• Winery visits and tastings
• All transport during the trip
• All entry fees

Not Included:

• Airfare to/from U.S.
• Accident/baggage/trip cancellation insurance
• Personal expenses

Pricing:

• $5600
• Single supplement $625
• Price is per person, double occupancy.

Minimum group size is 16 people. Maximum group size is 24 people.

Other dates may be available. Please inquire.

Upcoming Dates:

• September 13-21
• October 4-12
• November 12-20

Reservation

Please fill out the form below to reserve your tour. Or, if you prefer, call us toll-free at 866-642-2917 to make a reservation. All reservations are subject to our Terms and Conditions.

A deposit of $500 per person is required at the time of booking. We will confirm your reservation upon receipt of the reservation form and the deposit. For reservations made less than 60 days before the program begin date, full payment is due with the reservation form.

We strongly recommend that you purchase travel insurance to protect your travel investment. Epicurean Ways offers our travelers AIG Travel Guard travel insurance. See our Travel Guard ProtectAssist Gold (pdf) or Essential Expanded Silver plan brochures (pdf).

We are very pleased that you have decided to travel with us. We are available to answer any questions you might have. Please email or call 866-642-2917.