Barcelona Vacation Ideas

My wife and I have been lucky enough to travel to many places around the world, but our April 2025 journey organized by Zicasso's tour company was easily one of the best. Our agent and her team thought of every detail. All we had to do was show up and enjoy these two beautiful countries!

We went to Four cities: Lisbon, Porto, San Sebastián, and Barcelona. The itineraries were thoughtfully planned to give us great experiences without wearing us out too much. And the guides in each city were fun, knowledgeable, and engaging. The transportation was always easy and on time, and the hotels were top-notch.

The trip itinerary and guides provided in Barcelona, Porto, the Duoro Valley, and Madrid were excellent. They were very knowledgeable, professional and personable, and spoke excellent English.

Most of the drivers were very good, but we were surprised that some of them did not provide bottled water for half-day tours (we had to ask and stop to buy it). This was a minor nuisance, but given the price of tours and previous experiences, a simple expectation, as well as having the car cooled down and AC on during hot days when being picked up.​

The tour manager did an outstanding job overall, but could have improved on some specific requests that seemed to be either forgotten or missed regarding an electric scooter/wheelchair we rented that caused some issues during pick-up and drop-off. Otherwise, working with her was a very good experience.

We enjoyed the trip. The guides were good, although our guide in Lisbon provided a little bit too much history. But he was very knowledgeable and we enjoyed his tours. The communication with the Zicasso company through WhatsApp was very good and they were very accommodating to upgrading our transport vehicle because our luggage was large. The food tours were good. We enjoyed all the sites that we saw. Barcelona, especially, was great.

We stayed at four hotels. Only the hotel in Porto was a disappointment. The other hotels were good and we were very comfortable. The breakfast that was served at the various accommodations varied in quality, but the breakfast buffet in Lisbon was extremely good. The hotel in Porto was definitely not a four-star facility. The local airline definitely does not have its act together. When we left Barcelona to come home, the line for the airline was about five or six times the length of every other line. I would have definitely been willing to pay a higher amount for a business class seat in order to use the very short line in the Porto airport.

The recommended activities were amazing for our trip.

We started in Madrid, then went to Toledo, Seville, Córdoba, and Barcelona. Highlights for my kids (15, 13, and 13) were the cathedrals, mosque, cooking class, walking tapas tour and e-bike tour.

All of our drivers and tour guides were prompt, knowledgeable, and listened to our preferences.

The hotels in Madrid and Seville were perfection and located close to major areas.

The only reason I gave the trip four instead of five stars was that the travel company made a mistake booking our hotel in Barcelona. We found out the night before that our hotel was switched and the new hotel was not in the best area and far from major attractions. The company did offer to reimburse us for taxis and sent us a gift and apology letter. However, I would have preferred to book my own hotel in Barcelona but the day before it was too late for me to research and change the hotel. That particular experience marred what was an otherwise fantastic trip.