Fly to Madrid, where you will meet your friendly tour manager upon arrival. Transfer to Ávila. The rest of the day is free to spend at your leisure, resting and relaxing as you acclimatise to your new surroundings, before dinner is served at the parador.

Join your tour manager for a guided tour of the magnificent Spanish capital, including the bustling Puerta del Sol, located in the oldest part of the city, an area known as Madrid de los Austrias after the Hapsburg kings who once ruled here. Take in the elegant Calle Mayor – the city’s medieval ‘Main Street’ – and magnificent Plaza Mayor, Madrid’s great meeting place, a vast square enclosed by grand, colonnaded buildings, including the ornate Casa de la Panaderia (bakery). Madrid is famous for its shops, and you’ll have the chance to pick up some last-minute Christmas gifts, perhaps from the city’s Christmas Market. Restaurants, open-air cafés – ideal spots in which to rest awhile over a coffee or beer – and bookstalls surround the statue of Philip III at the plaza’s centre. Further west, past the old Town Hall and the ancient buildings of the Plaza de la Villa, you may choose to discover the gargantuan Palacio Real, or Royal Palace. With its 3,000 rooms, immense library and extraordinary opulence, the Palace is high on the list of most visitors’ ‘must-see’ lists. Return to Ávila for dinner.