Celebrity Reflection 11days Western Mediterranean cruise shore excursions

Does anyone know if the following ports needs a shore excursion or can we just walk around on our own

Malaga, Spain

Cartenega, Spain

Ibiza, Spain

Gibraltar, UK

THX

VGH, I think the answer for you depends on what you like to do on shore and whether you are interested in visiting and learning about historical sites. Here are a few points on each port for you to consider:

Gibraltar: Unless you are prepared and capable of walking a bit you will need some transportation to even get into the town square area. All of the historical sites are another walk from there and several require a climb or tram up the Rock. There are several tour companies that provide a variety of van based tours that consistently receive excellent reviews from cruisers and give you the option of how much you want to see on your visit. You can check out reviews in the Ports section of the forum.

Ibiza - There is almost nothing around the port area. Usually there is a cheap bus transport into town. Town has usual shops and cafes, and historically the Old Walled city is great, but it is a climb to the beautiful church at the top. If you plan is to visit any of the beaches you will need to arrange transport.

Cartenega - Ship docks right in town. Tourist area of town is pedestrian mall and easy to walk. A bit of a climb up to the Moorish castle area. If you are interested in visiting any other sites outside of the city, you will need some sort of transport. If you are interested in visiting Alhambra you will need to schedule a tour.

Malaga - The cruise port is about a mile from the tourist center of town. Usually a nominal cost bus shuttle to town, but if you walk there are some fun shops, restaurants and artwork along the walk. There is a nice beach about halfway along the walk. Town center is bigger that Cartenega, but is also mostly a pedestrian only area. Many great shops restaurants and churches in the area as well as an extensive Moorish castle. Several companies offer great walking tours of this area. Again anything outside of this area will require transport.

Hope this is helpful. Let me know if you have additional questions.

Does anyone know if the following ports needs a shore excursion or can we just walk around on our own

 

Malaga, Spain

Cartenega, Spain

Ibiza, Spain

Gibraltar, UK

 

 

THX

Just did this itinerary in May:

Malaga, Spain-- We took the spaindaytours trip to Grenada to see the Alhambra. This is certainly worthwhile if you're not likely to be back in the area any time soon. And the folks with the tour company were super, no complaints from me. However, it is of necessity a bit rushed, and the Alhambra is one of the most visited places in Spain so it makes for a day of being another of the hoards of tourists.

If you're a bit more adventurous, I would suggest doing the day on your own and taking the highspeed train from Malaga up to Cordoba and then visiting the great Mosque/Cathedral there. It is a breathtakingly spectacular piece of architecture and Cordoba's good for walking around in the medieval city-- all a quick taxi or long walk from the train station. Besides, Spain's highspeed trains are fantastic in themselves for those of us who live in more primitive transportation spots such as the us.

Cartenega, Spain Just about perfect for walking around. The Roman amphitheater is easily done on your own, as is the civil war air raid shelter museum.

Ibiza, Spain--They'll be running shuttle buses to city center for a few dollars round trip. Ibiza is good for walking around and the contemporary art museum is a very pleasant find. Also, the spot where the shuttles drop you off is a ferry port terminal. If you like beaches, lovely and quiet, I'd highly suggest hoping on a ferry to Formentera. It was a serendipitous part of our trip that turned into a real highlight.

Gibraltar, UK-- Not much advice here. Some pretty good prices on Creed fragrances, other wise didn't try much there.

Two areas you did not ask for input on but I'll provide because I can't help myself:

Barcelona-- If you've visited before, you might consider the half hour highspeed train ride to the village of Girona. We did this independently on the first day the ship was in BCN. I lived in Europe some years ago, and have visited my share of "quaint spots", but this was fabulous. Everything is easily hikeable from the train-station in Girona and is like Hollywood built a medieval mountain village. In fact, I'm headed back there for a couple of nights in the Spring.

Villa Franche sur mer-- An idea for DIY day: If you're at all into architecture then Eileen Gray's famous E-1027 is a short train ride away. You need to book the tour or the property in advance because it's limited to about 8 people, but it and Le Corbusier's cabins are super to see and very well explained/interpreted by the docents.

This also allows you time to get over to Villa Ephrussi, the Rothschild villa on Cap Ferrat via Uber or taxi.

From there it is a very long walk, or a taxi/uber ride, back to the port to catch tender back to ship.

Just did this itinerary in May:

Malaga, Spain-- We took the spaindaytours trip to Grenada to see the Alhambra. This is certainly worthwhile if you're not likely to be back in the area any time soon. And the folks with the tour company were super, no complaints from me. However, it is of necessity a bit rushed, and the Alhambra is one of the most visited places in Spain so it makes for a day of being another of the hoards of tourists.

 

If you're a bit more adventurous, I would suggest doing the day on your own and taking the highspeed train from Malaga up to Cordoba and then visiting the great Mosque/Cathedral there. It is a breathtakingly spectacular piece of architecture and Cordoba's good for walking around in the medieval city-- all a quick taxi or long walk from the train station. Besides, Spain's highspeed trains are fantastic in themselves for those of us who live in more primitive transportation spots such as the us.

 

 

Cartenega, Spain Just about perfect for walking around. The Roman amphitheater is easily done on your own, as is the civil war air raid shelter museum.

 

Ibiza, Spain--They'll be running shuttle buses to city center for a few dollars round trip. Ibiza is good for walking around and the contemporary art museum is a very pleasant find. Also, the spot where the shuttles drop you off is a ferry port terminal. If you like beaches, lovely and quiet, I'd highly suggest hoping on a ferry to Formentera. It was a serendipitous part of our trip that turned into a real highlight.

 

Gibraltar, UK-- Not much advice here. Some pretty good prices on Creed fragrances, other wise didn't try much there.

 

Two areas you did not ask for input on but I'll provide because I can't help myself:

 

Barcelona-- If you've visited before, you might consider the half hour highspeed train ride to the village of Girona. We did this independently on the first day the ship was in BCN. I lived in Europe some years ago, and have visited my share of "quaint spots", but this was fabulous. Everything is easily hikeable from the train-station in Girona and is like Hollywood built a medieval mountain village. In fact, I'm headed back there for a couple of nights in the Spring.

 

Villa Franche sur mer-- An idea for DIY day: If you're at all into architecture then Eileen Gray's famous E-1027 is a short train ride away. You need to book the tour or the property in advance because it's limited to about 8 people, but it and Le Corbusier's cabins are super to see and very well explained/interpreted by the docents.

This also allows you time to get over to Villa Ephrussi, the Rothschild villa on Cap Ferrat via Uber or taxi.

 

From there it is a very long walk, or a taxi/uber ride, back to the port to catch tender back to ship.

Thank you very much for posting this information. We are very interested in doing the train ride to Girona and on the basis that we will be there for a few hours we wondered if there was anything in particular that you recommend that we should see. Thanks again.

Thank you very much for posting this information. We are very interested in doing the train ride to Girona and on the basis that we will be there for a few hours we wondered if there was anything in particular that you recommend that we should see. Thanks again.

Happy to share. It was raining the day we went, but we didn't let that stop us. From reading various online snippets we figured we wanted to aim for: the Eiffel bridge--and the houses built out along the river, the Arab baths, and the Cathedral. (BTW the show Game of Thrones--not something I'm familiar with-- was in part filmed in Girona so that has put it a bit more on the map.)

Anyway, we set out from the train station and quickly found the bridge and made our way up to the cathedral, even in the rain it was alot of fun. The museum there is interesting, as is the interior. We found the Arab baths but they were closed. As we continued walking around we "found" some stairs the led up to the walkways along the old city walls. That ate up the rest of our time before we headed back to the station. Really the best part was walking thru the streets and passage ways.

One word of caution-- I find large city train stations in Spain to be a bit more challenging than those of some other countries. Once one "gives up" and asks for help, people are friendly and things are fine, but I suggest doing that sooner rather than later. We ended up on a slower train from Barcelona--not terrible but more like an hour--The return from Girona was easy. All in all, about 15 minutes of panic in the Barcelona train station as we realized we were missing the train we'd planned on, were the only moments of stress in a real highlight day of the trip.

Happy to share. It was raining the day we went, but we didn't let that stop us. From reading various online snippets we figured we wanted to aim for: the Eiffel bridge--and the houses built out along the river, the Arab baths, and the Cathedral. (BTW the show Game of Thrones--not something I'm familiar with-- was in part filmed in Girona so that has put it a bit more on the map.)

Anyway, we set out from the train station and quickly found the bridge and made our way up to the cathedral, even in the rain it was alot of fun. The museum there is interesting, as is the interior. We found the Arab baths but they were closed. As we continued walking around we "found" some stairs the led up to the walkways along the old city walls. That ate up the rest of our time before we headed back to the station. Really the best part was walking thru the streets and passage ways.

 

One word of caution-- I find large city train stations in Spain to be a bit more challenging than those of some other countries. Once one "gives up" and asks for help, people are friendly and things are fine, but I suggest doing that sooner rather than later. We ended up on a slower train from Barcelona--not terrible but more like an hour--The return from Girona was easy. All in all, about 15 minutes of panic in the Barcelona train station as we realized we were missing the train we'd planned on, were the only moments of stress in a real highlight day of the trip.

Thank you so much for this and all being well we will follow in your footsteps ;)when we arrive in Barcelona and catch the train.

We are both looking forward to this, it sounds a lovely and interesting place and one that we have never heard of before.

Thanks again for taking the time and sharing.