Our tour guide was called Benny. the tour of the palace was a very beautiful experience. the tour guide was very detailed about all the rooms. it wasn't just a simple guided tour, he asked you various questions about the guided tour. he wanted you to leave there and know its history with names and years.
The instructions for meeting leader were unclear and we couldn't find them despite being at the meeting place early. After spending an hour on phone trying to resolve, we were placed on a later tour. It was really a large group and it took 45 minutes to get everyone into the palace and set up with headsets. The leader did her best but it was hard to hear even with headsets. We missed the tapas we had paid for because of the change. Really disappointed.
As with most historic building tours the guide is often the factor that makes or breaks it. We were very lucky to get Benito as a guide. His english was very good and he made the whole experience very enjoyable with his knowledge of the palace and it's history and the humour that he introduced into his narrative!
The guide was well informed, kind, punctual and always ready to answer questions. The place was crowded, she tried to cater the visit so we would be in rooms where the other tour guides and their groups weren't but it was not always possible. The audio devices were garbage, I roamed around as closely to the guide so I could hear her instead of relying on the audio device (extremely uncomfortable and did not provide clear audio). She spoke English but the devices weren't a good medium of communication. I wish she had just spoken to us directly if possible. Or perhaps use WIRED audio devices like other groups. I didn’t think it was worth the amount of money spent for the ‘guided’ tour, better off with the alternative guide of iPad devices that showed each of the rooms and explained the items
Elena was great. She made the experience really interesting and full of fun facts. Very complete and informative tour. Highly recommended.