Spain and Portugal

Maril

Considering taking the 2 week trip to Portugal and Spain in September with my daughter and son-in-law (daughter is about to turn 50 and her husband is slightly older). Does anyone know the age range of people who generally travel to these venues? Also since we will want to spend more time in art museums than most, will there be sufficient free time for us to do so?

Ken from Vegas

You never know about ages, but generally the median age for European tours is somewhere in the sixties with some older and some in their fifties. Sometimes much younger accompanying their parents or grandparents.

As far as free time goes, look at the detailed itineraries and look for words like "afternoon is free." Of course, you can always depart from what the group is doing and go it on your own. I see that the day you go to the Prado, you have the rest of the day free. So just tell the guide you're staying at the museum and make your own way back to the hotel. You can also add days at the beginning and end of the tour. Adding a day at the beginning is often a good idea to adjust from jet lag and to allow for any unforeseen travel delays to Europe.

British

I'm agreeing with everything that Ken has said, but please note that all the tours are full apart from the September 3rd date so make up your mind about going.
Tauck can only schedule a certain number of 'must see' sites on each of their tours, when they have experimented with a tour that just does one city, they do not seem to have been popular. So there are several approaches to this, first, do lots of research and find what is a 'do not miss' list for you, trying to find how long the average person spends at a location and figure out where you are on the average scale. Two, arrive several days early or extend your tour. Three, go on the Tauck tour and then return to your favorite city on the tour, stay a week and see the things you missed on the tour, get a better feel for the place and enjoy getting up when you like, eating when and where you like and not having to pack up and move on every other day.
I think it was last year that I had a visit to Madrid and while I was in the Prado, a Tauck tour walked in with a guide. They stuck out like sore thumbs in shorts and a couple of people had Tauck lanyards on which I have never seen worn before. It made us smile and also glad we would have plenty more time than they had to enjoy the museum.
I think we were in our late forties when we started traveling with Tauck. In those days most people appeared much older, we were always the youngest then, but these days there appears to be a bigger range of ages, but every tour is different. The good thing about traveling with older people for us, is that they are always on time. We have had very few teenagers on our tours, but all but one have always been great company and they have been comfortable with the group, we all learn lots about each other, and in fact the group made the teenagers feel special and welcomed. The exception was a surly male teenager who clearly did not want to be with the group, but then The wholle family arrived late to the tour and after the first couple of days we hardly saw them again, that was on the Taste of the North West tour.

mazalea

We took this tour last September and really liked it. So I got out the group photo to jog my memory and yes indeed 50's 60's and a bit older seems about the right assessment for our group. Tours after September have far fewer teens and 20's. Yes you should indeed plan extra day front/back of the tour to see museums; in Lisbon we went to the Castle Sao Jorge and nearby Azulejo (tile) museum and also the Gulbenkian museum before the tour start. I usually check out the "36 hours in..." reviews from the UK Telegraph and the NY Times for tips on various cities. We try to find concerts when we travel, too, and usually book in advance, usually on line. Music is a universal language, so this is another way for us to connect; often the concerts are in churches. You'll have a grand time, and when all is over be astounded at how much territory you covered and how much you saw. Have fun!

kwkowalski

I was in Barcelona, Spain last year for a two weeks and noticed that there were a lot of younger people. Seems like a everyone walks around to every location and you hardly notice taxis/buses or anything. The main form of transportation was the subway for us. One of the good things about Barcelona was that we didn't need to pack much as I was able to get by with a single Osprey backpack!

But back on subject, if this doesn't bother you then this is perhaps one of the best cities you could visit and by far my favorite that I have been too. Whatever you do, make sure you make it into the Sagrada Familia, it is just absolutely gorgeous and worth every penny. The architecture, design and small little details are quite something. Gaudi, I believe his is, has a huge influence on most of the city and you will notice it while you are there.

Hope you enjoy your trip and let us know how it is!