rjbriskin

My family and I will be going to Spain over Christmas. We would like to take a day trip from Madrid to Toledo and day trips to Cordoba and Granada from Seville. Does anyone have a recommendation for English speaking drivers in Madrid and Seville that could take us on our day trips and tour us around???

kenderina

I don't know any drivers, I just want to tell you Granada is too far away from Seville for a day trip (it's about three hours by train and three hours more coming back). Maybe you should think to stay in Granada for the night.

rjbriskin

kendirina - Thanks for that. I will re-think that one then. Any other day trip from Seville that you would recommend?

Alec

Ronda or Cadiz would make good daytrips from Seville.

Christina

I wanted to visit Granada from Seville, but didn't because it really is too long for a day trip. Cordoba is great. I also went to Jerez de la Frontera, which isn't that far from Seville.

kenderina

Yes, I agree with the other posters, Cadiz and Jerez are good daytrips from Seville. Ronda is also great but only if you go by car. Much more near from Seville is Carmona and I liked it a lot

rjbriskin

Thanks for all your responses. I will look into Jerez, Cadiz and Ronda. I still need drivers-anyone have a recommendation???

nytraveler

Are you looking just for someone to drive you to and for - or are you looking for a person who wil guide you around all the sights (completely diferent things).

Also - how many of you are there? Will anormal sedan hold you all - or do you need a van or a small bus?

(I can;t help with a driver - since we do everything on our own. But - once you have clarified the above you could contact your hotel's concierge to see who they recommend.)

rjbriskin

nytraveler- We are looking for someone to drive to and from and also guide us around the sights. We are a family of 4 so we don't need a van. I am going to contact the concierages but I was hoping to get first hand recommendations from someone here on Fodor's.

josele

Yes, Carmona or Osuna will make excellent daytrips.

lisa8314

We were in Seville in May and took a day trip with Paul McGrath. He is an Australian living in Seville and speaks fluent Spanish. He was recommended on the Rick Steve's site and we weren't disappointed. His standard trip is to the white towns that are hard to get to without a car. We visited Zahara de la Sierra, Grazalema, Sentenil de las Bodgegas and Olvera. He charges 48 euros for this trip.

I know he also does customized touring because he had mentioned taking a family to Granada a few days earlier. He made stops along the way at Ronda and other spots and then left them in Granada at their hotel. I think they were flying to Madrid on their own after their stay in Granada. I agree with the others that a one day trip to Granada from Seville would probably not be very enjoyable.

We also booked a tour through our hotel with Viator to Cadiz and Jerez. We saw the horse show and went sherry tasting. I think it was around 100 euros each.

We enjoyed both tours and would recommend both, but our best day was definitely with Paul McGrath. For example, at Zahara de la Sierra, we hiked up to the castle on the hill and were the only ones there. It was a spectacular view and very special memory.

rjbriskin

lisa8314- Thank you so much for that recommendation. I assume Paul speaks English. How did you contact him, via phone or e-mail??? I just bought the Steves book so if his contact information is in there I can look it up.Any other recommendations that you may have would be greatly appreciated.

lisa8314

You can check out Paul's website at http://www.theotherspain.galeon.com/...os1249195.html

(Hopefully I attached the site correctly) Check out his pictures in the itinerary section. I remember that it took me awhile to find his info because all of my google searches kept coming up with a soccer player with the same name.

We contacted Paul via e-mail. He is a one man operation, but he was very good about answering our e-mails within a day.

Yes, Paul speaks English and is just a really nice guy. He met and married a woman from Seville, and decided to stay.

It was a great opportunity for wimps like me who don't want to rent a car, to get to see a different view of Spain outside of the larger cities. The countryside was just magnificent.

In Madrid, we took the train to Toledo on our own. It was really easy. A quick taxi ride to the town's plaza and you are very near the visitor's center. There, you can buy tickets to the little train that circles around Toledo to get an overview and take some great pictures. Then, it is an easy walk to the different sites. I loved the cathedral. At the end of the day, we had a wonderful walk down the hill to the train station. I saw some of the tour groups and was glad we just did it on our own.

Hope this helps.

rjbriskin

lisa8314- That really helps and the link was the right one. I will e-mail Paul and hopefully he will have the dates we need opened. I have been hiring drivers on many of our vacatins recently because I find that the local drivers know some out of the ordinary places to go and visit. Thanks again-

jquentzel

lisa8314- I am with the rjbriskin and we contacted Paul. He charges 250 Euros for the day and you indicated that you paid 48 Euros. Is that because you went on a day trip with other people? The 250 Euros he quoted us is for a private tour. Did you do the tour that he recommends? He would be happy to drive us to Granada but still thinks his tour is beautiful and we would get to see some out of the way places.

lisa8314

Yes we did do the trip that he recommends and no regrets. Had I realized it was a possibility, I would also have arranged to have him take us to Granada with a stop in Ronda on the way. (We ended up taking the train to Granada.)

His price for 48 euros was per person and I believe he tries to take at least 4-5 people to make it worth his while. (I am assuming the 250 euros is for the four of you on his standard tour?) It is a really full day and covers a lot of miles. He picked us up at 9am and returned us to our hotel somewhere around 7:30pm.

We did end up going on our tour alone with Paul, but only because of the weather. It was raining on the day of our tour and others who had made arrangements for the tour were no-shows. We were concerned that Paul would cancel the tour, however he was kind enough to take just the two of us. We so enjoyed the day that we left a large tip to make up for the "private tour" and the empty seats. (Paul did not push for the tip.) For us, it was worth every penny. I am sure some enjoy the city sights much more, but we were so happy to get the opportunity to drive through the country and little towns. It just depends on what your prefer.

Let me know if you have any other questions. Happy planning.