You’ve booked your holiday to Spain. Now book the days that will make it.
The flights are confirmed. The hotel is sorted. The group chat is fizzing with excitement. And then comes the familiar question, usually about three weeks before you land: so what are we actually going to do there?
The Costa del Sol is one of the most beautifully positioned holidays bases in Europe. Within a couple of hours in any direction lies some of the most historically rich, culinarily extraordinary, visually stunning terrain on the continent. It’s a landscape shaped by Romans, Moors, Christians and Phoenicians, threaded with olive groves, sherry bodegas and cities that have been making people stop in their tracks for centuries.
Most visitors see very little of it. They find a favourite beach bar, they’re happy, and then they go home. Which is, of course, completely fine. But for those who want their summer holiday to contain at least one or two days they’ll genuinely remember in twenty years, this is what we’d suggest.
All of the day trips below are run by TOMA & COE as private tours. That means your group, your guide, your pace. No sharing a coach with strangers. No waiting. No compromise. They can be booked for couples, families, or groups of any size, and all depart from the Costa del Sol.
1. The Magnificent Granada Tour
There are places that earn their reputation fully, and Granada is one of them. Washington Irving moved in and wrote a book about the Alhambra that never went out of print. Federico García Lorca grew up here, was shaped by it, and never fully left it in spirit.
The Alhambra itself, the great Nasrid palace complex perched above the city, is one of the most visited monuments in Europe. And once you’ve stood in the Patio of Lions or walked the shaded pathways of the Generalife gardens, you’ll understand exactly why. But a TOMA & COE day in Granada goes well beyond the palace. Your private guide takes you through the history of the Christian Reconquista, explains the significance of Christopher Columbus’s presence in the city, and leads you into the squares, plazas and tapas bars of the old town, where, true to Granadan tradition, your drink comes with food.
The day runs from 8am to around 7pm, departing from the Costa del Sol.
Perfect for: First-time visitors to Andalucía, history lovers, families with older children, anyone who has always meant to see the Alhambra and never quite got around to it.
Summer note: Book early. Alhambra tickets are allocated and sell out weeks in advance in summer. TOMA & COE handles this as part of your booking.
Explore the Magnificent Granada Tour →
2. Historic Ronda — for the most dramatic view in Spain
There aren’t many places in Europe where you can have breakfast in Spain, stand on British soil before lunch, and look across to Africa at the same time. Gibraltar is small, but it compresses an extraordinary amount into a single day: a limestone monolith rising sheer from the sea, a maze of tunnels carved during wartime, wild Barbary macaques that roam freely across the upper rock, and a main street that still feels unmistakably British.
TOMA & COE’s private Gibraltar tour takes you straight to the highlights without the usual border-day friction. You ascend the Rock for panoramic views across the Strait, explore the dramatic caves and military history that shaped this strategic outpost, and meet the famous monkeys that have become part of Gibraltar folklore. Along the way, your guide unpacks the layered story of a place that has shifted between empires for centuries yet developed a character entirely of its own.
There’s also time to wander through the old town, browse duty-free shops, or simply sit with a coffee and watch the curious blend of red phone boxes, Spanish conversation and Mediterranean light. It’s a day that feels very different from Andalucía, while still being in easy reach of the Costa del Sol.
Perfect for: Families, history enthusiasts, and anyone intrigued by borders and cultures colliding.
Explore the Gibraltar Rock Tour →
3. Gibralter Rock Tour
In the 1890s, a British entrepreneur named William Martin Henderson built a railway line through the hills of Andalucía connecting Algeciras to Bobadilla; 178km of track through some of the most spectacular mountain scenery in southern Spain. Michael Portillo described it as one of the most picturesque train journeys in Europe. It is also one of the most satisfying days out available from the Costa del Sol, and one that relatively few visitors ever discover.
The day begins at the Hotel Reina Cristina in Algeciras — a magnificent colonial English hotel with a guest list that once included Winston Churchill and Arthur Conan Doyle. Then you board the train to wind up through the hills to Ronda. There, you visit the Reina Victoria, the hotel’s sister property perched at the cliff’s edge above the gorge, before exploring the old town.
Perfect for: Railway enthusiasts, of course, but also anyone who finds the idea of seeing Andalucía from a train window more appealing than a coach, which, once you’ve done it, is most people.
Explore Mr Henderson’s Railway →
4. Málaga Tapas Tour
You don’t need to leave Málaga to have one of the best days of your holiday. Picasso’s birthplace has spent the last two decades reinventing itself, from airport destination to one of the most culturally exciting cities on the Mediterranean. The old town at the heart of it all is a genuinely brilliant place to spend an afternoon and evening.
TOMA & COE’s Málaga Tapas Tour takes you on a private walking route through the most emblematic corners of the city, with stops at three traditional tapas bars along the way. These are places your guide knows, not places algorithmically surfaced for tourists. You’ll eat local specialities, drink regional wines and beers, and learn the long, layered story of a city that goes back to the Phoenicians and is still very much writing its next chapter.
At a half-day, it’s also the easiest tour to slot around other plans. An afternoon that drifts into an evening, leaving you in the city when the light drops and the streets come alive.
Perfect for: Foodies; anyone staying along the Costa del Sol who hasn’t properly explored Málaga; those who want something relaxed and sociable rather than educational. Available year-round.
Explore the Málaga Tapas Tour →
5. The Olive Farm Experience
Andalucía produces 30-40% of the world’s olive oil, more than the whole of Italy! The landscape on the drive inland from the coast is, in many places, defined entirely by the silver-grey shimmer of olive groves stretching to the horizon. And yet most visitors to the region go home without ever having seen an olive tree up close, let alone understood what happens between grove and bottle.
This day changes that. Beginning with a scenic drive through the Andalucían countryside to the charming hilltop town of Archidona where a 15th-century chapel offers views across a landscape that is entirely removed from the coast. You continue to a working olive farm for a guided tour of the cortijo and a proper olive oil tasting. You leave with your own small bottle of the estate’s oil.
It’s the tour that consistently surprises people most. Something about spending a day with something as ancient and unhurried as an olive tree seems to reset the pace of a holiday in exactly the right way.
Perfect for: Families, food lovers, those who want something genuinely off the tourist trail, and anyone who’s never understood why good olive oil tastes so different from the supermarket variety. Available all year round.
Explore the Olive Farm Experience →
A note on booking in summer
Summer on the Costa del Sol is beautiful, busy and, particularly in July and August, extremely hot inland. A few practical notes worth knowing before you book:
The best days to head to Granada are those when you can start early, before the full heat of the day. TOMA & COE plans all itineraries with this in mind, and your private guide will always work around conditions. For Ronda and the olive farm, the heat is typically more manageable. The Málaga Tapas Tour, which runs from the afternoon into the evening, is ideal year-round and particularly lovely in the long summer evenings.
All Alhambra visits require pre-booked tickets, which sell out weeks in advance at peak times. If you’re planning a Granada visit for July or August, booking sooner rather than later is strongly advised.
For any of these tours, simply get in touch and we’ll take care of everything else.
