Spain, Morocco and Portugal Reviews

The trip was excellent and we enjoyed it very much. The itinerary was good and hotels were excellent. The tour director was very good. Overall a memorable trip.

Overall we thoroughly enjoyed our tour of Spain, Portugal and Morocco. We booked the tour with the understanding of the distance we would be travelling in the coach. Trafalgar planned the stops along the way very thoughtfully taking into account the passengers' needs and government requirements for drivers' rest breaks. We have been independent travellers ...read more for years and have taken tours recently with other tour companies. We were very happy with the itinerary and pace of the tour. The included highlights were very good however there appeared to be quite a number of optional tours offered, more than anticipated. Our group of travellers, mainly from Australia, New Zealand, USA and Canada connected from the first day and had a great holiday together.

There were many positives in this tour however there was also some negatives that need to be mentioned. Firstly the fact that Trafalgar was unable to secure tickets to enable our group to visit Alhambra Palace in Granada. For us Alhambra was to be one of the highlights of Spain, and to receive a letter (dated three days earlier) on the coach seat to announce this was such a disappointment. This tour had been a guaranteed departure since the brochure was printed, so who didn’t secure the tickets? Of course another tour was substituted in another city, however we didn’t get to see Alhambra Palace.

Secondly we must make mention of our tour guide Philip Rogers. Philip was very knowledgeable on the history of the countries visited and a fluent linguist. Apart from those attributes Philip did not attempt to connect meaningfully with his guests at all. His timing of pointing out highlights along the road was poor, by the time he mentioned the highlight we had passed it, or there was no mention at all until a guest asked. We were also quite concerned about the way Philip handled the situation when one member of our group collapsed on the bus and appeared to be very ill, especially in regard to Philip’s and Trafalgar’s duty of care to the guest and group. Philip's religious preference heavily swayed his commentary and he engaged more with our Moroccan guide Nile than his guests.

In closing, we would suggest that Philip has lost touch with the expectations of guests on what is a high end tour. This was our first Trafalgar tour and after speaking with fellow passengers, many of whom are regular Trafalgar travellers, by far the majority agreed Philip was disinterested and probably past his best.

We had the best team of people ever, fun and we all got on well. We felt we all needed to see more of Madrid Plaza Mayor, tasting tapas or a coffee, not stopping in front of the bull ring and back to the hotel as Richard our tour guide sold us on our first optional excursion (by the way we were all going to do the option anyway). We were told by Richard ...read more our tour guide that this was the best way to do it, luckily we had 4 days prior to our tour starting to see Madrid the capital, no one else did.

Our hotel in Granada could have been more central or Richard and our grumpy bus driver could have given us a small tour of the city on arrival just to get our bearings (the last Trafalgar tour we did our tour guide and bus driver did this) then people can go for a walk after dinner. When we came down to Marbella we had a walk through the old town which we got to know very well as our tour guide lived there and we had a nice optional dinner. We asked if there was a choice of visiting Mijas, the white washed village in the mountains, and he took us there for lunch which was fantastic, but not sure if he would have if we hadn’t said anything.

In Morocco all tour dinners, first and last hotels were fantastic. The Medina in Fes was a disaster as there were 4 tour guides and the group was split - we only got one guide and the other crowd got 3. Why was this? It was the biggest push sale ever on carpets and leather goods and our guide got annoyed as no one wanted to buy anything so he made us wait in an alley for 45 minutes then rushed through the Medina out where we had to wait another 45 minutes for the others. We were all disappointed as we were all excited to buy stuff and we got nothing, as soon as I saw Richard we told him and it was brushed under the carpet. Our bus driver was a joke and as soon as it came to gratuity Richard put an envelope on our seat to give and went on and on about it, it became a bit of a joke .

All Spain then Portugal was fantastic we ended our trip in Lisbon by choice to stay an extra 3 days and saw a lot more. The food and hotels here were fantastic. The best hotels on this trip were Madrid and Seville, beautiful. Will do another trip with Trafalgar and hope we get professional guide.

This was our 4th tour with Trafalgar, and as with the previous tours the organisation and itinerary were excellent. Our tour guide Miguel was excellent with a wealth of knowledge and insight into countries we visited, in particularly Spain and Portugal.

The pace of the tour was full on but we knew what to expect so no problem there. There were plenty ...read more of optional excursions and probably too many for a 16 day tour. With the past tours we undertook all the optionals however this time round due to the pace of the tour we opted out of a couple to take a break which turned out to be a good thing. In Morocco we took on a Govt endorsed tour guide for the whole time in Morocco and picked up local tour guides in the various cities. Question why we had local guides as the Govt guide was well equip to handle the these jobs however this is how things work in Morocco - apparently. Would have liked to spend an extra day or 2 in Portugal as we only had 2 nights in Lisbon.

Overall at great tour and would highly recommend. Michelle and Madeline at Global Journeys were excellent in providing prompt assistance, feedback and organisation.

A great trip through three countries. A little hectic due to the distance travelled in sixteen days. A well organised trip by Trafalgar, good coach, great Portugese driver who took the coach into some very narrow places and streets and a tour director Javier GalvezJ who had been doing the job for 21 years and was worth every accolade you could give ...read more him and more, he was the best.

Most hotels were of very high standard with only a couple were a little inferior. We had a very friendly group of 48 made up with 40% Australians. The itinerary was very full with many and varied places to see with local guides. The only negative comment I would make is that it would have been nice to have a list of the optional extras and costs much earlier than was advised. Global Journeys through our consultant Yvonne Brookes kept us well informed continually from the time we booked our tour until the time we departed. Thank you for your excellent service.

We had a fast paced and busy trip. Little time to relax but excellent for updating knowledge of places we have never been before. Morocco was a little confronting but our tour director Raymond and driver Pedro were able to handle any problems in a relaxed manner making it a pleasant journey for all. A little more time in Portugal would have been nice. ...read more We did most of the optional extras and would recommend these to get the best from the trip. I would not hesitate to recommend Trafalgar as a coach tour company.

We had the best tour director ever in Jason who shared his passion for these countries to us in every way. All aspects were covered to help us understand each country from cultural, economic, gastronomic, music, art and geographical. The optional extra excursions that went with this tour were the best I have experienced. Any minor problems were well ...read more handled and my overall impression was an excellent glimpse of life in the Iberian peninsula.

As this was the largest group we had ever travelled with, we found the seating was a bit cramped, especially if the passenger in front reclined their seat. (Obviously seats had been removed on our previous tours.) We did all the optional extras, so the pace was full on - but all good. Our accommodation was really good, even had an executive suite one ...read more night! The 'Discover Tapas and Old Seville at Night' was the biggest disappointment. The meal was nothing like we were expecting and certainly not worth the money. Most of us felt this way. The number of extra 'local expert' tour guides we had was rather excessive. Also the additional Moroccan guide we had to have was unexpected. This added extra costs which our fellow travellers were also unhappy about. FYI - the taxi fare from our last hotel in Madrid to the airport is a fixed price of 30 Euros. This might be handy for your future clients. Rafael Moreno, our tour guide - we cannot speak highly enough of his expertise and attention to detail. His assistance to those who needed some extra personal attention was first rate. Nothing was ever too much trouble and he did it all with a very pleasant manner. Overall it was a great trip!!!

Overall content was quite good. The coach did not provide much leg room when compared to other coaches that we saw. Some of the optional excursions should have been part of the base tour (particularly) Portugal's Coastline. Others places were actually passed along the way but became an optional experience. The feedback to us regarding the optional experience ...read more 'evening meals' (except one) was that they were not good value and not enjoyed. We did not feel that the 'Area Specialist' (in Morocco) and 'Local Specialists' were good value. We felt that the Tour Director had sufficient knowledge to fulfill these roles in most areas.

Included and optional sites/experiences were very good. However, a lot of times were spent travelling by coach to reach next destinations so quite tiring and uncomfortable. Optional experences were quite a significant cost in foreign currency so it will be beter if can be prepaid. I am glad I booked with Global Journeys this time because they were well ...read more organised.

A wonderful experience but it involved long days of travelling with many days of 6-10 hours in coach. As I did all the optional excursions this allowed no quiet down time and continuous days of early wake ups became tiring. Two days only in Portugal was disappointing but the tour of Spain and Morocco was very good. My dietary requirements of requiring ...read more gluten free food was largely catered for in most places but some of the roadside lunch stops didn't have anything I could eat so I took to packing my own lunch at breakfast time to get around this issue. In Morocco the hotels had I provision for gluten free bread. I would recommend this tour if it was a more leisurely pace. If you fall or ( catch a cold or sprain an ankle like I did) the pace was relentless. Overall I did enjoy myself and I am glad I picked this tour.

We loved this tour. Philip, our Moroccan guide was extremely knowledgeable and took us to some very special places and bought us local delicacies to try. To experience the different cultures was fantastic and the optional tours we did were most enjoyable especially the horse and carriage ride in Marrakesh. Travelers Tip: When you change your money in ...read more Morocco try and get smaller denominations as it will be easier for tipping.

The tour was was a lot of fun and our tour director was excellent. I didn't understand why we need to decide on the optional excursions within the first 3 days, it does not work anyway, and Jason was still taking money until the last day. The theme song that Jason selected and played to wake us up was a fantastic idea. The mood on the coach was getting ...read more better and better as the tour went on culminating in the farewell dinner on the last day in Madrid.

The tour was fantastic. We saw everything that was possible to see in the available time. The coach was comfortable and the tour leader managed the seating extremely well. If I had to criticise anything at all, it would be that we didn't have enough free time to explore independently, and the early morning starts and late arrivals back at the hotel ...read more gave us only time to eat and sleep rather than socialise with the others on the tour. The food in the supposedly 4 star accommodation in Salamanca was absolutely appalling - cold stew! I would recommend that the final night's dining is to take place in Madrid rather than 2 nights earlier. I would thoroughly recommend this tour to anyone wishing to get a taste of Spain and Morocco. The tours through the markets in Fes were unbelievable - and a highlight of the trip.

Good value for money and as I don't do surveys, obviously the whole experience with you has been rewarding. Thanks.