12 Day Spain Itineraries

Overall, we were very pleased with the service provided by our Spain and Portugal travel agent Senora Redondo. After outlining our preferences, she put together a very comprehensive and detailed itinerary and made all of the arrangements involved down to the last detail. The hotels were generally conveniently located and all were clean and provided efficient and attentive service. The Astoria in San Sebastian and the paradors in De Fuente de and Ribadeo were our favorites. In Santillana del Mar we would have chosen the parador outside the restoration since we prefer visiting real places not overrun by tourists. The other hotels were good overall, but we had great difficulty finding them. Directions from primary roads with good maps or a GPS in English would have been much appreciated. In both Lisbon and in Santiago del Compostella, our rooms were below street level, noisy and lacking privacy unless windows remained closed with curtains drawn. We found the room in the Hotel Inspira Marta cold and austere, like a gray and white concrete prison cell. In addition, the electronics were so complicated that we needed lessons to operate the lights. Senora Redondo arranged for three city tours. Our half-day city tour in Barcelona was disappointing and quite inefficient. The tour started late and our guide was equally disorganized. His explanation of the sites was cursory at best, and he spoke English rapidly and with a thick accent, which made him difficult to understand. Again we wasted hours visiting a restoration instead of authentic sites. We would have preferred an on/off city tour. On the following day we traveled with another company to Gerona and Figueres, which was far better, much more professional. Our guide was efficient, knowledgeable and well spoken. We had a similar positive experience on our Madrid city tour. Our favorite stops were Barcelona, Gerona, Figueras, San Sebastian, Debu, Bilbao, Comillas, Cudillero, Fuente de in Picos de Europa, Rebadeo, Lugo, Porto, Coimbre, Lisbon and Madrid. We visited other towns and cities, but ended up eliminating several of the suggested stops listed on our itinerary as the trip became too hectic partly because we spent so much time finding our way without good directions. Overall, we would give this Spain and Portugal travel agency and especially Senora Redondo a brava for a job well done and would recommend them to friends interested in traveling to Spain and Portugal. We loved our trip. We hope our comments will be helpful.

Our daughter Sophie had been studying abroad since January in Seville, Spain. We needed to plan a family trip to see where she was living and enjoy her experiences there. We live in Minneapolis, Minnesota and had no idea where to even begin with our adventures in Spain!  So, I went online and through many reviews of travel agencies, I found Zicasso to have great reviews. Once we decided on a really good fit with Rosa from the travel agency who teams up with Zicasso for the region you are visiting. We flew out to join our daughter mid-May. ( we booked everything with our Guide Rosa about 6.5 months ahead of time) She sent us an App called UnMapped and we had full itinerary, contact names, phone numbers of drivers, tour guides, our main contact email and text through What's App. So I never felt lost or misguided. They took care of us from the moment we got off the airplane in Madrid, to a speed train to Seville, daily tours and guides and then finally our driver to pick us up and get us to the Malaga airport.  With 6 people in our party, this made things so easy so we could simply enjoy our time together on a family vacation in Spain. We had an awesome journey to the southern beauty of Spain's Andalucia region. Cities include Seville, Ronda, Mijas, Malaga, Marbella, Granada & a layover in Portugal's Lisbon. We used Zicasso - a travel agency with Rosa. I highly recommend this company. So many ways we enjoyed the vibe of Spain- from guided walking city tours, Tapas & Flamenco, wine tasting at a Vineyard ( the Flamenco museum and show was absolutely stunning!) A visit to the moorish cultural palace & fortress Alhambra in Granada, variety of cathedrals, Picasso museum, the Royal Alcazar Castle in Seville and a winery visit to Chinchilla in the rolling hills of Ronda. Sophia our daughter even surprised us with a special boat cruise on the Guadalquivir River in Seville with a champagne toast! Our feet are tired and hearts are full! What an adventure! Don't stumble around when you take a trip- hire a Guide to do it right! Bravo to Rosa and her entire team that Guided us- drivers included- were phenomenal!!!  5 plus Stars!!! 

We just returned from a wonderful 2-week trip to Spain with emphasis on Barcelona, Basque Country and Madrid. The travel agent, Rosa, was an absolute gem during the planning stage, and provided thoughtful guidance and immediate responses to any questions regarding our ambitious itinerary.  Accommodations in Barcelona, San Sebastian, Bilbao and Madrid were top-notch, in addition to being fun and unique. All included sumptuous breakfasts, and were centrally-located to attractions, dining and activities - we walked everywhere! Transportation between cities (car and train) was comfortable and efficient. Our trip was highlighted by our visit to the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao - we cannot recommend it enough. Sightseeing tours in all locations were detailed and informative, and featured pleasant and knowledgeable local guides for our 1/2-day and full-day trips. We highly recommend this travel company for any Spain-bound travelers!

Wow, what a trip! My mother and I had been talking about seeing Portugal and Spain for many years but with Covid and children on the way, my wife and I could not commit to a good time to travel. We endeavored to travel shortly after the birth of our third child. My parents, my wife and I, and our six week old daughter travelled to Spain and Portugal with the assistance of this travel company. You would think a six week old provides some large obstacles to international travel but thanks largely due to our travel agency, we had nothing but ease and comfort throughout our journey. Our travel company anticipated all issues that we might have and was prepared to make adjustments as needed during our 11 night trip to Spain and Portugal. Everything was seamless, no waiting around or late tours. Our drivers and guides were all professionals who took extra effort to ensure we had time to change the baby or prepare her food as needed. And, if we needed to make any alterations to our plans or had questions about our tour, our travel agency provided a Whatsapp number that I simply needed texted for a quick reply.Firstly, we loved the itinerary. We saw everything that we felt we needed to see in our four cities. In each of them, we had at least one short tour to see the city itself and a longer tour where we ventured out to see a specific site outside the city proper. Each of the recommended sites were special in their own way and certainly worth the extra travel time to get to explore them, the Douro Valley north of Porto, Sintra Castle on the coast of Lisbon, Cordoba outside Seville, and Toledo to the south west of Madrid. There was a lot of moving on this trip but that is to be expected when traveling with an itinerary (a newborn to boot) and not going to a relaxing island.Besides our travel company planning the perfect trip, we had three other issues that worked out in our favor on this vacation. We were fortunate to have the world's easiest baby for one. We also chose to use the Doona stroller (a baby car seat and stroller in one) that worked perfectly for our tours and car rides as well as one way on the plane ride home!! The third was that all of our tour guides, drivers, and even the countries of Spain/Portugal were extremely helpful for those traveling with a small child. We were given extra assistance in the airports, on tours in the rain, and at all of our hotels to make traveling with a baby simple and painless.