Yet another fantastic experience with KimKim!
Spain
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Nov 1 - Nov 9, 2025
My family and I booked part of our trip to Spain and Portugal through KimKim, and we had a great experience. This was not surprising as we have taken several trips with KimKim's help, and they were also wonderful. Our local specialist, Dalia, was fantastic! She was extremely helpful during the planning stages of the trip, and she did an excellent job of communicating information to us during the trip as well.
We stayed in Seville, Mérida, and Lisbon. All of our accommodations were very nice, clean, and comfortable. Our hotel in Mérida had even served as a convent and hospital at one point, which we thought was very cool.
We had several tours and guides booked through KimKim, that we really enjoyed:
Dalia recommended a Flamenco and Tapas tour in Seville, which was both fun and tasty! Teresa, was our guide for the evening. Born and raised in Seville, she was able to give us really interesting history and facts about both the city and Flamenco. The show was a lot of fun, and our tapas was very good thanks to Teresa's recommendations. 10/10 experience.
Alejandro was our driver to Ronda and the White Villages, and he did a fantastic job navigating the rather tricky and treacherous mountain roads. He also had a lot of great facts to share with us along our drive.
Alfredo was our tour guide in Ronda. He did a very good job giving us the history and cultural significance of bull fighting while still being very open and honest about the moral and ethical questions that it has raised in recent years. He didn't try to sway us to any sort of conclusion, but allowed us to draw our own. As a native resident of Ronda, he had so many great stories to share with us during the rest of the tour.
Eduardo was our driver to Italica, Mérida, Evora, and Lisbon. He was both courteous and kind.
We had a quick stop off in the Roman ruins of Italica. We would highly recommend visiting it if you are able to. Alfonso was our guide, and we loved his tour through the arena and city. He was able to create a great picture of what the city would have looked like in its heyday.
Mérida is a very interesting city to visit with a fantastic Roman theatre and Roman artifact museum. We loved our tour with Marco despite the rainy weather.
Evora was our first stop in Portugal, and it was a wonderful introduction to such a beautiful country. The bone chapel is fascinating and a must do if you are in the city. Our lunch was another highlight. We had a reservation through KimKim to a restaurant where there are no menus. You simply show up and they start bringing out the courses of the day. Sometimes they tell you what you are about to eat, and sometimes they wait to tell you what it is till after you've actually tried it. It was such a exciting way to try a different country's cuisine. Marie was our guide, and she was phenomenal. We loved her energy, and she was extremely knowledgeable. Couldn't recommend her enough.
On our first full day in Lisbon we did a city walk and food tour with George. There was definitely no shortage of food. By the end of the day we all felt like we needed to be rolled back to the hotel. George has such a fun personality and we loved exploring even more of the cuisine Portugal had to offer. Word of warning to those taking this tour: Come hungry!
On our final day in Portugal we went to Sintra. We had George (as our driver this time), and yes, he made lots of food jokes. Claudia was our tour guide. We visited four very different castles/palaces and we enjoyed them all. Claudia was a great tour guide. There were guests at one of the palaces we visited that stopped her to ask what tour group she was with because they had overheard her descriptions to us and were so impressed. Yet another amazing tour via KimKim.
We are so grateful to KimKim and its partners for making yet another trip unforgettable!
Hotel Reviews
As fans of history, we really enjoyed staying in a hotel that was once a convent and hospital. Very cool.
By far the best continental breakfast we had during the trip. Great selection and very good food quality.
Activity Reviews
Our local specialist recommended a Flamenco and Tapas tour in Seville, which was both fun and tasty! Teresa, was our guide for the evening. Born and raised in Seville, she was able to give us really interesting history and facts about both the city and Flamenco. The show was a lot of fun, and our tapas was very good thanks to Teresa's recommendations. 10/10 experience.
Alejandro was our driver to Ronda and the White Villages, and he did a fantastic job navigating the rather tricky and treacherous mountain roads. He also had a lot of great facts to share with us along our drive. Alfredo was our tour guide in Ronda. He did a very good job giving us the history and cultural significance of bull fighting while still being very open and honest about the moral and ethical questions that it has raised in recent years. He didn't try to sway us to any sort of conclusion, but allowed us to draw our own. As a native resident of Ronda, he had so many great stories to share with us during the rest of the tour. The White Villages themselves are very fascinating, and the views can't be beaten.
Evora was our first stop in Portugal, and it was a wonderful introduction to such a beautiful country. The bone chapel is fascinating and a must do if you are in the city. Our lunch was another highlight. We had a reservation through KimKim to a restaurant where there are no menus. You simply show up and they start bringing out the courses of the day. Sometimes they tell you what you are about to eat, and sometimes they wait to tell you what it is till after you've actually tried it. It was such a exciting way to try a different country's cuisine. Marie was our guide, and she was phenomenal. We loved her energy, and she was extremely knowledgeable. Couldn't recommend her enough.
On our first full day in Lisbon we did a city walk and food tour with George. There was definitely no shortage of food. By the end of the day we all felt like we needed to be rolled back to the hotel. George has such a fun personality and we loved exploring even more of the cuisine Portugal had to offer. Word of warning to those taking this tour: Come hungry!
Claudia was our tour guide. We visited four very different castles/palaces and we enjoyed them all. Claudia was a great tour guide. There were guests at one of the palaces we visited that stopped her to ask what tour group she was with because they had overheard her descriptions to us and were so impressed. We did not go to Cascais so that we would be able to go to all of the palaces in Sintra. All four of them were so unique that I am glad we made that decision.
