Totally Spain Customer testimonials

Hi Olaia,

I wanted to contact you to thank you for arranging the holiday and tell you what a wonderful time we all had.....My partner and myself are contemplating another trip in September so I may be contacting you again in the near future. Thank you once again.

My Dear Anna

My trip went like clock work and to plan.

On the day of my birthday I tried to speak my limited Spanish to the Parador staff which they really appreciated.  They did everything as I requested through you and personally at the Castle, the room was beautifully laid out, the courses of food arrived all together and was placed in front of the right person and they were excellent.

Everyone commented on how good the food was, how good the staff were, and the evening was a total success. I would be grateful if you would email them my thanks or explain this email in Spanish to them as it was a total success and I have only fantastic memories of my 50th Birthday, I cannot praise them enough.

And could I say once again to you and your team thank you so much for all your hard work putting this together for me, without your help it would have not been the success it was.

A very humbled customer,and thank you so much.

Ken

Everything went very well indeed.Thank you for arranging it. We were very impressed by the variety of landscape and the beauty of Northern Spain. The parador at Lerma was excellent. The casas rurales were comfortable some more so than others.

We particularly enjoyed the Hospederia las Pedrolas at Arnedillo, the host is charming. On the negative side we found driving long distances tiring (we are both in our 70s) Arnedillo to Hondaribbia seemed a bit of a slog. Another time we might stay longer in the wine growing area in La Rioja and in the Ayala valley. We liked Bilboa and the hotel was well placed.

We both thought that you led us into lovely parts of Spain which we would not otherwise have discovered.Your information pack was helpful and thorough.Again many thanks

Ken,

We had a marvellous holiday in Spain despite the weather! The hotels were all fine and situated just perfectly within walking distance of everything we wanted to look at. Our favourite was the one in Santiago.

We were bowled over by the fabulous architecture (and also the storks and their nests) everywhere and the variety of styles and the sheer number of remarkable buildings and streets. If the weather had been better we would have journeyed to the coast from Santiago but it was just too chilly.

The food was good but expensive and we have absolutely masses of photographs.

Many thanks for all the info that you sent and we found the directions to the hotels very good. We would certainly come back to you for our next Spanish venture.

Hello Ken,

We had a wonderful trip to Spain. We are very jet lagged still, but elated about our trip. Thanks so much for your assistance with our lodging. The hotels were terrific. The train to Segovia left from the Chamartin station. It was a great train! We were impressed with how quickly we arrived in Segovia.

We are already talking about our return to Spain in a few years. Thanks again for your help.

Olaia,

Most of the paradors were excellent, with Malaga a standout for its lookout over the bullring and Cadiz a real European classic. The Barcelona hotel was brilliantly located and had an excellent restaurant. The Granada parador was elegant but our room was tiny and noisy. Ubeda is stressful to drive in for people not used to tiny, poorly signposted Spanish one-way streets. Seville is a wonderful city, worth two days.

Overall, we loved the trip. A very successful 70th birthday celebration for Peter. I have recommended your services to some friends who are planning to take a trip very similar to ours.

Dear Ana,

We had agreat holiday in Spain. The weather was perfect sunny and very warm when we got to Madrid. All the hotels were very good and well located. We enjoyed all the cities we visited and also spent some time driving in the mountains. Our favorites were Salamanca and Madrid. Driving round and in Madrid was abit scary but we managed.

Thank you for arranging such a perfect trip for us. We will contact you again if we plan to travel in Spain.

Dear Olaia

I meant to email you sooner. We got back last Friday nite and had such a great time! I wish I was still there. Hotels were wonderful, side trips and sights wonderful, food wonderful and people pretty great, too!

Thanks for all your help. I have already recommended your company to several people.

Dear Ken

Many, many thanks for the most amazingly organized trip! We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Andalusia - it is a lovely area with so many exciting places to visit, charming people and delicious food and drink (not to mention the lovely weather, especially compared to the horrible winter we are experiencing this winter in Canada, with record snowfalls and cold temperatures).

And we were very impressed at how smoothly all the arrangements worked. I was a bit hesitant at organizing such a holiday over the internet with a company about which I knew nothing, but I should not have worried. Everything was organized in the best possible manner, and I was especially impressed by the envelope for each stop, with concise tourist information and lots of brichures. I shall highly recommend your company to anybody I know who will be visiting that area. Thank you so much.

Dear Olaia

We liked Spain very much. We covered so much, we still can't decide what we like the best! We loved the hotel in Sevilla - Las Casas del Rey de Baeza, they couldn't have been nicer or more accommodating, and the hotel in Madrid was very nicely located. Madrid is a beautiful city, and so lively! As you arranged for us, our car was delivered to us in Sevilla.

We loved Granada and the Alhambra-I got teary just looking at it. The concierge at the Marriott in Marbella was from Granada and suggested a restaurant there for our night's stay-El Huerte de Juan Ranas. She said we could see the Alhambra from there. My first look at the Alhambra was from a table at a window right across from it. It was so breathtaking, seeing it all lit up like that. I almost started crying.

Ronda was beautiful as well. I have so many stories-what an adventure. Thanks again for all your help.

What an amazing vacation we had! ALL of the paradores you recommended were wonderful! Our favorites where Siguenza, Toledo and Javea. Everything was perfect! We really enjoyed the GPS and just traveling around the country. Everyone asked us how did we ever plan such a great trip, it was not the usual tourist itinerary. We always told them Totally Spain! What a beautiful country, amazing scenery, culture, history and people.

Olaia

We returned Saturday from our trip to Spain and are grateful to you for your suggestions, scheduling and planning. Our trip went very well. Your choice of hotels was excellent. Above all, they were exceptionally clean and well kept. We were very favorably impressed. The other thing we appreciated about your hotel choices for us was their location. The Hotel El Prado in Madrid was located a short two blocks from a delightful plaza which we enjoyed each night we were there. What a delight. The Hotel Sorolla in Valencia was also well located for walking access to many places we wanted to visit. The Cotursa Rosello Hotel in Barcelona was probably the nicest and certainly the largest of the three and also located where we could make our way to the tour stops and sights in the city center. Excellent choices. THANK YOU!

Olaia

We returned Saturday from our trip to Spain and are grateful to you for your suggestions, scheduling and planning. Our trip went very well. Your choice of hotels was excellent. Above all, they were exceptionally clean and well kept. We were very favorably impressed. The other thing we appreciated about your hotel choices for us was their location. The Hotel El Prado in Madrid was located a short two blocks from a delightful plaza which we enjoyed each night we were there. What a delight. The Hotel Sorolla in Valencia was also well located for walking access to many places we wanted to visit. The Cotursa Rosello Hotel in Barcelona was probably the nicest and certainly the largest of the three and also located where we could make our way to the tour stops and sights in the city center. Excellent choices. THANK YOU!

I was surprised by the relative reasonable cost of taxis and this information would have been helpful. Obviously we were able to walk from the train to the hotel in Valencia and we took a taxi in Barcelona. Our tours to Segovia and Avila - Toledo - El Escorial and Valle De Los Caidos - the Monastery of Montserrat .. all were excellent. The guides we had were excellent. While their English was sometimes difficult to understand...they worked to make themselves clear and did a very good job. The tours were very interesting and helpful to us in understanding the history of Spain. Would suggest that you let visitors know about the Turistic buses in Valencia and Barcelona (did not use them in Madrid - probably because we saw so much on the three tours). These were excellent for getting to know the basic layout of the city and also excellent transportation (because of the locations of hotels you selected).

We always felt safe in the areas we traveled ... even late at night. The accompanying materials you sent were also helpful. You and your agency did an excellent job for us and we are grateful. Please feel free to use our comments above in any way you wish. If we travel to Spain in the future, we will be in contact.  Thank you once again your efforts for us are appreciated.

Barb and Jerry Brunworth Sue and Jim Rader

Dear Ken

Eric and I just returned from a wonderful two weeks in Spain, and wanted to express our pleasure and gratitude for the thoughtfully orchestrated and well paced trip you designed for us. Everything went off smoothly and without a hitch - no lost luggage or missed flights.

We liked having lodging in the middle of the cities we visited, which made sightseeing very easy. Ronda was a particular highlight; we had a spectacular room right over the gorge.

We wouldn't hesitate to recommend your agency to friends or use your services again ourselves. Thanks again.

Hi Olaia,

Just wanted to let you know that our vacation in Spain was a great success. The hotels were all very good with our favorite being in Granada--it was not easy to find with the very narrow streets but it is absolutely charming and so close to the Alhambra Palace.

The materials that you supplied were most helpful in deciding what to do and see and the mini-van was perfect for our group and luggage. Thanks from all of us for helping to organise a memorable visit to Spain.

Dear Olaia

Just a few notes to say thank you. I deeply enjoyed dealing with Totally Spain, and especially you. From the very beginning I was impressed by your prompt, professional, and pleasant way of dealing with our plans, our changes of mind. The cities you picked for us, the hotel reservations, and all the informations regarding the places we were about to visit were outstanding. Santillana del Mar - recommended by you - was a beautiful surprise. We regretted not having more days to spend there. The hotel in Santiago de Compostela was, maybe, the only hotel, we felt, did not stand up to par with the others, but its location made up for its lack of comfort in the rooms. Once again, thank you for your assistance. I hope to do business with you again in the future.

Dear Ana,

We had a wonderful time at all the Paradors, it was nice to see so much of Andalusia.  Carmona and Jaen were our favourite Paradors and we would like to stay at these two for longer next time.

We were worried about driving but it all worked out to be perfect.

Thank you so much for making the arrangements, you all offer a great service, and we found the Spanish people to be most polite and helpful.

Dear Olaia

Just to let you know the apartment in Noja was fantastic. It was brand new & beautifully clean and it had every possible facility. I think it was excellent value for money. The people in charge of the apartment were friendly and very helpful too. We would highly recommend it. We stayed in a top floor apartment (not a ground floor one as you'd advised in your email) but it was large, comfortable, very clean plus the views were great. We did not get your information pack until Saturday (I think it must have been in the office but our Spanish is not good so maybe our fault?) but when we got the information pack it was packed full of everything we needed. We loved the area around Santander & we will be going back again, for sure. It is a beautiful part of Spain. Thank you very much for all your help & for finding us this lovely apartment. Very best wishes,

Dear Ana

Just a brief note to say that we had a terrific time. We successfully collected all the documentation from the hotel in Madrid, and everything went just fine. We didn't spend much time in the hotel in Madrid, so the location was the most important thing (as you said) , and managed to visit the flea market on Sunday morning which was an experience.

The hotel in Segovia was delightful, Salamanca was stunning, one full day in Leon was probably enough and Comillas was ok despite the rain! We travelled to Comillas through the Picos de Europa, which in difficult weather was slightly nerve racking, but made for some excellent memories. So no complaints whatsoever.

Thanks for putting this together for us so quickly and at short notice. We'll definately recommend your service and use it again

Dear Belen,

I assume that by now you are on maternity leave and that a colleague is intercepting your e-mails. If so I would be grateful if he / she would pass on my thanks for the very successful way in which you organised our tour in Andalucia, 5 - 13 July. My wife and I enjoyed our trip very much. The hotels which you recommended were not only lovely in the themselves, but also very well located from the point of view of visiting places of interest. We were able to find each of them with little difficulty - our only negative experience being a puncture in Cordoba. The rest of the trip was marvellous and memorable.

Thank you for the maps and booklets which you sent in advance; these were very useful and contributed significantly to our enjoyment of our holiday. Our favourite anecdote for this hoilday comes from Cadiz, where we took the "City Tour" and sat on the top deck of the open top bus. As it passed the "Atlantic" Parador where you had placed us, the commentator said "... and on your left is the city's most prestigeous hotel where the King and Queen of Spain stay when they visit Cadiz". Our children were very impressed and so were we.

Thank you once again for providing a flawless service.

Dear Ana

Not sure I ever thanked you for all your help with our trip to Spain this summer. Every recommendation was incredible and the maps were worth their weight in gold. I am sick they slid out of my suitcase when returning home. I just got back from Spain yesterday and could have used them for a trip to Girona and the Pyrenees. I have told many friends about your services. All of your recommendations were fantastic, especially the farm house near Santander. The Senora who runs the inn is a very dear lady and the food there was excellent.

Hi Belen

Just so say that we all thoroughly enjoyed our time in Noja. It was fantastic to see this beautiful part of Spain and we intend on coming back. The apartments and location ticked all the boxes, so much so that our children did not want to leave.

Thank you so much for everything.

Working with Belen from "Totally Spain" was such a positive experience. I was very nervous using an agency from "the internet", located in Spain, but a trip that a group of us were planning to the small town of Murcia Spain for the World Roller Skating Competition wasn't going well.

Between the language barrier, and the inaccuracies on some of the "discount travel sites" we definitely needed some help. Belen and Totally Spain were GREAT! She responded right away and took a lot of time to be sure that the hotels she was recommending were in the right part of the city to be close to the event. She even helped us communicate when we ran into difficulty getting tickets from the arena.

The prompt responses, attention to detail (there was even a package of info waiting for us in the hotel), and the professionalism were excellent. I would highly recommend this agency and especially Belen to anyone wanting a great experience in the beautiful country of Spain.

Belen, You are the best! In another of my many lives, I was a travel agent in the USA for many years, 1984-1996. I did leisure and corporate travel. Therefore, I can with some authority say you made our trip.

You are the expert and our trip was absolutely perfect. You did not make the weather great but you could have been blamed, so take the compliment on even the weather.

The accommodations and the upgrade in Santiago was such a nice surprise. Please let me know if I can ever be of any help to you.

Just a few lines to say thank you very much for the holiday recommendation you gave us. The Paradors, and hotels you recommended were top class and couldn't be faulted in any way. The places we went to and visited were "real Spain" as we were looking to experience. From the winding narrow streets of Carmona, the Ocean views and lovely shops of Cadiz, the country side and towns of Extremadura, numerous lovely churches, Roman remains at Merida to the Palace and Cathedral at Seville.

The organisation for each place we stayed, collecting the hire car and everything else went perfectly. Your paperwork, maps and leaflets were also of great assistance in making our stay go as smoothly as possible.

Thanks again for providing us with such a lovely holiday and we are in the process of recommending you and your company to our friends as they ask how our holiday went 

We so much enjoyed our trip to Spain. You were extremely helpful and have an excellent knowledge of the region. Thank you very much or all of the wonderful arrangements and recommendations. We plan to go to Valencia for the America's Cup sail race and will contact you then.  I will highly recommend you to any and all my friends planning a trip to Spain.

Just a short note to express my thanks for the arrangements you made for my wife and I for our stay in Northern Spain.

Property TBC14 was ideal both in location and accommodation and Amia was the perfect hostess. The two days in the Parador at Limpias was the icing on the cake. Everything proceeded smoothly and the maps etc you provided were excellent especially the translation sheets for the food. All in all a brilliant two weeks. Thanks again

My wife and I have just returned from our happy holiday to Spain (and Portugal). All the arrangements you made were excellent: the hotels were comfortable and in the right part of the various towns, so that it was easy to visit the sights. We were particularly impressed by AC Hotels, with the Palacio de San Esteban in Salamanca being our

favourite. The view from our room to the two cathedrals was magnificent. The paperwork and guides you provided were also most helpful.

Thank you once more for all your work. We hope to visit again, although probably not for about another three years, when we will certainly be in touch. Meanwhile, we are recommending you to all our friends.

Dear Alfonso,

Our trip was absolutely wonderful. Thanks so much for making the best arrangements. The hotels you chose were well located, comfortable, clean, and attractive.  We thanked you many times as we traveled around your beautiful, friendly, unique country.  We put 1400 kilometers on our little Toyota Corolla.  You would have laughed watching us drive (my first time in 20 years driving a manual transmission car).  We learned a lot about Spanish street signs, one-way streets, traffic, traffic circles, speed, drivers' gestures, etc.

Please forward this email to your boss and tell him how grateful we are for making our trip the best it could be and for keeping the cost affordable for us. We will highly recommend you to anyone who asks us about our trip to Spain.

We are back home and wanted to thank you for your efforts in arranging accommodation for us in Spain.Everything went very well and your maps and general information were a great help in finding our way around. Each of the properties offered us a different perspective on Spain and each gave us a different experience.

We loved the “north coast” and would like to come back again and explore further west. This time we did not travel further west than Bilbao. We really enjoyed San Sebastian and would love to come back and stay in the town at some stage. We explored many of the small fishing villages along the coast, had some great meals and took lots of photos.

The Rioja and the township of Laguardia was superb. We enjoyed staying in the village and loved the local wine. Lezama was a real surprise. The country reminded us more of Switzerland and the accommodation was first class. The owner is a superb chef, which meant that we enjoyed dinner there on both nights. Bilbao and the Guggenheim Museum were fantastic.

To then finish with the superb hotel at Hondarribia was perfect. Great views, and a classy town with lots of restaurants. We then headed to France and then home through London.

We are not sure how soon we will be back in your part of the world but we will certainly contact your company when we are planning our next trip.