Travel Review: Luxury Vacation to Spain and Portugal, Barcelona, Madrid, San Sebastian, Lugo, Bilbao, Porto, Lisbon, Coimbra

Overall, we were very pleased with the service provided by our Spain and Portugal travel agent Senora Redondo. After outlining our preferences, she put together a very comprehensive and detailed itinerary and made all of the arrangements involved down to the last detail. The hotels were generally conveniently located and all were clean and provided efficient and attentive service. The Astoria in San Sebastian and the paradors in De Fuente de and Ribadeo were our favorites. In Santillana del Mar we would have chosen the parador outside the restoration since we prefer visiting real places not overrun by tourists. The other hotels were good overall, but we had great difficulty finding them. Directions from primary roads with good maps or a GPS in English would have been much appreciated. In both Lisbon and in Santiago del Compostella, our rooms were below street level, noisy and lacking privacy unless windows remained closed with curtains drawn. We found the room in the Hotel Inspira Marta cold and austere, like a gray and white concrete prison cell. In addition, the electronics were so complicated that we needed lessons to operate the lights. Senora Redondo arranged for three city tours. Our half-day city tour in Barcelona was disappointing and quite inefficient. The tour started late and our guide was equally disorganized. His explanation of the sites was cursory at best, and he spoke English rapidly and with a thick accent, which made him difficult to understand. Again we wasted hours visiting a restoration instead of authentic sites. We would have preferred an on/off city tour. On the following day we traveled with another company to Gerona and Figueres, which was far better, much more professional. Our guide was efficient, knowledgeable and well spoken. We had a similar positive experience on our Madrid city tour. Our favorite stops were Barcelona, Gerona, Figueras, San Sebastian, Debu, Bilbao, Comillas, Cudillero, Fuente de in Picos de Europa, Rebadeo, Lugo, Porto, Coimbre, Lisbon and Madrid. We visited other towns and cities, but ended up eliminating several of the suggested stops listed on our itinerary as the trip became too hectic partly because we spent so much time finding our way without good directions. Overall, we would give this Spain and Portugal travel agency and especially Senora Redondo a brava for a job well done and would recommend them to friends interested in traveling to Spain and Portugal. We loved our trip. We hope our comments will be helpful.