Madrid, Spain

Soak up Spain’s fascinating history and legendary culture on an Avila and Segovia day trip from Madrid. Explore the walled city of Avila, Spain’s best-preserved 11th-century fortified town, and discover why it is known as the City of Stones and Saints. Then unravel centuries of history in the city of Segovia, from its two-tiered Roman aqueduct to its Moorish fort and stunning Gothic cathedral. With the option to indulge in a gastronomic lunch, your trip to these two UNESCO World Heritage sites is a feast for all the senses!

Your day trip from Madrid to Avila begins with a stop at hilltop Los Cuatro Postes to admire superb panoramic views over the city of Avila, dotted with church towers and Gothic palaces, and declared a UNESCO ‘Heritage of Mankind’ city.

Entering the 11th-century city walls encircling Avila, notice how the 90 fortified towers and circular turrets look like they’ve stepped out of a storybook, and hear how Avila is an important pilgrimage site as the birthplace of the mystic writer Saint Teresa of Jesus (1515–82). Then explore two of the best examples from the astounding array of Romanesque and Gothic churches in Avila, packed with one of the highest concentrations of Romanesque and Gothic churches in Spain.

Your guided visit to Avila’s churches takes you to San Vicente Basilica, a Gothic masterpiece and home to some of Spain’s most prized examples of Romanesque sculpture. Then see how Gothic and Romanesque architecture combine in Avila’s celebrated cathedral, with its fortress design and alabaster chapels and tombs.

Continue your Segovia day trip to see one of the finest Roman-era monuments in Spain — Segovia’s Roman aqueduct. Admire the scale of this incredible feat of engineering, built entirely without mortar during the reign of Augustus in the 1st century AD, and see how the aqueduct originally had 118 arches and was 10 miles (16 kilometers) long.

Your guided tour of Segovia also takes you to the famous Alcazar, a beautiful 11th-century medieval fort that inspired the design of Disney’s fairytale castle. One of the finest Moorish fortresses in Spain, it’s also at the heart of one of the most significant group of medieval buildings in the country. Step back in time and imagine the medieval tournaments that once took place here, and the heroic knights who fought in the court of the kings of Castile who ruled from Segovia.

Complete your Segovia guided visit with a look at the city’s impressive cathedral, the last Gothic cathedral built in Spain and known as ‘the Lady of the Cathedrals’.

On this day trip to Segovia you have the option of including a tourist-style lunch of stuffed veal or a superb gastronomic meal featuring local Segovian specialties such as roasted suckling pig.