Not as advertised and a lot of missed opportunity
I picked this tour based on the itinerary. I saw it on Tour Radar and decided to go direct direct with Eskapas I didn’t want to go through middlemen. Eskapas was very responsive pre tour. However the tour was sourced to Julia in Spain and then again to a transport company. The itinerary did not disappoint. I was thrilled to visit these towns. However the tour did not live up to the advertised standards. I suspect that because there were only 7 of us, we were relegated to a shuttle van as opposed to the lush, roomy WiFi enabled bus advertised. I understand the need to go smaller but Europe is rife with luxurious small buses. I picked this tour based on the bus because I have back pain. We were all miserable. It was hot, stuffy, uncomfortable. We had fans duct taped to the back and a usb plugged into the lighter for power. The bus aside, the biggest disappointment was the lack of a tour director as promised, we essentially had a driver. Ismael was a great guy and did his best but his English was not good enough to be a guide. And there was a lack of communication and organization. There were zero info sessions. The first night we were scheduled to meet in the lobby at 745 and they had left already when we arrived at 735. The desk knew where they had gone so we walked around the corner only to wait 15 minutes for the restaurant to open. Similarly, the morning info sessions never happened. We just got in the van and went somewhere. The first day no one knew the meet up time, our catamaran was canceled due to weather and we were told we had retuned from Sagrada Família late. A side trip was offered to Monserrat. It was €50 each. Turns out that went to the driver. The lodgings were not 4 star by American standards for the most part. They were clean and adequate but not luxe. My favorite hotel was the Westin sadly. They were located in good places except for the Westin. A hotel more walkable to Madrid sites would have been preferred for our one day in Madrid. Our dinners weren’t great. We did not have a guide with us. We really didn’t have choices of what was served. The Flamenco dinner was good and the dancers fun. Our driver did warn us it wasn’t the Sevillian Flamenco Americans think of. My favorite meal was the last at a Mediterranean place in Madrid. The local tour guides were enthusiastic and good for the most part. The last day we were in a van where we couldn’t see or hear anything, it was a beautiful day in Madrid, so we asked to just be dropped off. The tour guide refused at first, but we prevailed and had a blast. We later found out the guide had requested the driver downgrade from a more luxe fan from which we could have seen more. In summary there were a lot of missed opportunities to truly experience Spain on the trip on past tours, the drives have been full of histories of the cities we are seeing, what we are seeing from the road, life style etc. Our driver tried but didn’t have the knowledge or language skills to engage. He offered a stop in Ronda without communicating it was €50 each. I loved it and paid but questioned who I was paying. I gather Eskapas is a young business but if they want to build a good reputation they can’t handover the tour.
By Becky