Spain Vacation Review: Barcelona, Priorat, Catalonia, Girona, Costa Brava, Epicurean Tour & Cooking Class

The trip was fantastic. Although my husband and I have travelled extensively, we have never taken a customized private tour before. Typically we arrange everything ourselves, doing internet research and booking directly. This was somewhat of an experiment for us, to see if we could have a better experience with less effort by using Zicasso and and this Spain travel agency. As far as having a better experience, that definitely happened. We had a total of 6 different planned activities, with 5 different guides, and through them we had very memorable experiences and learned more about Catalonia and Spain than we ever would have on our own. Several of these experiences were things that we wouldn't have thought to ask for on our own (e.g. the Castellers) and that was a huge benefit of using an agency that specialized in the area. The reason I gave a 4 star instead of a 5 star rating had to do with the fact that we had some communication issues with our travel agency, and 1 of our 5 guides wasn't very good.

The communication issues started in the initial planning process. A friend referred me to Zicasso, and my understanding from her was the the initial questionnaire process would be very detailed so that the trip would be customized to our preferences. So I filled out the not-very-detailed survey online, and was surprised when I got  detailed itineraries from 2 (not 3) different travel companies that were not very close to what we wanted. For example, our initial itinerary had us changing hotels every day or 2, and traveling fairly long distances to have a quick stay in different parts of the country. We don't like to travel this way, preferring to take a more in-depth look at a smaller number of places, and if we had had been asked more questions before the initial proposal was put together, we would have been much closer to our perfect trip right out of the gate, with less effort. The communication was impeded by language barriers and the time difference. We finally got things worked out by having a phone call. I wish Zicasso gathered more information to aid the travel agents in designing the initial proposal, and/or a conversation happened in the very beginning.

Another issue that became a problem in one instance is that the agency relies on their guides to plan the detailed itineraries. When I asked our agent how we would decide what to do, specifically, she said you will work that out with your guide when you meet him/her. For the most part that was fine because the guides were good and we trusted their opinions, not knowing the city ourselves. But one of our five guides was not good. He was condescending and sarcastic, and we felt like he only showed us what he wanted to show us. If we asked for something else he treated as if we were foolish for asking. (He even told us that the Gaudi houses in Barcelona aren't worth seeing, and believe me, they are fantastic). He did our private tour of Barcelona, and we felt like we spent more time in a taxi, with him checking his phone rather than talking to us, than we did learning about the city.  He was also the one to take us on a full day tour to Girona and the Costa Brava area. Because we hadn't worked out the details in advance, what we wanted to do wasn't what he had been told by the agency. He then proceeded to tell us what a hassle it was that we wanted to change the plan, that it wasn't his fault, that it wasn't possible, that he had already made a lunch reservation that we weren't going to be able to get to, etc. In the end he worked it out so that we got to see what we wanted to see, but the confrontation spoiled the mood of the trip, and we felt like we got a very rushed tour of Girona, because, as he told us, it was an 8-hour tour and no more (although we did stay out for 8-1/2). I would not recommend that this travel agency use this guide.

Other than that issue, the trip went very smoothly. All of the guides and drivers were where we were told they would be when we were told they would be. We had 2 very minor email communications with the agency during the trip, and those were handled promptly, even when our main point of contact was on vacation.