When you visit Europe, you will find a lot of ways to explore cities, even more ways to move around through cities. Especially, to explore the bigger cities like Madrid, Barcelona, Lisbon etc. one needs to move around quickly.
When we visited Madrid this time, we wanted to see the Spanish capital in a different way. We did not want to move around the city in metros, buses or trains & we had already done a Segway tour in Rome, so what can be so different? Luckily, we found a sightseeing tour called GoCar. I found out from their website that there are many different tours & all of them are GPS-guided storytelling tours. Literally, the cars are your guides!
We have been a part of walking tours, food tours, beer tours, historical tours etc. but we had never been a part of a tour where a car would guide us around the city. Well, we took that opportunity to experience this new kind of a tour.
The Preparation
Before we could start driving a GoCar, there were a few paper formalities that we had to go through. We filled up registration forms, deposited our passports, kept our bags in the office & headed out for a small demo & some do’s and don’ts. The person who handled our paperwork also gave us instructions on how to drive the GoCar. He was very patient & calm. He calmly solved all our doubts (and stupid questions) before we started driving the car.
If you are planning to drive a GoCar around Madrid, I suggest you to either get yourself an International driving license or a Spanish-translated version of your driving license. It is necessary to drive a GoCar.
“Dear Guests! Let’s Go!” – GoCar (Probably)
We chose the Cosmopolitan Madrid tour first. The tour was supposed to go on for about 2 hours. It was literally the 2nd time I was driving in Europe. The 1st time I drove in Europe was in Positano, and it was only for about 45 mins. At first, I found it a little difficult to drive because of the driving sides. It is completely the opposite of India & Madrid has a crazy amount of traffic.
After the initial 10 mins of uncertainty & lack of confidence, I finally got the grip. Let me describe the GoCar. It has 3 wheels, 2 in front & 1 in back. The car does not have a steering but a handle like a bike. It has accelerator & brakes. You can drive forward, reverse & go up to 50 km/h at the most. GoCar driving is a fun experience for sure.
In some GoCar, there is a GPS device which is connected to the audio. Hence, it is an audio-guided tour headed by the car. You need to drive according to the GPS directions spoken out by the GoCar’s audio. Whereas, in some GoCar, you will get a tab with directions in it. I personally feel that the tab one is better because the audio-guided car literally screams out!
Driving the GoCar is simply amazing though. It doesn’t catch speed too soon, making it easy to drive in traffic of Madrid. It definitely is an amazing experience if you are a couple or a group of friends traveling together. After traveling through the busy streets of Madrid, we took the GoCar towards the world famous Santiago Bernabéu stadium. The drive to the stadium from the city was incredible.
Time To Get Back
After spending some time around the stadium, we headed back to the GoCar Tours’ office. It was almost the sunset time. The best part about the GoCar’s office is that it is right opposite the most famous sunset point of Madrid – Temple of Debod. After returning the GoCar in the same condition, we collected our passports & bags and headed to the temple of Debod. The overall experience was driving a GoCar around Madrid was definitely a wonderful experience & highly recommended if you are visiting Madrid at any time.
Check out our complete GoCar Experience in this video
- GoCar Madrid’s Website
- Read more about GoCars on Wikipedia
Pictures by Awara Diaries
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