Etiqueta: travel

Travel AdvisorBy admin

Cherry Blossom Season in Spain: Discover the Beauty of Cerezo en Flor

For travelers from the United States seeking authentic nature, cultural depth, and unforgettable landscapes, Spain offers a hidden gem that rivals the famous cherry blossoms of Japan or Washington, D.C.: the Cherry Blossom Season, known as Cerezo en Flor. Each spring, thousands of cherry trees burst into bloom, transforming valleys and mountains into a sea of white petals and soft fragrance—an extraordinary natural spectacle still largely undiscovered by international visitors.

What Is Cerezo en Flor?

Cerezo en Flor refers to the brief but spectacular period when cherry trees bloom, usually between late March and early April, depending on weather conditions. During these few weeks, entire regions of Spain celebrate the arrival of spring through nature, local traditions, and rural life.

The most iconic place to experience this phenomenon is the Valle del Jerte, a fertile valley in western Spain home to more than one million cherry trees. When they bloom simultaneously, the landscape becomes a breathtaking natural canvas, attracting photographers, hikers, and travelers in search of slow, meaningful experiences.

cerezo en flor

Origins and Cultural Significance

Cherry cultivation in the Jerte Valley dates back centuries. Over generations, local communities shaped the land through terraced farming, adapting to the mountainous terrain and creating a unique agricultural and cultural landscape. The cherry blossom season is not only a natural event but also a symbol of renewal, harmony with nature, and rural heritage.

Today, Cerezo en Flor is celebrated with cultural activities, local gastronomy, walking routes, and small village festivals. Unlike large-scale tourist events, the atmosphere remains peaceful and authentic—perfect for travelers who value cultural immersion and sustainability.

Best Ways to Experience Cherry Blossom Season in Spain

The Jerte Valley is best explored slowly. Scenic drives, guided walks through blossom-covered hills, visits to traditional villages, and tastings of local products all enhance the experience. Spring is also a perfect time to enjoy Spain’s mild climate and countryside, far from the summer heat.

Traveling with expert planning allows visitors to reach the best viewpoints, understand the cultural context, and enjoy the season at its peak—since cherry blossoms last only a short time.

Travel with Style: Discover Cerezo en Flor with Spain Luxury Trips

Planning a trip around a natural event requires precision and local knowledge. Spin Luxury Trips specializes in designing tailor-made luxury journeys in Spain, helping travelers experience extraordinary moments like Cerezo en Flor in a seamless and exclusive way.

From private transportation and expert local guides to carefully selected accommodations and cultural experiences, Spin Luxury Trips ensures that your journey to discover Spain’s cherry blossoms is both comfortable and deeply enriching.

Cerezo en Flor is one of Spain’s most beautiful and underrated natural events. For travelers looking beyond the usual tourist routes, it offers a rare combination of natural beauty, cultural authenticity, and tranquility.

If you are planning a spring trip to Spain and want to experience the country at its most poetic moment, cherry blossom season in the Jerte Valley is a memory you will carry forever—petals, landscapes, and all. 🌸

Travel AdvisorBy admin

Txakoli, the wine of Basque Country

Txakoli, also known as chacolí, is a low-alcohol wine (10.5%), slightly acidic, and with intense aromas of citrus, herbs, and flowers. Production is primarily of white wine, although rosé and red wines are also produced in smaller quantities.

This wine is produced in Cantabria, Burgos, and some parts of Chile, but the largest production is in the Basque Country, specifically in the wineries of the coastal Basque towns of Getaria, Zarautz, and Aya.

Today, the following designations of origin exist: Arabako Txakolina, the designation of origin for Álava, specifically in the Aya region, the Arrastaria Valley, and the Llodio Valley; Bizkaiko Txakolina, the designation of origin for Biscay, primarily in Bakio and Valmaseda; and Getariako Txakolina, the designation of origin for Getaria (Gipuzkoa).

Although its exact origin is unknown, the first documents mentioning this wine place it in the 14th century in the Basque town of Lekeitio, in Biscay. In the past, txakoli was produced in farmhouses or country homes using traditional methods; it was neither filtered nor clarified, so before drinking it was poured from a height, much like natural cider is today. In recent years, several wineries have begun to study and improve its production to achieve better taste and aromas.

txakoli

What grape varieties are used to make Txakoli?

The main grape variety used to make Txakoli is Hondarrabi Zuri (zuri means white in Basque), a white variety native to the Basque Country. Wines made with Hondarrabi Zuri are usually a pale greenish-yellow color and are characterized by being light, fresh, with high acidity and a fine effervescence.

For the production of red and rosé Txakoli, locally called «ojo de gallo» (rooster’s eye), the Hondarrabi Beltza variety is used (beltza means black in Basque). Wines made with Hondarrabi Beltza have good structure and are characterized by being very bold and robust on the palate. Currently, these wines are experiencing a resurgence in popularity due to their unique character and freshness.

Other varieties that are used, although to a lesser extent, to make txakoli in Getaria are Hondarrabi Zuri Zerratie (Petit Corbú), Izkiriota (Gross Manseng), Riesling and Chardonnay. In Álava and Vizcaya you can also use Mune Mahatsa (Folle Blanche), Izkiriota Tippi (Petit Manseng) and Sauvignon Blanc.

How do you drink txakoli?

Txakoli is a versatile wine that has long since ceased to be a seasonal beverage and is no longer limited to a specific time of year.

It can be enjoyed on its own, although it’s perfect with traditional Basque pintxos or any appetizer. Its acidity increases saliva production and stimulates the secretion of gastric juices, preparing the body for better digestion.

It’s also an ideal accompaniment to seafood and fish, both oily and white. Txakoli facilitates the assimilation of proteins (chemical compounds that include amino acids and other structures that produce them) thanks to its ionic acidity and low osmotic pressure.

It’s also becoming increasingly popular to pair txakoli with modern dishes, such as sushi.

How is txakoli made?

Txakoli is produced in a unique growing environment. The Basque Country has an irregular, mountainous topography without extreme altitudes, creating valleys, riverbanks, and hillsides with varying heights and inclines. During the vine growing season (March to September), the temperature ranges between 8 and 22ºC, with variable annual rainfall. The soils have a neutral or slightly alkaline pH, with distinct layers of hard rocks, sediments, and sand.

The harvest begins towards the end of September or the beginning of October, when the grape bunches reach their optimal ripeness. The grapes are picked by hand and transported in plastic crates to the wineries. Many wineries carry out a low-temperature maceration process on the must and berries remaining after destemming to extract all the aromas and compounds present in the grape skins.

The must is fermented in stainless steel tanks at around 15ºC for two to three weeks. Although txakoli is ready by the end of autumn, most wineries wait a few more weeks for it to reach its full potential.

During the winter months, pruning is carried out in the vineyards, and the cleaning, stabilization, and filtering phase takes place in the wineries. It is also during this time that the majority of tastings and quality and typicity checks of the txakoli are performed.

Around the first half of April, the first leaves appear, and the flower buds begin to open towards the end of May. The weather conditions during these weeks will determine the final result of the txakoli, making this a crucial time in production.

In summer, the main tasks focus on clearing or controlling the vegetation between the rows of vines, as well as pruning to reduce and control the growth of the vine branches. Gradually, the grapes will grow, incorporating sugars and decreasing their acidity. At the end of summer, when the harvest date is anticipated, a light leaf removal will be carried out to facilitate proper aeration, preventing condensation and unwanted rot.

Text: SPL and Intelier

Image: SPL and Bizkaiko Txakolina

Travel AdvisorBy admin

The Artist Grand Hotel of Art

TheArtistGrandHotel

The Artist Grand Hotel of Art

Opposite the museum, in front of the Puppy mascot and the characteristic titanium, The Artist, as it is known in Bilbao, is the representation of the city’s luxury.

TheArtistGrandHotel

The Grand Hotel of Art is a luxurious 5-star hotel located in Bilbao, offering privileged views of the Guggenheim Museum. Its rooms are equipped with satellite TV, air conditioning, heating, a pillow menu, a desk, a hairdryer, and luxury amenities. Some rooms also offer panoramic views of the city or a private terrace. Among the amenities at the Gran Hotel Domine Bilbao are a gym and a wellness center with health and beauty treatments.

It also offers function rooms, free Wi-Fi, and private parking. All rooms have a coffee and tea maker, and the hotel offers a buffet breakfast every morning. It also offers a comprehensive culinary offering at the Le Café and Beltz restaurants, as well as the Sixty-One and La Terraza bars, where guests can enjoy drinks and snacks. The hotel is approximately 400 meters from the Museum of Fine Arts and Plaza Euskadi, while Bilbao’s Old Town is just two kilometers away.

TheArtistGrandHotel
TheArtistGrandHotel
TheArtistGrandHotel

It is equipped with 120 rooms and suites, all of them climatised with telephone, television, sound system and Internet access. Each room has a detail that makes it different from the others. GHDB is not only a hotel to stay but also a colourful microcosmos that opens its doors to those who want to have a coffee in the coffee bar or have lunch in the restaurant. There are also meeting rooms, sauna, lecture room and several halls available. It is also equipped with a car park with access for the disabled.

TheArtistGrandHotel
Travel AdvisorBy Miguel Angel Gómez

What is a Luxury Travel really?

WINE TASTING

What is a Luxury Travel really?

WINE TASTING

Since we started back in 2009 to offer trips and private experiences in Andalusia, much has changed; both the profile of the traveler and trends, and of course the external circumstances of a globalized world that nothing makes us strangers and affects us.

In this journey, with its comings and goings, I have met clients who over the years have become friends. They chat via whatsapp, call me after hours to tell me why they have had problems with a client, the most improbable anecdotes that would be enough for a book, etc. One of these friends is Adriana Vilas. She is a professional in the tourism sector with a luxury travel agency located in Madrid. From the beginning, besides trusting in our way of working and how to see inbound tourism, she has become a friend over the years, where we exchange views on the industry and trends, which by circumstances are transforming the tourism landscape.

Adriana got it right, in my opinion, with what is the concept today of what is a Luxury Travel. This updated concept and under her experience (in addition to long phone and whatsapp chats) encouraged her to describe this concept.

rooftop tour

But what is luxury travel?

Defining what luxury is today is not at all simple, especially if we analyze how this concept has evolved throughout history.

Today, it is not so much about ostentation or high-end products, but rather luxury refers to experience, to something intangible.

Luxury is a concept that each person lives and feels, with a different meaning. What is or is not luxury, will depend on our experiences and our personal experience.

However, all luxury has something in common, it is perceived to be associated with an experience that has to be, above all, unique, distinctive, different, out of the ordinary, and, of course, exclusive.

There is something we can all agree on and that is that this concept of luxury is associated with other terms such as quality, excellence, differentiation and exclusivity.

Merida
Italica

Coco Chanel, stated that “luxury is a necessity that begins when necessity ends”.

With this premise, it can be said that more than changing the concept, what has occurred is a change in the perception of what luxury itself is. From being a global concept, it has become something very personal and subjective.

For us working on a concept with such personal implications and moving between such blurred definitions, organizing travel experiences based on luxury and distinction is always a challenge for us.

I know that it is not enough with what we know, with what our experience dictates, with intuition or with the story offered by the trends of the moment. We must always be one step ahead.

In the sector we find everything, since the term ostentation is still applied, but experience tells us that someone who seeks ostentation does not give value to the terms I mentioned before.

Another fundamental aspect that my friend was talking about is DISTINCTION:

“Luxury will be that feel like a local more instead of feeling like a tourist. It will be to travel without worrying about anything, feeling that your trip has been designed in a different way, out of the conventional and in an authentic way, with exclusivity, in private tours and experiencesthat are designed with care and attention to the smallest detail.

To turn a trip into a luxury experience, it is necessary to make an effort to touch the heartstrings, moving you to pleasurable experiences, intense, very pleasant sensations”.

 

And you? What is a travel luxury for you?