Hi Raquel, ...
Spain
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Aug 21 - Sep 4, 2023
Hi Raquel,
We had an amazing holiday and wanted to thank you for all your help. Here is our feedback. We hope you find it useful and would be glad to clarify anything if that would be helpful. Hotels -
Madrid - the Pestana Plaza Mayor was wonderful. It was a great location and not too noisy despite our room overlooking the square which was great for people watching in the few times we were relaxing in the room. The food was wonderful and the staff friendly and efficient. The room was lovely and spacious.
Sevilla - the H10 Casa de la Plata was exceptional. The staff were first rate and very helpful. The room was amazing, particularly the bathroom. The breakfast was first rate and a very pleasant environment (we ate in the courtyard). We also thoroughly enjoyed the rooftop pool and bar area. It also is in a great location.
Granada - the Eurostars Puerta Real was generally fine - a great location and helpful staff. The cleanliness of the room left a bit to be desired, particularly the fact that the two water glasses were dirty when we arrived. This was quickly addressed however. We were very disappointed that the rooftop was closed for repairs throughout our stay but that can happen; we got our great views of the city elsewhere.
Barcelona - The Majestic was a real highlight. A beautiful room in a beautiful hotel. The bathroom was exceptional. The breakfasts were exceptional and the breakfast staff very attentive and pleasant. We also enjoyed the rooftop bar. Staff were generally very helpful and efficient. The location suited us very well though we are sure there would have been other good options in Barcelona (we effectively picked this one ourselves and were not disappointed).
Guides / events
Madrid - Geza - old town - as previously expressed, Geza was excellent. We thoroughly enjoyed our time with him. He was very knowledgeable, but he is also very engaging and an interesting person to get to meet. Highly recommend.
Sevilla -
Raoul - another excellent guide. Charming and very knowledgeable. We thoroughly enjoyed our time with him. We were sad to have our time together come to an end. Highly recommend.
Nico - Tapas - We had a good time with him. He is a bit “young” which came across as being a bit full of himself (not a big knock on him though and we are much older so we are sure it was a bit of a stretch for him). We suspect he will mature into a wonderful guide and is definitely worth keeping on your roster. Also, he likely would have done better with a bigger group (not just the two of us); the bigger group would have brought more of its own energy. We had a very pleasant evening with him.
Rhonda and countryside towns - Ramon - we had a great time with Ramon. He is on the quiet side in quite an endearing way, but also still very engaging and knowledgeable. Excellent! We would highly recommend him.
Granada - we do not remember the name of our guide at Alhambra and Generalife. He was very knowledgeable and engaging. He had the tough job of trying to get the whole tour done in the prescribed time. We recommend adding at least an extra half an hour to avoid the guide having to be constantly pushing the group a bit.
An incredible and magical place which we saw well with the guide’s help. We would recommend him.
Barcelona -
Caroline - Tapas Crawl - she was delightful and did a great job of getting our group (which was wonderful, fun loving, diverse and interesting) to gel and not to lose any of us along the way ;). It was a great evening and we would highly recommend Caroline.
Dani - Gaudi - Dani (not sure that is the correct spelling) was exceptional. Extremely well informed, passionate about Gaudi, very engaging. There was a lot to cover and he did an exceptional job. The 4 hours flew by and we learned so much from him. Very highly recommend.
Girona - David - he was charming and well informed. This would be a tough guide assignment….you are with the people a long time, have to balance the interests of the group and keep to the time schedule. He managed it very well (though we wish we had had more time in Girona….one of the many reasons we need to come back to Spain). We would highly recommend him.
Transportation
Trains - overall things went very smoothly. The trains left on time and arrived pretty close to on time. We had a bad experience on the trip to Sevilla….the workers at the Madrid station were very disorganized. It would have helped if we had been advised in advance that this was not a direct route and that Sevilla was not the final destination. The workers were only calling the name of the final destination. I think you should try to provide this additional information to clients in the future to avoid stress and the potential for missing the train (which we almost did even though we arrived at least 30 minutes early); we and others got conflicting information from train station employees. Knowing that our stop was one along the way to another final destination would have helped immensely. Otherwise, this was a good way to get around. The final trip from Barcelona to Madrid was great, close to the scheduled arrival time - a great way for us to go. We got to the Madrid airport in very good time.
Flight to Barcelona - very straightforward and uneventful. Worked very well.
Car transport - all of your private drivers were excellent. Right on time, courteous and drove well / safely. Having these definitely enhanced our trip.
We had an amazing trip and our only regret was that we did not have more time…we would have loved to spend more time in each of the cities we stayed, but also that we had had more time in each of the places we went on day trips. Which means we will have to come back. The allocation of time was very good and we thank you for your invaluable help on that front as well as on all other aspects of our trip. Thank you so much for all of your assistance. It has been a genuine pleasure. All the best
Activity Reviews
This is an excellent tour of the area near Plaza Mayor and the Placio Real and the old city nearby. Our guide, Geza, was excellent.
This was a very entertaining show. We apparently saw two of the leading flamenco dancers in the country. The singers and musicians were also excellent
This was an amazing experience. The sailboat was great and not overcrowded. The staff on the boat were friendly and attentive. The food and beverage offerings were good. The views of Barcelona at sunset were wonderful. But the real highlight of the evening was the guitarist…he was truly exceptional. We would highly recommend this sailing experience to anyone.
This guided tour is not to be missed! Our guide, Dani (might be Danny), was absolutely amazing. You will take in much of Guadi’s highest works and come to really understand what a true genius he was. A key highlight of our whole trip.
Dear John, thank you so much for taking the time to share your feedback on our platform, I really appreciate your words and I will pass them on to our local guides, drivers and hotel staff. They will be so happy to hear that you had such a great time exploring Spain accompanied by them :) I really hope that we will work together in the future to create a new adventure. It is been a pleasure! All the best for you and Afson x Raquel