Spain's Majestic Landscapes Trekking Tour

The Zicasso travel agent and her team were fantastic to work with. Communication was prompt and detailed, and we felt very sure they would take great care of us. Our itinerary was well organized and appropriate for our family, including three children.

There were aspects of the trip that were unforgettable and amazing, and there are definitely some things we wish we had done differently. As we traveled to three countries, I will separate my comments for each.

While it may be easy to focus on the things we would have liked to be different or found to be a problem, overall, we had an amazing time and were very happy with our agent and her team. They took excellent care of us and tried very hard to give us a fantastic adventure.

In Morocco, we enjoyed our hotels very much and our excursions were generally excellent, with fantastic guides in Marrakech. The walking food-tasting tour was particularly memorable. The sidecar tour felt short, but it was fun. Starting with the walking tour was the right choice, but the children found it a little slow. We enjoyed walking through the market area. It felt like we were in a different world, which was the point of visiting Marrakech.

On the other hand, the local tour group responsible for us in Morocco caused us stress and things felt chaotic at times. Here are the details that explain this:

We were told to meet our guide for the food-tasting tour in the square, but the guide went to pick us up at the hotel. Our contact person from the tour company in Morocco did not respond to our text messages when the guide didn't appear at the pick-up location. I then called him and he contacted the guide. As a result, we waited 30 minutes in the square for the guide and the tour started late. In the other countries, we were given the guides’ contact information so we could contact them directly, but not in Morocco.

Our itinerary had us going to a different belly-dancing restaurant than the one booked for us. It was difficult to find the restaurant we were booked at and I couldn't show locals its name because our itinerary had the wrong one. Again, I had to call our local contact person to figure out where to go.

There was a holiday in Marrakech. For our transfer to the Agafay desert, we were given different times by different people. It did not seem like everyone was on the same page.

The tour to the Agafay desert was not what was in our itinerary. It was supposed to be eight to nine hours, but was only four-and-a-half hours. Part of this was due to the holiday and the Berber villages being closed. We were not informed in advance that the trip would be shorter and were not given alternative activities. There was a suggestion on the itinerary that we could visit a waterfall or do a hike. This was never offered by the driver. Instead, we were dropped off at the hotel early.

The camel ride was supposed to be at sunset. Instead, it was in the middle of the day in the hot desert sun. While still a great experience, it was not what we were expecting.

The airport in Marrakech was chaos. We almost missed our flight because of the long lines for passport checks. Two hours is not enough there.

Our plane tickets to Malaga from Marrakech, booked by the agency, included three tickets in the exit row. Because you have to be 16 years old or older to sit in the exit row, our two younger children had to sit by themselves.

Overall, our time in Spain was tremendous. The hotels were great and the activities even better. We loved pretty much everything we did and wished we had had more time in each location. Communication with our agent's team was tremendous.

While the hotel/apartment in Estepona was very nice, it was isolated from any village/town, requiring an Uber to get to most restaurants, etc. Because of this, we wished we had had a car or stayed somewhere within walking distance of the town.

Stops in Gibraltar, Benalauría, Granada, Estepona, and Nerja were all fantastic. We loved the canyoning, kayaking, and jetski adventures. We did wish we had had more time to explore the towns of Gibraltar and Granada, but felt a little rushed. The time in Benalauría felt intimate and special.

Sevilla was just incredible. While it was hot, we made the best of it with time at the hotel pool in the afternoons. We very much appreciated the nice touch of getting us front-row seats for the flamenco dancing. The food-tasting tour in Sevilla was not as good as the others we did. We only stopped at two restaurants, whereas in Morocco and Portugal, we stopped at many more. The truth is, we could have done this one without a guide, though he was very pleasant and friendly.

The trip to Jerez may not have been necessary, but on the other hand, our paella-making experience was incredible. Our guide in Jerez was so lovely. The Doñana national park was a nice place to visit on our way to Portugal. The jeep tour there was fun and informative.

We enjoyed being in Portugal, but this part of the trip may not have been the most well-organized for our family. The places were all good, but perhaps this should have been organized differently.

The resort in Sagres was beautiful and could have been relaxing. However, we were only there for one night. Seeing the cliffs at the corner of Europe was indeed memorable and they were beautiful. We also loved the local fish restaurant that was suggested for us. With that said, it was a lot of driving to get there, followed by a lot of driving the next day to get to Lisbon. We probably should have gone directly to the Lisbon area and bypassed Sagres.

The reason for this is that our time in Lisbon didn't include a stop in Sintra, which was a mistake. Fortunately, our guide in Lisbon offered to drive us to Sintra so we could visit for a couple of hours after our food-tasting tour in Lisbon. So we got to see it, but didn't have enough time. We were not particularly impressed with Lisbon and wished we had stayed in Sintra instead. Lisbon seemed less clean and interesting, at least the parts we got to see. Sintra seemed more magical and unique, though we were rushed there.

Our hotel in Lisbon was just OK. Then they emailed me saying we took a water bottle and charged us 15 euros. We didn't take the water bottle! The location of the hotel was just OK as well. With that said, our guide in Lisbon for the tasting tour and trip up the coast of Portugal to Porto was awesome.

Once in Porto, we visited the Douro Valley. Our guide for the day was great, but the tour was not as special as what we've heard from others or other tours we've taken to wine-making regions. We visited a large commercial vineyard. All of their wines can be purchased in the US. It is a huge operation. In Tuscany and Japan, we visited small, family-run vineyards, where the owners prepared us very special meals. In both cases, we were the only people there for the day and they paired their wine with the food. It was so much better.

We also thought the trip would include a boat ride, but ours did not. Perhaps that was a mistake on my part. The point is, this trip was disappointing, whereas we've heard from others that their Douro Valley trip was a highlight.

España es espectacular. 

La guia especialista es de primera  siempre estuvo muy atenta y dispuesta a ayudarnos. Este tipo de viaje es el que buscábamos donde hay tiempo para conocer pero también para relajarse  y disfrutar a nuestro ritmo. 

El no tener que estar preocupado por buscar un taxi, estacionar tu auto , si no que un chofer  buscándote en tu hotel  o el aeropuerto eso es lo máximo, llegar al hotel y tener todo organizado y listo con la habitación que pediste, salir de paseo a nuestro ritmo y a nuestro horario es algo que anhelábamos conseguir. 

 Durante  nuestros traslados el personal excelente, los guía en su mayoría también. Disfrutamos muchísimo en Segovia, Granada, Palmas de Mallorca, Valencia, Toledo, en Sevilla tuvimos el mejor tapas tour con un guía que sabía del tema. 

Solo espero llegue el día para volver a planificar otro tour con ustedes. 

Gracias por todo, 

Spain is amazing.

The tour specialist was always very attentive and willing to help us. This is the type of trip that we were looking for, a trip where we had time to discover places, as well as time to relax and enjoy the journey at our own pace.

Not having to worry about transportation or parking, but instead having a driver to pick you up at the hotel or the airport is the best thing ever. Getting to the hotel, and finding everything organized and ready as well as being able to explore the city at our own pace was something that we had been looking for.

The staff in charge of our transfers and our guides were excellent. We enjoyed a lot visiting Segovia, Granada, Palmas de Mallorca, Valencia, and Toledo. in Seville, we had the best tapas tour, and a very knowledgeable guide.

I can not wait for the day we get to plan another trip with you.

Thanks for everything.

Our trip to Spain for our family of four was a spectacular success primarily because of this travel team and our travel planner. The planner and her organization have four great strengths:

For me, the trip highlights were exploring the white villages of Andalucía like Benelauria, poking into some special shops in the Tangier marketplace, seeing paintings by Velasquez and Goya at El Prado, or Picasso’s Guernica, plus some excellent seafood restaurants. For our sons, the best was their two-day hike, Morocco, baking bread in Benelauria, the roast suckling pig in Ronda, and all the good coffee. My wife, for whom I primarily planned the trip, fell in love with the white villages, the Andalusian countryside, the king’s rooms in the Madrid palace, and the flamenco exhibition in Sevilla.

At one time or another, all four of us were communicating with our planner on an App. We felt like she was always with us and we were enthralled with the people and places we met and experienced. She and her cohorts were perfect guides that made our vacation so wonderful.

Our travel agency of Zicasso put together a fabulous trip and tours of Madrid, Cordoba, Seville, Ronda, and Granada. The trip and tours were wonderful. Our agent and her team of guides in each city did an excellent job. I am happy to recommend this travel, agent, her company, and Zicasso handcrafted travel.

It is now more than a week since Lillian and I returned from our wonderful trip to Spain. I wanted to tell you that the trip was fantastic and the responsiveness of your travel company throughout was amazing. If ever we had a question or needed some help, the team was always available. The WhatsApp group worked perfectly and I literally never had to wait more than five minutes to get a response. Let me discuss the different aspects of the trip.

First, the guides were uniformly excellent, some, of course, better than others. They were always on time and very knowledgeable of the subject matter, the places, and the history. We felt very comfortable with them and indeed felt so close to some of them that we invited them to visit us in Boston if they are ever in that part of the US. We maximized the touring opportunities and were able to get to just about everything that was on our list. They also shared some of their personal stories, which proved to be quite meaningful as we heard about their Jewish connections and their interest in the history of the Jews in Spain.

Second, the accommodations were very good. I would say the place we stayed at in Madrid was our least favorite. It was in a great location, but the room was very small and there were very few “surfaces” to put things down on. We were pleased that for breakfast, every hotel had gluten-free bread for us. All of the hotels did a good job on breakfast. The staff were very accommodating. The hotel room in Barcelona was a bit larger and more comfortable. The staff were also very accommodating. The last two hotels we stayed at were spectacular. The one in Seville was just so beautifully laid out and the room was so elegant and detail oriented. It’s too bad we were only there for one night. The other hotel was extraordinary. The location and room rivaled the previous hotel and the gardens were just incredible. Also, we were so close to the Alhambra. The views from the room and the lunch option outside on the terrace were just wonderful.

The drivers were excellent and always on time. They did a great job and we were never rushed getting to sites or taking our time there.

The development of the itinerary was a cooperative process and our agents were always available and willing to make changes if we expressed interest in doing something that was not planned (like having a walking tour in Barcelona on a Saturday afternoon).

The following are suggestions that could have improved the trip a bit. These are not meant to be criticisms. Rather, looking back, they might have been nice.

When we arrived in Madrid and went into our room for the first time, it would have been nice to have a welcome package waiting for us with some info on the area in which we were staying, the plans for the next day, and perhaps a bottle of wine. I had sort of expected something like that.

I think a guide for the Prado would have been useful. It was a little confusing finding our way around and a guide could have provided some commentary on the paintings there.

For us, it might have been useful to have a little background on the shops and stores worth visiting in Madrid and Barcelona, and make some time for that. (We didn’t ask for this, but now it seems it would have been useful.)

Since we have returned, we have continually sung the praises of the trip and the various features you provided. It was a trip in which there was no tension about finding places, getting to places, and moving from place to place. Everything was organized beautifully. In fact, a friend just told me that because of our recommendation, she has been in touch with Zicasso for a trip she and her husband are planning for September to Austria and Berlin.

Thanks again for all the work that was put in for this trip.