Your calls always answered within 5 rings.
Mason was extremely helpful and professional. We would certainly recommend DialAFlight to others and use them again in future.
Malcolm Cowan and his team are always immediately responsive and sort things out pronto. Would recommend highly.
Excellent service for the past 30 years from your company. Congratulations to Helen Jones who's my contact
Generally everything was OK but better information about the car hire pick up would have been good. We went to the car hire desks at the airport only to find that Centauro was offsite and used a shuttle bus.
Wouldn't use Paradors again. Staff seemed more concerned with their own convenience than the customers
Just a fantastic service with someone who is building a relationship with us and is beginning to know what we like.
Great itinerary. Had a lovely time. Will definitely book again in future.
Ethan was extremely helpful. Planned everything perfectly and was easily available to speak to on the phone. A wonderful trip to the paradors of Spain!
Delightful to work with the app and your team always so helpful, thank you
All well organised and problem free. Had a great time.
Advise that pools were closing on the 23rd Seprember. Alter the route so the last stop was nearer to Madrid. We realise that this may not be possible due to scheduling by the Paradors. All in all we had a superb holiday and will definitely consider doing Pousadas next year.
Everything was perfect, thanks.
Communication from Fraser was excellent. Paradores were excellent, but would have been VERY useful to know we were visiting during a festival in Avila and should have reserved one of the limited parking spaces. Finally, order of stays wasn't ideal leaving 230km to drive on final day. These quibbles notwithstanding it was an excellent holiday and decent value for money, thank you.
Five stars
Enterprise was not the car rental company we would have chosen.
City Break to Madrid. Petit Palace is good central hotel / base for getting about. Not the most luxurious on first sight, but clean, comfortable, good breakfasts and friendly, attentive staff.
Everything from DAF was excellent and our trip was lovely. Many thanks.
Molly is always super helpful. Appreciated that she did the return check in for me and sent Boarding Pass by email
Keep up the good work!
The personal care with even the most simple bookings is excellent
Howard is great
Hotel was miles out of the city, which was a faff. Virtually an hour to an hour and a half, subject to transport.
As always, fantastic service. No hesitation in recommending you. Love the out of hours service too. A problem with online checking was sorted so easily.
BA wheelchair assistance is chaotic and uncoordinated. LHR probably worst airport in Europe. Wheelchair assistance in Madrid was a dream despite its enormous size.
Jessie was brilliant!
Curtis was very helpful and the various reminders we received were great too. Thank you for a very good service.
So great to talk to a helpful human. Makes planning travel a pleasure again!
A really great support as usual
I just love DialAFlight. I always receive incredible service - friendly, professional and always tailored to meet my personal needs. Peter and his team have booked many flights for me over the past decade, some quite complex. Yet every time the best flights, that match my needs and budget are found
Austin delivers again
You've heard of parachuting and paragliding and quite probably parascending… but I have just discovered a new and very rewarding experience and it's called paradoring.
It involves driving around Spain and staying in luxurious accommodation in stunning, historic and elegant hotels.
There are 94 paradors in Spain, in extraordinary natural settings, full of history and culture, and including former palaces, ancient convents and medieval castles.
I was familiar with the south of Spain but had never explored the north and the central plains around Madrid, so this was my chance.
You can fly to any of the big cities, pick up a hire car, and plan a parador to parador route of your choice. I began in Santander, on the north coast, and managed to fit in eight on a round trip.
First stop was the parador at Fuente De, in a dramatic setting in the beautiful Picos de Europa mountain range with a backdrop of towering limestone peaks. A nearby cable-car will take you to the top where the views are awesome.
This is great walking country, but it's even better at the wheel of a car and the next day I headed south over the 6,000-ft San Glorio pass in search of parador number two, driving for several memorable hours on roller-coaster, winding, but perfectly maintained mountain roads, where you hardly see another car.
I hadn't planned to stop at Leon, but one look at the parador 'Hostal San Marcos' in the heart of the city and I quickly changed my mind. This former 16th century monastery has been converted into a living museum. If you can tear yourself away from these superb surroundings it's worth taking a tour around the impressive cathedral, which has some of world's best stained glass windows.
Still heading south, my next stop was at the beautiful old town of Salamanca, with its architecturally perfect square. It also has a fascinating Art Nouveau and Art Deco museum rolled into one. The parador here is comparatively new, has been refurbished throughout and is in a great spot on a hill across from the city.
Next was the charming walled town of Avila, where a former 16th century palace would be home for the night. Walking the sandstone ramparts and walls is memorable experience.
The parador at Toledo was also on a hill overlooking the old city, with views across the Tagus River. The huge cathedral is truly mind-blowing and the alcazar is something special.
I was close to Madrid now and took a train into the capital - 30 minutes later I was at the Prado museum.
Visits to several other art galleries dotted along the wide tree-lined avenues followed, before indulging in a boyhood fantasy with a tour of Real Madrid's famous Bernabeu Stadium, alongside hundreds of gelled hair Ronaldo and Bale clones.
I headed back to Toledo for the car and then on to Alcala de Henares and the next parador. This was a super luxury ultra-modern conversion of the magnificent 17th century St Thomas Convent.
After another superb dinner - all paradors are renowned for their imaginative local cuisine - and good night's sleep, I skirted Madrid and headed back north to Segovia and the penultimate parador. This was in another stunning location with great views of the city and its iconic aquaduct and alcazar, said to have inspired Walt Disney's trademark castles.
The drive up to my final stop at Argomaniz was across more picturesque countryside and along quiet roads. Argomaniz is a tiny village with the superb parador dominating the landscape - and I had a good reason for staying there. My teenage fantasies didn't only revolve around Real Madrid - I had always been fascinated by nearby Pamplona's bull-running festival and had promised myself to take part one day.
But as the years went by I had decided that, at my age, it was probably better to do the run without any bulls chasing me along the narrow cobbled streets.
So after a night at Argomaniz I drove the short distance to Pamplona and, with a dog-eared copy of Ernest Hemingway's Death in the Afternoon in my pocket, proceeded to run the course from corral to bullring without the risk of being skewered by a raging bull's horn.
After Pamplona I drove up to the pretty north coast, visiting elegant San Sebastian then stylish Bilbao for the must-see Guggenheim Museum experience, before hugging the scenic seaside roads back to Santander.
Taking a road trip and staying at these historic and beautiful paradors is a great way to experience the real Spain and one that will leave you wanting to go back time and again.
And bearing in mind the quality on offer, the great food and the fabulous locations, the Government-owned paradors also represent great value.
First published in the Mail Online - March 2016
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