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9

Day
tour

Luxury Celebrations

Celebrate the Date Luxury Tour

 

Itinerary | Features | Prices | Travel Options

Highlights of your unforgettable visit include:

  • Accommodations in 5-star grand luxury hotels in the heart of downtown Barcelona and in the Emporda countryside

  • Guided tours of Gaudi's architecture, the gothic quarter of Barcelona, a 13th century Spanish castle, several fishermen's towns and the old town of Girona

  • Two visits to exceptional Spanish wineries including tours of the cellars and vineyards, and complete with wine tastings

  • Tastings of exquisite gourmet Spanish foods including ham, cheese, olives, wines, dried fruits, nuts and chocolate

  • Fine dining in Michelin starred restaurants, paired with extraordinary wines

  • Luxurious massage and other pampering treatments at your spa hotel

  • Optional: A hot air balloon ride and a private sailing experience in the Mediterranean (if the weather permits)

 

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Day 1top

You will commence your stay with a airport collection by a chauffeur dirven luxury vehicle, which will transfer you to a 5-star grand luxury hotel in a fashionalbe Eixample district of Barcelona. The hotel, a restored 19th century landmark designed by Spanish architect Luis Domenech i Montaner, provides a world-class combination of modern luxurious accommodations and superb panoramic views of downtown Barcelona. The elegant staircases and high ceilings are reminiscent of times passed by and exude uniqueness and exclusivity. We look for nothing less in a romantic escape!
In your room you will find a fruit and chocolate basket to welcome you to Spain! This evening is free for you to settle into the hotel and afterwards either enjoy a romantic dinner or walk around this deilghtful cosmopolitan city.

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Day 2top

After your quiescent evening in Barcelona and enjoying an appetizing breakfast you will meet with our Gourmand Breaks expert guide who will discuss with you your personalized tour itinerary. Apart from having available your Online Personal Travel Webpage, you will also receive your Personal Travel Journal with your day by day itinerary details, and plenty of suggestions for restaurants and free time activities.

Afterwards, accompanied by your guide, you will traverse the city on an exclusive gourmet walking tour through the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona. You will start with a guided visit to La Boqueria market, Spain’s largest marketplace. La Boqueria is like a museum of the brightest, most curious and delectable foods Europe has to offer. Our expert culinary guide will lead you around the best booths and you will taste some of the best local seasonal produce at one famous La Boqueria bar, frequented by celebrities. A glass of a fine brut nature cava will surely feel good with a tapa of Chanterelle mushrooms, or fresh cockles, squid or maybe even scrambled eggs with wild asparagus.

Then you will take the path of Picasso on the famous Avignon Street, and visit the Picasso museum while enjoying fascinating anecdotes from our wonderful guide. You will continue on your journey and view the ages old Cathedral and Gothic Santa Maria Church.

After this short artistic excursion, you and your private tour guide will visit a small prestigious delicatessen, specializing in local cheese, where you will taste their delicious specialties, while the shop owner explains to you the secrets of the best Spanish cheeses. Then your gourmet journey continues with an informal tasting lunch at a prestigious specialised Iberian Ham venue, where you will sample Spain´s exquisite best Iberian "Bellota" hams, Joselito, 5 Jotas and other finest brands accompanied by "pan con tomate" and paired with excellent Priorat wines. You will learn why the acorn only fed free range Iberian pigs are called "olive trees with four legs" and how to distinguish a really good ham. Surely after this day of activity you will welcome the Spanish siesta time and relish a free evening together on your own.



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Day 3top

After breakfast, you will meet your guide and spend a morning following the works of internationally renowned Spanish architect, Antoni Gaudi. Your private tour starts on the Passeig de Gracia with a visit to the famous Gaudi architectural masterpiece, La Pedrera, where you will marvel at the remarkable city view from the rooftops of this singular building. Then, your specialized guide will take you on a private visit to the astonishing unfinished church, la Sagrada Familia, the most representative design of the genial architect. Once you have finished exploring the world of Gaudi and worked up an appetite, we will stop into a grand and fashionable gourmet chocolate boutique to sample the city's finest chocolates. Many of these chocolate recipes were created by Albert Adria, the dessert chef of the famous restaurant "El Bulli" and the brother of the most famous chef in Spain, Ferran Adria.

This afternoon is free to discover the city, go shopping, visit the beach or to use however you prefer. Tonight, we suggest a romantic dinner at a luxurious 1-star Michelin restaurant, where you will be able to discover new textures and combinations based on traditional Mediterranean cooking styles that will delight your senses.

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Day 4top

Just imagine the warm breeze wafting as you fly with the clouds, suspended in the air! What a magnificent morning to take a hot air balloon trip! Your optional hot air balloon excursion is complete with a cava toast in the air to celebrate the experience. The view of the Montserrat Mountains, Mediterranean Sea and the surrounding vineyards will surely be breathtaking. Once you return to the ground, enjoy a traditional brunch in a rustic locale nearby to prepare for your day ahead.

From brunch, a chauffeur will drive you to the Penedes wine region to visit Codorniu, a famous modernist cellar that pioneered cava making. You will enjoy a private tour with the assistance of a bilingual in house wine expert. You will have the opportunity to try the best of their cavas, made from the primary white grape varieties: Macabeo, Xarel.lo, Parellada and Chardonnay. Then you can explore the miles of subterranean stone wine cava cellars.

For lunch you will travel to a nearby resort town, Sitges, by the sea shore. Here you will enjoy an authentic Spanish meal at a seafront restaurant abounding with local seafood, paired with wine. Imagine a clam sauté with white wine, and then a typical dish from Catalonia, a seafood "suquet," which includes rock fish, clams, king prawns with potatoes, garlic and parsley. This dish is made casserole-style, and "suquet" means juice, because the seafood releases its juices to perfectly flavor the dish. After lunch, you will have the afternoon to see the town. At every turn, you are afforded picturesque views of the Mediterranean and the town abounds with colonial style houses fashioned for the local aristocracy of the 18th and 19th centuries. Be sure to take a walk to the town's seaside castle. After your stroll, relax with a glass of chardonnay as you take in the Mediterranean from a terrace view.

After your relaxing time in Sitges, you will take a scenic drive in the Catalan countryside towards the Emporda region. On arrival you will check into your new home for the next four days, a 5* Hotel and Spa located in a Catalan villa, picturesquely surrounded by country landscape, with indoor and outdoor pools, fine dining and complete spa amenities.

This evening is free for you to settle into your hotel, and perhaps enjoy a romantic dinner on the terrace.

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Day 5top

After a delightful breakfast at your spa hotel, the picturesque fishermen´s village of Cadaques awaits you! The town is known for its breathtaking beauty and its history of famous Bohemian artists, including the master of surrealism, Salvador Dali. You will notice the laid-back and creative atmosphere lingering in this town from the long influence of artists. In a picturesque and secluded cove, you will enjoy a visit to Dali's summer seaside home.

After a stroll on the seashore, lunch will be in a nearby restaurant that was a famed favorite haunt of the best artists of Dali's time. You will enjoy the excellent local cuisine in a cozy, intimate atmosphere steeped in the history of the area.

After lunch, you will cross through the natural park of Cap de Creus to a lighthouse on the edge of a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean. This point is the first place in Spain where the sun's rays shine every morning. But rather than waking up at dawn to see this, we will visit Cap de Creus for the impressive and romantic view of a beautiful Mediterranean sunset!

Back at your hotel, you are booked for a relaxing afternoon at their prestigious spa. You will enjoy a fabulous Well-being Therapeutic Massage combined with St. John's Wort, Camomile and Bergamote Essential Oils.

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Day 6top

This morning after breakfast at your hotel, you will visit the excellent Perelada vineyard with a long tradition of wine making, commenced by monks in the 14th century. A wine expert will show you around the vineyards and then you will visit Perelada´s 13th Century castle; see an ancient wine press as well as the current wine and cava making facilities. The Gran Claustre cava, which is the finest cava available at this vineyard, is still fermented with the same process and in the same location used by the Carmelite Monks to prepare it in the 14th Century. This cava was selected in a blind tasting between the world´s finest champagnes to be served at the wedding in 2004 of Prince Felipe of Spain. Your in-house wine expert will then guide you through a tasting of their best cavas and wines including Gran Claustre and you will be able to appreciate its balanced coupage of Xarelo, Macabeu and Parellada grapes.

At lunchtime you will be the special guest of a local Catalan chef at his modern, but still cozy, cooking school, just a short drive from Perelada. You and your guide will join him for an afternoon of inspired cookery Catalan style! You will have the opportunity to participate in the chef’s preparations or, if you prefer, you can sit back with a glass of wine and enjoy his cooking from aperitif to dessert. Our chef appears frequently on local TV and has a charming personality, so feel free to ask him everything you would like to know about the Spanish cuisine! The delicious cuisine you enjoyed preparing will be even more rewarding when you eat your three course masterpiece, paired with local wine, complete with desert and coffee.

After your exciting cooking experience, surely an unforgettable visit to the fabulous Dali Theatre/Museum in Figueres will be a nice way to end the day. The great artist purchased the museum building and personally oversaw its reconstruction and renovation. Now restored in a style appealing to Dali, it is home to some of his greatest works of surrealism. Our guide is a great expert on Dali's work, will accompany you on your private guided visit of the Museum so that you can ask him all the unofficial and unconfessed secrets of this quirky artist!

This evening is free to spend how you would like. We suggest a romantic evening walk along the beach and through the local town's seashore. Of course we can also provide plenty of suggestions for romantic terrace meals and drinks.

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Day 7top

Today you may wish to enjoy an optional sailing excursion! Take in the sun and the sea on this trip around the coast of the Costa Brava, acclaimed as the most beautiful coast in Spain! We recommend that you visit the chic coastal town of Llafranc for a light lunch after your sailing adventure. Your guide will have plenty of suggestions for an outdoor patio where you can sip a glass of wine in the Mediterranean climate.

Dinner this evening will be at an exquisite 3-star Michelin restaurant owned by three local Catalan brothers. Local recipes are the inspiration for the exquisite dishes served here, from delectable parfaits to the most appreciated wild mushroom soufflé. The enthusiasm and creativity of Chef Joan in his cooking is only matched by sommelier Josep's expertise at pairing the perfect wines with your dinner. Both of them are also complemented by their third brother, Jordi's, delightful desserts. From the aperitif to the dessert, you will remember this dining experience for years to come!


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Day 8top

This monring, after checking out of your hotel, your guide will escortt you to the romantic city of Girona, enchanted by stretches of cobblestone streets, the old Jewish Quarter and its luscious gardens, and the magnificent cathedral affording a great view of the area. Your expert guide will then accompany you on a private tour of this picturesque town. You will wind through the narrow streets and stoned walls of the old Gothic Quarter and encounter little shops, cafes and medieval homes that families have passed down through the generations.

Following your visit, you will transfer back to your Barcelona hotel.This afternoon is free for you to explore all this cosmopolitan city has to offer. On the last day of your tour you may wish to do a little shopping or revisit some of the sights you have discovered with your guide. We have plenty of suggestions for romantic restaurants and sites to see. Perhaps you would like to visit the magnificent Sagrada Familia cathedral by night and then escape to a secluded restaurant nearby?

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Day 9 top

Your tour concludes with a lovely breakfast at your luxury hotel, followed by a chauffeured transfer to Barcelona for your departure.


We hope you join us for this unforgettable experience!

Your Celebrate the Date Luxury Tour includes:top

  • Assistance of bi-lingual Official Licensed Guide additionally specialised in cuisine and wine
  • Chauffeured transport or other, depending on the travel option selected
  • Accommodations for 4 nights in a luxurious 5-star spa hotel in Emporda countrysidel (double occupancy)
  • Accommodations for 4 nights in a five star grand luxury hotel in the heart of Barcelona (double occupancy)
  • 8 full breakfasts
  • All the culinary and cultural visits indicated in the itinerary
  • 4 lunches including wine in local restaurants
  • 1 gastronomic menu married with wines in a famed 3-star Michelin restaurant
  • 1 gastronomic menu married with wines in a famed 1-star Michelin restaurant
  • Online Personal Travel Webpage including daily itinerary, general local information, details of places of interest, suggestions for restaurant reservations, and your free time, etc.
  • Customized Travel Journal, including the information from your Personal Travel Webpage, which you can take with you to use as a reference throughout your tour
  • Travel Insurance

Your Celebrate the Date Luxury Tour does not include:

  • Flights
  • Meals and Drinks not Specified
  • Personal Expenses such as Telephone, Minibar, etc
  • Tips and Gratuities (Restaurants, etc)
  • Cancellation Insurance

Celebrate the Date Luxury Tour dates:

Available upon request all year round.

Celebrate the Date Luxury Tour Prices:

The tour price varies depending on the Travel Option you choose. Please click on the option which suits you best in order to request a quotation.

In order to find out more about Gourmand Breaks' Travel Options, please Click Here

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