Northern Spain with Camino del Norte Highlights

Spain | May 14 - May 27, 2023

Our trip to Northern Spain arranged with Marta T of Espiritu Travel and Kim Kim was a truly wonderful experience and all of us in our group of 6 were very happy with the itinerary and the excellent attention and service we received from Marta before and during our trip. Marta was always so attentive and prompt in answering any questions and concerns we had and the suggestions she made for our itinerary introduced us to many of the highlights of our trip ie the Cares Mountain Route, the Picos de Europa Mountains, the hike from Orio to Zumaia and the National Parks. We were so fortunate she chose Diego as our driver and guide for the majority of our trip! We met him in San Sebastian and all of us immediately felt so comfortable and safe with him right from the start. Diego is amazing! He is professional, very knowledgeable, patient, responsible and just a great person to be around. He was so attentive to the needs of our group! We all felt so safe with him driving on those winding mountain roads and on our hikes in lesser known areas as he accompanied us and made sure we were all going to make it to the end. We can’t recommend him enough! Our guides for the city tours, Noelia in Oviedo and Joachim in Santiago de Compostella were both excellent. They had such a great knowledge of the history of their respective cities and the area and their enthusiasm was infectious!
The hotels selected were all excellently located for touring the cities where we stayed and the included breakfasts were very good. We were a group of 2 couples and two singles. There was a difference in the size and quality of the rooms for the couples in the Posado Rural El Corcal, Hotel Soho Boutique in Oviedo and in Eurostars Araguaney in Santiago de Compostella. It was not a huge issue but should be addressed for future groups. There was also an issue with our reservation in Santiago de Compostella due to a computer glitch but a quick text to Marta resulted in her immediately addressing the problem with the hotel. It resulted in the two singles having to share a room for the first night of our three night reservation but we were well compensated with a delicious complimentary meal at the Hotel for the inconvenience this caused us. The one hike, the Oak Path in Armanon Park is one we suggest be used with caution and that it be rated as medium/difficult due to the conditions of the trail, the elevation and the difficulty finding the trail head. The rest of our hikes were well selected and the scenery was breathtaking on many of them.
In summary we are very happy with our choice of Kim Kim and highly recommend Marta T, the Kim Kim team, and the people she chose to be with us on our trip.
Jack and MaryAnne V.