Focus your visit to Spain around the historical central plains. Visit Madrid, Toledo, El Escorial, Segovia, Avila, Salamanca, Zamora, Leon and Burgos.

Following is our suggested itinerary, please note that you may extend the number of nights in each city, as well as select the hotel of your choice.

Day 1: USA - Madrid
After your transatlantic flight from the United States, a driver will meet you at Madrid Barajas airport with a private car for transfer to the hotel selected. After checking in, you will have the rest of the morning free. Afternoon at leisure for optional sightseeing tours. Overnight stay.
Day 2: Madrid - Toledo - Madrid
Breakfast. Today you will take a regular tour with others to enjoy a complete day in the city of Toledo, less than an hour south of Madrid. This lovely city, ancient capital of Spain and its vast overseas empire, will come alive before your eyes as the guide leads you through its history and art. Few cities have maintained their monuments and atmosphere down through the ages with the care and brilliance of Toledo. You will wander the same narrow, cobbled streets as El Greco, Carlos V, Felipe II, and Fernando and Isabel, patrons of Columbus. You will visit the Cathedral, the first in importance (Toledo is the religious capital of Spain), and the second in size (the cathedral in Seville is larger). In the vestry, there are so many works by renowned artists that many experts consider it to be a painting museum in itself. The two synagogues and mosques provide mute testimony to the period in which members of the three cultures, Moorish, Jewish and Christian, lived together within the cities walls, and created a harmonious ambience of great consequence for the Western culture. After returning to Madrid, you will have the rest of the day at your disposal to explore Spain`s capital. Overnight stay.
Day 3: Madrid - El Escorial - Segovia
Breakfast. After picking up your rental car, you will head a half-hour north of Madrid to the village of San Lorenzo de El Escorial. Here, the most powerful western Christian monarch of the 16th century, Felipe II, had a monumental monastery constructed, which incorporated a center for scholars, chapel, royal residence and library. The sober, almost severe monastery was not only his favored residence in life but came to house his tomb and those of all subsequent Spanish kings. A short drive along a lovely mountainous road will bring you to the provincial capital of Segovia. After checking into the hotel selected, you will have time to walk about its tranquil streets. Today, the city has the same number of inhabitants as during the Middle Ages and its principal monuments are well preserved. Its sober Gothic cathedral is outstanding, and the last of this style built in Spain; the Alcazar, the palace/fortress that was inspiration for numerous other European castles, dominates the city from its steep cliffs; and above all, the robust Roman Aqueduct, the most spectacular in existence, which runs across the center of the city, seems to defy time`s destruction. Overnight stay.
Day 4: Segovia - Avila - Salamanca
Breakfast. Today you head by car across the lands of Castile. The highway runs parallel to the Sierra de Guadarrama and in one hour, you will arrive at the city of Avila. You will visit this Medieval enclave by foot, and surely, like hundreds of thousands of other visitors, wonder not only at the city?s superb individual monuments and buildings, but also at the 12th century wall that surrounds the urban center and which is in a perfect state. This city, home to the mystic Saint Teresa, also houses the first Gothic style cathedral built in Spain. The cathedral?s apse forms part of the defense system of the city and the structure in its totality seems more a fortress than a temple of worship. The Romanesque churches San Vicente and San Pedro are of unequaled beauty and perfect representations of the style. After your visit to this provincial capital with the greatest altitude on the peninsula, you will continue on across Castilian lands towards Salamanca. After checking into the hotel selected, depart for a walk of the antique quarters of this marvelous city. Salamanca, today, as eight hundred years ago, is a university town and can presume, along with Bologna, Paris and Oxford, to be one of the oldest university centers on the European continent. Be sure to visit the old University, now designated a Spanish national monument, and into the two Cathedrals. The newer is of the late Gothic style, while the older, was the original site of the university, and is Romanesque. Then continue wandering the active streets around the University and enjoy some refreshments in one of the numerous terrace cafes in the beautiful Plaza Mayor, dated back to the 18th century. Overnight stay.
Day 5: Salamanca - Zamora - Leon
Breakfast. A road that runs parallel to the Portuguese border will bring you to Zamora in approximately an hour. This noble Castilian city on the shores of the Duero River contains a well-conserved medieval center with numerous interesting monuments such as an unusual cathedral, whose Byzantine style cupola contrasts with the dominant Romanesque body. After a stroll about the narrow cobblestone streets, you will continue on to the city of Leon. Once checked into the hotel selected, depart for a walk around the city. The most representative monument of the city and one of the jewels of the Spanish Gothic style is, undoubtedly, the Cathedral. This splendid Gothic structure is, according to experts, the most ?French? of all cathedrals on the Iberian Peninsula, and competes with the cathedral of Chartres, for the spectacular stained windows, which provide an ethereal lightness to the walls and transform the air celestial before visitor?s eyes Then be sure to spend some time exploring the marvels of this quiet Castilian city, one of the first capitals of the province and whose kings laid the basis of the modern Spanish state. Today, as has been the case for almost a thousand years, pilgrims on route to the holy shrine of Santiago de Compostela, follow along the city?s wide streets. Overnight stay.
Day 6: Leon - Burgos
Breakfast. Today your excursion into Castilian lands will take you along part of the highway designated Camino de Santiago, towards the city of Burgos. This first capital of Castile is irremediably identified with its most famous son, El Cid, who was born and is buried there. All in this solemn city seems to revolve around the Cathedral, one of the most beautiful and monumental on the European continent, and considered since its construction one of the highlights of Gothic architecture. Overnight stay.
Day 7: Burgos - Madrid
Breakfast. A little more than two and a half hours of driving separate you from Spain?s capital. Once there, you will check into the hotel selected and have the evening/night to say goodbye to Spain in a fitting manner and to return the car to the rental company. With all that is available, your problem is going to be one of election. Overnight stay.
Day 8: Madrid - USA
Breakfast. A driver will pick you up at your hotel for private car transfer to Madrid Barajas airport. End of services.