Hello -We will be visiting San Sebastián, Barcelona, and Madrid in July and will be taking some day trips from both Barcelona and Madrid. I’m looking for recommendations on tour companies, including bike tours.
I came across a negative review for Spain Day Tour.
Thank you in advance for any information!
Good Morning MMV
You may have come across my negative review for Spain Day Tours.
When I was in Barcelona, I took a morning excursion to Montserrat and an afternoon excursion around Barcelona. It was a full day offered by Spain Day Tours..
Based on my personal experience, I can not recommend Spain Day Tours. The excursion was very unprofessional, misleading and I did not get what I was told that I would.
Later I did complain and asked for some sort of a refund. Spain Day Tours asked me how much I wanted back and I asked for 30 euros. I was trying to be fair. I did get a refund for the 30 euros although I probably should have asked for 50 euros. The excursion cost about 106 euros plus an additional 9 euros for an admission fee to Park Gruel.
Be aware that Barcelona Day Tours is also owned by the same corporation that owns Spain Day Tours. The parent company is based in Canada.
I did a lot of research trying to find a good company for a day excursion. I actually just wanted to go to Montserrat but Spain Day Tours led me into the full day which included Barcelona.. I did not need a half day of Barcelona.
I was also using Facebook pages and many persons recommended Viator.
I went with Spain Day Tours based on the marketing and it was a big mistake. I do not know that Viator would have been any better.
I will try to find my original post with responses.
UPDATE: I have found my original post when I was looking for a half day excursion to Montserrat. It is not as helpful as I was hoping that it might be but that is because I had. a lot of trouble finding what I was looking for and in fact, I never did. Part of my problems was the it was just me, one person and I ws wanting to be picked up and dropped off at my hotel.
Viator, as many other similar companies, work with independent guides and do not have a direct control over their activities, it´s just a tour selling platform that gets a 25% off the fee charged by the guides listed on it (that is commonly added to the total cost of the tour).
Good Afternoon
bostonphil7 Yes, it was your post! I reached out to Walks of Italy, who were fantastic during our trip back in 2019. They advised me to contact their sister company Takewalks, City Experiences and Devour (Food Tours) for Spain. I'm in the process of doing research but also wanted to get other travelers' opinions.
MikelBasqueGuide I am also checking out Viator.
Thank you both for your input.
Federico Barroso is a licensed tour guide in Madrid. He also guides tours for Rick Steves. He does private tours in Madrid.
For Barcelona, check out Barcelona Day Tours.
We did a great tour of Northern Spain and Southern France with Gate 1 Travel that was great.
Thank you Mary and geovagriffith I will check those two out.
In 2017, we used Spanish Trails for day trips from both Madrid and Barcelona. I don't think they offer tours from Madrid anymore, but the company was excellent, and the current reviews on Trip Advisor are still excellent. From Barcelona, we used Spanish Trails for small-group tours to the Costa Brava and Girona, and the Priorat Wine Country, and a private tour to Tarragona.
