Spain's Costa del Sol & The Portuguese Riviera Starting From $3,549*pp

The tour promised "free time" for leisure and this was not the case. We often returned to the hotel late in the day, only to find that we had to rush to get ready to go for supper. There was little time for shopping for souvenirs the first few days of the tour - the itinerary was too busy.

The location of the hotel in Madrid was good, but we felt the hotel itself was below average. The room was extremely small, was uncomfortably warm and was generally disappointing. Several of the meals provided by Collette were sub-par. The welcome dinner on May 26 in Madrid was outstanding and the Hake dinner served at the Parador Malaga was good as well. ALL of the other meals were problematic... (meat overcooked, gravy way too salty, tasteless food) We were especially disappointed in the optional Flamenco evening that we signed up for. This evening cost us $163 CAD so for the two of us that was well over $300 CAD, which is a substantial sum. We were looking forward to having authentic paella and enjoying the flamenco dancing. At the restaurant, my husband ordered the chicken paella - his meal arrived and he enjoyed it. I ordered the seafood paella. It arrived 5-10 minutes after my husband's meal and was so over-salted that it was completely inedible. Several other people who ordered the seafood paella had the same complaint. The restaurant offered to provide us with something else but there was no time as we had to leave for the Flamenco show. Needless to say I left hungry and extremely disappointed (as was John Raynak, the other person in our group who ordered the inedible seafood paella). Our tour director was made aware of this problem and told the restaurant but there was little he could do at that point. We should not have had to pay for a meal that could not be eaten - especially considering the price we had paid. We had travelled to Croatia two years ago with Insight Tours and that tour was far superior to this tour. Their accommodations were far superior (all excellent 4-5 star hotels), provided meals were consistently delicious, tours were appropriate and time was managed much better. We were extremely disappointed with this Collette Tour. We truly enjoyed our tour director Xavier Gimeno. His sense of humour and his excellent knowledge of the tour were the highlight for us. He always behaved professionally and efficiently took care of all of our travel arrangements and needs.

Very polite and knowledgeable.

Good tour but too many tours of the old parts of towns. Needed a little more free time.

The pace was very energetic, especially for seniors. The late dinners really messed up our " internal " schedule.

Gibraltor, the monkeys and the cave.

Most of the hotels were very good. One of the hotels the room was very small. Bed almost on top of of bathroom. I was not happy that I could not collect about 50 euros from purchases I made. No one mentioned that I needed a form from a participating store along with my receipts to collect.

Gibralter, Toledo, Fatima

Need to adjust touraccording to clients age and ability status

Some of the places we ate are good some are bad

Collette and our tour Guide Jennifer could not have done a better job. We saw just about everything imaginable on our itinerary and the optionals were absolutely worth every penny especially when we went to the shows and Mijas. The hotel choices were amazing with some of the very best breakfast displays ever. I wish there was something to complain about but alas everything was perfect except the weather which I can only blame on the heavens. In spite of the downpours we still saw everything!

As noted before, we saw everything this itinerary offered and more. The optionals aren't something I'm usually fond of but the ones on this trip I would not have missed. The flamenco show was super amazing, even the Fado night, which I really wasn[t excited about brought a new light to me regarding Fado music. The dinners were also so satisfying and the wine never stopped throughout our meals. I've been on food and wine tours before but this tour even topped them without having that distinction. Jennifer our tour manager did a magnificent job making sure we got all the photos, all the tours, and making sure everyone was happy. She had handouts for every city and marked our meeting points so no one ever was late or lost. Jen was super efficient. I would highly, highly recommend this tour. There were so many high points but Gibralta was one of my favorite optionals as was the Flamenco show which went way beyond my expectations. My one recommendation would be to arrive in Madrid one to two days early to really see what the city has to offer - there is so much!

A very professional agency with great attention to detail and a dedicated staff

Great sites to visit, very nice lodging, and plenty of delicious food

As always, Collette exceeded my expectations. It was a wonderful tour in every way.

The excursion to Fatima, Nazare, and Obidos were my favorite moments. And the optional dinner in Mijas Pueblo was the best!!!!

I booked this tour directly through Collette and was pleased with the service I received. They were responsive to all my phone calls and requests... even to last minute changes.

We got to visit many beautiful places on this tour but would have preferred more free time to enjoy each place. Most of the places we visited we only had an hour free (which included time to find a place for lunch). If it wasn't lunch time we generally had 15 minutes free time which was barely enough time to find a restroom. We would have enjoyed spending more time on our own at the places we visited rather than spending so much time in detailed tours of the sites.

Yes , but I really didn't fully understand the tour I chose . So I'm not blaming Collette . For instance, I expected to see Malaga but we stay outside of the town and if you went to Gebralta which I did their was no time to spend there and it was not part of the tour . At the Portuguese Rivera I expected to see those pretty different color buildings but that's not where we went . My biggest disappointment was not spending more time in Lisbon. I feel we really didn't see it . That's where we need free time . We needed two days in Lisbon .Toledo was disappointing because we spent the whole tour in a Church in stead of the city . The service was great and the food was good . The last hotel charged for a safe ? I thought that was terrible.

The tour wasn't what I expected . I didn't exspect to spend the whole tour in a church , we didn't see the city . Had I understood that tour better , I wouldn't have gone . I wanted to see Malaga .We didn't spend enough time in Lisbon we needed two days . Ronda , Columbus tomb , Lisbon and Fatima . The diners included in the tour were very good .

We booked through a travel agent, and had no contact with Collette directly. That said, everything on the tour went smoothly.

This was a great trip, we lucked out with 30 companions who were incredibly congenial and thoughtful, from all over the US, Australia, and the UK. Excellent tour guide and careful and safe driver. The included meals were large portions and the wine flowed. The hotels were fine. I do think the "3" rating on this was a bit off, particularly for the first 2/3rds of the trip. We were counting "steps" on our pedometer and almost every day we broke 20,000 (250,000 for the trip)(figure 2000 steps per mile?). The sites were incredible, particularly the Alhambra, Mexquita and the Alcazar, However all entailed long walks to/from bus, many steps up and down, long walks within the site and long periods of standing. Once we got to Cascais, the physical demands lessened considerably. This was our 3rd Collette trip, and we will be back again soon. Thoroughly enjoyed it! 5 Stars to our Tour Manager, he was great!

The tour was quite inclusive with many learning experiences. Many of us on this tour thought its difficulty rating was inaccurate as it was more difficult than most thought it would be due to the fact that much of the walking was on cobblestones, hilly and hundreds of stairs. It would be helpful to have more information before booking these trips. We were not given details until a couple of weeks before departure.

This tour included many UNESCO sites and was an excellent learning experience. Some of us even had the experience of holding a bird of prey!

Very knowledgeable guides. Throughly enjoyed the itinerary. Would definitely recommend Collette to others.

The group...I have to say the people we travelled with. The tour had a diverse group of people from all over the world. Our tour manager's knowledge and stories were so interesting and funny. As a group, we really all got along. And the itinerary of places we visited were amazing. There wasn't just one place we visited that stood out.

-tour guide was excellent; professional, personal, well organized and on top of every detail - driver was competent, safe, and professional also. - top quality

- if by purchases you mean 'extra tours' we only went on one. Because of our smaller group (which we loved) it prevented some of the extra optional tours from going ahead. - the tour we went on was good, but the guide (in the van) could have had a head set, as he was difficult to hear at times . . . we were in the very back of the van. - Content, location, organization etc., though were good as usual

Great tour, great accommodation, great fellow travelers on the tour, great tour guide, and driver., great value for money.

Portugal is a must see. We will be returning.

There were many logistical errors made by this company, including not scheduling our airport transfer correctly at the end of our tour. We almost missed our flight!

Everything was basic in quality, especially included meals.

nice hotels with check in service limo pick up at airport efficient itinerary was excellent, more time needed, but I realize pack a lot into one trip good local guides

The mosque in Cordoba Seville. great city for walking Prada Gallery in Madrid

Good service

The hotels were chain hotels and some of the locations weren't as good

This was our second trip with Collette and once again we were very impressed. We went through our travel agent, so she dealt directly with the company. We received all travel documents earlier than expected with no mistakes. We received credits for being repeat customers, as well as for early booking.

The hotel selection was excellent; we stayed across the street from the ocean in Cascais and Torremolinos, and were within walking distance to the city centers. Buffet breakfasts were amazing in all locations as far as quality and quantity. Tour bus was clean, modern, and very comfortable, and our driver was professional and often went out of his way to minimize the amount of walking required. Quite a bit of walking required uphill, on cobbled streets, etc. which was a challenge for some participants with canes or other issues with walking. Tour was packed with included activities and destinations, but some days were back-to-back full days of touring, especially in Portugal. Tour does include down- time for people to be on their own, but it could be spaced out better. Our tour manager was capable and organized, but was abrupt and sarcastic at times, especially when asked to repeat information (we all had jet lag and were senior citizens!). She also didn't have accurate information at times since she hadn't done this particular tour for about 6 months. Our tour manager on our previous Collette trip was excellent; warm, friendly, knowledgeable, and added a lot to our overall experience. This time, though, my husband and i found ourselves avoiding her as much as possible, which was uncomfortable at times.

we went through our travel agent, and everything went smoothly - Collette's literature was very helpful.

Everything went very well, we were very pleased with the amount of activities, and the degree to which we had flexibility to discover restaurants. The guides were also very competent. While we thought the quality of the hotels was generally good, we were generally disappointed in the fitness center, and the location could have been better. For example, the hotel in Madrid was in a commercial area, not close to the historic/tourist zone of the city. I would have preferred a hotel in Lisbon, and not have to travel 30 minutes to get there from my hotel.