Ikos Andalusia

"We have just returned from a most wonderful trip to Andalusia in Southern Spain. The trip was arranged through Tours Andalusia, a British company run by Mr Gary Montagu in London. We emailed him many times before the trip, and his responses were always timely, provided a lot of useful information and details, and we were thoroughly satisfied not only with our communications with him, but also with all the arrangements he described, which were, in fact, carried out more than satisfactorily. We would recommend Andalusia Tours wholeheartedly and without any reservations whatsoever to future travelers. ANDALUSIAtours is a small company that usually runs a very limited number of small tours of varying length each week during the season. Each of their vans accommodates six people and a driver cum guide, plus their luggage. All reservations for overnight accommodation in four-star hotels are taken care of. Mr Montagu will run a tour even if fewer than six people sign up. We were lucky that no one else signed up for our tour, so we had a vehicle and driver all to ourselves. Nothing could have been grander. Our driver was named Javi. He is a most wonderful person, an excellent driver, one who knows the whole area really well, personable, kind, concerned for the welfare of all tourists under his charge, and extremely helpful and resourceful in all ways. The first thing that happened to me on arrival from Madrid to Malaga, from where the tour started, was that I lost my passport. javi met us at the airport, helped me lodge a police report, and facilitated my entrance into all the monuments without a passport, which is generally required. He showed us parts of cities which many tourists generally don’t get to see, gave us excellent directions for our own self-guided tours and places to dine, and was always punctual to the minute, waiting for us at prearranged meeting places. But he never hurried us; rather, he let us have as much time to explore as we wanted. A better tour leader, guide and driver cannot be imagined. We spent one to two nights in each of the major cities we visited, Malaga, Cadiz. Granada, Cordoba, Seville, and Antiquera, which we used as a base for visiting several Pueblo blancos, very attractive towns where all buildings are painted white. We were dazzled by the architectural details of the cathedrals of Cordoba, Seville, and especially Granada, impressed by Columbus’s tomb there, and those of Ferdinand and Isabella in the Royal Chapel nearby, charmed by modern cities, and quite amazed by the Alhambra in Granada, where very early Christian churches were expanded into magnificent mosques by the Moors from the 10th to 12th or 13th centuries, which in turn were incorporated into Christian cathedrals in the 15th to 16th centuries, and now coexist happily without any sense of incongruity in modern, commercial, dynamic and traffic clogged streets with very pleasing architectural styles of their own, but with a respectful nod to the earlier styles. A true palimpsest of architectural styles and history! The tour took us to fine meals in quaint inns and restaurants, and one evening we saw a perfectly amazing flamenco performance preceded by a fine dinner in Granada. Our tour, which lasted thirteen days, ended in Malaga. The next day we took a bus to Madrid where, over the weekend, we did a bit of exploring before I presented myself at the American Embassy on Monday morning. the Consular staff were extremely helpful, understanding, and kind; and because I had the requisite documents, I had been issued an emergency travel document by that afternoon. That enabled me to return home safely and without further mishaps. I cannot praise the Consular staff and the work they do enough. Thus ended a most perfect holuday in Andalusia. I would be failing in my duty if I did not end with a word of the heartiest thanks to those who made it possible: Javi, a wonderful driver, a perfect guide, and most helpful traveling companion, Gary Montagu, who runs Andalusia Tours so perfectly, and the Cobsular staff of the American Embassy in Madriswho were the soul of courtesy, professionalism, and efficiency, and who facilitated my safe return home."

"We visited Andalusia in the last week of its opening in Nov 2025 and we had really lovely weather. This was our 15th IKOS holiday and our first out of Greece. We were not disappointed it was everything that the Greek resorts give us and it was nice to explore the Spanish coastline both by using the cycle hire and the car hire for the day. We truly had a wonderful holiday. We had a great wine tasting by the brilliant Alicia and also met Jose Antonio the sommelier who both looked after us extremely well throughout our trip. Thank you 🙏 both. We are coming back in 2026 so hopefully will see you again. Zuzana in the main bar was a superstar and we really enjoyed chatting with her. We also booked the cocktail class and the man who did that was great 👍 along with the man who worked in the cocktail bar in the evening. Both wonderful cocktail makers. We had some wonderful food in all the restaurants and were lucky enough to dine in them all throughout our stay. Thank you to Dimitris and Asteris in the Italian, we had a wonderful evening meal. What made our stay so memorable was meeting Martha Karamaus the Reception manager who we had heard about from our dear friend Katerina who is a manager at IKOS Dassia and Martha is a relative of hers. She is a beautiful person and we really loved meeting her at Andalusia and when we re visit this year we hope to see her again. Thank you so much for looking after us."

"We had the most amazing stay at Ikos Andalusia. The service felt genuinely warm, the food was outstanding (every restaurant was a hit), and the whole place has this relaxed, luxurious vibe without feeling stuffy. Waking up to sea views, spending the day by the pool, and ending with dinner at sunset — it just felt easy and special. We left already wanting to come back."