Best of Spain Tour: Barcelona, Andalusia & Madrid

We had an amazing 10 day trip to Madrid, Cordoba, Sevilla, and Granada arranged by this Spain travel agency!  Our travel agent helped me plan our customized itinerary, giving great suggestions for hotels, restaurants and things to do in each city.  All arrangements and tours were flawless!  We had several private tours and our guides were knowedgable and extremely enjoyable to spend time with...our guides in Sevilla and in Granada were just wonderful!

I would highly recommend this travel agency to anyone!

Overall our travel agents did a wonderful job of planning our trip through Barcelona, Granada, Cordoba, Seville and Madrid.  Hotels were centrally located and close to major attractions.  Suggested activities for our family of 4 allowed enough time to see major attractions and also have a relaxing vacation.  It was clear that our agent and his team cared about our comfort.  They followed up regularly before and during our travel to ensure that everything was going per plan.  I appreciated the easy of reservation as well.

Our travel planner and her team planned a fantastic 10 day trip for my wife and I.  We went through Seville, Cordoba, Granada, and Barcelona, and had a great experience in every city.  We highly recommend them to anyone planning a trip to Spain!

The travel company was easy to work with during the planning process.  Our planner did a great job of listening to what types of things we wanted to see and do, and then putting together an itinerary that matched our interests.  She definitely recommended fun places and activities that we never would have found on our own.  Early on she provided multiple options to help us understand what was possible, and then let us decide the details of which activities we wanted to do and how we wanted to balance having a set schedule versus having more free time.  She was very responsive throughout, making it easy to refine the itinerary before locking on our plans.  It very much felt like she was helping us design "our" trip, rather than selling us a pre-planned agenda.  

During the trip, everything went off without a hitch.  The guides for our private tours were consistently great, and other activities she booked for us were all as good as advertised.  The hotels she booked us in were all great and matched what we expected.  Our travel planner continually checked in with us during the trip to make sure we were getting to cities as scheduled and that everything was going well.  I always felt that she was available if anything had gone wrong.  Finally, the recommendations that our travel company provided for each city of restaurants/bars to try, and of things to do in our free time, were all good.  We used their recommendations almost exclusively while exploring each city on our own.   

Words can't explain just how important this trip was for my 90-year-old Uncle.  In 1944, he was a  U.S. soldier in Germany, and during that time, he had one week's leave from the Army.  He decided to visit Spain for that week, and he absolutely fell in love with the country.  He promised himself that one day he'd return.   Nearly 75 years later, I had the privilege of helping him make that dream come true.  However, I could never have made that trip as smooth and absolutely enjoyable and free of all stress that it was if it weren't for our travel planner and her associates at the travel agency.  They were careful and thoughtful in their assessment of what and how we needed to travel the country, given my Uncle's age.   

The travel agency asked all the right questions, then created an amazing itinerary that encompassed all the cities and towns we wanted to experience without rushing from one place to another.  My Uncle did not want to be herded on a bus tour, nor did he want to sit on a bus with lots of other tourists and not be able to understand the tour guide.  He wanted private tours of major sites in each of the towns we visited and he wanted to be able to have resting time each day.  Additionally, he wanted four-star accommodations, rather than whatever accommodations a group tour was providing. 

Our travel planner and her team created the most incredible vacation for my Uncle, that included professional, patient, and incredibly knowledgeable tour guides who were also personable and fun-loving people.   They all spoke excellent English besides their native Spanish, and had tickets to the most popular sites, bypassing huge long lines to get us into the facilities ahead of everyone.  They also provided wheelchair accommodations and made sure my Uncle had access to bathroom facilities when necessary.   I made sure each private tour guide received a generous tip for their wonderful services. 

Additionally, I can't say enough about the accommodations that we had along the way.  They were all four to five star that all included an AMAZING delicious breakfast buffet each day.  I can still taste the wonderful cheeses, fruit, huevos, ham, chocolate croissants and perfect cappuccinos!  The presentation of each breakfast was outstanding! 

We first visited Barcelona and had a two bedroom apartment that was absolutely perfect and located near food, fun and transportation. The staff was friendly and amazing, and everyone spoke English.   The apartment was five star all the way!  We had a wonderful tour with our guide where we got first class treatment, bypassing the long lines for the Templo Expiatorio de la Sagrada Familia, which was designed by famous architect Antonio Gaudi. Then she took us to the Old City of Barcelona where we walked on the same streets built by Romans.  My Uncle is still talking about that experience!  

The next day, we boarded a bus with a small group of travelers to see Monseratte,  a Benedictine monk mountain retreat.  It was one of our highlights of the entire trip, and was quite emotional for my Uncle.  The views from Monseratte are absolutely breathtaking and I was able to get some fantastic photographs from the top of the mountain.  Absolutely recommend this day trip.  After we left Monseratte, we enjoyed an afternoon of wine tasting and tapas at a family vineyard with our small group of about ten travelers.  We had so much fun and we all bonded as a group.  Such a wonderful way to end our day.

From Barcelona, we were flown to Granada, where we stayed in another fantastic five-star hotel adorned with Marble and decorative rod iron throughout the facility.  It was also in the heart of the town and easy access to shopping and sites.  We took a taxi up the mountain to the La Hambra where we met our next tour guide who gave us a wonderful tour of the city within a city.  What a site to see and such history to learn!   Later in the day, when we returned to Granada, we walked the city and shopped- lots of great shopping- and had a wonderful dinner at an outside cafe.  This is definitely a trendy, upscale shopping area.

Next, our travel agency arranged for a private driver to take us from Granada to Seville because the train was inoperable and we would have had to take a bus for part of the nearly three-hour trip to Seville.  Our private ride was smooth, relaxing and our driver was very personable.  He also had a very clean, comfortable car.  I highly recommend this mode of transportation!

Once in Seville, we checked into our hotel- yet, another spectacular accommodation- including a rooftop pool and bar that overlooked the entire city of Seville.  The rooms are spotless and I absolutely love the bathrooms, equipped with glass showers, large overhead showerheads and excellent craftsmanship.  Our evening Tapas and wine tour with our guide was so memorable.  She took us for a walk through her neighbourhood of narrow cobblestone streets and rod iron balconies to see various historical sites such as a Music museum and conservatory, an ancient breathtaking Cathedral that was still operational, and the town plaza where neighbours would meet and children would play.  The area was so quaint, we didn't want to leave.  Moreso, our guide had arranged for us to go from one Tapas bar to another in the neighbourhood- never waiting in any lines- and tasting the most exquisite Tapas and wine/beer we'd ever had on the trip!  She paid all expenses and ordered the food and drink throughout the night. 

Sadly, we had to leave Seville and take the highspeed train to Madrid, where we stayed for several days in an absolutely beautiful hotel on Jorge Juan Avenue.  Newly renovated with an old European flair of gorgeous white marble everywhere, beautifully decorated lobby and bar, a lower-level cellar that was renovated into this amazing kitchen, breakfast buffet with old brick and wood decor, including an old iron stove, and central to the whole hotel was a gorgeous rod iron cage-elevator that Europe is so well-known for.   Can't speak highly enough of this hotel!

Madrid is a very large city and quite majestic.  They have a large central park in the midst of the city and it's filled with people walking their dogs, scooters, joggers, and kayakers surrounding a beautiful small lake adorned with marble monuments.  We really enjoyed eating ice cream and walking in this park, and also saw a lovely art exhibit while there.  Our second day in Madrid included a 25-minute train ride to Toledo, where we met our tour guide who showed us all over this quaint historical town.  She grew up in Toledo and knew everyone, so we got private tours of little businesses that would make gold jewelry by hand, as well as a six-generation business that handcrafted amazing pottery with 24K gold inlay.  The town is also known for its steel and sword making.  We saw amazing swords and gold- lots of gold.  Absolutely a must for gifts of gold or steel products at amazingly low prices.   We truly loved the Cathedrals and narrow winding cobblestone streets of Toledo.  It's a small town with a rich religious history of various religious backgrounds. Now I know where "Holy Toledo!" came from! 

Overall, the trip was a life changer.  My Uncle shed a tear when we had to leave because he enjoyed this trip more than any other place he's ever visited in his life.  At 90 years old, he said he is now complete.  To our travel planner and everyone at this company, I can't thank you enough for providing such a memorable gift for an old man who wanted nothing more than to have one last trip to a beautiful country he has never forgotten.  Muchas gracias!

This travel agency put together an amazing itinerary for a week in Spain for our family. We planned this trip without a lot of lead time and our travel agency was quick to respond and made sure our needs, and the needs of our 2 year-old were taken care of. They booked wonderful centrally located boutique hotels in each of the cities we visited - Seville, Cordoba & Granada. Our travel agency thought of everything including a fabulous guide for a walking tour of Cordoba. We forgot our stroller at the hotel in Seville and only realized it when we were already on the way to Cordoba, but our agency contacted the hotel for us and made sure that our stroller was waiting for us at the hotel in Granada when we arrived.

We were looking for a relaxing week to explore Andalucia, and that is exactly what we had.

Our Spain travel agency listened carefully to our interests and planned a perfect mix of urban locations rich in history and culture, along with visits to national parks that allowed for hiking and breathtaking vistas.  Hotels were all charming and gracious.  She provided guides for cities (Granada, Cordoba, and Seville) who were extremely knowledgeable about the history and art of these unique locations.  All spoke excellent English and lived locally.  They not only shared their knowledge, but also their enthusiasm for the region, which made our visit that much more fun and memorable. 

Although we typically plan our own vacations, it was very fortunate that Zicasso pointed us toward this agent for this trip.  We would never have located these unique settings or been able to plan this detailed itinerary.  Her extensive knowledge of the area and her dedication to planning a very personal trip were the keys to making this adventure so special.