Totally Spain Customer testimonials

We are finally back home in Dubai, having spent a wonderful vacation. I would really love to thank you for all you have done, big & small things. Everything was perfect: hotels were charming, information full & all your maps were extremely helpful. And the car turned up to be the same Audi A4 I used to have, so it was really easy. I hope to use your services in future. There's so much to see in Spain. And I will definitely recommend you to friends. Thank you very much again & best regards from my family.

We have just returned from Spain and this email is to thank you for organising superb hotels for us. I am quite delighted with the service you have provided and am more than happy to provide a reference for you and your services should you require this.

Many thanks for your hospitality in Vitoria. The La Blanca festival was certainly a highlight of the trip .... completely barmy. I enjoyed San Sebastian and the coast around there. I did make it to Getaria for some sardines...excellent!! Good fireworks in San Sebastian but nothing quite to match the Celdon in Vitoria. I shall email some reflections later....perhaps after Sleazyjet have managed to bring me my luggage which appears to be having an extra day in Bilbao. Adios.

We have just arrived home after a wonderful holiday in France and Spain and I would like to say a very big thank you for your hospitality at the La Blanca festival in Vitoria - we had a wonderful time made all the more special by being included in your party. It was a tremendous evening we had such fun and really enjoyed sharing the experience with yourselves and the others, they were such a pleasant group of people to spend a few hours with. The girls are still enjoying telling their friends all about it. Thank you once again for a wonderful experience and for being such welcoming hosts.

I wanted to tell you that our trip through Andalusia was a wonderful success. Although very busy every minute of every day, we were able to do and see everything we had hoped: most particularly visiting the extraordinary Moorish architectural sites in Seville, Cordoba and Granada, but also appreciating the beauty of the small villages through the countryside and of the spectacular sites in which the Paradors were located (such as Ronda and Carmona), and experiencing the excitement of the bull fight in Puerto de la Santa Maria, delight in seeing the Cartuga stallions and pleasure in tasting sherry in Jerez de la Frontera to name just some of our activities! The Paradors were lovely and the food excellent (in all but that in Arcos where it was very good). Fabulous! So, thank you for your excellent arrangements, including the nice packet that provided us with all the maps we needed in each site.

Many thanks for organising our recent holiday in the Basque country. We had an absolutely fantastic holiday visiting Bilbao, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Laguardia & San Sebastian. Despite the weather, your maps, brochures and directions made the experience of driving around the Basque quite easy and enjoyable. All our accommadation was top-class. Everything went perfectly with Europcar !! It was lovely to drop in and see your offices in Vitoria and Belen was most helpful in re-arranging some of our accommodation. Our favourite destination by far was Laguardia. We really enjoyed our time there and have little doubt that we will return again someday. We have no hesitation recommending Totally Spain and already a number of our friends have expressed an interest in your service. We wish you the very best for the future and look forward to dealing with you again sometime. Many thanks once again !!!

I think you must really know me because you gave me everything I would have picked had I known to myself. All the hotels were perfect in every way and the right assortment. And, I was impressed with the locations of the hotels you choose for me. Each one was in the perfect area for me to get around and see everything!! I absolutely adored my wonderful hotel in Ronda. What a charming, tastefully delightful place! It's a must see, must stay at!!! I referred several people to just even go there for lunch or dinner for the rest of my trip to anyone who was going to Ronda. It was so wonderful and my room opened up to the most fabulous pasture with horses and sheep. The garden where we had our most delicious meals was a dream in itself. The other hotels were charming, beautiful and wonderful service as well. And the car, I did just fine. In fact I enjoyed driving and found every destination without problem as you had explained when I previously was paranoid about my inexperience with maps. The highways are so clearly marked for each city in each direction I had no problem and loved the driving. I even liked the small amound of driving on the cobble stone streets when I went out at night from town to town. I had the most wonderful trip and you really did such a fabulous job in order to make it all work, easy, and perfect for me. I plan to go to Italy next year so I hope there is a "Totally Italy" and you book it.! I will recommend you to anyone and everyone (I have all ready begun to) who is going to Spain. I consider you totally responsible for my smooth plans and delightful trip of perfect hotels, car, and complete plan! Thank you so much!!!

You may remember that I booked a holiday through you and Totally Spain to the places suggested below. I would just like to drop you a note to thank you for all your help and suggestions. From the first contact with you to the final handing over of the car at the airport, the holiday could not have been better organised, the details any clearer or the information more helpful. The house at Lezama was outstanding and the hosts were unbelievably hospitable and friendly. The second house at Hondarribia was lovely and was a perfect base for exploring. We thought Hondarribia was a fantastic town. Many thanks again to you and everyone at Totally Spain. I would certainly look at using you again and would recommend you without hesitation to anybody.

We had a wonderful time in Catalonia. Delighted with accommodation and all other arrangements. Thanks to you our holiday was a great success. We are currently spreading the gospel of 'Totally Spain' to all of our friends.

We have arrived home safely and wanted to thank you again for helping us plan a fantastic trip to Catalunya and the Basque region. Our accommodations were lovely; those that were most memorable include Castell d'Emporda and Posada Migueloa. The staff at these properties just embraced us, and the accommodations far exceeded our expectations. We would not have known of them without your introduction. Your care and personal attention to our needs made our trip very memorable. We can not thank you enough. While we have only been back for a few days, we are already thinking about our next trip to Spain. Thanks again, and we look forward to working with you again in the not-too-distant future.

Just a brief email to say thank-you for the extremely prompt and professional organisation of our recent trip to Bilbao / Cantabria / Asturias. I was very impressed with your organisation and on the ground all the accommodation, car etc. was very satisfactory. I will definitely recommend your company to my friends in the future. We had a lovely trouble free time in your country.

I wanted to let you know that we had a lovely time in Northern Spain. The two posadas and hotel we stayed in were great particularly El Bosque where Isabel was so hospitable. The setting of this posada is superb with wonderful views of the Picos. It was a nice touch of yours to have some more brochures waiting for us at the Joshe Mari hotel. Thank you for that. All in all we felt the service you provided was very good and have no hesitation recommending you to others.

You did a fabulous job planning this trip.. every hotel was great and in the perfect location. My mother-in-law raved about it! Everything went smoothly, from check-in throughout. The hotel in Jerez was our favorite, though we took a while finding it! Your maps and suggestions were very helpful. We did not get to ride in Andalusia... too many other things to see and do, though we did get to the Real Escuela and really enjoyed that. I think we all liked Seville and Barcelona best, and the Alhambra was our most memorable stop, along with the Gaudis in Barcelona. The only glitch was missing the overnight train to Barcelona .. totally my fault. After all your work getting the tickets to us, I had the departure time wrong in my mind. We spent another night at the AC, and they were terrific about helping us out. You are our hero! Thank you for your time and care ... I will recommend you to anyone I know planning a trip to Spain.

Just a quick note to say we really enjoyed our holiday. The area, people and rental property were great. The hotel in Bilbao was very comfortable and an excellent location. The rental property was in a great location too. The mountains and beaches were great. The beaches reminded me of the beaches in Donegal, but more heat and warmer water!

Llanes and Comillas were very nice towns, and San Vicente itself was a lovely spot and a great base for exploring the area. One thing that I think would be of benefit to have in a house is a toaster, we have been to a lot of self catering properties around Europe and find a toaster in most of them. This may just be an Irish need! We enjoyed our holiday very much and will return. We are recommending the area to lots of people since we came back and will gladly point them in the direction of your website.

We received the vouchers and the excellent guides. We have travelled extensively and no travel agent in the past has sent such a thorough and organized package of information. We definitely are very excited about the trip. Thank you so much.

Just wanted to drop a note to thank you for all the effort you put into helping plan our trip to Spain. Everyone was most pleased with all of the hotel accomodations and you wouldn't believe how much luggage can be squeezed into one of those small cars with a little effort. Spain truly is a beautiful country! We loved every aspect of it, but were most fond of the north. Thank you again and we won't hesitate to recommend "Totally Spain" to any of our friends.

We had a great 3 weeks. I think the highlights as far as hotels were concerned were Arnedillo and Hondarribia... they were fantastic. The Picos were also amazing. The weather was pretty good to us... and we managed to do some swimming in the sea, especially at the beaches in Cantabria. We will certainly be back again, when time allows. Again, thanks for your help to organise our honeymoon. We would not have managed without you.

We had an excellent holiday. In both France and Spain we had interesting and positive experiences. Our time in Spain was great. The B&B TBC 24 in Bizkaia was fantastic - our hostess, Maria, was wonderful - and the countryside was beautiful. The Parador de Chinchon was a good place to stay and visit Madrid and Toledo. We also visited the Palace at Aranjuez from there. Hotel BAR 08 in Barcelona was an excellent hotel, in a good location, with a very helpful staff. Thank you so much for your help. The information packet we received was invaluable. I would recommend your services to anyone interested in a Spain vacation.

We're just getting settled back in Chicago. Everything went perfectly with the possible exception of the weather. We had rain for our visit to Biarritz & San Sebastian. Too bad since both were beautiful and interesting cities. The "Guided Pinchos Tour" with Gabriella Ranelli was definitely a highlight and the Paradores were exactly what we had hoped for. Thanks again for all of your help. You made a good trip even better!

I just wanted you to know that our trip to Spain was spectacular! All arrangements worked beautifully and I thank you for all of your patience and assistance. You were right about the northern area. We all enjoyed Barcelona but all agreed that the best part of our travel was up North. I hope you will keep me on your mailing list. In future I might like to organize a group of friends to rent a country home for a week. We especially enjoyed the Parador at Hondarrabia and we would like to return to the San Sebastian area. Thank you again for helping to make our trip a success.

We were impressed with the efficiency with which you put together an excellent package in a rather short time, with your attention to detail, informed by your local knowledge. We spent six days exploring a different world: without seeming to try, we saw and experienced so much that was new and interesting to us, that we feel as if we had been away for twice as long. We shall recommend (in fact we already have) the region and Totally Spain to family and friends. In Bilbao, we found the restaurant L’Estraunza rather disappointing, despite the best efforts of the waiter to entertain us – he had nothing else to do because we were the only diners until a family arrived after 11pm. Lunch at the Guggenheim, however, was excellent. In Laguardia, the Posada Mayor was splendid, very characterful and very friendly. One of the sons of the family gave us a very entertaining introduction with wine-tasting, of course, to the bodega under the building. We dined in the restaurant twice and were impressed with the quality on each occasion. The best meal we had was in Calahorra, at the Taberna de la Cuarta Esquina. Very unprepossessing on the outside, we happened on it by chance, trying to find anything interesting in the town: very busy, friendly, efficient, good value and very good quality. Back in Laguardia, a charming English –speaking woman in the tourist information office opened the doors of the Santa Maria de los Reyes for us and gave a very informative and interesting talk about the painted portal which we were most impressed with. En route for the airport we spent several hours in your home town: the visit to the Artium was an appropriate way to end a visit which began in the Guggenheim. Personally, I enjoyed the contents of this gallery more. So, thank you for doing such a good job. No doubt we shall be in touch again in due course.

Dear Belen

The holiday far exceeded all our expectations in every regard.  All the arrangements and bookings from the accommodations to car rentals, were first class and we did not encounter a single problem or  disappointment.  The charming seaside accommodation in Costa Brava was really wonderful and was the perfect spot to enjoy some relaxation and explore this lovely coast. It was every bit as lovely and peaceful as you promised and the local wine and cuisine exceeded our expectations.

To be in Rioja during the wine harvest was a special treat and we had so much delicious wine and food, it was impossible to pick favourites!  Each village we explored was even more lovely and charming than the last.

Thank you Belen for making these arrangements, setting our itinerary and making this the best vacation we can remember having.  Everything was perfect, even the weather!!  We fell in love with your country and  we cannot wait to come back.

This is just to say we had a wonderful holiday and to thank you for all your excellent arrangements. I particularly loved the hotel in LaGuardia and that whole region. We had a superb drive from there to Santillada del Mar. The waether was beautiful except for two days. When it rains in Spain it really rains, doesn't it? We rented an Opel in Barcelona and a Renault in Bilbao and had a number of adventures, involving being rescued by charming and helpful Spanish men! Thank you again.

Many thanks for your efforts in organizing our recent tour to the AYALA VALLEY, LA RIOJA and HONDARRIBIA. We thoroughly enjoyed our trip despite the snow at the start and will fully recommend our accommodations and your services to friends, family and fellow travellers. The first two accommodations at LEZAMA (REF: TBC31) and the hotel in LANCIEGO (RIO15) provided excellent evening meals (and good wines!!), the hosts were very friendly, helpful and engaging, wonderful people. Similarly Patxi too was helpful and friendly but we saw less of her. We will have to explore the Ayala valley more on another occasion as the snow prevented us from seeing some of the mountain regions and precluded us from going too far away from our central base. La Rioja was predictably fascinating and we toured several Bodegas and spent time exploring LAGUARDIA, LOGRONO and HARO to get a feel for the region……….. Organisations such as yours provide an excellent means of bringing people together and enlightening their perspectives so we hope that you will continue to thrive. We will return to you for assistance in the not too distant future we are certain, possibly spring or autumn (or both) of next year as we intend to see the many parts of Spain that we have not yet visited besides revisiting some of our old haunts on the Costa’s and definitely Rioja!

Just a short note to say thank you for arranging such excellent accommodation for us on our recent holiday in Spain. We had a wonderful time. The apartment at L'Estartit was clean, comfortable with everything and more that I would expect from self-catering accommodation and the Costa Brava was a wonderful surprise - I'll admit now that we were nervous about it because we wouldn't normally choose a beach holiday but it was fantastic. We also loved Bilbao, and hope to go back. The Hesperia Zubilade was good and the staff there were very child-friendly and made a big fuss of our little boy.

I'm just writing to thank Ken and all the staff at Totally Spain for the wonderful holiday they arranged for us in September. The hotels were exactly as we requested, with friendly staff and gorgeous rooms, and the info packs on each region were very informative. My wife and I were a little nervous at the beginning, as this was our first driving holiday abroad, and also our first lengthy holiday by motorcycle, but we never had a single problem. You will be hearing from us in the new year, because we were totally hooked on both the friendliness of the Spanish people and Northern Spain as a region, and we feel we have only scratched the surface of what it has to offer.

The holiday was a great success and we enjoyed ourselves very much - the area will definitely be in our plans for a return visit in the future. Thank you for all the work with the booking and the advice on the selection of hotels. We enjoyed our stays at all the hotels. The most impressive view was at Casa Rosario as our room was on the top floor with a large balcony outside for us to sunbathe on. Thank you for sending a copy of the Bilbao hotel voucher to us in Ribadesella - still not sure where the original one disappeared to. We were given the packet of brochures for Galicia as soon as we arrived at the Parador in Leon. That is an amazing building in its own right in a town with many impressive buildings.

Thanks for such a lovely holiday. The hotels were great - the swimming pool in Ronda came as a complete and very welcome surprise and the hotel in San Lucar was very impressive. The weather was certainly very hot in particular Seville but the air conditioning over there is much more efficient than in the UK so it wasn't too bad. We were certainly very impressed with Andalucia and had a nice relaxing week.

Even before we arrived in Spain the information, help and advice you gave us was unbelievable and yet when we met you it was further surpassed. The three hotels you found for us in Bilbao, Vitoria and San Sebastian were of the highest quality and at an amazing price and together with all your information enabled us to get the best out of these places in the time we stayed there. The festival in Vitoria was one of the best things I have ever experienced; totally unbelievable! Thank you for your hospitality during the festival which again was incredible; drinks, meal and such friendliness. Every one I spoke to could not believe the service you provide, one which is rarely seen in the tourist industry, and your company deserves every success it gets. On my return I have told everyone planning a holiday to contact you and experience the fantastic service Vicky and I got. Thank you both for making our tour the best trip we have taken! We still show friends the pictures of us on the Mayor’s balcony from the Newspapers! Looking forward to travelling with you again.

We just want to thank all for the work that you put into organising the holiday for us. We really enjoyed the whole trip, the accomadation was excellent and the information pack that you included was a great help on our travels around the region. The festival in Vitoria was one of the high points and we have been boasting that we were with the Lord Mayor as he got things started. Again many thanks for your suggestions and help.