Great tour, superb team leader, Julia, with great knowledge and very kind.
Nothing was too much trouble for her.
Absolutely recommend.
Pluses: Interesting locations and activities.
Great coach driver and coach.
Some excellent dinners
Good food and wine
Some really good hotels.
Tour leader tried but....
Against: Tour leaders first time. Getting read about sites off her phone. Learning with us rather than leading. Not Tour Leaders fault but a fail by Backroads not having an experienced leader as well for a first time leader.
Some sub average breakfasts, such as stale bread, extremely limited selections.
A final dinner which was a shambles and ended the tour on a low note. Whoever is the agent working for Backroads in Northern Spain needs either to be replaced or counselled.
I know every trip has its ups and downs but this one had a few too many issues.
BUT take out the negatives the Tour was overall enjoyable.
Locations and interests and activities well selected. Hard to go wrong in such a great region.
This is a laid back relaxed tour with some interesting sights including Guggenheim, Monasteries and some Romanesque Cathedrals. The architecture is wonderful and the visits to cheese farms and wineries are interesting. There is too much repetition re churches and medieval villages and free time spent in pointless places was disappointing. Local guides are very educational and there should be more use of them. Our tour leader worked very hard to meet our every need. Most accommodation was good but some eg Girona and Cardona were very poor. Food varied, some very good and some disastrous eg Farewell dinner in Girona.
Great itinerary with varied and interesting experiences. All group members got along very well. Our guide Letitia was extremely knowledgeable about her country and her enthusiasm was contagious. We rate this tour top-notch and would recommend it highly
The overall trip was very good ,but we travelled through some wonderful farm land and orchard and thought it needed some attention and details about this side of Spain where all their food comes food come overall it was a very pleasant trip thank you for asking
The small tour group of 10 was great. Pam was a warm hearted and helpful guide and the specialist guides in Bilbao and Lleida were excellent. Girona guide was adequate but not as inspiring. The included meals were far too big. Accommodation good, and the winery and monastery stays particularly memorable. I am wondering whether some basic ground rules for participants might help reduce some unacceptable behaviours.
Excellent itenerary. Learned a lot. Great hotels. Lots of fun.
It was through a travel agent.
Great value as we toured top sites. That and the excellent service make top value.
Well organised central locations for accommodation but out of the way stay at winery was fantastic
The tour followed the prescribed itinerary so there were no unexpected disappointments.
Lack of variety, too slow
Terrific guide. Good driver. Bus ok, could have had more leg room.
to many churches. cathederals at the top of hills. language very hard to follow, as there are 3 different ones.. hot
The 2 nights in lagudia unenjoyable. Accom poor. No yea/coffee/water. No bar or lounge area. Nothing to do. Suggest 2 nights in Dan Sebastian coast area would be wiser. Or another accom in a town or village.. otherwise really enjoyed our tour
See aboveon balance good trip, guide and driver were great. Should have started on monday night and then two nights in san sebastion and one in the winery. Hotel in pamplona not 3 star
Not in line with other trips we've taken for the services received.
Great architecture and history. Unfortunately most information we had to find ourselves.