Verken San Sebastian in 60 minuten met een local

Felix, onze gids, was geweldig (absoluut briljant in feite). Onze tour zou 60 minuten duren, maar Felix bracht extra tijd door met het tonen van verborgen juweeltjes en monumenten in de stad. Hij paste onze tour aan op basis van onze voorkeuren en nam ons als extra bonus mee naar een plaatselijk museum om ons een beter beeld te geven van de Baskische gemeenschap en manier van leven. Felix communiceerde ook en voorzag ons van zeer nuttige informatie vóór onze tour. Hij is duidelijk erg gepassioneerd over zijn stad en dit komt tot uiting in zijn persoonlijkheid en tour. Over het algemeen was dit een belangrijk hoogtepunt van onze reis naar Spanje. We raden Felix en deze tour daarom ten zeerste aan.

Our guide Felix was fantastic! We originally scheduled an hour tour but Felix spent extra time with us showing us parts of the city we hadn’t seen before. We told him what our interests were and he was able to customize the tour accordingly. He also answered questions, and also followed up after the tour to share photographs and more information. Thank you!

Ok, this review is hard to write. On one hand, you have Felix, the man who lead our tour. He's a magnificent man, one which you get an immediate sense that he has a great knowledge of art, culture, architecture, Basque history and tradition, and knows San Sebastian. Very helpful, sends lots of written pre-tour information (WhatsApp), written follow-up information (WhatsApp), has a Facebook page filled with relevant content and photos. On this alone I would easily give 5 stars. Unfortunately I have to counter-balance this with the reality of what is needed to be a 5-star tour guide in English. You have to be able to verbally communicate things clearly enough for the English speakers you are showing around so that they can take with them the key points. Throughout the tour we felt that Felix routinely struggled to verbally communicate the "so what" of what we were seeing. He could get across the "broad strokes" of it, meaning that we could see the "what" of it, but not the "why" of it, because any nuances, intricacies, and subtleties were somehow verbally lost in translation. Initially we tried asking for clarification or for more details, but he would just repeat the lacking-detail thing that he had just said. I really wanted him to be able to give us a tour we'd remember - for the right reasons. To have earned a 5-star review, Felix just needs to improve his English verbal proficiency. I know that he can do it, he's a very smart and knowledgeable man, but at this particular moment I believe he just needs more practice and experience as an English speaker before I could recommend his tour. Felix, thank you for all of the written communication and written information that you provided to us before, during, and after this tour. It, and you, are very much appreciated.