My husband and I have visited Spain many times over the years while on cruise ships, but never felt that we had the full experience during the brief stops. We decided to seek help planning a land trip to Spain for September 9 – October 4, 2025, starting from San Sebastian in the north and making our way down to Madrid, Seville, Granada, and Malaga. We interviewed two travel planners, and immediately felt comfortable with Juan. He was very personable and easy to talk to, and I did not feel like our budget was too small for him to help us. His colleague Marta was our wonderful contact who kept in touch with us via WhatsApp throughout our journey.

The tour guides and drivers that Juan’s team used for our trip were all professional and experienced. Some of the guides like Eskene and Alvaro in San Sebastian were so personable that we felt like we made new friends! We saw and learned about many beautiful cathedrals, palaces, and museums, and tasted the delicious cuisine of Spain while Juan and his team efficiently whisked us from one destination to another with the private transfers.

We also had an exceptional experience with a private driver in Madrid who picked us up at the Madrid airport on the day of the national bicycle race with thousands of people, police and barricades in front of our hotel, which was on the main boulevard. The driver had to park several blocks away from the hotel, drag our suitcases through the crowded streets, and take us down to the Metro using stairs in order to cross the street to the other side where the hotel was located. We were so grateful that we had a private driver to help us instead of a regular taxi!

The caliber of tour guides and private transfer drivers were excellent and we highly recommend hiring Juan Gonzalez and his team!

Traveler Shelby Willets and family kicked off their trip with a sidecar tour of Barcelona.

There was no better way to begin our multi-week holiday travel than whizzing through the streets of Barcelona in sidecars seeing the sights “en plein air.” Juan and his team—Marta and Lucia—organized a comprehensive tour of Barcelona as well as excursions for ports of calls during our cruise. They worked their insider magic to find a SCUBA dive shop in Lanzarote in the Canary Islands willing to take us to the underwater sculpture museum on Christmas Day! The guide discussed the sculptor’s concept prior to the dive, and once we were among the submerged statues, the vision came to life.

Keeping our teenage son engaged was easy on the Tenerife buggy excursion. He drove the open 4×4 from the beach to the top of the snow-capped volcano. LOTS of fun! Our son’s first wine tasting experience will be a tough act to follow. David, our guide, took us to a small family run winery in the Penedes where he skillfully educated our son on the proper techniques for tasting, pouring, and pairing wines. An experience he will not soon forget.

Thanks for organizing a fun-filled family vacation with little stress—just what we needed!

We recently returned from a beautifully organized journey through Spain arranged by Juan and his team. The trip combined cultural depth, culinary discovery, and easy logistics.

From our arrival onward, everything unfolded smoothly. Each transfer, guide, and hotel reflected careful planning and a clear understanding of what thoughtful travel should feel like. The itinerary struck a solid balance between iconic sites and authentic local experiences.

Two moments especially stood out. Chef Amelia’s cooking school in Seville was pure joy—her humor, warmth, and infectious energy turned a hands-on culinary class into an unforgettable cultural exchange. We laughed as much as we cooked, and the experience captured the spirit of Andalusia more vividly than any souvenir could.

In Córdoba, our guide Laura brought the Mosque-Cathedral to life with insight and grace. Her ability to illuminate the site’s layered history—Islamic, Christian, and everything between—gave real context to what might otherwise have been just a beautiful monument. It was one of those rare guided experiences that lingers long after you’ve left.

We would happily travel with this company again and recommend them to anyone seeking a well-curated, intelligent introduction to Spain.

Sevilla guides provided historical overviews while touring. Photo: Traveler Andrew Marton

Everything went smoothly during my stay in Sevilla. The team arranged my pick-up from the airport and it was a spacious Mercedes. Both of my guides were excellent and provided lots of color and history during the tours. They were patient with me and allowed me to take detours and photograph scenes at my own pace. It was a full half day, and I felt that I really got to experience the local scenes. We made some adjustments on the fly and everything went smoothly. Would highly recommend the company.

I recently returned from a solo 9-day trip to Barcelona. I usually plan overseas trips 9 months to a year in advance, and this was unusual for me, as I decided to take this trip less than 2 months in advance. Knowing that I would be traveling solo, a first for me, and that it was fairly “last minute,” I knew I wanted to have the assurance of a well-put-together trip and also know that I would be looked after if any issues arose while traveling.

I reached out to Wendy Perrin and let her and her team know what I was thinking about. In a short time, they suggested 2 different WOW List people to contact, one of whom was “trying out” for a permanent place on the WOW List.

After looking up both suggestions, I scheduled a Zoom call with Juan. I immediately felt both comfortable and listened to about what I was looking for. I let Juan know some of the things I was hoping to experience while in Barcelona (my first time) and he also made some great suggestions I had not considered or known about.
After another conversation, I decided to book my trip with his team.

I could not be happier with my choice. The things I knew I wanted to do…Gaudi experience, Miro Foundation, fabulous paella dinner, were all planned perfectly and with excellent private guides. I had mentioned that I wanted to see the UNESCO World Heritage music palace ( Palau de Musica), and Juan asked if instead of just visiting I would like to see a performance there. I was so excited when he informed me that the opera Carmen was going to be performed while I was there, even though I am not really an opera fan. It was fantastic! And after this had been arranged, I found out a sister of mine would travel to Barcelona from France to see me for a few days and Juan was able to get her a ticket to the opera as well.

The week I was in Barcelona happened to be the week of a Barcelonian festival and there were parades of “giants” and a human castle competition that my guide was able to bring me to and tell me about. I knew that I wanted to visit the Sagrada Familia, more of an architectural interest of mine rather than a spiritual one. The guide I had that day (Mariona) was so well informed that she really added to my experience.

One of the things that the team suggested was a trip to Montserrat and the Monastery up there, followed by a trip to a winery. I had absolutely no idea about this area, knew nothing about the geology or the monastery or the wine region. This day was a highlight if my trip. The stunning scenery was gorgeous and so different than anything I had ever seen. The guide (Marta) was fabulous. And she had arranged to hear the boys’ choir at the monastery. This was a unique experience. Afterwards we traveled to a local Catalan winery and learned about their wine making (the fabulous Cava!) and had a beautiful lunch.

Also, because I was traveling alone for most of this trip (and I am a 71-year-old woman), it was reassuring for me to know that the planners were checking in with me and that I felt completely safe with the guides and drivers that the company had arranged. I thought the location and choice of hotel was also very good. Easy to walk to a lot of places, very safe to return to after dinner in the evening.

I am very happy I decided to reach out to a WOW List travel planner. I had wonderful guides, experienced some things I had not known about on my own, and felt very safe. Working with Juan’s team definitely added great value to this trip for me.

Marta Fernandez Cruz was my contact person and planner assigned to me specifically for Barcelona. She was fabulous and deserves to be recognized as well for a job well done!

A motorcycle tour of Barcelona was an adventurous trip highlight. Photo: Traveler Laura McCann

Traveled July 31-August 15th
We wanted to take an epic family trip to somewhere we all had never been. Since the youngest just graduated college, we figured it’s now or never to travel as a whole family. I am an artist and always wanted to see the museums of Spain, specifically the Prado. However, we didn’t want to just sight-see and eat our way through Spain. My husband and I love to hike, so we tossed around the idea walking on the Camino de Santiago. The girls begrudgingly agreed, so we configured a trip with 2 big cities on either side of a more rugged, hiking adventure.

Juan was great about listening to what we liked to do, keeping the girls in mind—making compromises with not “too much” hiking or “too many” museums, with fun adventures like a motorcycle tour through Barcelona and a paella-making class with a private chef.

We have never really travelled with guides and were a bit leery of it. However, all of the guides we had were fabulous! Great people and super knowledgeable about their subject. We had a few of them more than once, and we looked forward to seeing them because they were so enjoyable to be around. They also were accommodating to our needs if we wanted to switch something up a bit.

We were booked into gorgeous hotels when possible: in Madrid, The Urso; in Santiago, The NH Collection; and in Barcelona, The One. All beautiful hotels in great locations with great breakfasts. The hotels on the trail were booked more for convenience of where they landed, taking into consideration the miles we needed to walk. What you would expect in a rural town. Small and clean and just fine. Nothing fancy.

All in all, an epic vacation that we will all remember forever as pretty near perfect.
Stand-outs for me were The Prado Museum, The Reina Sophia Museum of Modern Art, and just walking around Madrid, which is gorgeous! The train ride to Santiago and walking through Galicia to get back to Santiago, where we stayed for an extra day on Juan’s recommendation to just take in the gorgeous medieval city that it is. Then a short flight to Barcelona and the motorcycle tour, The Picasso Museum, The Gaudi tour, paella-making, Montserrat, and the Joan Miró museum. So much crammed into 2 weeks. The girls were worn out, but better than sitting on their devices half the day.

Would definitely recommend Juan and Marta for a trip to Spain.

My family (me, my wife and 2 daughters, ages 9 and 11) used Juan’s company to help plan a 10-day trip to Spain in June, 2025. We spent 5 days in Madrid and then 5 days in Mallorca. We LOVED our trip. For both parts of the trip we had the team arrange our transfers to and from the airport as well as serve as our primary source of transportation on Mallorca. Their drivers were excellent: kind, courteous, and professional.

Juan helped tailor our Mallorca visit perfectly. He helped us find a family-friendly resort with a beach, pool, and free buffet breakfast. The best parts of Mallorca were our 3-day excursions also put together by Juan’s team. We had a private tour of Palma and Sóller the first 2 days. These were highlighted by an incredibly knowledgeable and experienced guide, Inma. She educated us on the history, traditions, and the architecture of the island. Our third day trip, however, was our highlight. We rented a boat with a captain and spent 8 hours exploring the coves around Alcudia. Our captain made us homemade tapas while we snorkeled and used their paddleboard. Definitely a memorable time!

Visiting in June was not too crowded and before the summer rush. The entire vacation, we were in daily contact with the team. They were constantly checking in and making sure everything went smoothly. We highly recommend a visit and to check out Juan’s company.

Our first meeting with Juan over Zoom to plan our trip started with him wanting to know what our preferences, goals, and favorite activities were. He was extremely helpful and making suggestions about how to plan our days to make sure that we saw and had time for all the major attractions and
still leaving time for Café relaxation time and exploring. At the end of these discussions, we were provided with a detailed tricolor day-by-day outline of what our trip would entail. After review, we and Juan made some final alterations.

We opted for private tour guides and transportation. Our Madrid tour guide, Enrique, was nothing less than remarkable. His knowledge of Spanish art and history and his ability to wind these into a fascinating story made our visit to the Prado and the Sophia extraordinary. Our guide to the local wineries and private lunch was memorable. As well, our guides in Seville were excellent. The arranged transportation was well beyond expectations as we were provided with Maybach Mercedes limousines. If we needed a last-minute change, Marta was easily accessible and quickly adapted our plan. Everything that was planned by Juan, and executed by his guides and drivers who exceeded our expectations at every turn. I can’t imagine how Juan and his team would not meet the criteria for a WOW List travel experience.

Our trip planner Juan​ did an amazing job planning an unforgettable Spain trip for my family which included me, my husband, daughter (22) and son (19). We started planning our trip in October 2024 for our trip in May 2025. We spoke to Juan several times to share our expectations of the trip; most communications thereafter were done by email. He was responsive and generally came back with our proposed/updated itinerary within days of our conversations, which included day-by-day schedule, transport, hotel, and high-level local guided tour information.

After months of anticipation, May 2025 finally rolled around. We spent 15 days in Spain staring in Madrid. We traveled south to Cordoba, Sevilla, Ronda and Granada by car, and then flew north to San Sebastian and ended the trip in Barcelona.

Our local coordinator Marta was amazing! We received a daily text from Marta with information (driver and guide contact info, meeting location, etc.) for the following day. Marta was extremely responsive when we had questions. We did have a slight misunderstanding with the rental car, but Juan and Marta were quick to remedy the situation.

For the local guides, we were so impressed with each one of them. They were mostly from the local area, possessed a deep understanding of their region’s history and culture, and were flexible in tailoring the day’s itineraries to our interests. We also did a few amazing hikes. The Las Alpujarras hike (with small villages nestled in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada) in Granada was especially memorable, with our guide Jamie showing us villages that were settlements of the Moors over 500 years ago. After the hike, we had an amazing lunch in a tiny village where we had the best gazpacho!

Thank you to our planning team for making our vacation interesting, fun, and very importantly, stress-free!

Thanks to a last-minute flight cancellation, we had the opportunity to spend three nights in Madrid. Wendy hooked us up with Juan, who quickly set up a wonderful visit that gave us a real sense of Madrid across history, architecture, culture, art, and special sites. Enrique was our walking guide the first two full days and we enjoyed a bike around the city the last morning. We enjoyed a really good meal and flamenco performance one evening also.

I was impressed by 1) the quick response and total professionalism of Juan, 2) the knowledge and fun of Enrique, 3) the hotel choice—Urso is luxurious and classic.Our airport transfers were smooth and enjoyable.

I would HIGHLY recommend Wendy and confidently label this visit in Madrid as a WOW!