Testimonials

21 Jun John & Nahaku, Washington, USA

“Just Explore is simply the best travel agency I’ve had the pleasure of dealing with in my extensive travels. The level of personal attention this agent provides before, during and after the trip is without parallel. Rosa Lara took extraordinary care to ensure our trip was tailored to our liking. Her recommendations for places to see and eat were also outstanding. Over two weeks we visited Madrid, Toledo, Seville, Cordoba, Zahara, Ronda, Marbella, Granada and Barcelona. At each stop our guides were on-time, informative and fun. The hotels were in great locations and exceeded our expectations. This agency’s pricing is also better or competitive with peers without compromising on quality or service. You get more with Just Explore!

John Malthaner
Washington DC
Spring 2016

21 Jun Deb Gochfeld & family, Mississippi USA

“Rosa was a pleasure to work with from beginning to end.  I contacted her by email to arrange a custom trip to Spain for my parents, husband and me.  We interacted a few times by email and Skype to arrange exactly the trip we wanted within the requested price range and she did a marvelous job.  We really appreciated all of the personal attention, including her meeting us at the train station in Cordoba, getting us to our hotel and giving us an introductory walking tour of the city.  She also spent an entire day with us, providing our transfer from Sevilla to Ronda (the latter, her recommendation and a must-see town that we’d never heard of) and showing us some lovely scenery, villages and a wonderful lunch along the way.  She then stayed into the evening to give us a walking tour of Ronda.  She is a wealth of knowledge and recommendations, and we thoroughly enjoyed every moment she spent with us.  She also found us wonderful accommodations, arranged convenient transfers and incredibly knowledgeable guides, including one who knew something about birds (not even a specific request but she could tell it was of interest to us and he took us to a lovely bird sanctuary along our route).  We all had a wonderful time and highly recommend working with her again”

Deb Gochfeld
Mississippi, USA
Spring 2016

21 Jun Antonella & Graham, Jo’burg South Africa

“Graham and I just want to thank you for the most amazing holiday. The care and attention to all the finer details of the experience was extraordinary. The selection of the hotels steeped in history and location within the old cities was spectacular. The care and attention which all the selected guides gave us and the knowledge which they shared with us throughout the tour of Andalusia was thoughtful and much appreciated. It gave us both a little time out from the insanity of our busy lives. We particularly enjoyed the private tour of the olive farm as well as the degustation at the wine farm, something totally unexpected from the routine tourist experience. Thank you for sharing Spain with us. A lasting memory that we will always cherish”

Antonella & Graham
Johannesburg, SA
Spring 2016

26 Apr Mel Jones & friends, Wales-UK

“I have just returned from an amazing 4-day Food and Wine Tour of the Montilla-Moriles region of Andalucia based in Cordoba. The small group included my wife and another couple of friends. The whole event was extremely well organised by Rosa Lara who accompanied us on the tour. Our hotel was extremely well appointed in Cordoba and was right next to the mosque. Transfer arrangements in a private minibus were spot on. There were two visits to wineries (bodegas) where we sampled the great Pedro Ximenez wines of this area. In one of the local cellars the tasting was accompanied by a fantastic tapas lunch. We also visited an Iberian ham farm in los Pedroches Natural reserve (North Cordoba) and had a delightful lunch which included Iberian black pig ham, stuffed mushrooms, traditional cake and interestingly orange in olive oil and sugar. We also had a visit to an olive oil producer, as well as a cheese producer where various wines were tasted. Despite all this food during the day, we had to be fed and watered in the evenings as well. The choice of restaurants during our stay in the evenings was really good and based on local knowledge supplied by our delightful host, Rosa Lara.
This is a highly recommended company”

Dr Mel Jones & friends
Menai Bridge. Wales (UK)
Spring 2016

26 Apr Rosita Hiscox & daugthers, Arizona-USA

“We just LOVED the trip that Rosa customized for me and my daughters around Spain. I wanted them to experience the best of the culture and that’s why we picked March to come so we could see the Fallas in Valencia and the Holy Week in Andalucia. Just Explore was very flexible and made adjustments when necessary (ie: including a day trip to Toledo in the last minute, re-scheduling our “view” from a building to see the Fallas).  It was fun to watch the faces and hear my daughters’ cameras click incessantly. The history captured by each stop was embraced by each of their senses; sight, touch, taste, hearing and smell. Absolutely memorable trip! Thank you!”

Rosita Hiscox
Tucson, Arizona
Spring 2016

26 Apr Charlotte Bell & friends, Connecticut-USA

17 Apr Alexandra Field & family, Virginia-USA

17 Apr Susan Holzman & Family, Boston-USA

“Once we decided to travel to Andalucia, I researched three travel advisors and it quickly became evident that Rosa Lara and Just Explore Holidays was the right choice. Rosa’s grasp of our unique interests and travel preferences was immediately evident, and her recommendations for sight seeing, special excursions, destinations, hotel accommodations, when to take a train and when to rent a car were all on target. Rosa requested a Skype conversation early in the planning phase, which enhanced our working relationship and enabled her to get to know us a little better when customizing the experience for us. She effectively and meticulously planned an itinerary that allowed appropriate time to experience each city/village, and minimized jumping to different hotels during our time in Andalusia. Her pre-travel itinerary was very thorough, including  all details related to accommodations, ground transporation, car rental, as well as restaurant recommendations, hiking excursions and sights to visit on the self-guided portion of our trip. Rosa is delightful – warm, personable, attentive, responsive and very in tune with her clients. Meeting her in person was a true pleasure. She also checked in on us at various points within our journey… even when we were in another part of Spain that we planned independently.The difference between working with Just Explore Holidays and a U.S.-based tour operator is significant. Rosa lives (and spent her life) in the region, has personally vetted and established relationships with related travel suppliers in the area, and has personal, in-depth knowledge of each place we visited, the culture, the tiniest mountain villages, and the most beautiful, small beaches, and this can not be matched. After this experience I would absolutely recommend Just Explore Holidays”

Susan Holzman & family
Andover, MA
Spring 2016

17 Apr Louise & Angelo Capozzi, California-USA

“Rosa was a fabulous guide—everything was beautifully arranged, she totally took care of us. I had asked for a very active trip, we are active seniors–and she really gave us some great walks and one wonderful hike in the country up to a castle. I highly recommend Rosa with Just Explore–she’s personable, fun, warm, and has a nice sense of humor. Can’t imagine covering Andalusia in any better way than with Rosa. She arranged for well informed guides for all the special places that we visited, we loved the lunches that were planned and enjoyed the idea of having our larger meal at lunch time so we didn’t have to wait for so late at night to eat Spanish style. I loved the drives through the beautiful rolling countryside. The most beautiful, scenic day was a surprise to us we knew nothing about Ronda. It’s about a 2 hour fantastic drive from Sevilla driving close to the mountains. It’s a charming old town, and I recommend it highly for a day trip. We had the opportunity of seeing the massive gorge that was formed by an earthquake that occurred millions of years ago, and then we had a delicious lunch overlooking one of the mountain lakes. A very special day. We went to a sensational Flamenco show in Seville that included a delicious dinner, drink, wine—fun evening. Hard to say which historic site was our favorite, they were all beautiful—we did learn a lot of Spanish history—hope it stays in my mind.”

Louise & Angelo
Tiburon, CA
Spring 2016

12 Apr Cynthia & Charles Field, Washington-USA

“This trip could never have been done without the efficient planning and responses of Rosa Lara, our travel specialist.  We decided to do the trip in our Spring vacation from the University where we are both professors at the last minute.  We had a lot to cram in and only eight days to do it.  With the help of Just Explore we got to see everything we wanted to see, we saved time with transfers they made by car and train, we missed nothing because of the excellent guides who showed us all the important aspects of every sight and town. Most importantly, Rosa made the experiences pleasant with her personal warmth and service.  We felt that she took care of all aspects of our trip so thoughtfully that we could relax and enjoy our travel in Spain. I got fast responses to all my inquiries. Those responses took in to account my questions and gave the answers I need to plan.The hotels picked were all distinctive and very well located. We were given tips on restaurants in each of our stops. If I would do this trip again I might use that time to see some of the unusual other opportunities that Just Explore offers such as exploring the making of olive oil or the famous local wines, just to give a little spice to the touring of great landmarks”

Cynthia & Charles
Washington DC, USA
Spring 2016