Kimkim Trip Reviews for Spain

WOW - what a trip. Nine family members ranging from 17 to 85 traveling to 5 of the 8 Canary Islands. First off, the itinerary had something for everyone. We felt the process of arranging the trip was very easy, even with us a half a world away in the US. Then Covid hit and we had to push the the trip a year. Gilles was very helpful taking our deposit from a year ago and working with all the Hotels to ensure we didn't lose it. Then once we arrived to the island we were assigned a guide for the week. His name was Eden and he rocked. Eden was tasked with managing everything, from touring, logistics, arranging our meals, and just dealing with 9 type A Americans that all had our own options and needs. I have traveled all over the world, and Eden was by far the best guide (and now I call friend) I have ever had the pleasure meeting or working with. He went above and beyond. He even spent an entire Ferry ride with my 24 year old daughter while she was sea sick. He held ice on her neck and never left her alone! Amazing is just one of many words I would use. Our trip was awesome, Eden ensured that and really cared about everything. If you go (and you should), request Eden - he made our trip a 5 star adventure.

Sam and his crew did a bang up job on our last minute trip. All the accommodations and arrangements were top notch. They even helped us get fast PCR test appointments on the weekend for our onward travel. A great time for our family!

Words can't express our gratitude and sheer joy we experienced using KimKim, but most important part was having Sam Lister aka our guardian angel tailormade our 14 Days of Northern Spain into reality!

Sam put together a trip of lifetime discovering Northern Spain from Santiago de Compostela, Cangas de Onis, Bilbao, LaGuardia and San Sebastian. Every aspect of our trip was planned to perfection to experience each region to the max.

My sister and I had private transport throughout our trip, and had dedicated tour guides in each city to ensure we immerse ourselves with the local cuisine, learn the history behind customs, and enjoy the most beautiful vistas while hiking Pico de Europa or San Sebastian.

Our trip started in Santiago de Compestela where we stayed at Parador de Santiago a five star renovated 15th Century Building right next to Cathedral of Santiago. During our stay we saw a few pilgrims finish there trip. We had a lovely tour guide named Eva who gave us a private walking tour of Santiago. We were also fortunate to be able to see the renovations that had been completed in the entry to Cathedral. Another day we went on a day trip to Ribeira Sacra with a boat ride and winery visit.

On our private transport to Cangas de Onis we stopped at a lovely seaside village Cudillero, and had lunch at Casa Julio where they bring the fish for you to pick what's been caught that day. Food was amazing and the wine divine.

We stayed at Hotel Parador de Cangas de Onis another renovated building that used to be San Pedro de Villanueva Monastery. Our guide Jose Miguel took us to Picos de Europa a majestic view all around, and to enjoy a stroll along the shores. We also visited a cider brewery and enjoyed the lovely village of Cabrales.

Our next stop was Bilbao where our private driver took us to lunch at a lovely coastal village of Castro Urdiales at a restaurant named Asador del Puerto (we recommend ordering the fish of the day). We stayed at Hotel Vincci Consulado de Bilbao, which overlooks the Guggenheim Museum and the river. Our tour guide Susana took us on a private tour of Bilbao, and the most scrumptious Pintxos. Her insight into the city culture, history and hot spots were very insightful, plus we really enjoyed her company and asked her to join our sisters trip! We also visited the Guggenheim, and enjoyed the local stores and antique jewelry shops around the city.

Our next stop was Laguardia which is home to more bodegas then people! We stayed at the renovated historic palace Hospederia De Los Parajes. We were so lucky to be in time for the celebration of San Sebastian. We got to see the local wear their traditional gowns, and be part of the celebration. Also, at midnight they had fireworks show outside the castle fortress. Our local guide Marina was the most amazing person, and expert on local wines. We had a private tours of various vineyards in La Rioja region. We also enjoyed a delicious local meal of lamb chops with great wine to wash it down.

Our final stop was San Sebastian. We stayed at Hotel de Londres which is ideally located right on the beach front of San Sebastian. We had our local guide Iaeaki take us to city center, and old part as well to enjoy best pintxos in town, paired with the best Spanish wines and drinks. We also did a private hiking tour along the Basque coastline looking down Bay of Biscay. Trust me after all the amazing food, wines and drinks we had on our trip we needed the exercise!

Our last night was spent in Madrid at the Gran Hotel Ingles. Great hotel within walking distance to Prado Museum, Buen Retiro Park, and shops. I highly recommend eating at Dis Tinto food is out of the world!

Throughout our entire trip Sam made sure that we had a wonderful experience, and all our travels went without a hitch. Sam even made sure when AA changed their policy for coming back to the USA, he scheduled our COVID-19 test for us. Everything Sam planned was perfection.

It was my first trip out of the US and my bf’s first time to Spain. Sam did an amazing job with all our bookings! He was excellent in picking the best hotels& activities within our budget. He didn’t try to oversell. Our hotels had great views of the cathedrals in the gothic district/Bacelona and sea views in costa brava. The activities arranged really made our experience memorable. Sam was available throughout our trip for any questions. I was impressed with the service during booking and throughout our trip. Sam took almost all the stress out of traveling to a new country for us. We will use kimkim on our next trip!

Every aspect of the trip that Patricia planned for us was flawless. The guides and drivers, particularly Miguel, Daniel, and Inma were so knowledgeable and concerned with our experience and comfort. I have travelled extensively in Europe, individually, as the leader of student groups, and as part of a travel group, and I can say unequivocally that this was the best trip I have taken. I loved meeting Patricia and I especially thank her for her terrific work.

Our trip to Spain, planned by Patricia of Your Trip to Spain, was perfect in every way. Every place we visited was memorable: Madrid, Toledo, Seville, Cordoba, Ronda, Granada and finally Barcelona. All of the hotels we stayed in were centrally located as we requested, just steps away from main attractions. In Madrid, we were so close to the Plaza Mayor. In Seville and Granada, very close to the cathedrals and historic areas. Every driver was on time, and all the guides were exceptional: Carmen in Madrid, Inma in Toledo, Enrique in Seville, Laura in Cordoba, Daniel in Granada, Mar in Barcelona. Special mention of our driver/guide Miguel. We spent two days with him in Seville and our day driving to Granada. He went out of his way to show us a small mountain village and a castle off the beaten track. His suggestions for lunch were perfect, and we really enjoyed his company. We learned so much about Spanish history, art and culture. I give this tour a 5 star rating and highly recommend Patricia.

We had a wonderful trip to Spain. Ramon listened to our interests and created an outstanding itinerary! Ramon checked in with us daily, inquiring about our travel and providing us with the names of our guides and a phone number in case we needed. In Madrid (Pablo), Toledo (Almudena), Cordoba (Joaquin), Sevilla (Elena), and Malaga( Julian) we learned about Spain's rich history from our knowledgable guides with a passion for Spain. Almudena surprised us with a visit to her beautiful home where we were greeted with hot tea and an extravagant table of baked goods and Marzipan. Our tour guides were personable, considerate and accommodating to our needs. Ramon listened and was sensitive to my needs by having our guides provide transportation when the extent of the walking would be too much. Helio, our driver to Malaga , was very kind and professional. The hotel accommodations were luxurious and all in ideal locations with beautiful views. Our room in Cordoba had the original mosaic ceiling. We feel very fortunate to have experienced Spain through the eyes of people who love their country! We loved experiencing the culture, history, and sights of Spain. Some highlights included meandering through the gardens, touching the stone that has withstood time, learning about the religious and Jewish history of Spain, the cooking class, markets, museums in Madrid, listening to a group singing and playing guitar in the street, wandering the narrow streets of Toledo and sampling the tapas, wine, churros with chocolate, and ice cream. An experience of a lifetime that we will always hold dear. A special thank you to Ramon and kudos to kimkim!

It was less than a month away when we finally decided on Andalusia, Spain as the destination for our family trip during Christmas and New Year 2019. Being last minute and high traffic period, I turned to kimkim for help in connecting with our local Spain travel specialist Angela for her expert advice. She was fantastic in helping to reshape our itinerary based on understanding of our hopes and needs as well as logistic challenges of traveling among various cities sometimes during public holidays. Paloma and Samuel were also very helpful during our stay in Seville during new year eve and New Years day. Our best guide by far was Victor in Malaga during our first stop. Malaga also turned out to be our favourite stop as a family which included visits to Frigiliana and Nerja. Such picturesque seaside towns! Returning to Granada/Alhambra was amazing, as well as walking through the major sights and city of Seville. Cordoba was inspiring as a first time visitor but regretfully we didn't have enough time there. Jerez's visit was a breath of fresh air from the monuments with equestrian school and Sherry tasting. Ronda was definitely worth the trip over and Marbella was such a relaxing town to end our amazingly colourful trip. Great introduction to the fascinating richness of culture and history, art and architecture of southern Andalusian Spain for our family. All thanks to Angela and Carameltrail!

James and Rocio were always on top of everything. Tour was well thought out and we had a great time. Andalusia Region is so beautiful, we will be back for sure.
Local hotels and guides were also amazing, we couldn't ask for more.

Highly recommend this trip and also its crew.

Palomares Family

We had a wonderful experience using KimKim and Laura as or local guide/planner. This was a last minute trip for us and all was planned within a month of the trip. I was very impressed with the organization and support of the planning process and the local providers. We loved our guides...Jose in Madrid, Victor in Seville, Elana in Cordoba and Salome in Toledo. All were knowledgable, energetic, passionate about their cities and a pleasure to spend time with. We also loved our boat cruise on the river in Seville!

This was a visit to various Canary Islands over eight days and it was incredible, thanks to my primary guide, Gilles (& his colleague for two days, Carlos Garcia). It was mostly in Spanish since I speak the language, and it added so much, culturally. Gilles arranged my lodging and land/water transportation. I spent full days immersed in learning as I visited each island via hiking, walks, talks, food, culture, art, geology, history. It’s exactly what I was yearning for and I’m so appreciative that Gilles & Carlos provided me with such richness. Everything was special. I’m sure I will return to visit the islands I missed. Thanks so much!....Linda

My husband and were able to see five of eight Grand Canary Islands in the course of 11 days. Gilles came up with a great itinerary based on our suggestions of things we wanted to see or do on our trip. The first portion of the tour, visiting the Tenerife and Gran Canaria Islands Gilles arranged local guides for us. Both guides, Juan Miguel and 'Paco' had amazing knowledge of the history of each island and we thoroughly enjoyed our time and hikes with both of them! Gilles then accompanied us for the last three islands, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote and La Graciosa. Gilles is originally from Belgium but has made Lanzarote his home for 15 years. He has a great passion and love for his adopted home and has amassed a great knowledge of the history and the special features of the islands. Our days were full and some were long, but we enjoyed every minute of the experience. We met so many friendly people along the way and learned so much about the islands and the unique culture, landscapes and cuisines along the journey. We highly recommend Gilles and Grand Canary Islands!

Except for the weather our trip was a wonderful experience and Sam and Rocio had no control over that. The local guides Susanna, Earnesto and Eva were so willing to share their knowledge with us and the time we spent with them enhanced our trip greatly. Thanks also for recommending hotels which were we excellently located. Thanks especially for recommending that we stay in Getaria rather than San Sebastián. We never would have thought it except as stop to visit the Balenciaga Museum.
Based on our experienced with Sam, Rocio and the guided we have already recommended kimkim to a friend planning a trip to Greece.

My husband and I can’t say enough great things about our experience with Your Trip to Spain and working with our local expert Patricia to plan our recent adventure. From start to finish and at every turn along the way, Patricia was the ultimate professional always making herself available throughout our travels and helping create one of the most memorable and enjoyable trips we’ve ever experienced. We are grateful for her expertise and knowledge. And, of course, we look forward to working with her again.

The trip was quite satisfying. Dinner with view of alhambra was most memorable.
Mr. Joseba Villarino gave an out-standing Basque guided drive.
Miranda gave a great evening tour in Seville. She took us to an excellent Flamenco show.
To me the troupe is the best I have seen and I wish I have got their name and see if they have some
commercial video. The Granada Victoria is great; the hotel in Seville in only two & half star.
All in all, Patricia, you have done a good job and we felt well taken care of.

Sam, Rocio and the Tailormade Andalucia team provided an excellent service. They guided us very sensibly in terms of our 3 week itinerary - at the right pace and with a great mix of experiences, including local guides now and then. Our accommodation was of a very high standard... and when things weren't quite perfect they intervened to make sure things were. They were absolutely committed to making sure we had a great trip and nothing was too much trouble. So thanks again Sam and Rocio! We loved Spain and we will be back!

Our family trip to Spain was very memorable. Sam and his team were top notch and provided us with everything that we needed from hotels to transportation to specialized guides for all the things that we were interested in seeing and experiencing. They put such a personal touch on every step of the way. Each day they had us dialed in for exclusive experiences; and the tickets were Pre-paid so that we were able to go right into some of the worlds greatest attractions like last sagrada Familia and the Picasso museum. Additionally Sam’s assistant Rocio was most helpful. She was only a phone call away the whole time and had our backs in anything that we needed, including a last minute massage.

From the very first phone call I could tell that Sam was a very special man. He interviewed me and took to heart all the things that I had requested for my family to experience in our trip to Spain. Every detail was covered and he truly has a gift for taking what’s in your heart for traveling and turning it into reality. All of the guides along the way that he had hired and set up were spectacular. They were totally professional and experts in many types of languages, historical references, and local traditions.

We had the opportunity to see five different cities in Spain within the span of 13 days. We went to Madrid, Barcelona, Granada, Rhonda, and Seville. In each city there were special touches and awesome opportunities to see the best of what they had to offer. Sam‘s team even provided us with a book of suggestions for things to do, restaurants, and local hotspots. Additionally all of the transportation was included. On the first day we arrived on our trip to Spain, we were given a packet with all of the information we needed. In the packet we received tickets for train and air travel, a book that laid out each day of our trip in detail, and they even included some special gifts handcrafted by local artisans.

This was the most thorough, reasonable, worry free, informational, and smooth traveling experience that I have ever had. Thanks to Sam and his team we fall in love with Spain and we can’t wait to come back.

Our trip to Spain was all that we hoped it would be. A view of the culture, it's diversity, history and richness has made us desire to return.
Patricia did a masterful job making our desired results a reality. We had a very diverse list of things we wanted to see and experience: history, culture, nature, etc.: and she spent a lot of time refining our itinerary to maximize each one.
She booked us in small hotels right in the center of historical areas so that we could easily, in our free time, explore the everyday life of the beautiful cities and villages we visited.
Our guides, Elena, Raul, Julio, Christina, Miguel and all of the others were passionate about their love for their city, region, and Spain as a whole; and they had deep knowledge of the places they guided us through.
All of our travel coordination was seamless and not stressful. Even the one instance of a driver miscommunication was remedied within 30 min.
I cannot begin to more highly recommend Patricia and her team.

I've been to Spain several times and love this country so much. This time, I was taking my 74-year-old parents with me to Spain. It was their first time and I wanted them to have an amazing experience and fall in love with Spain as much as I did. Instead of planing the trip on my own, I decided to use KimKim to help me plan the trip to make sure my parents would have a smooth experience. KimKim connected me with Sam's team and it could not have been better. The entire trip was super smooth and Sam planned everything, especially the transportation that made the most differences. My parents are old and can't walk a lot. Sam planned private cars picking us up and dropping us off wherever we went and it was invaluable. The guided tours that Sam arranged for us were amazing as well, especially José in Seville. We learned so much about the culture and food in Andalusia and José made us felt like we were spending time with an old local friend! Throughout the entire trip, Rocio stood by and ready to help whenever we needed something. The hotel room Sam booked for us in Granada has the view of Alhambra! And the hotel in Barcelona on our last day was right in the shopping district, perfect for us to do some last-minute shopping before heading back home.

I couldn't have planned it myself like this and my parents' experience in Spain would not have been the same without KimKim and Sam's team.

I definitely recommend them if you ever find yourself heading out to Spain!

Muchas gracias

I can't speak highly enough of my 9 day Spanish experience. From the drivers, the hotel service and Rocio, who made time to check in how my trip was going.

My tour guide Delia in Sevilla was great company and her knowledge was fantastic. She really made me feel welcomed. I can't recommend her enough. Kudos to La Azotea on Calle Zaragoza, some great tapas!

Both Madrid and Barcelona were great urban escapes. My tour guide Sandra in Barcelona was an absolute joy. She was quite taken back by young I was compared to her usual tourists but this worked in my favour as I was taken off the beaten track! Like Delia, I can't recommend her enough.

Overall, the tour was top notch. Special thanks to James who really crafted a great itinerary. His correspondence was of the highest order. Cheers for taking the pressure of planning off my shoulders!