history, art & culture

Our historical, artistical and cultural tours provide the perfect opportunity to explore our country in depth. Reflecting its rich culture and history, our guided tours to Spain cover all categories whether art, history, music, gastronomy… From Madrid’s great galleries and worldwide know museums such as the Prado or Thyssen, to the pilgrimage route of Santiago de Compostela, from the Moorish legacy in Granada and its outstanding Alhambra to the Basque Country’s Romanesque and Gothic structures. Explore the white villages of Andalusia and the medieval hilltop settlements dotted across Rioja and Cataluña… Visit the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.

The most famed sites of Spain’s cultural heritage are explored in rewarding detail on our tours to Spain. Numerous lesser-known areas and themes are also visited on our guided tours. Do you want to uncover the treasures of the Rioja region by following the Monastery Route, where you’ll find impressive churches and quaint villages scattered among the vineyards? You can do so on our culture and architecture tours. Keen to learn more about the Arab legacy in Seville, Granada and Cordoba? Our tours will cover all the main sights and attractions, with plenty of time for great food and wine along the way.

The Spanish culture has been heavily influenced by several great conquering civilizations; the ancient Phoenicians, the pre-Roman Celts, the Roman Empire, the post-Roman Visigoths and the Moors. Spain was ruled by the Moors for nine long centuries (until the Reconquista was completed in 1492) and the Moorish influence is extensive even today.

Jewish history in Spain has also had a great influence. It goes back to the time of the Romans (2nd Century C.E.) and by the Middle Ages, Spain was the center of the Jewish world in Europe. The history of the Jews of Spain is a remarkable story that begins in the remote past and continues today.

Spain’s cultural heritage is one of the world’s richest and most varied, and is the result of the interaction of many interesting elements over the course of thousands of years of history. A great deal may be attributed to the geographical location of the Iberian Peninsula, situated as it is, halfway between Europe and Africa, and between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. Equally influential have been the many peoples who have settled here, dreaming and creating from the Paleolithic to the present.

The Spanish culture is unique because it blends all these “foreign” influences. It plays a large role in Spanish life, and it has a significant impact on what you’ll see and experience as you travel with us in our country.

Small-sized Pre-romanesque and Romanesque churches, Gothic wood-carvings, triptychs and illuminated books are some fine examples of the Spanish art history, while in the Muslim areas, the Moorish palaces and mosques of Al-Andalus (Granada, Cordoba and Seville) are also highly representative of the country’s cultural heritage.

Spanish architecture is experiencing a boom with Rafael Moneo (Museum of Roman Art, Mérida; Kursaal, San Sebastián), Santiago Calatrava (Airport of Bilbao, City of Arts and Sciences, Valencia) and Ricardo Bofill (National Theater of Catalonia). A number of foreign architects have also left their mark on Spain, the most spectacular example of this being the Guggenheim Bilbao Museum Bilbao, designed by the American, Frank Gehry.