1. Travel
About.com
Spain Travel

Discuss in my forum

Costa del Sol Guided Tours

Guided Tours of Spain Departing from the Costa del Sol

By , About.com Guide

In the past, visitors to Spain's south coast would fly in to Malaga, take a bus straight to a beach resort and not leave it until it's time to go home. But not any more. There are now some excellent guided tours of one to seven days in duration that will take you to the best sights in Spain or across the Mediterranean to Morocco, allowing you to take in a little culture along with your beach vacation.

Departure points vary between tours so check before booking.

More:

Spain Tours from Madrid
1. Best Tours from Madrid
2. Tours from Madrid to Barcelona
3. Tours from Madrid to Andalusia
4. Tours from Madrid to Northern Spain

Spain Tours from Elsewhere
5. Tours from Barcelona
6. Tours from Malaga or from the Costa del Sol (this page)

Tours of Spain, Portugal and Morocco
8. Portugal and Morocco Tours from Madrid
9. Portugal and Spain Tours from Lisbon

See also: 100 Things to Do in Madrid

1. Day Trips from the Costa del Sol

(c) Damian Corrigan

If you haven't got a lot of time, or you prefer to mix organized excursions with making your own way around Spain, then a guided day trip might be your best bet.

Transport from Costa del Sol resorts to in-land cities can be difficult and a guided trip or your own car is often your only sensible option. The most popular day trips from the Costa del Sol are:

  1. Ronda Day Trip
  2. Seville Day Trip
  3. Granada Day Trip
  4. Cordoba Day Trip
  5. Tangier (Morocco) Day Trip

All of these tours depart from Torremolinos, Fuengirola, Marbella, San Pedro and Estepona, apart from the Ronda tour, which omits Estepona.

Tours from Malaga to these destinations are also available: Day Trips from Malaga

More:Day Trips from the Costa del Sol

2. Two-Day Granada and Toledo to Madrid

(c) Damian Corrigan

If you need to get to Madrid, this two-day tour is an excellent tour that will take you there via two of the best cities en route - Granada and Toledo.

This tour includes a night in Granada, tours of the Alhambra and the city of Toledo and finish in Madrid. If you would like to return to the Costa del Sol at the end, look at the five-day tour below.

Tour departs from Torremolinos and Fuengirola hotels.

Read more about this Two-Day Guided Tour of Granada and Toledo from the Costa del Sol

3. Three-Day Tour of Tangier in Morocco

Image: Hotel La Tangerina (Creative Commons - Some Rights Reserved)

If a day trip to Africa is not enough for you, this tour gives you two nights in Tangier, including accommodation, transport, a guided tour and time to explore by yourself.

This is a minimal-transport option ideal for those who want to stretch their legs a little. For more extensive tours of Morocco, see further down the page.

More on this Three-Day Tour of Tangier from Costa del Sol.

Tours depart from Malaga and the Costa del Sol (particular towns are not mentioned on the site, but presumably they'll pick you up from most centrally located hotels).

4. Four-Day Guided Tour of Morocco

(c) Brian Duffy

This guided tour of Morocco takes you to Fez (Fes), Meknes, Rabat and Tangier. All (four-star) accommodation, transport and a guided tour in each of the cities in included in the price, as are some meals.

Note that Marrakech is missed out, which is a mixed blessing - it is Morocco's most famous city, but has been incredibly touristy in recent years. I prefer Fes.

Tour starts from anywhere along the Costa del Sol and Malaga.

More: Four-Day Tour of Morocco

5. Five-Day Guided Tour of Morocco from the Costa del Sol

Image: Nathan Meijer (Creative Commons - Some Rights Reserved)

This slightly longer tour of Morocco includes Marrakech (the tour above does not) and swaps Tangier for Casablanca. It's also cheaper than the tour above.

Which is the better tour? The addition of Marrakech at a lower price is good, but losing Tangier for Casablanca is a shame.

Read more: Five-Day Tour of Morocco from Costa del Sol

6. Five-Day (At Least) Guided Tour of Andalusia and Madrid

(c) Damian Corrigan
No company actually offers this tour as a single package. Instead, it combines the two-day tour mentioned above with a three-day tour that takes you back down to the Costa del Sol again. The advantage of booking each section of this tour separately is that you don't need to take them back to back, giving you time to explore Madrid at your own pace (or in conjunction with other guided tours) before making your way back south.
  1. Two-Day Tour from Costa del Sol to Madrid
  2. Three-Day Tour from Madrid to Costa del Sol

Not available from Malaga.

7. Seven-Day Tour of Morocco

Image: Moise Levi (Creative Commons - Some Rights Reserved)

If you're never likely to get to Morocco (or even Africa) again, why compromise? This tour includes all of Morocco's most famous cities in a seven-day tour of the country.

This tour actually only departs from Malaga, but I thought it was too important to miss off this page.

Read more: Seven-Day Tour of Morocco from Costa del Sol

8. Seven-Day Tour of Spain

(c) Damian Corrigan

This tour includes stops in Andalusia's most popular cities and towns, including Seville, Granada, Cordoba and Ronda, as well as taking in Toledo and Caceres and includes two nights in Madrid. All accommodation, transport and guided tours are included.

More: Seven-Day Tour of Spain from Costa del Sol

Departs from Fuengirola.

©2013 About.com. All rights reserved.