The Alhambra at dawn, Seville's courtyards and Jerez's sherry bodegas.
The Alhambra at dawn, Seville's courtyards and Jerez's sherry bodegas. Here is Andalucia, arranged privately — browse it by the occasion you're marking, by what moves you, or by the season that suits you best.
What an advisor can open that an algorithm cannot. Each of these is staged on your terms — the access, the timing, the people.
The Alhambra opened privately before the first public entry — the Patio de los Leones with no other party, the stucco calligraphy explained by a scholar of Nasrid architecture, the silence that the builders intended.
An afternoon in a Triana tablao closed to the public — a master guitarist whose family has played the same alley for four generations, a cantaora, twelve chairs set only for your party, no stage: flamenco as it was before tourism required a show.
A lunch inside a solera bodega that has produced Palo Cortado for a century — the master blender guiding the tasting from the barrel she keeps for exceptional visitors, the horses outside in the afternoon light, the lunch that follows unhurried.
Not a package — a starting point. Each is a journey we have designed and refined; your advisor reshapes it for the version only you would recognise.
Ancient Moorish palaces turned into a family adventure — the Alhambra's stories of caliphs and kings for the older children, flamenco for the younger ones, and a cortijo with a pool for the afternoons.
The castles, estates and living history of Andalucia, privately.
The markets, cellars and private kitchens that define Andalucia.
Soft light and thinner crowds — Andalucia before the rush.
Each a starting point — our advisors weave them into a single, seamless journey.
April through early June and late September into October are the prime windows, with warm days and comfortable evenings across Seville, Granada and Cordoba. July and August are best avoided inland, where Seville and Cordoba routinely exceed 40C; if you must travel then, base on the Costa del Sol or in Marbella where the sea moderates the heat. Spring also brings the great ferias, including Seville's Feria de Abril and the spectacular processions of Semana Santa.
Yes. Forest Travel can secure privileged early or after-hours access to the Nasrid Palaces of the Alhambra in Granada and to the Real Alcazar in Seville, allowing you to experience these spaces without the daytime crowds, often accompanied by a private art historian. These arrangements require advance booking, as access is tightly controlled and capacity is limited.
Most clients build their stay around Seville and Granada for culture, then add the Ronda region or the sherry triangle of Jerez and Sanlucar for vineyards and equestrian estates. Marbella and the surrounding Costa del Sol offer private villas and beach-club life for those wanting coast as well. Plan seven to ten days to combine the inland cities with a coastal or countryside finca without rushing.
A private flamenco evening in an intimate Seville or Granada setting, hosted rather than performed for a hall, is the most evocative. Equally memorable are private sherry tastings in the bodegas of Jerez, visits to working Andalusian horse estates, and a guided exploration of Cordoba's Mezquita followed by lunch in a private patio house.
Andalucia pairs naturally with Madrid, reached in around two and a half hours by high-speed AVE train to Seville or Cordoba, making a city-and-south combination effortless. Your advisor can also bridge it to the Costa del Sol for beach time or onward to Morocco via Tangier. Private transfers and chauffeured cars are recommended between the cities rather than relying on rail alone, for door-to-door flexibility.
Alhambra tickets are nominative and non-transferable, and an original passport or ID is checked at the entrance. Only 300 people enter the Nasrid Palaces per half hour. If you miss your assigned slot, you lose the palaces, though the rest of the site stays open. Part of the allocation is released twelve months ahead. The Patronato's official night sessions of the Nasrid Palaces do not include daytime access.
Seville's Real Alcázar opens 09:30–19:00 from April to September and 09:30–17:00 the rest of the year, and admits visitors in half-hour slots. The Cuarto Real Alto, the Spanish royal family's Seville residence, is sold as a separate timed visit on top of the general ticket. Forest Travel buys the first slot of the day and builds the morning around it.
Seville's Semana Santa falls on 21–28 March in 2027, and the Feria de Abril runs from 13 to 18 April, opening with the alumbrado at midnight on the 12th. Both are extraordinary, and both close the centre, fill every bed and reset rates. Decide deliberately: come for one of them, or leave a fortnight's clearance either side.
Sherry is picked first in Spain, in August rather than October. Jerez's Fiestas de la Vendimia ran from 29 August to 13 September in 2026, with the Pisa de la Uva treading the first must in front of the cathedral on 1 September. Those same days are the moment to pair the bodegas of Jerez and Sanlúcar with the equestrian estates.
A private Andalucia journey with Forest Travel is planned from around US$1,250 per person per night, before international flights, and rises with the finca, the season and the private access you add. Seven to ten days is the usual length: Seville and Granada for the cities, then Ronda or the sherry triangle, and a coastal or country finca to slow down in, with a chauffeured car between them. The planning fee is US$250 per itinerary.
For most travellers it is the Alhambra in Granada, above all the Nasrid Palaces and the Patio de los Leones seen before the first public entry. Seville's courtyards and the Real Alcázar come close behind, and Ronda and the sherry towns of Jerez and Sanlúcar make the case for the countryside. The palaces are ticketed to the half hour, so the visit is built around the first slot of the day rather than left to chance.
Every journey here is a starting point a private advisor reshapes entirely around you — your pace, your people, the Andalucia only you would recognise.
A real person answers: an in-house luxury travel advisor, in English or Spanish. The first conversation is complimentary.
