Places to visit

Europe > Spain

Spain is considered an exotic country in Europe due to its friendly inhabitants, relaxed lifestyle, its cuisine, vibrant nightlife, and world-famous folklore and festivities. Spain is a surprise to those who only know its reputation for great beach holidays.

The Monumental was FANTASTIC - had amazing service and I had one of the best massages of my life there

The Quinta de Pacha was pretty but service was so so - they were too busy and the staff couldn’t handle the volume. The pool was way too small and the AC was not enough so better to just go there for wine tasting. The worst thing is they charged for drinking water

The Tivoli is solid - they were also a bit busy and slightly slow but they are very responsive

As for restaurants and experience, the Cozinas de Flores was a little pretentious. The cooking class in Porto and the Chef in particular was very cool and fun. We skipped the Six Senses restaurant and went to Castas e Pratos in town instead and that was very good. The wine tastings were all great and the hiking would have been great - very sad we cut it short but I’m glad we didn’t do the full hike because it was too hot to go

In Lisbon, the 100 Maneiros restaurant was really great, and exceeded my expectations and the kids love the guide here, Jorge Oliviera. In Cascais, we ate at a restaurant called O Peacador just off the water front and that was great.

The resort in Algarve was great, really beautiful scenery and service was good. You need a car to get in and out do the resort and the restaurants on premises were very nice. Both the restaurants outside the resort were nice but probably not worth the effort to get outside unless it happened to be along the way.

The boat experience was fun but very exposed so would recommend maybe a little bigger boat next time so passengers get more shade and protection (will send you a video separately).

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