We are looking for an agent to help us select destinations and book hotels in Spain that will enable us to rent a car and spend a couple of weeks discovering Spain and Portugal. Even with her limited Spanish she is unwilling to negotiate hotel booking. We had a bad experience with a pension in Venice. Bill
Posted by
FL USA
1560 posts
Bill,
Please provide more details:
Approx age travelers
Travel dates
Has airfare been purchased
Trip objectives
Posted by
OP
Chico, CA, usa
9 posts
Wonderful:
I have no trouble renting a car but picking a good hotel is another story, as mentioned above. I would rather pay a commission and sleep well. Thanks for the reminder on IDPs. Portuguese tolls were also a new one on me. Lots to learn on this venture. Thanks for your response and keep them coming.
Marbleskies:
We are in our mid 70’s and will celebrate 49 years of marital bliss in August. We started our serious travels in 2005 with a 5 week trip in Germany. That’s 1 week on foot, 2 weeks on a riverboat from Amsterdam to Vienna, and 2weeks in a rental car mostly in southern and central Germany with a side trip to Hallstatt, Switzerland. Since then we have done four more river boat cruises in Germany Eastern Europe, Russia. If there was a river in Spain similar to the Rhine, Main, and Danube; I would not be having this conversation. I love riverboat cruising as much as I dislike bus tours. We can operate independently as in the 2 of the 5 weeks mentioned above and a month in Paris. And to a certain extent we were independent at the different towns and villages alongside the above mentioned rivers. We enjoy wandering about century’s old streets marveling at what our 500 year old culture could learn from Europe. My current fascination is “curb stones” and how most cities in Europe recycle them. My, I am running off at the mouth/keyboard.
Our trip to Spain will take place next year so no dates, tkts. Thank you for your interest.
Bill
Posted by
FL USA
1560 posts
Viking river cruise has a 10 day cruise predominantly in Portugal with a dash into Spain. Perhaps you could start w this cruise and then weave in a portion of Spain. We prefer visits in october due to fewer crowds and lower temps. My recommendation would be to focus on a section of Spain for this visit. Suggest Andalusia, driving from seville to ronda to granada over the course of a week. To meet your need for excellent hotels read up on the following website
http://www.paradores-spain.com
Congrats on living the commitment of your wedding vows!
Posted by
San Antonio TX, United States
2393 posts
The Paradores are fantastic! You can not go wrong there.
Posted by
Tucson
4183 posts
You may feel like you have the car rental thing solved, but I would check with Gemut.com -- call them after you explore their website. They can provide info on driving and renting cars in Spain and Portugal, and on potential age limits on renting cars in those countries.
Posted by
Atlanta, GA, USA
2790 posts
Worst hotel stay in Europe
Granada Spain. Booked by a Travel Agent.
I took over after that and never looked back.
So don't assume an agent will do any better unless you really like highrise hotels catering to big bus tours far away from everything else LOL!
The days of agents who do this for those of us not spending BIG bucks on hotels are long gone.
Posted by
OP
Chico, CA, usa
9 posts
Perhaps I am a little too cautious. Once we have a city to city route I’ll start working on hotels on my own.
Marbleskies, the Viking trip seems a little too tour orientated for us. I have marked our map with your suggestion on Andalusia, driving from Seville to Ronda to Granada. You and Christi both mentioned the Paradores something I will checkout.
Wonderful, Thanks for the words of caution on Booking.com.
Lo, the reviews look good for Gemut.com, thanks.
Carol, in what city was the “worst hotel”?
Bill