Who is The Magic of Seville Private Tours?
(please read also the LEGAL NOTICE )
We are embassadors of our land, this is professional local tour guides passionate about Seville and Andalusia. Guides have been handpicked by Francesco Soriquez, speak great English, are fully licensed and entitled to skip lines, very knowledgeable, fun and experienced.
Do we offer group tours?
No. If you wish to join a small group tour in Italian with quality guides, please visit this external company: you will love their guided visit in Seville.
Business hours
We DO NOT provide 24/7 customer service. We strive to answer our email within 24 hours (except weekends): it is the fastest way to reach us.
Do we cancel tours?
We DO NOT cancel tours. We carry tour rain or shine.
External services
Occasionally we may need to refer you to an external company if we are not able to provide a tour for you. If so, you’d be dealing directly with them and their guides fees and you’d be paying them directly according to their own conditions.
Who will join my tour?
All our tours are private, for your party alone. You are NOT part of a larger group and no strangers will be joining your tour. However, if you wish to share the tour cost with other people you can organize your own “private group” using popular travel sites such as the Cruisecritic. It's your choice, for we don’t arrange such groups.
We also work for solo travelers, however note that our fees are per tour, not per person: a solo traveler must still pay for the full tour amount, or find someone to share costs – we cannot help you finding tour mates nor add you to one of our existing groups.
On tour duration, tour start, meeting place, cruise
Basic city tour takes up to 4 hours. Basic daytrip about 8 hours.
Tour start time: any time between 8:30AM (summer) and 10AM (winter) works fine for morning and full day tours (although some day trips out of town might require an earlier start).
Afternoon tours may start between 2:00PM and 4:00PM but we suggest not to start tour in the afternoon during Andalusian summer (may be too hot).
Evening tapas tours start at 7:30 PM or 8:00PM to match the locals bars and restaurants opening hours. Lunch tapat tour may start 1:00PM.
The meeting and ending point is to be agreed with the client upon reservation, in order to be able to offer a custom service.
Our fees include pick-up/drop-off points anywhere within the city limits: your hotel or address in town will often work as meeting point, but you can also choose to join us in front of a site that is more convenient for our itinerary. We can finish back to your hotel/apartment, or in some restaurant, or in the last site we visite. Whatever is more convenient for you!
Pick-up/Drop-off in suburbs are NOT included: fees apply and they will be calculated depending on the location where you need to be picked up.
Cruise pier terminal: pick-up/drop-off is included on chauffeured city tours if needed. If you are a cruise passenger booking a walking tour, we’ll set up a meeting point by the terminal gate. We are aware that cruise passengers are usually required to be back on board no later than 1 hour before departure, so we’ll never schedule a tour with you that ends too late.
Airport and/or airport hotel pick-up/drop-off is not included in the standard fees. The transfer to/from the airport into the city center takes around 20 min.
If you are staying outside Seville and you need us to fetch you there, show you around and take you back to your accommodation town, we’ll have to charge extra hours to cover the traveling time and expenses. Each case will be specifically budgeted depending on distance and duration of the service.
Tickets to sites and monuments, skip the lines
Entrance fees are not included. We are entitled to skip lines in most museums and monuments: You will be taken to the groups entrance, buy the tickets and go in right away. However, sometimes the groups gate of Seville Royal palace and Saint Mary Cathedral is busy with lines made of tour guides (!) so we suggest to buy online admissions for Alcazar, Cathedral and also for the tickets to Alhambra. No lines at the rest of the sites.
A site that always requires online ticket purchase is Alhambra of Granada.
Walking issues, gift shops
Walking distances depends a lot on each itinerary: check the tour description for details and please consider that walking issues and use of wheelchair can force us to reduce a bit the itinerary. Note that you are booking a tour guide service for a certain number of hours, not an itinerary to be completed no matter what: if you or someone in the party slows down the pace of the group upto the point that there is no time to see everything in the plan, the service still has to finish at the agreed tour ending time and you will not be entitled to any sort of compensation. Please consider booking extra time if you feel your pace is slower than the average healthy visitor.
We don’t plan for gift-shop stops during our tours (we encourage you to shop after the tour is over), nevertheless it’s usually easy to improvise a short stop at one gift-shop at some point. Please note that too many stops or too long ones will definitely affect the pace and timing of the itinerary, causing your guide to speed up or to shorten the itinerary.
About food
Your lunch (for city tours and day trips) and tapas (on food tours) are NOT included.
During long tours, the client can chose if they want to stop for lunch at some point, or if they’d rather keep touring for the whole time. In 7 to 8h-tours, a stop for lunch will be scheduled around the middle of the day, lunch time still counting as touring time (not as a break).
Our goal is to TAILOR the perfect tour for you, not to take you on a template itinerary that is the same for everyone, but might not be a match for you.
Since food is not included in our tours, that allows us to cater for special needs but that might not always be easy: please notify in advance if you or anyone in your party has special dietary needs, so we can plan in advance.
Our area has not Kosher restaurant, while it's easy to eat vegetarian and gluten free. A few good Halal restaurants may be found.
Payment and currency, tips, fees.
Full payment upfront is needed to secure our services. In case you wish to pay a 1/3 fee as deposit (and 2/3 fee balance 10 days before the tour) we may be flexible on this.
The only valid currency in Spain and most countries of the European Union are Euro, and that’s the currency we use to calculate our fees. Since exchange rates are constantly updating it’d be too difficult to be constantly recalculating our tour prices to adjust them to other currencies. Make sure you depart your country with enough euros to pay for your first expenses (taxi from the airport, food and refreshments…). You’ll be able to change your USD or other currency when you get to Seville. Money can be exchanged in banks (mornings Mon-Fri only!), exchange points (commissions will be charged) and hotels (commissions charged aswell).
Tips and gratuities are not included. In Spain they are not expected, but they are appreciated by guides, drivers, restaurants and more: it's understood that they have to deserve it!
In Spain every company is free to set the prices and fees that they consider the adequate for the services they offer. In our case, we have chosen not to compete in price but in quality. Taxes in Spain are high, and fees must include by law a 21% VAT (except certain cases of B2B). While working under the table and not paying taxes can evidently help to keep rates low, we chose to work legally.
Cancellation and refund policy
Any cancellation must be initiated by e-mail contacting me by email, and will be also acknowledged by me via e-mail. Cancellation notifications by phone will not be accepted. Weather conditions: Tours are carried rain or shine. Bad weather is not a valid reason to cancel a tour.
Tour Guide changes: I reserve the right to change the guide . No refund will be given if a client decides to cancel a tour due to a guide change. Circumstances beyond our control: I am a reasonable professional that tends to adopt fair decisions upon calmly discussing the subject with our client.
Special cases: other major force cancellations might be discussed to reach an agreement. A verification of the reason why the tour was cancelled will be requested.
REFUND POLICY
Cancellations less than 80 days before the tour: 50€ will be kept as cancellation fee, plus any applicable exclusions detailed below.
Cancellations less than 30 days before the tour: A 33% of the total cost of the cancelled services will be kept as cancellation fee, plus any applicable exclusions detailed below.
Cancellations less than 48h before the tour: if the tour is cancelled less than 48h before the tour starts or the client doesn’t show, no refund will be given.
No-shows. If the client hasn’t shown up nor made contact with us via the tour guide telephone provided in the booking form within 30 minutes after the booked starting tour time, we’d consider it a no-show and no refund will be given.
Cancellation of part of the total booked services: When several services have been booked and the client needs to cancel only part of them, the above policies will be applied only to the cancelled services part. If the cancellation takes places less than 48h before the service date, no refund will be given.
Cancellations by THEMAGICOFSEVILLE: in the unlikely event that I had to cancel a tour, the deposit will be refunded within 3 working days.
TERMS AND CONDITIONS
By booking tours or services through The Magic of Seville you agree to the FOLLOWING terms and conditions.
1. THE CLIENTS are responsible for travel arrangements to or from tours organized by The Magic of Seville and to inform on meeting point.
Clients are responsible for their own safety in all walking and interior tours: crossing roads, using steps, etc.
Clients are responsible for themselves and children wearing a seat belt in tour vehicles. No food or drink may consumed in tour vehicles except under permission of the driver.
The guide, driver or operator reserves the right to terminate any tour for unreasonable behavior.
The Magic of Seville , their guides and drivers are insured for public liability in touring environments only.
The Magic of Seville is not liable for reduced itineraries owing to late start or delays by the client.
The Magic of Seville is not liable for reduced itineraries owing to unscheduled closures by attractions.
The Magic of Seville is not liable for reduced itineraries owing to extreme weather conditions, or delays or diversions caused by circumstances beyond our control.
Clients should acquire adequate insurance to cover any loss as a consequence of flight cancellations, personal illness, or circumstances causing the tour to be cancelled beyond the control of The Magic of Seville or partners. Please notice that your driver or guide but no automatic responsibility will be assumed for any injury, damage, loss , accident, delay or irregularity and I we are not responsible for any resulting additional expenses. Baggage and personal effects are carried entirely at the owner’s risk.
2. THE TOUR GUIDES other than Francesco Soriquez are freelance professionals and they are not employees of The Magic of Seville, we act only as an intermediary to provide you tours when I´m not available. They are all professional and experienced tourguides. Drivers hired by The Magic of Seville are service providers and they do not belong to nor are operated by The Magic of Seville. As a result, The Magic of Seville isn’t liable for any negligent or willful act or failure to act of such third person, or of any other third party.
3. THE TOURS: WHAT’S INCLUDED:
Official tourguide for the number of hours booked.
Hotel or cruise pier pick-up/drop-off (chauffeured tours only).
Taxes
WHAT’S NOT INCLUDED
Entrance fees and sites reservations.
Taxi, subway and bus rides.
Travel arrangements to or from tours organized by The magic of Seville are not included either.
Lunch. Drinks and food in Tapas Tours.
Airport or hotel airport pick-up/drop off. Standard fees don’t apply and a supplement will be charged.
Paypal fees, if the client requests to pay via Paypal. Credit card commissions for any extra money the client needs to send us (other than the tour cost).
Personal expenses: souvenirs, personal beverages and snacks, other items…
Medical expenses and insurance.
Tips/Gratuities. In Spain, tips are not expected but appreciated and they are considered a sign that you enjoyed a service. Giving a tip or not at the end of the service remains your personal choice. Other incidental expenses, incurred as a result of your booking: visas, vaccinations, travel insurance, non-refundable flights/transportation tickets, loss of enjoyment, phone calls, etc.
