Segovia And Avila Guided Day Tour From Madrid

We had an amazing day in Segovia and Ávila thanks to our wonderful guide, Silvia! She was knowledgeable, organized, and made everything so fun and easy. Her passion for the history and culture truly brought each stop to life. A big thank you to Pedro, our bus driver, who got us to each destination safely. Highly recommend this experience! 💛🇪🇸

Might be a good idea to switched the guide, she makes the same route way too many times, she is not making the tour fun.

There were too many people in the group and it was difficult..... The guides English was not understandable and I felt like we were herded. Note: There are FEW toilet facilities when you do this tour so be prepared. And, the restaurant owners will not allow you to use their toilets.

Segovia is a very lively place to visit and the Jewish Educational center there, though small, had an interesting installation on a famous Jewish/converso physician, Dr. Laguna. The company needs to do more research to provide the guides with more stories--our guide kept the group going and knew dates and sites but had no really interesting material beyond the basics to share. Avila is less interesting than Toledo. Combined Toledo segovia day would have been better

Pablo was very informative and he seemed very knowledgeable about the history and facts of the place. It was raining all tour so make sure about forecast. Gourmet launch was absolutely amazing, the cochinillo was tender and rest of the launch is nice.

Tour guide was fantastic. Knowledgeable of all sites. English speaking guide was great. Learned about so much history in full day tour.

Our tour began by meeting in the centre of Madrid. Our fabulous guide's name wasMarisol. The bus was comfortable with room for everyone. Marisol was passionate about her job and it showed. Our " whispers" ( headphone) worked well. Avila and Segovia are both great historical towns. A worthwhile tour

Two gorgeous cities to visit. Our guide did a fantastic job bouncing between Spanish and English and her English was accent free and easy to understand. Highly recommend.

First of all the tour guide Venesa was excellent. She was polite, friendly and gave us the history and stories of the places we visited. This tour is a good value. I would recommend this tour to anyone visiting Madrid.

Mayte was amazing. She fluently gave the tour bothnin English and Spanish. Mayte made everyone feel safe and comfortable and made sure we all had an amazing experience touring the cities.

We had a lot of fun visiting and site seeing beautiful places in Segovia and Avila our guide was very professional and answered all our questions.

Actually only the fifteen minutes free at the lunch time in the Segovia Catedral, we had no really chance to ask questions and didn't understand quite nothing from the English

It was breathtaking to see the mountainous topography of Toledo. The self guided tour of The Primatial Cathedral of Saint Mary of Toledo, otherwise known as Toledo Cathedral gives you a rich history of the Church in Toledo and Spain. The walking tour of Segovia is a must for any lover of history touring in the Madrid.

Our tour guides, Oscar and Lola, were fantastic in their delivery of this program. Very informative, and entertaining

For the experienced traveller, I'd recommend skipping this tour entirely. It's the old school hop on the bus, corralled like a herd, then hop back on for some photo op spots etc.... it was a rather miserable day trip unfortunately. Sergovia was interesting to see some history, but if you seek design, art and more history on your own time...this may disappoint. Avila was definitely not worth the visit on a tour. It was 1 stop to a historical sweets shop(interesting) but then nothing else after shuffling a along the roman fortification walls for a few mins before getting back on the bus. Would have enjoyed wandering on your own time, instead of being ushered around, and skipping some of the great local shops, churches and other venues. I would recommend this if you're with elderly or young children, but otherwise no. Also FYI, the bus is 1hr15mins to and fro madrid (which they don't tell you until you're there- the contact tour operator in viator will give you radio silence) and also between Sergovia and Avila it's about 45min to 1hr between each town too. And you're back by 6ish in the even, having spent a total of up to 4hrs on the bus. You can thank me later. Happy travels!

Guide Fernando was great! A great solo adventure, great for students as it was in english and spanish.

This is not a shopping trip but a good way to see a lot in a short amount of time. The guide was very nice & accomodating.

If you have the extra time in Madrid these cities are a great choice. Beautiful ruins and a lot of history. Our guide Tamara was good but I felt that the additional time of the commentaries in Spanish took away from the depth of background that could have been provided. OVERALL RECOMMENDED.

Lovely bus, organized check in and departure and very sweet and pleasant guide, Pilar. However, this tour is in English and Spanish which means every word repeated twice. A waste of time and slowed down the lovely itinerary of visits to Avila and Segovia. Wish we had been given an hour of free time in Avila. We did lunch on our own in Segovia while the group ate at a ‘tour group’ restaurant. Alcazar castle amazing! I would much rather have done an ‘all English’ tour.

This was a day trip (from Madrid) to Segovia and Avila booked through our hotel. We may have been unlucky. There are lots of companies and we went with Bus Tourista (Large black/pictorial bus and all the guides wear yellow tops). Cost €49 each for visiting both ‘cities’ and a walking tour of each. You could pay an extra €30 for a tourist lunch but we didn’t and I don’t think anyone else did. Buses leave from Place Espagna at 9am. This is where the problem starts. All the buses leave from here for lots of different companies. It’s organised chaos with no clear labels on buses and all nationalities milling about trying to find their bus, the police limiting the parking so buses having to ‘go round’ and just a few students who are the tour guides. Our bus was half an hour late arriving and we were eventually redirected to somewhere else because not enough room for it to park. We were going to pay by card but you can’t pay in advance at the hotel this way. There is only one or two card machines across all the buses and they had to send for it. We didn’t want further delays and just paid them in cash. The tour was cut short because of the late departure. Our guide spoke heavily accented English and it wasn’t possible to understand everything she said. On the walking tour she would speak for about 5 minutes in Spanish and then for about 30 seconds in English and from my limited Spanish it was clear we were getting a very abridged version. As she switched to English all the Spanish tourists would start talking making it more difficult to hear ! Doing both Segovia and Avila in one day is too much of a rush (especially with delayed departure) and if I was doing it again, I would just do one. Having said all this, they are both fantastic / beautiful places to visit. The aqueduct at Segovia is just awe inspiring and the city walls at Avila put York City walls to shame !

Tour ran on time and the guide was very knowledgeable, lunch recommendation was also pretty good, enjoyed the trip very much.

<p>This tour provided us with an excellent day trip out of Madrid. Our guide, Catherine, had a large wealth of knowledge to share with us and at the same time, operated the tour with efficiency keeping us on-track at all times. We consider both Segovia and Avila a must see!</p>

I would like to stay in Segovia a bit longer to see not only the rooms in the castle, but also to climb up to the first level of it. Sadly, there was no time. In Avila, we basically run through the city and saw one church, as the main feature - the walls and towers - is best to be seen from a distance. Although I would like to have a walk on the walls, again, there was no time. Our guide (her name was Tamara, I think) was very nice and divided her speaking time equally between the Spanish and English versions. The lunch was ok, although I like more meat on my pig than fat.

<p>We enjoyed this tour very much! the guide was excellent Tammy and gave us a very thorough explanation of what we were seeing, the history surrounding it, and it's significance both historically, religiously, or politically. both cities are very significant religious/political sites, and the tour revolves around viewing the historical buildings, art work, and infrastructure of a 12th century city. we were only 12 or 15 people in our group. The walking was difficult uphill, bad weather, high elevation in Avila so if you have older folks, you may want to reconsider. The reason I didn't give this tour 5 stars: The tour was supposed to be english speaking. there was one person added last minute who only spoke Spanish. Our tour guide wasted a great deal of our time saying everything in 2 languages. The young lady also was 35 minutes late back to the bus after lunch. This gave us very limited time in Avila, so we could not see The church of St. Theresa as Mass had already started by the time we arrived. The tour clearly states that anyone who is late will be left behind. I am very glad our tour guide did not do that, but I felt it was very rude of our joiner to not have followed directions, which were explained clearly to her in Spanish. This, along with a snow storm as we drove up the mountain to Avila limited our visit to about 1 hour there. She also did not always stay with the group, causing us to look for her a number of times as we moved on. Again, not the tour's fault per say, but if we had stuck with English only it would not have impacted much or at all. We did not take the lunch option, choosing a nice sit down space very near our meeting area. we had a fabulous lunch of Paella at a restaurant that had 2 Michelan stars. The others on our tour said their lunch option with the tour was very good too.</p>

<p>Definitely worth going to see the walled city of Avila and beautiful Segovia! Avila is a site that could be something straight out of 'Game of Thrones'! The aqueduct in Segovia is an engineering marvel and the Alcazar was great. We also enjoyed the gastronomic lunch, which was very good and included some great local favorites and a nice wine.</p>

Avila and Segovia are a must to see places . Of course it would be better more time for each place but I think we saw the essential . It's worthed the day tour from Madris .

<p>Excellent--learned so much history and had beautiful weather to see the sights.</p>

<p>The trip was quite good, worthwhile and informative.</p>

<p>The locations visited were really, really cool. Our guide was the worst guide that we had during our 3 week vacation. She was nice but offered little if any insight or historical fact that I couldn't quickly glean from Wikipedia the tour again ended up being bi-lingual which in general down grades the tour. Also, Avila is this awesome, walled city and the extent of our time in Avila was to stop and take pictures of the city from a distant viewpoint to hear very basic Wikipedia type facts on the history of the city we then walked in and heard some information about a church and a convent and then left. I was very, very disappointed - we didn't even take time to climb the stairs to the top of the wall.</p> <p>The tour redeemed itself once we got to Segovia. The tour guide upped her game a bit and we spent a lot of time in Segovia to learn about the historical items there, including the Roman aqueduct. My wife and I found a wonderful place to have lunch.</p> <p>If the guide was more engaged and effective, particularly on the drive there, and if more time was spent in Avila, this tour would have been a 5.</p>

<p>Barbara was a super excellent guide, we thoroughly enjoed the tour and highly recommend Segovia!</p>

<p>The transport of getting us picked up at our hotel and then transferred to another bus for the days events seemed chaotic from a passenger's view. At the end of the day everyone was dropped off at the same Plaza and told to fend for themselves as to getting back to their hotels. Heard some voicing complaints about this to the tour guide?? For us we could walk the 20 minutes back to our hotel. Avila was interesting and felt we spent ample time there. Segovia was spectular and almost wished we had booked to go there on our own and stay overnight. Our four hours there were packed full of things to see and do. Opted for the tourist lunch and wished we hadn't afterwards. Took 60 precious minutes from touring and the meal was mediocre at best. Overall it was an acceptable tour as 25 people on a tour can go. Segovia is a must see!</p>

<p>The tour went to 2 very important, historic and very interesting places.<br/> It was due to guide, acceptable:<br/> Guide should been a bit more learned concerning some of the multi-ethnic relationships that had existed at the time these cities were at their prime. She missed an opportunity to point out where these pre-inquisition era groups lived in spite of us having asked her early in the tour to point them out. It became only an afterthought when we were already past them, unable to go back and just about to board our bus.<br/> It was also shameful that a tour that is a full day and not inexpensive should have the tour director trying to sell bottled water on the bus for 1 each. Regardless of who makes this water decision, just give it out to each person requesting it at the beginning of the tour, charge a few pennies more for the overall price of the tour and don't try to nickel and dime people. It's a complete turn off and a reason to never book again with this vender used by Viator in Spain.</p>

<p>Pickup at our hotel-great! Spent the next hour driving around Madrid collecting people from their hotels. Next, everyone was taken to a central location for dispersal to other buses that were going on different tours. Much better to have met everyone at the central location and avoid all this. After we finally got going, we made a pit stop at a gas station and the guide made it clear this was the last chance for a bathroom break for a while. Several people got off the bus and of course there was a line for the ladies restroom. The guide shooed everyone back to the bus before they'd had their turn. Being bilingual, I knew the guide was complaining to the driver about the passengers--not cool! On to Avila--wait!...only 1hr in Avila and only 10 minutes in the church of St. Teresa of Avila! Guide waited outside,no tour of the inside. Next stop-lunch in Segovia. Lunch was surprisingly good. The guide instructed everyone to meet at the cathedral and if anyone was separated accidentally or intentionally to spend some free time, to be at the bus promptly at 5PM. I'll wait for 10 minutes and if you are not there, you will have to take another bus back to Madrid for 10 euros. Fair enough. Stayed with the tour for the cathedral, but was a little delayed leaving and the group had moved on. We walked through town to the Alcazar as we knew the guide was going there next. The group was no where to be seen. As we weren't sure if they were inside or had already left for the long walk to the bus, we decided to head to the bus. Arrived at the bus at 4:45, joined shortly by another couple. At 5PM the driver arrived and informed us that the guide had called him and would be 30 minutes late! When she arrived, she blamed us for her being late. Not impressed at all.</p>

<p>Horrible tour. When we arrived in Avila, one of the passengers stayed on the bus, thinking we were just stopping for a bathroom break. Actually, we were supposed to start the walking part of the tour. The bus took off with the passenger and we had to wait approximately 20 minutes for its return. This made the tour guide, Kate, behind schedule. This caused her to rush through the tour, even though several us had trouble walking up hill at a fast pace. She would stop and give a 5 minute talk in Spanish, and regardless of whether the slow walking English people caught up, she would immediately speak for about a minute in English. We missed most of the information. When we arrived in Segovia, we told her we couldn't make the walk all the way up to the castle. She said fine, explore the city meet back after the other went up the hill. She didn't mention that the entire town was closed down for siesta, so we just sat for nearly two hours waiting for the others to return. Horrible, horrible tour.</p>

<p>This was really worth it. Would have been better with a little more time. Both Avila and Segovia are worth visiting and the aquaduct in Segovia is amazing. Our guide Katherine was good, but would like to visit more places in both towns. Bus ride was very comfortable. The only problem is that I have found that these travel agencies do not communicate with you about the time of pickup and place. As a tourist abroad, it is difficult to contact them. In my case, I could not make calls, by the time I received their mail in response to mine I was already worried. It is a simple matter for them to email you the pick up location and time they insist on pickup, but they can also give a fall back option as for all the agencies the last pickup location was their office.</p>

<p>Our tour was fun and we had a great time. Carolina was our tour guide and she was very knowledgeable and friendly. We definitely recommend this tour except the lunch. They definitely need to change the place or better the food. For us was the worst food eaten in Spain.</p>

<p>The day trip was very good. The walled city of Avila was very impressive, and the aqueduct in Segovia was a site to behold. Our guide was excellent, and was genuinely disappointed when my wife and I decided to pass on the walk up to the top of Segovia and explore the cathedral - we were just too exhausted from walking many times in the previous week. Plus, I really wanted to get some pictures of the aqueduct and the climbing of the stairs was easy and well worth the effort. We toured the shops and soaked up the atmosphere and the time passed by too quickly.<br/> One disappointment was that I was unable to get a good picture of the wall at Avila from a distance. My only option was to take a picture through the bus window. It would have been great if the bus driver had been able to stop for a few minutes at a proper viewing location to allow everyone to take pictures of the incredible wall surrounding the city.<br/> Although the excursion made for a long day, it was well worth the time to see these two cities</p>

<p>We enjoyed this tour. It was a nice break to get outside of Madrid. I particularly chose this trip because I wanted to see a Roman aqueduct. Arriving into Segovia and seeing the aqueduct right in the middle of town was great. Barbara was our tour guide and she did a very nice job. She explained things very well and was well versed in answering questions. The downside of the trip was that the drop-off point after the tour was some distance from our hotel. It would have been nice to be dropped off closer to our hotel. All in all, though, a nice outing.</p>

<p>The tour to Avila and Segovia was quite good. We were picked up close to our hotel and since we had requested an English speaking guide, we were split up from the main group. As a result, we ended up in a group of seven and with our very own bus. The trip to Avila was pleasant and fast in spite of the rain. Avila is a pleasant place to visit and our guide, Catherine, was quite thorough about what we were about to see. Whether it was the main church, the main landmarks or the patron saint, everything was easy to follow.<br/> Segovia was a great experience and the little showers soon dissipated and we were able to visit the city. The cathedral was magnificent as was the castle. Walking the streets to and from the castle was a great experience. We had lunch at San Bernardino restaurant and the food was quite tasty look for their daily specials. The main aqueduct was an experience in itself. We had a chance to view it and to take plenty of pictures. The return to Madrid was smooth along the highway and we were dropped off at Plaza de Espana . Overall, it was a good experience and our guide, Catherine,and the driver were quite good and professional.</p>

<p>Great experience for the family. Comfortable transportation and punctual. Our guide was very enthusiastic and informative. The only change I would suggest is that it is difficult blending an English and Spanish speaking group together. Two groups in one with the guide constantly having to switch between languages does not work well.</p>

<p>Excellent day trip from Madrid covering two historical cities in Spain. It covers major attraction in both cities including the Avila viewpoint and the city walls, Segovia viaduct, Segovia cathedral and the Alcazar. The guide was very helpful in giving us good lunch recommendations and even helping us place the order. Excellent for those interested in Spanish history.</p>

<p>A great tour. We enjoyed Segovia a lot ,our guide was knowledgeable and helpful. We would love to return.</p>

<p>Two interesting places to see. Our guide Kate is excellent, even though she was under the weather at that time. Ive learned a lot about Spains monarchs on this tour.</p>

<p>Everything about this tour was excellent, the bus, the driver, the tour guide. The lunch is a must do though. It was a three course meal and the pig was really good, moist, it was awesome. The waitstaff even offered seconds on everything, at no cost. The red wine that came with the meal was excellent, all around it was good. The only problem was that we were stuffed after lunch and that made walking the rest of the tour difficult. Shortly after lunch we broke off from the main tour group and had coffee in the main square as we waited for the group to return. The whole tour was Aces.</p>

<p>The highlight of this tour was the luncheon. Delicious bean soup paired with the crispiest cuchinillo. Wish we had a tour guide who communicated better both in Spanish and English, plus a deeper knowledge of the historical details of the places we visited. We were extremely disappointed with the tour of the damascene factory. The manufacture of the jewelry were not really showcased and the prices in the store are outrageous. Otherwise, the tour would have been perfect!</p>

<p>The tour was not fun at all. Barbara, our tour guide, was very unprofessional. In the bus, she chooses the music she likes, plays it really loud and sings along with it in a loud voice. She even showed that she was so irritated when some Colombians when to the rest room. She was so impatient.</p>

<p>Segovia and Avila were fascinating cities . However since we had the worst tour guide we have ever experienced we learned very little of the history or culture there in. We booked an English tour . However most of the information presented was in Spanish. For every lengthy explanation of what we were seeing given in Spanish there was only offered a barebones statement of less than a minute in English Obviously not the same information as offered in Spanish. We didn't mind the Spanish but expected equal detailed information provided to us in English. When I did ask a question of the tour guide she responded that she already told us that and did not answer my question. We have toured with Viatour before and expected the usual professional tour guide who provided a cultural and historical quality tour. This tour which could have been excellent was a great disappointment due to the tour guide either lack of information, interest or ability to conduct the tour in English as we had booked</p>

<p>We enjoyed this trip especially because Pablo took a few extra minutes at each site to call a cab so we could keep up with the tour. The sites were wonderful, the history amazing and good pictures too!</p>

<p>Didn't like bilingual tour very frustrating. FYI: there are enough English speaking tourists and the tour can be done only in one language.</p>