Spain's Classics & Portugal (Barcelona to Lisbon) (2025)

Traveler Reviews

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  Elizabeth

  June 5th, 2025
  Loved the Sagrada familia as I had never seen the interior. Excellent guide!! I also enjoyed the Al hambra as I had...
  Loved the Sagrada familia as I had never seen the interior. Excellent guide!! I also enjoyed the Al hambra as I had never been there.Show more
  Traveled in April 2025

  Review collected by Collette
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  Jenny

  October 6th, 2023
  Their awful service started before I even got on the plane! No guide in Barcelona, left to fend for ourselves, no...
  Their awful service started before I even got on the plane! No guide in Barcelona, left to fend for ourselves, no free dinner on the first night, no notification on safety level for Morocco given earthquake happened, was given someone else's fast train ticket to madrid which caused me to nearly miss the train, or meals at some places, guides were even in the dark at times.... we all got the sense that the whole thing was very poorly organised. And when I sent a formal complaint and completed their survey, their response was just a routine one, with no attempt to reach out and apologise. Never, ever again.Show more
  Traveled in September 2023
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  Barbara

  November 16th, 2018
  We were told Collette was a "first class" touring company...we chose "Spain Classics" and were celebrating our 27th...
  We were told Collette was a "first class" touring company...we chose "Spain Classics" and were celebrating our 27th wedding anniversary. We found out that nothing on this tour by Collette was "first class"...from the touring bus, the collette "meals", the size of the tour (44 people), and the hotels. The touring bus had NO ROOM...no legroom as promised beforehand. My husband had to sit on the back bench seat in the middle due to he couldn't move his legs in the regular seats! We were told not to use the bathroom on the bus or we would have to drive around Spain looking for a place to empty the receptacle (great way to tour Spain?). the size of this tour made it virtually impossible to have everyone use the restrooms on the bus stops, due to time constraints. The size of the tour also made it impossible to tour the shops ANYWHERE...we came back to the US with absolutely nothing purchased as there was NO TIME. The meals included in the package were awful! I kept having members of the group come up to me and others asking if they had had a good meal yet!! Bread seemed to be the thing they fed EVERYONE...fish was not offered..pasta was! Collette offered an optional outing for $99 which was dinner for ONE PERSON! We passed on that, as by that time we were wise to what Collette was doing....ie making money for themselves with little quality...we did speak to a number of the people who took them up on that option, only to hear that they were ripped off...a couple for dinner at $200? are you serious? The "welcoming" into Spain at the first hotel in Madrid was pathetic! Exhausted, everyone tripped into this hotel at about 8:30am...to be told their rooms were not going to be ready until that AFTERNOON! We had planned this trip for MONTHS! Collette should have booked those rooms the DAY BEFORE...people were tired, and needed a place to just rest, wash up, etc. One lady sat on the sofa in the bar-room and slumped down into the chair, and the bartender told her to GET UP! No water was offered (BUT, it was sold at a high price to us), nothing to eat...NO PLACE TO SIT!! Their lobby did not accommodate 44 people!! This was the worst planning I have ever seen! At the 'going home dinner'..everyone had bottles of wine at their table...we asked for a beer for each myself and my husband, and were told we had to pay for it ourselves! We had a "discussion" with our guide and he fixed it...wow..."FIRST CLASS"? we were humiliated! Last but certainly not least...the taxi which Collette was to order for us to leave Spain for the airport, arrived 15-20 minutes LATE....got tied up in a grid-lock right outside our hotel at the 'round about', sat there for 25 minutes..while we "sweat"..are we going to now miss our plane? They'd probably make us sleep on the grates!! So we ask the driver, can't he go around this? he said no....we sit there for longer, and finally he WENT AROUND THE TRAFFIC....I was very angry with this, as he could have done that all along....all he did was go right, go left, and then he was out of it....he just didn't want to!! If you've had a lot of money tied up in trips by Collette, and you went through similar experiences, you need to demand your money back for the tour....this is what I will do, as complaining isn't bothering them one bit. Tired of not getting what I pay for. Their guide - Sergio - I felt bad for, as he had to "wrangle" all 44 people on this "first class tour"..hahaShow more
  Traveled in October 2018
  

  Reply from: Collette

  Barbara, by way of introduction, I am the General Manager at Collette. I am disheartened to read your review and very sorry for your experience. I will be looking into this personally. You can expect to hear back from me in the next few days. I can be reached anytime by calling 1-888-243-5549 or bwalker@collette.com UPDATE 11/16/18 3:25PM I have reviewed all the surveys from this tour. Forty-three (43) received from Forty-four (44) total. Overall tour experience 40.48% Excellent; 42.86% Very Good; 16.67% Good. Collette takes feedback very seriously and all surveys and feedback is reviewed. Your comments and those of others will be assessed and changes will be made as we deem will improve the overall guest experience. Thank so much for your feedback. I am available for further discussion at any time or to provide verification as requested. Brett Walker

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  PhilMullins

  June 29th, 2018
  Our Trip was well guided and a busy one, luckily with only 26 people. I felt however there were some problems with...
  Our Trip was well guided and a busy one, luckily with only 26 people. I felt however there were some problems with the tour that would be out of our guides control. 1. We were lucky and got to tour inside Alhambra but I was told subsequent trips may not which would be a massive loss to the tour and I certainly would not be happy. 2. The additional tours were really not worth the monies and most restaurants appeared to just want us out by 9.30 for their regular dinner trade. Having said this the Montsserat additional tour was cancelled due to lack of numbers and so we did this ourselves at a cheaper price and it was fantastic and should be part of the tour. Meals were average and I think we had the same dessert 3 nights in a row. The Paella lunch was very over rated and the boat ride after seemed to us to be a complete waste of time with nothing to see. I know we are not used to tipping in Australia but just following Collette guidelines we tipped well over $400 AUD with all the different attraction guides and drivers which I think is steep. This will turn Australians off these tours It was still a memorable trip but it needs some fine tuning. Yes I would travel with them again.Show more
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  Traveled in June 2018