Seville Private Tour Recommendation

[CRUIS4ME]

Looking for a private tour company recommendation while in Cadiz...would like to go to Seville. Thanks

[CRUIS4ME]

We are on NCL-Jade. I have contacted three (maybe two?) companies for a tour from the port to Seville. One company contacted me back and the price was a bit steep .. a lot steep .. 150E/person with 6 people on the tour...wasn't much cheaper if adding more. So will wait and see if the others answer my inquiry. Meanwhile, I'm going to the book store and finding a Spain book I was reading there the other day and talked about how to get there, etc. (it may have been Rick Steves' book).

We are thinking about doing Seville via train. We are in dock also from 7am to 6pm. I'll have to check the date/day...not sure right now.

Stay tuned and I'll post again.

 

If anyone else can give us a helpful suggestion of a company to use, please post. Thanks

[painfree]

I found one tour company for Seville..Unfortunately, I deleted the website..The tour was very expensive..in the area of $150-175/pp and didn't include admission costs..

 

The trains run frequently and cost 13 euro/round trip..Our port time is 14 hrs which..despite the 1 .5 hr train ride..will give us time to tour Seville and Cadiz..Our biggest problem with shore tours revolves around closures at various venues..May 1 is a National holiday in Italy..similar to our Labor day..The Vatican is closed..the Bacillica is open..I couldn't buy tickets to the collassum etc..So goes our day in Rome..

 

Seville..the palace is closed on Mondays..so goes our day in Seville..

 

Do you see a pattern developing?..

 

Of Course, there will be other venues to tour and photograph..

 

Happy Cruisn'

 

Carol

[skyboy]

Has anyone heard of the tour company called Cadiz and Beyond for tours from Cadiz to Seville?

[sunsetme]

our ship does not dock until 9--the first train or bus is at 10 to get to seville.

this will get us about 3 hours to tour seville. tour companies are not at all

cost effective from what i have found. the ships tour would be 200 pp but would be 9 hours (probably 3 hours of travel time, 1 hour of eating) but 5 hours of touring with a herd.

anyone with suggestions?

[skyboy]

We ended up using Cadiz and Beyond to go to Seville from Cadiz and we found them to be excellent and reliable. We had 27 people from our roll call on this tour so we had a full size coach. They also have vans or mini buses for smaller groups. They had a guide with us for the entire day and also had a guide from Seville meet us there and give us a 3 1/2 hour walking tour. We then had some free time on our own to have lunch. It was a very nice day.

[hylasgirl]

So, how long does it take to get to Seville from Cadiz?

 

What is there to do in Cadiz?

 

I would really like to NOT spend my day traveling to the sites. I would love to see Seville but may have to do it another time. Is Cadiz a good port on it's own? I would love some more information about Cadiz itself to see if that's a possibility. Like Livorno... no one would want to stay in Livorno.

 

It would be so LOVELY if the Cruise Critic created a TransAtlantic board where you check out specifics on these types of ports.

 

Thanks for any info on Cadiz and Seville. It's greatly appreciated.

[tjcox9]

Nothing at all wrong with Cadiz as a port. It's a great walking town if you enjoy/are able to do that. There's a wall around the city, along the waterfront that we've enjoyed walking.

 

There's a lovely square by the Cathedral with restaurants, outside seating. Last time we were there, there was an excellent acoustic guitarist playing in the square.

[fun_seeker]

We ended up using Cadiz and Beyond to go to Seville from Cadiz and we found them to be excellent and reliable. We had 27 people from our roll call on this tour so we had a full size coach. They also have vans or mini buses for smaller groups. They had a guide with us for the entire day and also had a guide from Seville meet us there and give us a 3 1/2 hour walking tour. We then had some free time on our own to have lunch. It was a very nice day.

Do they have a website?

 

What was the cost for the tour?

 

How did you contact them?

[JDSTURTZ]

Here is the sight found on google.

 

http://www.cadizandbeyond.com/

[fly_widget]

We are recently back from the NCL Jade sailing of 8-23 and Seville was one of the cities that I desperately wanted to visit but it seemed impossible. After lots of research (and frustration) I found a great company who organized a tour and transportation for us.

 

Lifestyle Barcelona is based in Barcelona but has contacts with various guides and transportation companies in Seville. I worked with Leigh for almost 2 months before our cruise and we ended up with 30 people from our roll call on the tour. We picked the type of tour we wanted from their website (we chose the Seville Walking Tour for 20 Euros per person) and they also contacted a transportation company for us and organized the bus. They did require full payment up front (this was a trend I noticed when looking at tours in Spain) but they allowed us to pay by credit card instead of bank transfer (which all other tour companies wanted). I felt secure using my credit card since I knew I could reverse the charge if anything happened. Another member of our roll call helped me by sharing the charge (he paid for the tour portion, I paid for the transportation portion) and everyone paid us when we met on the cruise. We had no cancellations from our roll call, and quite a few on the waiting list in case of no-shows/cancellations.

 

When we arrived in Seville, the bus and driver were waiting for us. It was the EXACT same bus as those used by NCL for their excursions, and the driver was wearing the same uniform!

 

The walking tour was 20E per person, but they have several other options for tours at different costs. I can't remember the total bus cost now, but split between 30 people, it came to less than 19 Euros per person. So, in total we each paid less than 40 Euros for transportation to/from Seville and a 2.5 hour walking tour.

 

It was absolutely one of my favorite ports and I would highly recommend Leigh at Lifestyle Barcelona. www.lifestylebarcelona.com

 

My only suggestion would be to minimize the size of the groups for the tour. We had one large group of 25 (5 people chose to tour on their own) and it was too big. Two smaller groups would have better, even if it meant the cost of an extra guide.

[Eightydays]

We are recently back from the NCL Jade sailing of 8-23 and Seville was one of the cities that I desperately wanted to visit but it seemed impossible. After lots of research (and frustration) I found a great company who organized a tour and transportation for us.

 

Lifestyle Barcelona is based in Barcelona but has contacts with various guides and transportation companies in Seville. I worked with Leigh for almost 2 months before our cruise and we ended up with 30 people from our roll call on the tour. We picked the type of tour we wanted from their website (we chose the Seville Walking Tour for 20 Euros per person) and they also contacted a transportation company for us and organized the bus. They did require full payment up front (this was a trend I noticed when looking at tours in Spain) but they allowed us to pay by credit card instead of bank transfer (which all other tour companies wanted). I felt secure using my credit card since I knew I could reverse the charge if anything happened. Another member of our roll call helped me by sharing the charge (he paid for the tour portion, I paid for the transportation portion) and everyone paid us when we met on the cruise. We had no cancellations from our roll call, and quite a few on the waiting list in case of no-shows/cancellations.

 

When we arrived in Seville, the bus and driver were waiting for us. It was the EXACT same bus as those used by NCL for their excursions, and the driver was wearing the same uniform!

 

The walking tour was 20E per person, but they have several other options for tours at different costs. I can't remember the total bus cost now, but split between 30 people, it came to less than 19 Euros per person. So, in total we each paid less than 40 Euros for transportation to/from Seville and a 2.5 hour walking tour.

 

It was absolutely one of my favorite ports and I would highly recommend Leigh at Lifestyle Barcelona. www.lifestylebarcelona.com

 

My only suggestion would be to minimize the size of the groups for the tour. We had one large group of 25 (5 people chose to tour on their own) and it was too big. Two smaller groups would have better, even if it meant the cost of an extra guide.

 

Thanks so much for this info. We will be in Cadiz next year and I would really like to visit Seville. I think I will try to put together a "Seville on your own" tour because what I would really like to get is reliable transportation to and from Seville that will allow us to spend at least 3 hours in Seville. Those in the group who want a tour guide would be welcome to make those arrangements.

Thanks again.

[fun_seeker]

We are recently back from the NCL Jade sailing of 8-23 and Seville was one of the cities that I desperately wanted to visit but it seemed impossible. After lots of research (and frustration) I found a great company who organized a tour and transportation for us.

 

Lifestyle Barcelona is based in Barcelona but has contacts with various guides and transportation companies in Seville. I worked with Leigh for almost 2 months before our cruise and we ended up with 30 people from our roll call on the tour. We picked the type of tour we wanted from their website (we chose the Seville Walking Tour for 20 Euros per person) and they also contacted a transportation company for us and organized the bus. They did require full payment up front (this was a trend I noticed when looking at tours in Spain) but they allowed us to pay by credit card instead of bank transfer (which all other tour companies wanted). I felt secure using my credit card since I knew I could reverse the charge if anything happened. Another member of our roll call helped me by sharing the charge (he paid for the tour portion, I paid for the transportation portion) and everyone paid us when we met on the cruise. We had no cancellations from our roll call, and quite a few on the waiting list in case of no-shows/cancellations.

 

When we arrived in Seville, the bus and driver were waiting for us. It was the EXACT same bus as those used by NCL for their excursions, and the driver was wearing the same uniform!

 

The walking tour was 20E per person, but they have several other options for tours at different costs. I can't remember the total bus cost now, but split between 30 people, it came to less than 19 Euros per person. So, in total we each paid less than 40 Euros for transportation to/from Seville and a 2.5 hour walking tour.

 

It was absolutely one of my favorite ports and I would highly recommend Leigh at Lifestyle Barcelona. www.lifestylebarcelona.com

 

My only suggestion would be to minimize the size of the groups for the tour. We had one large group of 25 (5 people chose to tour on their own) and it was too big. Two smaller groups would have better, even if it meant the cost of an extra guide.

We see that Lifestyle Barcelona has a website Lifestyle Sevilla. Do you know whether Leigh is at the Seville operation or stayed at the Barcelona operation? The Seville website has a walking tour for 20 euros, that doesn't specify what is visited and a monuments tour for 40 euros, that visits the Cathedral and the Alcázar Palace. It sounds as though your group had the walking tour based on the price paid. Is that correct? If so, what sites did you visit on the tour?

[fly_widget]

We see that Lifestyle Barcelona has a website Lifestyle Sevilla. Do you know whether Leigh is at the Seville operation or stayed at the Barcelona operation? The Seville website has a walking tour for 20 euros, that doesn't specify what is visited and a monuments tour for 40 euros, that visits the Cathedral and the Alcázar Palace. It sounds as though your group had the walking tour based on the price paid. Is that correct? If so, what sites did you visit on the tour?

 

Leigh is in Barcelona, but she was still able to answer all our questions.

 

The walking tour we took started at the same place that the "Seville on your own" NCL tours started. Sorry, I can't remember the name of the square, but I remember it is right across the street from the Alfonso hotel.

 

The guide first took us on a short walk down to the river and talked about the "golden tower" and a bit of history on the growth of Seville. We then retraced our steps and went to the old Tabacco Factory (now part of the University), the Archives de Indias (there is currently an exhibition Spain's involvement of the discovery of the Americas, so he took us inside for a visit). We then walked past the Cathedral and Alcazar, stopping for info on both and the history. We went through the Jewish quarter, where he suggested stopping for a short bit to eat but since we were already running late with the tour, our group choose to continue on. We finished in another square (again, sorry can't remember the name) but it was the start of Siempres Ave, a popular local and tourist shopping street.

 

Before we signed on, Leigh sent a much more detailed description of what we would see...so she could help you out with the actual names of the different areas. :o

 

The main difference between the two is the walking tour gives you a nice overview of the area and what to see/do...but does not go into the Cathedral or Alcazar. The Monuments tour, on the other hand, only visits the Cathedral and Alcazar, I think. Many in our group went inside the Cathedral and/or Alcazar after the walking tour. Others, like myself, had a leisurely lunch and went shopping. :)

[fly_widget]

Sorry - I just found the card that our tour guide gave me...he was "contracted" through LifestyleSeville, but it seems from his card that you can also contact him directly. I would not assume that he can arrange transportation, though.

 

His info:

Luis Salas

www.reallydiscover.com

luissalas@reallydiscover.com

 

Our group liked him very much. He was very knowledgeable and worked to accomodate the different interests and questions of our group. His card says he is in Malaga, but works in "Seville, Granada and more..."

[fun_seeker]

Sorry - I just found the card that our tour guide gave me...he was "contracted" through LifestyleSeville, but it seems from his card that you can also contact him directly. I would not assume that he can arrange transportation, though.

 

His info:

Luis Salas

www.reallydiscover.com

luissalas@reallydiscover.com

 

Our group liked him very much. He was very knowledgeable and worked to accomodate the different interests and questions of our group. His card says he is in Malaga, but works in "Seville, Granada and more..."

Thank you very much. We will find out more from him and appreciate all the information that you have provided. It sounds as though you thoroughly enjoyed your tour, which is an excellent recommendation.