Food, wine and history - what could be better??
Spain
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Jul 3 - Jul 18, 2025
We visited Barcelona, Sevilla, Porto and Lisbon over 2 weeks. We asked for a multi-city trip loosely based on a food and wine itinerary designed by Adam, a kimkim specialist. Adam worked with us to customise the trip and was very helpful in balancing experiences and "vacation time" - he planned local experiences and private tours so that we learned a lot, experienced wonderful things and met amazing people, without feeling overwhelmed by hurry up and get somewhere. We still had plenty of time to slow down, explore on our own and enjoy being in beautiful places together.
Highlights - apart from wandering and ogling beautiful architecture and views interspersed with excellent food and wine - were the market visit and cooking class in Barcelona with Barcelona Cooking (making those recipes at home regularly!!) the private tour of Real Alcázar with Cristina from Yannat in Seville where we could take our time and ask all the questions we wanted, the Douro Valley wine tour with Philip (be sure to check the weather for Douro as it is often much hotter than the coast!) and the day trip to Sintra with the incomparable Luis as our guide.
Things we learned or might do differently - we would double check our transfer times between cities and adjust with days or method of transportation so that we are making the most out of the time and not spending 1/2 day or so waiting to get somewhere. We would call ahead to the hotels and double check our rooms are not next to elevators, over the lobby etc. We would spend longer in the Southern areas - we connected more with the people and the pace of things in the Southern areas of both countries (despite the heat) so we plan on exploring more next time we visit.
All said - a wonderful two weeks and we are so appreciative of all of the help Adam and the kimkim team provided!! We will be booking through kimkim again!
Hotel Reviews
Central but not directly on a busy street so quieter - breakfast buffet is super yummy and the rooftop pool and bar is a wonderful perk!! Staff are very accommodating and helpful!
We love this hotel!! We would recommend it to anyone wanting something charming, beautiful and well staffed.
stayed in the apartments - nice to have a little kitchen to ourselves :)
Beautiful hotel, friendly and helpful staff and well situated within the downtown area -
Activity Reviews
Beautiful scenery, yummy wines, and the opportunity to meet fun people - If you get at all carsick, be ready to bring whatever you need to feel better - fast driving and windy mountain roads....
So nice that this was a private tour - we could ask all the questions and have time to make the experience our own -