Spain in September: Quintessential 8-Day Spanish Tour

We visited Madrid, Toledo, San Sebastián, Bayonne, Biarritz, Saint-Jean-de-Luz, Hondarribia, La Rioja, Barcelona, Montserrat, and the Penedes (Cava) region.

We loved our private guides, private wine tastings, and day trips outside of the big cities.

We had a great eight-day trip to Madrid, planned by Zicasso's tour partners. They worked with me every step of the way to update the itinerary multiple times throughout the planning process and also helped provide great attraction, eatery, and transport recommendations.

When we arrived in Spain, we felt we were in good hands the entire time. Every driver and tour guide was on time, responsive, friendly, and knowledgeable! The agency even surprised us with a few gifts throughout our trip to help us celebrate our seven-year anniversary! I would definitely use them again!

Our Zicasso travel specialist was phenomenal. She understood exactly how we travel and what we wanted to do, and planned a 12-day trip to Mallorca and San Sebastián that was better than we even imagined. She was always responsive before and throughout the trip. All of the tour guides and drivers were kind, knowledgeable, and timely. Our travel company delivers exceptional first-rate service and we would highly recommend them.

Zicasso's travel company did a wonderful job planning our trip. They were helpful and patient with me while planning our Spain trip. They truly listened to what we wanted in a trip and respected our budget.

All the tours we took were wonderful, with personable guides, and our drivers for transportation were also great. Everyone was on time, always. We had a flight delay leaving the US, resulting in missing an entire day in Barcelona. The agency could not have been better about getting transportation and tours moved, and making adjustments for us. We were still able to take all of our tours despite missing a day.

Also, while in Spain, our flight from San Sebastián to Madrid was canceled. The agency let us know right away and quickly made other arrangements. I could not have been happier with how they dealt with travel issues, especially when the issues we had were due to flights and not something they had booked for us. I was truly able to relax and have fun knowing that the agents at the travel company would handle any issues we faced.

I absolutely would recommend this company and happily use them again if I ever travel to areas they cover.

My husband and I returned from a 19-day trip to Spain and Portugal on September 22nd and would highly recommend our travel agency, arranged through Zicasso Travel.

Our travel agent customized a trip, taking into account our budget and incorporating visits to Barcelona, Madrid, Toledo, Málaga, Granada, Seville, and Ronda in Spain, and the Algarve coast, Évora, and Lisbon in Portugal.

We easily communicated via emails, phone calls and zoom, and after four drafts we agreed to a final itinerary that met out interests, along with his excellent recommendations. Our agent was always gracious and understanding to the changes we wanted to make. He also included some down time on a few half days of tours to do some sightseeing on our own along with his recommendations.

Having planned two trips abroad ourselves in the past, and being older, it was so reassuring to have a competent and knowledgeable travel agent to take care of all train reservations, tickets, hotels, private drivers and tour guides. It was also reassuring to know if we encountered any problem during the course of our trip we could contact someone at a 24/7 emergency number. The train transportation arranged between a few cities went smoothly in the comfort of first class, our private drivers were pleasant, professional and informative and our individual tour guides that were arranged to meet us were prompt and so knowledgeable which made each tour all the more memorable. Lastly, our agent was able to provide the resources for us to meet some personal needs at each hotel where we stayed.

We were very happy to be matched with Zicasso’s travel consultant to arrange our travel plans. His expertise and thoughtfulness were obvious through every detail, and his suggestions proved to be the right ones in nearly every case. The transfers made the travel stress-free and smooth. The drivers were professional and most engaging, with only one slight mix-up on the location when departing Mallorca, but this caused no issue.

We returned to Zicasso because of our wonderful experience they arranged for our trip to Italy a few years ago, and this experience was equally fantastic. It was very assuring for my wife and I to receive the notices and updates from our travel consultant while our travel was in progress. He was prompt and detailed from start to finish. My wife speaks Spanish very well and loved the opportunity to interact and rebuild her vocabulary.

All hotels selected were excellent. The service quality was a standout at the hotel on Plaza de las Cortes in Madrid and the resort on Carrer de les Molins in Mallorca, in particular. The accommodation in Granada was beautiful, although just for feedback, the room location was not so good, having a full window wall at nearly ground level looking at people at a cafe — which meant keeping the blackout drapes pulled the entire time — and, consequently, a little noisy. That is just meant as a note if you book this hotel in the future. The lower levels at the back of the hotel should be avoided. That probably had more to do with what was available at check-in time, but just a note.

As we mentioned to our travel consultant during the trip, all four private tour guides we had were wonderful and very knowledgeable. The day trip to Toledo was a standout, as was the Alhambra in Granada. The horse show at the Spanish riding school fulfilled my wife's wish over many years and it didn't disappoint. Our guide in Granada stayed with us nearly an hour beyond her time (even though we mentioned the time to her). She replied that she enjoyed spending time with those who appreciated her city – and we did. We enjoyed her historical perspective very much and she seemed to enjoy it too. Our other guides were all terrific and it was evident they all enjoy their work and are proud of their cities and heritage.

We loved the horseback riding at the ranch with our guide in Mallorca. The staff there went above and beyond when my wife lost a bracelet on the trail (unknown where or when). We were nearly back at the hotel when we got a call that one of their staff had found the bracelet. The manager offered and dropped off the bracelet at the hotel that night on her way home, before we left for Barcelona. Great people!

The crowning point was ending our travel at the Sagrada Família at sunset — awe-inspiring! We really don't have any complaints or things we would change. There is much we would add, however, had we had more time (and money).

Thank you, Zicasso, and Zicasso’s travel company, for helping make a great memory for my wife and me.