Self touring in Spain, Montenegro, and Greece.

[bucky21]

Does anyone have any experience and\or recommendations that you are willing to share about self exploring in and about the following ports of call.

1. Corfu, Greece. 2. Cephalonia, Greece. 3. Sarande, Albania,4. Cartagena, Spain 5. Malaga,Spain. 6. Seville, Spain.

     Is it possible and safe to explore any of these ports on our own or is cruise ship shore excursions the preferred way to go??

[Mary229]

We thoroughly enjoyed Malaga on our own and made a full day of it.  Safety was never a concern. Using GPS my city app or alltrails app is helpful.  
 

in Greece my sister and I used the hop on bus to orient ourselves and to have a convenient ride back to the ship when we tuckered out.  Again safety never was a concern. 
 Hop ons are easy and cheap transportation to major tourist sites and also make independent touring easy

 

[kazu]

If you do some research you can easily explore some of these ports on your own.

 

I am guessing if you are thinking of Seville you are arriving in Cadiz.  it’s about an hour away IIRC.  I would look at a private tour like Spain Day Tours.  Back many years ago when we went I chartered a us for our roll call to get us back and forth.  Skip the line tickets are not hard to do on line and we had a great time.

 

Cartagena is easily do-able on your own.

 

Malaga is absolutely gorgeous.  Easy to walk around if you want and good signage but you but do  need to know what you want to see there before you go.  There’s a lot to see and so much you can do.

 

For Sarande, you need a tour IMO - I wouldn’t do a HAL one unless you want a 45 minute walk for Butrint,  I would go private that doesn’t involve a bus.

 

All the ports are safe IMO and you just need to do some research and see what you want to see and take it from there.  HAL has a bunch of cookie cutter tours and if they suit, then book and enjoy.

[CruiserBruce]

Have you looked on the Ports boards for those areas?

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/8-europe/

[Heartgrove]

Cartagena and Corfu are doable by yourself. Cartagena you just walk into the city from the pier. For Corfu, there is a city bus outside the port gate that will take you to the edge of the Old Town. My wife did the HAL ship excursion for Seville that included Royal Alcazar while I did Cadiz on my own.

[WisRiver]

On our transatlantic in November 2023 we used Spain Day tours for excursions in Malaga and Barcelona.  They provide excellent service.  The only drawback is that they will not confirm a tour until a requisite number book the tour.  https://www.spaindaytours.com. Seville is not a cruise ship port.  We were supposed to visit Seville when we stopped in Cadiz, but the stop was cancelled because of high winds.  If your cruise has a roll call, you will probably find postings from people trying to fill an SDT excursion.

[Torquer]

First, since this has nothing to do with HAL, you will probably get more and better info in the appropriate board for that port here:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/472-mediterranean-eastern-western/

 

With the exception of the port in Albania, which we have not been to, all are perfectly safe.  Obviously, you do need to be careful nearly anywhere in the world, but I felt much safer in any of those ports than say, walking around New York City.  Although you can do any of those ports by just walking around yourself, you may find something more interesting on a tour, either from the cruise line or a private tour company (we nearly always do the latter).  Here are some world-class sites not directly in the port city itself:

• Malaga - Alhambra palace, Caminita Del Rey hike (google it if you never heard of it)
• Cadiz - Seville is pretty far from the port and the Alcazar Palace and other sites are not close to each other

[syesmar]

On 12/9/2023 at 7:44 PM, bucky21 said:

…Is it possible and safe to explore any of these ports on our own or is cruise ship shore excursions the preferred way to go??

I have done several independently. I get the local bus schedule in advance for Corfu and catch a bus to the gorgeous beach at Paleokastritsa. I have also enjoyed Corfu Town independently.

I’ve taken a taxi to the beach in Argostoli.

There’s quite a bit within walking distance in Cartagena. I love the Roman theater and various museums/exhibits with archaeological finds.

From Cadiz, we’ve taken the train to Jerez de la Frontera and then a bus or taxi to the Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art. Have seen the horses in rehearsal and was also blessed to see the full show one cruise!

The subject line mentioned Montenegro. We loved Kotor and explored independently.

Enjoy your trip!

 

Edited December 11, 2023 by syesmar

[bucky21]

Thank you all for the valuable input to our question. Some of you provided links and places to find in depth info. We appreciate each and every one of them and are very grateful for you to take the time to reply. Best wishes to you all!!!!!!

 

[albingirl]

I'm another fan of Spain Day tours.  Also, there are some really awesome tours from the cruiseline that I never regretted taking.  They will bring you to places that you may miss when you are on your own.  I'm not opposed to self-guided tours, but when I visit places that I will probably never see again, I'd like an intensive tour.

[cruisemom42]

There are a number of ways to self-explore, so I'm not sure if you mean a private tour (e.g., not sponsored by the cruise line), arranging for a taxi tour, or just getting around and touring on your own using public transportation.

 

There is a lot of info on the Ports of Call boards for all of the above options, or just feel free to ask additional questions.

 

Even at Sarande I have taken a private tour -- to Butrint, the site mentioned above, with an expert who actually excavated there. There is not much in the town of Sarande of note, one of the sadder ports I've visited.