First trip to Spain. Which would be best tour operator for over 60 age group at a somewhat comfortable pace with some free time. Looking for tour about 10 - 14 days, possibly including Portugal.

Many tour companies, but once you decide which company, go to www.cheapertravel.com for a price comparison. This consolidator represents many tour companies. They will only show the retail cost. You must then call the company for the discount. We used them last year for our 50th in Scandinavia. I had good customer service and we appreciated the discount.

You can check with www.petrabax.com. They offer a few tours that include Spain and Portugal that may fit your needs.

Check Tauck tours. They do a great job and I believe they have a Spain/ Portugal tour.

Try Clubabc.com. I did the Spain/portugal tour in 2005--it was great. People of all ages did the tour--it was well-paced and quite enjoyable.

You might want to check out Grand Circle Tours - their trips are usually more leisurely paced than other companies and often do not priovid as many meals (lunches and dinners) so you have the opportunity to explore the cuisine a bit more. They offer a 15 day trip that includes Madrid, So. Spain and Portugal (Lisbon). We have done 2 river cruises with them and were quite satisfied.

We took this tour in May and thought it was really good and our guide was quite knowledgable.
http://www.odysseys-unlimited.com/to...dores-pousadas
The group was relatively small and there was a lot of free time. We added th Barcelona extension so it was 18 days which my husband thought was too long (but I didnt)

Sylmar1, I have always had good luck with INSIGHT TOURS, a step above Globus and Trafalgar, but not as pricey as Tauck which is excellent. INSIGHT has several tours of Spain from which to choose.

I would be wary of any "cost saver" or "economy" tour offerings - their hotels and meals leave much to be desired. Good luck...

Thank you all for your input. You mentioned some tour companies I never thought about. Insight was one of the companies I was considering and have their brochure. Just found out that my neighbor took the Odysseys Tour to Turkey last year and was the best she ever took.

Does anyone have experience with Gate 1?

Looking at tour books I am fascinated with the hanging houses of Cuenca but haven't come across a tour that would include that town.

Keep in mind that with Insight you may be able to get 5 to 10% off with www.cheapertravel.com or www.affordabletours.com

Slymar1, I have never done a Gate 1 tour, but from looking at their offerings in general, I don't think that they compare with INSIGHT. My suggetion would be to "google" all of the hotels on any given tour, check out their ratings and, particularly, their locations,especially in larger cities. You don't want to be "way out"!

Tripadvisor hotel ratings are also of interest. Enjoy...