Totally Spain Customer testimonials

Totally Spain is honoured to have been awarded Spain´s Leading Tour Company at the 29th World Travel Awards held on 01 October 2022 at the Hilton Mallorca Galatzo.  For three years in a row we were nominated and this year we finally won.

World Travel Awards™ - the Oscars of the tourism industry - was established in 1993 to acknowledge, reward and celebrate excellence across all key sectors of the travel, tourism and hospitality industries. Today, the World Travel Awards™ brand is recognised globally as the ultimate hallmark of industry excellence.

Hello Belen,

We are back home, safe and sound.  Where to begin... Thank you.  We cannot express, fully, how grateful we are to you for all that you did. Every detail was perfect. All the transporters were super.....timely, polite, professional and helpful. They all were flexible, and offered inside tips. We enjoyed them all.
The accommodations were all great. We loved the hotel Palacio de San Martin in Madrid. So lovely, well located and helpful staff. (one waitress, in particular, was so sweet and went out of her way to show us courtesy). 

The individual walking tour guides were all great....so knowledgeable, great teachers and storytellers. We enjoyed, so much, each place we visited. I think I was especially mesmerized by Salamanca.. It is so beautiful, and the history is palpable.  So very glad you included that.

Thank you, again and again. We had a lovely, relaxed and interesting journey.

Oh, we also enjoyed the restful stay at the Abadia Retuerta in Ribera del Duero. Stay well and we will be in touch.

See our Google Review from Sara Nuñez here

Contact Belen for your Private Custom Tour in Spain & Portugal belen@totallyspain.com

We got back safely from our trip last night and just wanted to e-mail you to tell you that we had the most wonderful holiday. Everything was so well organised by you from start to finish and it all went very smoothly. Each city was so different and it would be hard to say which one we liked the best but probably a toss up between Seville and Cordoba. The hotels were all first-class, the drivers were all extremely punctual and friendly and the service we received could not have been better. We all thoroughly enjoyed the train journeys, especially our unexpected breakfast on the Cordoba- Granada train, which included prosecco and beer!

Thank you Belen. We will certainly be using your services again, possibly to Portugal next year. I shall be recommending Totally Spain to any of my friends who want a tailor-made trip.

Reproduced from our Google Reviews

Hello Belen, 

I know Ken wrote to you as well to tell you what a lovely time we had over the last several weeks. We all agreed that our trip would not have been possible without your guidance and expertise. The hotels, tours and tips were all excellent. Ken and I definitely fell in love with Spain, especially the island, and already booked a small villa in Mallorca next September! 

On a more personal note, I have enjoyed our correspondence and have found you to be a great pen pal. :) I am already thinking about another trip in 2024 or 2025 to Portugal and northern Spain.

Your assistance and good counsel will definitely be required. I wish you and Totally Spain much success in the meantime. 

Best wishes,
Brian 

Contact Belen for your Private Custom Tour in Spain & Portugal belen@totallyspain.com

4th!! CUSTOM TOUR WITH TOTALLY SPAIN

Yet another fabulous tour with Totally Spain! Belen planned the perfect itinerary for Portugal and Spain with a great introduction for our first visit to Portugal, which we absolutely loved.

As always, the hotels choices were ideal with unique local character and amenities in the most central locations. Our tour guides were the best - we're art and history buffs and they each contributed so much to what we were seeing - and their genuine warmth made seeing the sights like visiting with friends. Drivers and transfers were always seamlessly executed. Timed ticket entries made queueing a breeze.

Each time we travel with Totally Spain we are impressed and never disappointed. There is no wasted time or hiccups and they are so good at designing itineraries for whatever we think we might want to do. Their suggestions are always welcome surprises that make the trip so memorable.

We'd never travel to Spain or Portugal without them.

Reproduced from our Google Reviews

Contact Belen for your Private Custom Tour in Spain & Portugal belen@totallyspain.com

We selected Totally Spain from an internet ad to plan and organize 10 days to visit Madrid and Barcelona for 2 couples. The good reviews that were posted proved accurate in due course.

Belen, the Managing Director, took charge and after a few iterations , changes, compromises , etc. we agreed on a final plan that included , hotels, intercity transportation , private guides , excursions to nearby towns by train including guides, food tours and taxi/ limo transportation from and to the airport and train stations.

The trip was fantastic. Well organized and well staffed with knowledgeable friendly tour guides and drivers. While in Spain your immediate response to our hotel change request was perfectly organized and supported by a driver / translator.

We really felt that the schedule and overall organization of the trip enabled us to maximize our enjoyment. Even the restaurant list you provided for each city proved to be very useful and well chosen.

Thanks to you , Belen, we pulled it off

Milt and Sandie. M

Re-Produced from our Google Reviews

Contact Belen for your Private Custom Tour in Spain & Portugal belen@totallyspain.com

Hi Belen,

We just wanted to thank you for planning such an amazing  trip to Portugal for us.  We had a wonderful time and enjoyed all the guides that we had.  We also liked all the hotels, including the one in Lisbon!  Everything was done professionally and ran smoothly. 

Thank you again for all the time you spent on making this trip fantastic!

Contact Belen for your Private Custom Tour in Spain & Portugal belen@totallyspain.com

Belen

As we are ready to depart Spain I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank you ever so  much for making our trip in Spain so extra special. Your attention to detail is completely over the top  110%

All of your information brochures were so helpful and informative every place we visited. We always looked at what you were suggesting for each place we visited and followed them up.  Our accommodation was so perfect for us and always close to major attractions and we had no difficulty finding any of our locations. 

The tours , wine in Laguardia, what a great choice all done by hand, such a novelty!  We fell in love with our Pintxos guide in San Sebastian. And to have a private guide in the caves who's English was excellent made that tour just the best  The hotel in the Picos area was just absolutely beautiful and a great place to have a bit of relaxation from our driving for a while. All the hotel staff were wonderfully friendly everywhere we stayed and breakfasts were certainly enough to last us many hours  

We loved Esther in Madrid. Had no idea we would be actually going into the opulent palace which was something to behold

And then on our last day here as the French say "The piece de resistance" Toledo.  What a wonderful add on to our tour and Alejendra was the greatest guide. She dropped us at a restaurant which actually had a Michelan rating and the food was to die for.  We have learned so much about the history of many of the places here in Spain we visited thanks to such great guides and your information and truly its a trip we never will forget.

I know you have been doing all the correspondence with my husband Fred but it was I who found the name of your travel company to start with and we both feel it was the perfect find.!

Thank you once again for everything you put together for us 

Margaret Thompson 

Reproduced from our Google Reviews

We had Belen Encines from Totally Spain help us to plan a driving trip across Northern Spain.

Her attention to every detail made our trip so incredibly enjoyable.

The hotels were perfect for us, and hotel staff always friendly and helpful.

All of our tours and tour guides were absolutely terrific. There are not enough stars to give Belen and her travel company. We would highly recommend this type of tour and definitely with this company.

Contact Belen for your Private Custom Tour in Spain & Portugal belen@totallyspain.com

Hi Belen

Our trip has been fabulous! We have really enjoyed it. Thank you for putting it together for us!
After 16 days away and living out of suitcases, we are ready to fly home tomorrow but we are so happy with our trip and are taking home great memories of our time in Spain and Portugal. 

We especially loved our stay in Granada and Ronda! The views from our hotel room in Ronda were outstanding!  But all of the hotels were nice and the service from everyone at each hotel was exceptional, especially the service we received at our hotel in Seville. 

Our tours were all good too and we really liked Elsie in Lisbon who took us on our day trip to Sintra and our food tour tonight. She was great!

Thanks again for helping us book and organize this trip!
Cindy and Dave

Contact Belen for your Private Custom Tour in Spain & Portugal belen@totallyspain.com

So I got back from Portugal and Spain about 3 weeks ago and the experience was truly incredible.

Belen did an incredible job setting everything up from the tours to the drivers and everything in between. I could not believe how professional her and her entire team were and would recommend her service and company to anyone.

If you are going to Portugal and Spain and want a more in depth experience please do not hesitate for one second to reach out to them.

I promise you will not regret it.

Reproduced from our Google Reviews

Contact Belen for your Private Custom Tour in Spain & Portugal belen@totallyspain.com

From the first enquiry to the very end of our trip, Ken at Totally Spain made sure we enjoyed the very best holiday in Spain. 

Every detail on our amazing itinerary was perfectly planned and excellently executed. We're confident travellers but the experience and knowledge of Totally Spain meant we met the best guides in all the best places.

We'd definitely recommend Totally Spain to anyone looking for a Totally Top Notch Trip to Spain.

Reproduced from our Google Reviews

Hi Belen

I am sending you this brief note to let you know that we had a wonderful time, and we are very grateful to you for helping us organize the trip.

The hotels that you selected for us were all lovely, comfortable, and well-located in areas that allowed us to walk to many things.  We especially liked the Catalonia hotel in San Sebastian, which is a beautiful new hotel with great views of the city from the rooftop pool.  The excursions and tour guides were all very good as well.  We especially liked Esther in Madrid who was very knowledgeable of the city and gave a really good tour of the Prado as well as an interesting walking tour.  Laura  in Toledo and Montse  in Barcelona were also very good.  

In Barcelona, the excursion to Tarragona and Sitges was very good.  The Roman ruins at Tarragona were amazing and our tour guide -- Stephen -- was interesting and funny.  My family and I enjoyed spending the afternoon on the beach in Sitges.

In San Sebastian, the cooking class was interesting and fun and the people running the class were very good.  My only comment is that the class ran very long -- we were with them from about 10:00 am to about 4:00 pm.  We had the Pinxtos tour scheduled for the same day, but we were quite tired at the end of the cooking class, so they kindly rescheduled the Pinxtos tour for the next day.  The drivers were all great.  They were very punctual and friendly, and their cars were very comfortable and clean.  

We really had a wonderful vacation, and we had a great experience with Totally Spain.  Your hotel and excursion recommendations were all excellent and you kept us extremely well organized with the documentation you sent us.  We will recommend Totally Spain to anyone we know traveling to Spain.
Thank you again for all your help.
Best,
Brady Dugan
 

Contact Belen for your Private Custom Tour in Spain & Portugal belen@totallyspain.com

We just returned from a trip to the Basque Country booked by Ken at Totally Spain.

The trip Ken planned was phenomenal - from the drivers, tour guides and one-of-a-kind experiences, my husband and I had a wonderful time.

I highly recommend using Totally Spain if you are planning a trip to Spain.

Review re-produced from our Google Reviews.

My wife and I used Totally Spain to plan a 9 day trip in spain with 14 of our friends. This was our wedding celebration as we got married during COVID and Ken completely knocked it out of the park.

We let Ken take the reins and everything met or exceeded our expectations - the hotels were great, the restaurants were fantastic (no small task to get reservations for a party of 16), all of our local guides and drivers were friendly, knowledgeable, and personable, and all the other little details made for the trip of a life time. Despite travelling in a foreign country with such a large group we were never stressed.  Ken even helped plan our wedding celebration day complete with wine tasting, two meals, a photographer, and an unforgettable night in a medieval town in La Rioja during a festival. After our group trip, we also had Ken plan a 5-day 'recovery' portion of the trip for my wife and I in Cantabria and it was just what we had hoped - great food, great scenery, and lots of relaxation.

We highly recommend that if you do have Totallyspain plan a trip for you to let them know what you want your trip to be like and not dictate exactly what you want to do each day. Some of the things we did we may not have planned ourselves but were great surprises and enhanced our overall experience.

Thank you thank you thank you Ken!

Reproduced from our Google Reviews.

We’ve recently returned from an 8 night trip to Andalucia, staying in Granada, Jaen, Ubeda, Cazorla and Cordoba. We had a truly amazing time and loved the itinerary.

All of the paradors and hotels were really good. Antonio, our guide for the Alhambra, was excellent- an absolute wealth of knowledge. Similarly, we immediately warmed to Gema, our guide in Cordoba. She was fabulous company and a brilliant guide. We had a wonderful trip to an olive mill. The tour was fascinating and we felt very privileged to spend time with the winners of the best olive oil in the world.

We would like to thank Totally Spain for putting together such a great itinerary, for choosing such wonderful accommodation and for their attention to detail. It was such a memorable holiday. We certainly wouldn’t hesitate to recommend such a first class company.
 

Reproduced from our Google Reviews

I have worked with Ken & Totally Spain since 2006.

He has helped me plan several trips to Spain for my clients and ALWAYS knocks it out of the park. I have great confidence working with a company that is so dialed in on a destination as they are with Spain & Portugal (I don't get too many requests for Portugal, but if I did I would reach out to Totally Spain for sure).

There are certainly some trips that I can put together myself without a Destination Management Company but I know when I'm over my head Totally Spain is the one to reach out to for this part of the world!

Thanks Ken for making Spain Travel Planning a breeze!

Highly recommend Totally Spain for a stress-free vacation!

I'm used to booking my own trips, but I'm so glad we had Belen at Totally Spain for our 16-day vacation in Portugal and Spain. Belen made everything so so easy. She took care of all the hotels, tours, cooking classes, train tickets, and even made sure drivers were waiting for us at every airport and hotel to take us where we needed to go.

She worked within our budget and specific needs, and every single place and experience she recommended was amazing! We did half-day city tours, gastronomic tours, and cooking classes in Lisbon, Porto, Barcelona, and Spain.

I will definitely use Totally Spain again for my future trips.

Re-Produced from Google Reviews

Contact Belen for your Private Custom Tour in Spain & Portugal belen@totallyspain.com

My family and I had a wonderful hassle free vacation 2 weeks in June. When my son approached me in 2021 and indicated that he wanted his children to see Spain and for me to help plan the trip, I jumped to the occasion. I had spent time in Spain in my twenties and my son had also stayed with the same Spanish family the year before he graduated from high school. He wanted to encourage his teenagers to be open to a similar experience. That sets the scene!

When I contacted Totally Spain, I knew I had found just what we needed. A trip for 5 of us that included our own itinerary, a car to deliver us to and from our hotels, a guide showing us the highlights in each city, tickets purchased for the trains, major attractions, etc. It was perfect!

Everything was perfect! We had a wonderful time in Spain. A truly hassle free and delightful vacation.

Absolutely brilliant service from Ken and the Totally Spain team.

Had a last minute trip booked and they managed to plan a great 10 days trip and everything flowed smoothly from hotel bookings, airport transfers, activities and car rentals.

Would highly recommend.

We had a wonderful 10 day trip to Barcelona and Madrid complete with side trips and guided tours.

Ken at Totally Spain was terrific! He listened to what we wanted and put together a well organized, detailed, thoughtful trip, providing plenty of background material and recommendations for both cities.

Ken is easy to work with and was accessible and responsive both before and during our trip.

We enjoyed spending time with our guides, Montse and Ana, both natives of their cities. The drivers who met our trains were lovely and made our travel smoother.

All in all, it was a fantastic trip! I highly recommend Ken and Totally Spain, and look forward to booking our next trip with him to explore more of Spain!

Reproduced from Google Reviews.

We thank you, Totally Spain, so very much.

Everyone of your team has been exceptional.

The hotels you picked for us have been great - location, accommodations, etc. No complaints except that the trip should have been longer; 17 days was not enough but that's on us, not you. Also, thank you for putting up with us; we know we caused several unplanned arrangements and you handled them quickly and smoothly.

I can't not mention that you, Ken Baldwin, answered every one of our emails almost instantly, day or night, weekday or weeknight. Thank you

Belen was an absolute pleasure to work with for the past two and a half years as our 2020 trip finally happened in May, 2022. 

This felt much more like a personal relationship than a commercial one. We were impressed by Totally Spain's group tours, but wanted to travel on our own - without driving. Belen really listened to us and created a 15-day itinerary in Madrid, Andalucia and Barcelona with guides, drivers and intercity trains.

She works with very high-quality partners, and our guides were terrific - all extremely knowledgeable and passionate. Belen added two group experiences, both also top-notch: a Tapas, Taverns and History tour in Madrid ; and a cooking class in Sevilla. Our hotels were consistently very good, in excellent locations (the duplex room at the Ronda Parador was amazing!) with one comment: breakfasts varied in quality.

I have been singing the praises of Totally Spain and Belen, and would work with them again in a heartbeat.

Totally Spain booked trips for us through both Northern and Southern routes - pre-pandemic, and now again as we reschedule and rearrange our plans once again - past-the-worst-of-it-pandemic.

Ken Baldwin carefully choose hotels suited our needs. Drivers and guides aligned with our interests perfectly. He found for us reliable, locally owned family companies with well versed people who knew their stuff.

As we return to dip our toes into travel again, to revisit beautiful Spain, we need fresh eyes to decipher what is the same and what is different. We are relying once again on Ken at Totally Spain. Be sure to clarify your interests, your preferences in types of hotels, amount of walking you like to do and types of restaurants. Bien viaje!!

Let Totally Spain do the prep work so you can enjoy your trip even more!

4th CUSTOM TRIP WITH TOTALLY SPAIN

We just returned from a three week trip to Spain and Portugal that Belen arranged for us and it was fantastic!

This was the fourth trip that Belen has done for us and they have all been wonderful! The logistics have been flawless every time; from great hotels to private transfers, things always work smoothly. Belen has arranged car rentals, with drop off and pick up in different locations and they've always come off without a hitch.

Working with Belen and Totally Spain we always know that they have our backs. When we had a flight cancellation that ended up splitting our party so that half arrived one day and half the next, Belen took care of rescheduling hotel arrivals and tour times, making it seamless.

This trip Belen arranged private guides for us in Evora, Porto, Guimaraes and Braga. They were fantastic! They enriched the experience of those cities so much with local knowledge, history and their personal experience. They were flexible and tailored the days to our desires rather than following a script. They shared their love of the locations and their personal favorites for things to do and places to eat. We felt like we were traveling with friends, not tour guides.

Whether you want to see the major tourist spots or get off the beaten path and see the rural sides of Spain and Portugal; whether it's historical sites or great dining with wine pairings, Belen and Totally Spain can make it happen for you!

Four trips with them and I'm sure this wasn't the last. I can't recommend Totally Spain highly enough. They are a truly professional travel company!

REVIEW REPRODUCED FROM TOTALLY SPAIN GOOGLE REVIEWS

Hi Belen,

I wanted to thank you for a wonderful trip. The weather cooperated, the hotels were centrally located, the tours and guides were great and the restaurants were perfect. I’m not sure I’d change anything.
 
Porto was alive with students graduating and families celebrating their accomplishments. Pedro gave a excellent tour of the city and Callum with the Fado concert was just the right amount of time to experience Port wine. We really enjoyed the city and the people of Porto. I would recommend getting tickets in advance to climb the Clerigos Tower — we didn’t realize it’s popularity and no reservations were available when we arrived. 

The boat trip along the Douro Valley was beautiful and a nice break from the city. Sylvia’s tour gave us the perspective of the growth in the old versus new approaches of the vineyards in the valley. The wine tasting was a welcomed treat and we didn’t leave without a bottle of wine or two! It was interesting to get a local’s perspective of the valley. 

Traveling with Pedro to Lisbon was fun! Adding the visit to the Livraria Chardron Bookstore was wonderful and we appreciated the fast pass for entry. Pedro covered both Aviero and Coimbra well and hitting two libraries was a nice combination. Our driver Joseph made some fantastic maneuvers driving through the narrow streets of Coimbra! Lunch overlooking the city was a perfect end to our day there. 

The extra tour in Lisbon really captured the history and feel for the city. Elsa was fun and offered insight into the Royal families of Lisbon and it’s history. The Jeronimos Monastery is a must see along with the walking tour of Belem’s  harbor. Lisbon’s gastronomic tour was catered to our tastes and allowed us to see many different areas of the city. This was a nice combination and I would recommend it for your future tours. 

Sintra’s Peña Palace was beautiful - again getting an early start made it more enjoyable. Azenhas do Mar was postcard perfect. Our lunch there was amazing and we enjoyed walking around afterwards. For future bookings, a table with a better view of the ocean at the restaurant is booked well in advance. I’m not sure how you would guarantee a better table here but it would be worth the effort. The stop in Cascais gave us a beautiful glimpse of the ocean from Boco do Inferno. It was a nice break while driving back to Lisbon. 

I want to thank you for making the effort to get us dinner reservations in Lisbon. It completed our days and made it easier for us to enjoy our trip. Our dinners were all wonderful and they each offered a variety of Portuguese menus. In Porto, we went to Vinhas D’Alho, Escondido, and Cozinha Cabral— all very nice and great food. 

Again thank you for booking Esther in Madrid- she was fantastic. Her knowledge from history to art captured our attention even after a long flight. I recommend touring the Royal Palace first then The Prado Museum. It gave us a perspective of how the the Royals families lived, their passions and the Renaissance artists that put it to canvas. Amazing art collection and exploring the master artists was unforgettable.

Our drivers were all very good, polite and friendly. They allowed us to enjoy the scenery and our tours. 
Again, thank you for putting our trip together. We appreciate your patience and enjoyed every minute. Hope to travel again with you soon!

Obrigado, 
Nancy Drees

Wow - what an adventure!

We all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and were hugely impressed with Andalucia and all it had to offer. Thank you for putting together such a memorable trip with such care and attention to detail. The hotels and their location were superb. We were so impressed with the friendly, helpful staff we encountered throughout our time.

The guides were just excellent - a wonderful mix of professionalism with humour and we came away knowing that we had learned a great amount and have been inspired to learn more. And the build up to the Easter parades was something so very different and fascinating. I’m so pleased that Spain had wonderful weather last week so that the celebrations could be enjoyed.

The Segways and cycling were great ways to see the cities, especially the Segway visit to Sacramento. An absolute highlight. The Flamenco was entrancing. And the food - THE FOOD! Highlights were the Mercando Victoria in Cordoba and the Mercando de Triana. Bodeguita Casablanca and Bodeguita Romero in Seville were also sublime.

We can’t thank you enough for such a brilliant trip.

REPRODUCED FROM TOTALLY SPAIN'S GOOGLE REVIEWS

We have used Totally Spain nearly half a dozen times to book trips throughout Spain and have nothing but positive things to say. Ken and his team are extremely knowledgable, very professional, and have a excellent attention to detail. We have done trips both with our children and without and they were able to match up the itineraries accordingly based on our needs and interests. We will be using them again for an upcoming vacation this coming summer. Would highly recommend them without any hesitations.

Re-produced from Totally Spain's Google Reviews

We just came back from a three week trip to Spain and had a blast! We were worried initially, with the virus, a travel agency, Totally Spain, we only ever emailed and found on line, and an expectation of the hassles crossing borders.

We’re so thankful we just went for it! Totally Spain completely took care of us. The drivers and guides were knowledgeable and lovely, the Spanish people so welcoming, the food delicious. The trip information was detailed, accurate and so valuable. Everything worked as it should have. We couldn’t have been happier with the plan and the execution.

Belen Encinas, Managing Director for Totally Spain, worked with me to plan a trip to Portugal.

She created an itinerary that was perfect for us and did so on very short notice. She gave us excellent directions and informative materials about the areas we would be visiting, arranged very comfortable accommodations, and reserved a car that perfectly suited our needs.

Her planning was flawless. She even identified a clinic for us where we could get our Covid tests before returning to the U.S. I highly recommend Totally Spain.

Our trip was originally scheduled for April 2020. For obvious reasons it could not happen. We stuck with Ken and his team at Totally Spain and they delivered a Nov 2021 trip my extended family will never forget. We had a group of different ages with a wide range of interests. Totally Spain provided great planning, awesome restaurants, beautiful venues and the perfect guide. I recommend these folks to anyone and everyone! I am already thinking about Portugal. I am a tough grader but this was an A+ trip. Thank you Ken!!!!