Our fabulous 5 weeks in Spain & Portugal
Portugal
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May 1 - Jun 3, 2025
We were not long into planning our 5 week independent trip in Spain and Portugal when we became overwhelmed with all of the options for sights to see, tours to take, accommodation to book and modes of travel. We quickly realised that we needed some local expert assistance, and we contacted KimKim travel through their on-line portal. It was the best decision we could possibly have made!!
We provided KimKim with information about ourselves and our interests and the experiences we might like, with a rough outline of the places we wanted to go to. KimKim assigned us to Raquel Aceituno who is a Travel Specialist with Espiritu Travel in Spain. Right from the start, Raquel ‘got us’! She interpreted our needs perfectly and she came back with an itinerary that required very little tweaking to get it to just what we wanted! She added suggestions that only a person with local knowledge would know about. She recommended accommodations that were in terrific locations. For example, the Hotel Casa Morisca in Granada has remarkable views of The Alhambra and the surrounding hills and is with doubt one of the best we have stayed in. Raquel organised enriching walking tours for us and we particularly enjoyed the walking/foodie tours!! The walking tours satisfied our need for local and historical information and the foodie ones that also included tapas or pinxtos tastings left our tummy’s full and sated. All of the tour guides were extremely knowledgeable with great senses of humour and we enjoyed being in their company. The private transfer with Jesus from Granada to Seville was Raquel’s suggestion and we loved visiting Ronda en route. The driver, Jesus, gave us a lot of tips for driving in Spain along the way! Another outstanding guide was Paulo Pires who picked us up from our hotel in Lisbon and we visited Belem then Pena Palace in Sintra. We enjoyed a delicious lunch of Bacalhau à Brás at his family restaurant. Paulo was great company, and shared a lot of information with us and we followed some of his tips for the rest of our time in Portugal.
Communicating on-line was easier than we thought it would be, and taking into account the time difference between Australia and Spain, we found that Raquel replied to all of our queries in a very timely manner. Raquel quite clearly has a very good understanding of people and loves her job and it showed in the itinerary she prepared for us and the way she communicated with us. We also loved having the Trip Plan app whilst travelling and we felt confident that any urgent issues would be dealt with almost immediately.
Without a doubt, connecting with Raquel significantly enhanced our travel experience, providing us with memorable and enjoyable activities throughout our journey.
Thank you so much Raquel for your attention to detail, hard work and wisdom!
Hotel Reviews
The hotel is in a good central location yet is very quiet at night. The buffet breakfast was ample and varied. The desk staff were very pleasant and helpful.
This was our favourite hotel of our 5 week trip. We loved the view from our room of the Alhambra and the large bathroom. The lady who made me "dos huevos fritos" for breakfast each day is a really lovely person!
Activity Reviews
We really enjoyed this full day excursion and it was easy to navigate the train travel from Seville to Cordoba. Our tour guide, shared her enthusiasm for Cordoba and her extensive knowledge of Moorish occupation in Spain. Visiting the Mezquita was one of our trip highlights.
This was great night with delicious food and wine! We could not eat all of the food! The waiters were pleasant. The walk up the hill was challenging but the effort was worth it.
We thoroughly enjoyed this tapas tour! The guide introduced us to some tapa that we might not otherwise have chosen and the company of other people was fun! The food was plentiful as was the drinks. It was a great night.
Our tour guide was terrific and her passion for The Alhambra shows. The gardens and the building are beautiful and we loved out visit.
It was lovely to be out on the ocean on the catamaran. Even though the weather was cold & windy we had a great time and we got quite close to the coastline at times. The staff were very pleasant and the simple but fresh lunch was tasty and satisfying.
This was our best tour of our trip. Paulo is one fabulous tour guide and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves in his company. (I mean who doesn't connect with a man who loves spreadsheets!) His knowledge about Portugal is immense and he answered all of our questions. We had a great lunch at his family restaurant where we were greeted like family and had the best meal of our trip - the famous Bacalhau à Brás. It was a thoroughly and enjoyable day!
It was pouring with rain when we did this walking tour with Megan but she was completely unphased by that and we walked on regardless. It was a great introduction to Spain & Madrid and we really enjoyed it.
Our guide combined a walk of hilly Granada with local history, tapa tasting and flamenco. We liked going into the local bars and trying tapa but I could not eat some of it due to my dietary requirements. We got to the Flamenco quite late and were placed at the back of the room and we did not have a very good view of the dancers' feet. We did not realise that we were to eat after the Flamenco at 10.00 pm. We were too tired by then so said farewell to the guide and went to bed.
Jesus is a real gentleman and a lovely man! He is warm and kind and funny and we had a great day with him. He gave us some very useful driving tips .
We loved our guided tour of Seville and seeing the Alcazar was a real treat.
We are so glad we took this tuk tuk tour rather than try to walk it ourselves. We saw so much more that we would have if we had walked and the hills are exhausting. Our guide was knowledgeable and very friendly.
This was a really enjoyable tour. We not only enjoyed some great food and good wine, but we also explored the labyrinth of streets in the Alfama District; something we would not have had the courage to do on our own for fear of getting lost!
We loved this guided tour and the walk up the hill was made easy with the information stops. It was great that our tour guide is local and is actually a student at the University so we learnt a lot about the customs of the University and about Coimbra itself.
After some initial mix up with the location of the driver, the tour of Porto was really good and we even stopped for a shot of coffee on the route!
Our final guided tour of our 5 week journey in Spain & Portugal did not disappoint. Our driver was enthusiastic and engaged and the narration of our sights was entertaining. The itinerary was well planned and visiting the amazing Sagrada Familia was a tour highlight!
This was another fabulous experience and the tour guide was young and vibrant and full of enthusiasm for the pintxos of Bilbao. We went to some interesting places tucked away in local Plazas that we would otherwise have missed. The food was plentiful and delicious and the wines were fabulous and also plentiful. I really appreciated the effort that was made to cater for my food allergies.
Hola Maggie! Thank you for taking the time to provide detailed feedback on your road trip arpound Spain and Portugal! I am glad to hear that you had a wonderful time discoveringboth countries. I will pass your kind words to our beloved team, drivers and guides as they will be more than happy to know that they have contributed to your experience. All the best, Raquel