Best Relaxing Spain Vacation: Wine, Yoga, Thermal Pools, and More

Our trip itinerary was titled “Memorable Trip to Spain” by our travel company representative Ana.  Her planning and coordination of our excursions, car rental, hotels and some meals were flawless.  Everything was planned perfectly and went like clockwork.  The excursion guides were local to the area and were extremely knowledgeable about the history, customs, and interesting facts of the area we were in.   Being local allowed us to see sites far beyond the normal tourists.  For example, at a winery in St. Emilion, France we were able to have a private tour in one of the oldest wineries in the area with the owner of the vineyard.  After the tour he also showed us through his house. 

Ana and her team were able to answer questions we had immediately.  We questioned how to drop the rental car off in Barcelona and not only did they send directions, but they also sent a picture of the facility.  While driving from San Sebastian to Alquezar we asked for lunch stop recommendations and they directed us to a beautiful location on a lake for lunch, something we would have never found on our own.

After our initial contact with Ana, we emailed and talked on the phone.  We established a budget, a rough itinerary of stops, a rough duration, and the class of hotels we wanted.  From there Ana put together a list of excursions at each stop and a list of 3 or 4 hotels that we could choose from.  Once everything was decided on, she also gave us a list of recommended restaurants we could review and make reservations for our evening meals that were on our account.   Finally, about a week before our trip she called to go over the itinerary and answer any questions we had.  The entire process was simple and easy thanks to Ana and her team.

Finally, if you have not already noticed, we had a fantastic and memorable time on out trip to France and Spain.  Thank you again for putting this together for us.

I would like to start by saying that this was the best travel experience I have ever had, which is an amazing accomplishment given the short notice (booked ~1 mo prior) and a pregnant wife and barely ambulatory 83 year old wife. My agent was flexible and accommodating and created a varied, interesting trip that all of us enjoyed. The impetus for trip was for my wife's grandmother to see Spain before she was too frail or immobile to do so. And what better time than while our soon to be baby boy is still incubating.

Our trip began in Barcelona. Upon arrival, it became clear how pampered we were as we were picked up with our private driver in a Mercedes SUV arranged by our agent. And this turned out to be true throughout trip as we had transportation set up throughout entire trip along with privately guided tours...and the price was better than comparison trips either through Zicasso or independent. Our first full day was spent at Gaudi's Casa Battlö and the Barri Gotic. Our private tour guide was phenomenal. I've never had a private you before, but it was personal, interesting and she pointed out little details that were so interesting. I found a lot of tourists leaning towards us to catch her discussions on art, architecture or history. She was also accommodating, taking taxis or using wheelchairs for grandma where appropriate.

The next day was a longer day that included private guided tours of Sagrada Familia and Picasso museum. Again this was a private guided tour. Phenomenal!

The third day was a trip through another tour company, setup by our agent, to see Salvador Dali's museum in Figueras and his hometown of Cadaques. It was clear how good our travel company's guides were compared to this guide. Although good, she was not as fluent in Spanish and her recommendations weren't as spot on. Despite this, we had a great time, especially because we are a phenomenal lunch at traditional Catalan restaurant, Casa Anita, in Cadaques.

The next morning, we explored La Bocqueria with a cooking class, set up by our agent, based on my request. This was another fun and very informative session. Didn't hurt that this was best paella I've ever had!

The next portion of our trip was Madrid. Here we had privately guided tours of Real Pallacio, the Prado and tapas experience. Again, the guide was phenomenal!

The final day was in Toledo with another very good private tour. This included tours of the city and the amazing cathedral. She tailored it to show us the art within the cathedral which I was interested in.

Lodging: 

-Hotel in Barcelona was large suite with two rooms. Comfortable and great location with awesome and helpful staff.

- Hotel in Madrid was a great location with an amazing breakfast (included), but triple rooms were small and cramped, but nice.

Thank you to our agent and her team, the trip they planned for our group of six longtime Friends was fabulous. We appreciated your responsiveness in the planning phase and the ultimate refinement of the agenda to fit in the variety of activities and some unscheduled time was perfect.  We chose your company due to a slightly different recommendation to visit Alquezar between our planned cities. That was awesome and the canyoning ended up being one of everyone's favorite activities!   The guides in the three cities were all different and superb relative to other tours we have booked ourselves on past trips. Thank you to our guides in Madrid, the Alquezar, and Barcelona. Their deep knowledge of the area and history and their passion for the work was evident.  Our connection with them made the tours really special.  Our driver in Madrid was also great and helped us get last minute Flamenco tickets when we decided we should not have passed on your recommendation.  I also thank you for your quick responses to our pre-trip inquiries and importantly taking care of the logistics problem we created for ourself during the trip with souvenir purchase when we forgot to mention we were traveling by train.  The goods were delivered to us at our next location as advertised.  Everything went perfectly smoothly as planned and your suggestions and access to awesome service providers made the trip better than anything we would have done on our own.  We will definitely be back to plan the southern Spain trip in the future.   Thank you.  Barb and friends! 

My husband and I spent 8 days in Spain in which we traveled to 3 different cities: Madrid, Mallorca and Barcelona. Our agent at this Spain travel company helped put together the perfect itinerary for us. We corresponded for a few weeks and she was patient, responsive and made sure we were satisfied with the itinerary as well as the price. The tours that we had in each city were just what we were looking for. All of our hotel accommodations were  centrally located in the cities we were staying in so it made it easy to walk most places and explore on our own.  We went on two private guided tours, one in Madrid and one in Barcelona and both were great! The tour guides were very informative on not only the city and culture but gave awesome recommendations for restaurants to try or shopping, etc. All of tour guides were friendly, fun and made our experience of each city even better. We enjoyed every aspect of our trip!

I really don't know where to start or what to say about my experience with you. You were incredible, you delivered everything I asked for ,and expected and a whole lot more.

You covered every little detail, every guide we had in every city we visited were professional, knowledgeable, courteous, attentive, considerate to me and to my wife.

Every hotel was a true five stars, from Barcelona, Madrid, Córdoba, Granada and lets not forget Alquezar in Aragon region, and when I asked our guide for two days to show me a typical small town away from tourists, he delivered in a way that we will always remember and cherish the experience for ever, he took excellent care of us, he walked us to restaurant  set us up and left us in good hands with people that don't speak a word of English and we don't  speak Spanish but yet they treated us with outmost respect. Thank you for an outstanding job.

The olive oil mill our agent organized a private tour for us was award winning mill, they were waiting for us with welcoming sign with my family name on it, they showed us and explained to us the entire process from picking up olive to bottling olive oil, and they have award wining oil that tasted awesome.

Lastly, the dinner that our agent arranged for us in Granada with a view of Alhambra Palace was a million dollar view and a five stars menu that she has selected for us, our names were on their VIP list and they treated us like loyalties.

Our agent and the rest of your team thank you for an incredible vacation that my wife and I will always remember.

On behalf of my wife and I, we thank you for the memories.

Nabil A

This was an elite tour of many locations in Spain. It was a nice touch to have a Mercedes limousine service to transport us between airports or train stations and hotels.

The boutique hotels were comfortable and located within walking distance of major tourist attractions and the best old-town restaurants. We received a coveted invitation to a family booth at the Seville spring fair, then a front-row view of the bullfight, and, later, flamenco dancing. The private guides were very knowledgeable of the sites, took us to the important things to see, and photographed us for lasting memories. Spain is renowned for its fine cuisine, and we were taken to the best tapas/pintxos bars and very delighted to experience delectable Michelin-rated restaurants.

Overall, this was an exceptional experience organized by Zicasso’s very professional tour agency.