Spaziergang in Madrid in kleiner Gruppe mit Keine-Warteschlangen-Führung im Königlichen Palast

The tour was conducted in two separate parts. The first of which, we met at the central tour office and walked around the old section of Madrid with a tour guide who seemed quite knowledgeable. As stated, our initial group was indeed “limited to 12 people for a more personalized experience.” However, after concluding the initial part of the tour, much to our surprise, our guide left us off at the gardens by the side gate of the palace, and informed us that we needed to wait for second guide to tour the palace. We waited for over 20 minutes and then were greeted by a second guide who had an additional over 30 persons. As the size of our group was too large for one guide, we then waited nearly an additional 30 minutes for the arrival of an additional person to usher us through the Palace grounds and buildings. Although the second guide was personable and knowledgeable, due to the size of our group, we were not allowed to stop in several points of the Palace. We felt misled that we paid for a smaller group and yet were eventually bunched together in a large for group for half of the tour while waiting in between for nearly an hour of downtime.

We had a walking tour of Madrid from 9 to 11:30 where we made half an hour stop for Churros and chocolate. Our lady guide was very witty and we walked around the parts of the city as she explained the history of different buildings which was really interesting. However, she dropped us off at Royal Palace around 11:40 since we were supposed to go with a different guide from that point forward. She told us that our new guide was would pick us up before 12 noon to start the Royal Palace tour. We kept waiting for a long time outside the palace since this other guide had to collect a large group of people. We did not enter the main gate of the palace after clearing the security until after 12:15 and then she went to pick up something else back to the windows. By the time she really took us inside the Royal Palace, it was almost 12:35. Our tour's end time was 1:30, the palace was really crowded which is normal. She started showing us around different rooms that were open to public but she was commenting in two different languages - English and Spanish; and due to slight accents (which is normal), it was hard to keep up with when she was switching from one language to another. And since, we got late start, as soon as she was done doing her commentary about a particular room, she was just walking to the next room with her group following her. We could not ask any questions or have a little conversation about the room. We felt like we needed a few more minutes to take in the beauty of each room; our tour already ended by 1:20 pm. I asked her if I can stay inside the palace and revisit some of the rooms and she said, "I don't think you can go back in". The palace is huge and people enter from one side and exit from other I felt like if we had bought the tickets on our own and got audio guide, we could have chosen the language we wanted to hear and taken our own time to tour the palace.

I enjoyed the walking tour of Habsburgs Madrid the best. The Royal Palace was beautiful, but crowded. Our tour guide for the walking tour, Carmen, was excellent. She told us about how some cloistered nuns in the convents make and sell cookies (they weren't selling them that day), but later in Granada we found a convent and were able to buy the cookies because Carmen had explained it to us. We were so excited to buy the cookies from the nuns! We also enjoyed our break for churros and chocolate!

The walking tour section (with Carmen) was excellent; it was informative and fun, and Carmen was happy to answer any questions which the group had. The Palace section of the the tour was good, but the crowds meant that it was difficult to keep the (now larger because of joining with another tour) group together, and we were in a different room to the one being described on several occasions. This was not the fault of the (new) guide but a result of the crowds at the Palace.

Tour guide: I did not catch her name: nice blond lady. She was very good tour guide. Old city is nice, picturesque, full of history. City has so much to offer. Chocolate drink and Churo was nice touch. It was very educational and learned so much fact of Madrid which is capital of Spain. Royal Palace was just amazing. So much wealth and power showing from this building. Shame they don't take picture inside. Amazing rooms so many of them, lost count. I recommend this tour.

The guides Isabella and Sylvia were pleasant and informative. However, the organization of the tour leaves a lot to be desired. First of all, the tour was bilingual. The guide had to explain each attraction along the route in English and Spanish. Luckily, Sylvia was able to do that effortlessly, and I didn't mind hearing it in another language and trying to decipher the message. The walking portion was a little longer than I expected especially because it also included a trip through a food market and a detailed explanation of eating and ordering Churros. During our cafe stop, we were told we would be there for about 10-20 minutes. We were there closer to the latter time. Following the break, we were told that we would be transferred to another guide to tour the Royal Palace. The group waited in the garden nearly 20 minutes for the next guide to escort us inside. I was disappointed that we wasted almost 40 minutes a 10 minute cafe break is sufficient.. Also, I would recommend that only one guide accompanies and remains with the group throughout the entire tour. At the start of the tour, we did not introduce ourselves to the group which is common. After all, you will be spending the next 3 1/2 hours with these people. Fortunately, we met a family the previous night who also attended who also attended the tour. During our wait for the 2nd guide to come, we got to meet the others. At least, the others from the initial group. Sylvia, the 2nd guide brought along another group of individuals who we then joined. This became challenging to follow the group in the palace because we had been combined with new people who we did not recognize. I only knew if they were in the group by looking at the Julia Travel tag on the front of their body. As a result, the initial intimate group of 12 swelled to nearly 20. Due to a prior engagement, I had to depart the tour prematurely. However, if we had not wasted so much time at the cafe and waiting for the 2nd guide then I would have finished almost all of the guided tour. Instead, I had to go ahead independently so that I could see the palace in its entirety, This tour could be far better with the suggested corrections because it is due to its organization. The guides did a very good job, in particular, Isabella because she spent the majority of the time with our group. This can also be a disadvantage for the tour guides who may miss an opportunity for a gratuity as a result of the poor planning of the agency. This skip-the-line option is an attractive feature, but more thought needs to go into planning and logistics.

The best way I can describe this tour was on our last night, we all went around the table at dinner and named our favorite part of the vacation. This Tour and our guide Aranxta were everyone's favorite. She was absolutely the best guide and made this tour what it was! I cannot say enough great things about her and Julia Travel.

We loved this tour because it was quick and informative! Our guide was very nice and she did a great job explaining all the history. Touring the palace felt like entering a movie set so unreal yet all real and beautiful! Would recommend to anyone looking to see the palace.

My 12 year old daughter and I took this Walking Tour with another 7 people. It was very nice. Our guide Silvia was very knowledgeable and took us for a short walk around a few churches and squares before leading us to the wonderful 2700-plus room Royal Palace. Of course only 20 rooms are made available to the public and that was quite enough. We had enough time for photos and to ask questions. Worth the 3.5 hours, and you can naturally stay on the palace grounds longer if you like. When you leave, you can see the long line (queue) of people waiting to get in that you skipped ahead of with this tour. That alone made it worthwhile!

Really enjoyed the walking tour. Told us a lot about the history of Madrid. Would definitely do this again.

Great trip would certainly recommend!