Viatour
 

I would like to know how the tour company Viatour is when taking an 1/2 day tour from Madrid to Toledo and also a full day from Malaga to Granada?
Thanks.

I used Viatour a few times in Europe. Never in Spain. They are a typical tour company, nothing special nothing negative. :) It depends on your guide. I believe they contract out to locals so once again, some good, some bad. Their prices are usually lower than other tours but groups can be large.

Viatour is not a tour company. It is simply a middleman agency that sells tour companies tours.
Its always best to compare their prices with the actual tour companys price.. sometimes they are better because they block buy tickets.. sometimes they are not.
The main issue with buying tours via Viatour.. is that if there is a problem Viatour will refer you to the company, and the company will not deal with you because technically they sold the tickets to Viatour.. so you are sort of caught in the middle.
Now, this does not mean Viatour is in itself unreliable .. it genuinely buys tickets , but because you are using a resell agency you simply do not have direct access to getting any problem resolved. Most of the time there would not be problems.. but problems can occur on occasion.

Thanks....these responses have been a help.

As justine says - Viatour is simply a (very widespread/large) broker that books tours all over Europe.

Sometimes they are a bit cheaper (when they run a special of some sort) but usually they are the same price or a bit more than just booking through the individual tour companies. They are not responsible for the quality of the tours -- they just sell tickets.

Hi NANCY_S_9,

As suggested above, Viator is a pretty established company for day tours. I have taken a few and have been very satisfied.

I am surprised that no one has suggested yet that you do these visits on your own on public transportation. But I have found these day tours most convenient, albeit more pricey than doing it on your own. The tour to Granada would make for a lengthy day, no doubt, but what a fabulous site. Don't miss it.

Many years ago, I booked the Avila and Segovia Day Trip from Madrid with Viator. We had no problems or complaints. They are just a third party vendor but can help with problems before a tour. I have had to cancel or change a booking and they happily helped and in all cases. I did not have to pay extra and was refunded when I canceled. You will have to deal directly with your local contact once you are there. Most times you will need to confirm and call the actual tour company. This has never been a problem for me. As you can tell, I am a repeat customer and will continue to use them when they fit my needs.

You could do Toledo on your own if you wanted. That is what I did. It was ok on our own but think we would have rather had someone else show us around. That's just my opinion.