Madrid Prado Museum Tour & VIP Botin Lunch

Mariano was a great tour guide, really knew his stuff about the art and the Prado Museum, and he explained everything in a way that was easy to follow. Super friendly guy too.<br />Lunch at Botín was honestly incredible. Don’t skip it if you get the chance. And seriously, get the cheesecake, it’s worth it. Would definitely recommend this tour.

Florin was excellent! Made the museum tour very enjoyable and I left with a whole new appreciation for the works of art at Prado. Lunch at Botin was great too. The suckling pig is a must!

Had a great day visiting the Prado and then tour and lunch at Botin. We are not art connoisseurs but knew we wanted to see one of the world's most well-known art museums so we appreciated Montse's guidance through the museum. She showed us interesting works and shared great insight while making the tour interesting. Botin was also more fun with Montse's guidance, I am sure. The tour of Botin was interesting and we are so happy we did that along with having lunch there.

This was my third Devour Tour experience and it was as excellent and worthwhile as the first two (tapas tour with Samantha, and early access Prado tour with Florin -- early access to the Prado is the stuff dreams are made of). Cassy was a brilliant guide! We started in the Prado museum, where Cassy's knowledge of art (she has a degree in art history) and enthusiam for the pieces she took us to see brought new insight and light to some of the museum's best known works. It's truly a gift to have an expert show you their favourite works of art and worth every penny. Truly, it improves the experience immeasurably. I also visit museums a lot on my own, but a high quality professional tour helps orient me and improves my subsequent visits a great deal. I should add that this kind of tour seems to attract some other very lovely people. So I enjoyed the group very much as well. We came from all over, and all shared a curiosity for Madrid, for art, for good food, and for spending time with new people. After the Prado we walked through the city while Cassy introduced us to points of interest along the way. Interestingly, I never felt any of the guides in the 3 tours overlapped too much, so that every experience was worthwhile and new (this was especially interesting at the Prado - both Cassy and the guide I'd had on the early access tour (Florin) had different insightful things to say. After a very pleasant walk, we ended up at the famous Botín restaurant, which you can't actually book on your own, unless you do so months in advance. It was such a special, memorable experience! Early access before the restaurant opened made us feel very special. Cassy is gifted at making everyone feel comfortable, facilitating our lovely time together, while expertly guiding us through the city, and ordering for us (such a treat to have somone else oder for you in a new place!). We got to have a look in the kitchen and in the wine cellar before the restaurant opened to the public. I had the cocinillo asado, which el Botín is famous for. It was delicious, deserving of its reputation, and I think the folks who did not order it may have regretted their decision... For dessert we had the best cheesecake I have ever tasted (and I come from a big German family that prides itself on its taste in cheesecake). Obviously not everyone can afford a tour like this, but it is actually very good value for your money if you can. I would recommend this to all my friends. If you get Cassy, or Fortin, or Sam, all the better. But I suspect the folks at Devour Tours know what they are doing with their hiring, because all the guides I had were wonderfull. All were also, by the way, from somewhere else, but had adopted Madrid as their homes (not newcomers by any means, all have lived here for around twenty years!). To me, this showed how much they love the city and it shows that Madrid is a city that captures hearts and imaginations and makes friends for life. I really can't say enough good things about the Devour Tours and the guides we had.