Totally Spain Customer testimonials

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.

We had a lovely holiday thank you, and without the information you sent we would have been a bit lost. We are so pleased that the hotels had air conditioning, as while we were there it was very hot on a couple of days. The best hotel of our entire trip we thought was the one in Segovia, very nice. And we enjoyed the places you mentioned it was a good insight into Spain. One thought that you might like to know, we thought the countryside very like South Australia; the wheat fields, the olive groves and the vines and the way that the mountains appeared was like the Flinders Ranges or The Grampians in Victoria. We would like to say THANK YOU for your advice and help.

My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed every place we went to, and your arrangements helped the holiday pass very smoothly. We lunched in the Parador located in the Alhambra, read by the pool with the most awesome views in the Jaen Parador, ate buckets of Tapas in Seville, enjoyed the baths of Cordoba (an excellent suggestion) and many other very happy memories. The small place in Arcos is a true gem of a place, we felt very lucky to have stayed there. Also, Ronda was extraordinary and again the views were incredible. Temperatures reached 43 at one point, but with ample fino, air conditioning and swimming we managed well. Many thanks for all your help. I would, and already have, recommend your services to anyone wanting to find an experience of Spain all too easily missed. No negatives at all, I am a very satisfied customer indeed.

We're home and trying to digest all the details of the two weeks of travel in the Basque Country. Your documentation was fabulous -- so well organized and helpful. We very much appreciate the service. All the arrangements you made were excellent -- we loved the two country casas and thoroughly enjoyed our hosts at both. I practiced my Spanish on Patxi at Iketxe and he seemed to appreciate my efforts. He's really something! We would recommend your service any time!

INDEPENDENTLY THROUGH TOTALLY SPAIN ITN (International Travel News) readers looking for something a little different might be interested in hearing about a 3-week independent trip my wife and I took in September ´02 in the Basque area of Spain. With email input from us, it was arranged by Totally Spain. We highly recommend this company, which is run by an Irishman, Ken Baldwin. Mr. Baldwin tailored the trip to our exact needs. We had told him we wanted a variety of lodgings with 2 to 4 night stays at each and didn´t want to do a lot of driving. Our route took us to Bilbao, San Sebastian, Vitoria and the Rioja wine country and ended up in Madrid via Segovia and Toledo. Incidentally, Spanish roads are excellent. We were accommodated at two charming country inns, several well-located moderate in-city hotels, one parador and one deluxe seaside resort. Mr. Baldwin provided us with extensive pre-trip material and maps plus museum tickets in advance. He even made a hard-to-get special restaurant reservation for us. The cost for all lodging (with breakfast) and the car rental was 1,850 US dollars per person. ** Letter appeared in International Travel news. February 2003**

We thought the area was absolutely stunning, and the house was really lovely, better than we had hoped for... We had acquired quite a lot of guide books and information for ourselves, but your very comprehensive pack was still welcome, particularly your own sheets on driving round Cantabria, which led us to some very charming villages and churches which we might not have found otherwise. There was plenty to do, and we did several walks, went riding, and also quadbiking, which we enjoyed especially. I am very grateful to you for your help in finding exactly what we were looking for, and in organising it for us.

We thoroughly enjoyed the whole region especially our circular tour around the Picos, with ever changing scenery from the hot interior with warm winds playing on the reservoir to the thunder and lightening as we wound our way round the hair pin bends on our descent. Everybody was friendly and helpful dispite the language difficulties and the food was great. Many thanks and we would certainly recommend your company to anyone visiting the area.

Once again many thanks for arranging one of our best holidays for a long time. We are still amazed at the variety of countryside and interesting places to be found in the Basque Country.

We had a wonderful trip through the countryside and all of the plans that you made went extraordinarily well. Our only regret was not spending more time in the GUGGENHEIM which we loved. Your directions were excellent, the hotel in BILBAO was great and dinner the first evening was outstanding.

We had a superb trip. Thank you very much for your organisation and attention to detail... Overall, the whole holiday exceeded our expectations in terms of beautiful scenery and buildings; the beaches; fine accommodation: the friendly helpful nature of the people who are not out to exploit tourists: and of course the food and wine. Our only disappointment was that we did not have more time to relax in and see more of the Basque Country!

My companions on the trip were very impressed with your excellent service! We had a fantastic time and found the Basque Country to be a lovely welcoming place full of friendly and kind people.

Many, many thanks for your help and advice. We had the most fantastic time and the memories will stay with us for a long time. We both agreed that it must be one of the best holidays we have ever had!

Thank you so much for the organization of our holiday. It was brilliant and has put my faith back into Spain. Everything went like clockwork and your choice of accommodation was brilliant

We would like to thank you for all the preparation you made so that our visit ran smoothly and everything was perfect. The hotel in Bilbao was first class and placed in a wonderful area. Within half an hour of arriving we were in the old quarter enjoying a meal and felt far away from the South East of England. The car pick up went well, upgraded to a most comfortable Seat and the drive to Lanciego, via Vitoria was superb, especially the stop off at the balcony of the Rioja where we were high above the clouds, so although no view of the area was available the sight was memorable. The Hotel Larrain was as you told us, friendly, comfortable and offered wonderful food. Rocio was a great help, booking us a trip around La Fabulista in Laguardia where we were lucky enough to receive a personal tour and tasting conducted in English. The wines and food we had were all interesting and new and the bird watching, once the fog had lifted, proved to be a success, with us finding several species we had not seen before. The storks at Logroño were particularly spectacular, as was a rare warbler we found along the bank of the Ebro at Assa, which I have since reported to the Spanish bird club. Thank you once again for your diligence in organising such a great trip, (again) and we look forward to doing business with you again in the near future.

At last an opportunity to thank you for the work that you put into our holiday last month. We had a thoroughly enjoyable time and when the time came to leave that glorious country we were most reluctant to say goodbye. The accommodation at SOJO and AIA was superb, our hosts were welcoming and nothing was too much trouble for them to ensure that we had a first class holiday.

In AIA we had a very beautiful large room and the owners were extremely welcoming and went out of their way to be helpful. The village itself was great as there were many pubs & restaurants. The fiesta was also on while we were there and after a few days we felt like one of the locals! Next we went to SOJO, the house is fabulous and the owners were exceptionally nice, the food was excellent and we had a super time there......