Why travel with Espíritu Travel?
A bit about us
So who are we? We are a team of people who knows these destinations inside and out, you can trust that you’ll get expert recommendations. And we’re passionate about detail and service. Combine these, and you have our one simple purpose – to encourage and indulge your curiosity and to ensure that your trip is a once-in-a-lifetime. We know that it’s incredibly important to spend your time off well and we understand how every moment counts. We are here to plan your trip so you don’t miss a single thing.
The difference
You won’t see any tour buses on our trips. Everything we do is customized, led by the needs and desires of you. Even more, when you arrive at your destination, your trip is exclusively handled by Espíritu Travel’s team. We believe that working directly with small businesses not only creates a more immersive and enriching experience but has a positive impact on the wider communities.
An unforgettable connection
Our local guides bring the destinations to life through their personal stories and life experiences. These personal experiences allow you to really understand the daily life of the places that you will visit. They are all about showing you the real place to discover things you won’t find out about any other way. In their safe and capable hands, you can be assured you’re being well looked after from start to finish.
Every detail with local expertise
The Espíritu Travel team who are devoted to making sure your trip is seamless and jumping in to resolve any mid-trip issues. Sometimes things happen beyond our control and when they do, our team is there to make sure you can still enjoy your day while we are working hard behind the scenes to get you where you need to be.
What’s in a name?
Espíritu, clearly comes from the word spirit which we believe captures the essence of our company.
The spirit of traveling: A sense of wanderlust and to explore beyond one’s comfort zone.
The spirit of friendship: Friendship that knows no borders..
A kindred spirit: Having a deep connection to someone or even a place.
That’s the spirit: To be vivacious to embrace spontaneity.
In good spirits: To be in a good mood.
A free spirit: one who is not restrained by convention or obligation; a nonconformist.
Positive impact travel
At Espíritu Travel we are passionate about the destinations that we offer. So it is natural we want to help to maximize the benefits that tourism can bring to communities. Positive impact travel does not mean having to compromise on the enjoyment of your trip or the quality of your accommodation. We strongly believe that our trips should directly benefit the communities we visit whenever possible through the principles of sustainable travel; minimizing environmental impacts and optimizing community benefits, without sacrificing comfort or the character of your vacation.
Who is behind Espiritu Travel?
Karin Eckhard
Company CEO
I’ll be the first to admit it, it is time consuming and challenging to plan a complicated trip. No biggie if you want to just head to the beach and chill out for the week but if your idea of travel is spending ten or fourteen days exploring a country, there are a lot of things to consider. We all have busy working lives and limited time or insight to research and plan a complicated travel experience, but yet still have a desire to make the most of each day.
We want to make each day of your trip count so that you don’t miss a thing. We’re inspired by our own desire to make each trip perfect and our passion for service that’s creatively shaped around individuals.
Marta Bermejo
Director of Operations
Although I am Spanish with my residence is in Málaga (Andalucía), I have had the great opportunity of being able to live and work for many years in various Latin American countries such as Panama, Peru, and the Dominican Republic.
I have traveled extensively for the last 25 years, visiting much of my own country of Spain, as well as Portugal and many countries around the world. I have learned to value what other cultures can offer and teach us.
Like many of the clients we work with, I have always been crazy about traveling. Since I was able to start traveling on my own, I have traveled all around Europe, Latin America, North America, and Asia. That passion for traveling led me to do a postgraduate/masters degree in Tourism Management, later to partner with industry professionals to set up our own travel company.
My intention is always to ensure that travelers live, know, and feel the countries they visit with the same intensity and authenticity that I do.
Marina Courtaut
Senior Travel Consultant
I am Spanish by birth but my father is from France so my heart is always divided. My passion for traveling came from my parents, who have shared their trips around the world with me. Since then, I haven’t stopped, always looking for authentic experiences that help me understand the culture of the place I visit. I have had the opportunity to live in the state of Michigan, in Amsterdam and in Paris, and I have traveled through many of the corners of the world and in my country Spain, the cradle of the Flamenco Art.
Can you think of a better way to live adventures than traveling? When we travel we open our minds to new experiences and learn new cultures by making the destination we visited our home for a short time. My job as part of the Espiritu Travel team is to ensure that after your trip, you will always remember that destination as another one of “your home”. I am passionate about designing trips that include the highlights of Spain and Portugal, including small places that go beyond the conventions and show the authentic culture of the destination.
Beatriz De Pablo Rocha
Travel Advisor
The combination of the two places where I grew up (Madrid and a small village in Badajoz, Extremadura) has made me a passionate traveler almost from birth. Unknown destinations visited by travelers who ran away from clichés and crowded places have always caught my attention, and from my point of view, these are the places that best allow you to get to know a culture and its traditions.
I firmly believe that each of the trips we make changes our life (even just a little), and that is why I rely on experiences when I have to choose a new destination and the activities to enjoy there. I had the opportunity to spend a couple of weeks in a favela in Cape Town and listening to the real stories of the people living there absolutely changed my mind. Since I started traveling (through most of Europe and several destinations in Africa), I have felt the need to share these amazing and very diverse experiences with all the people who allow me to do it and create in them a memory for a lifetime.
Marta Trzeciakowska
Travel Advisor
From a very young age, I have grown up in an international environment since my parents moved to Spain from Poland. This meant that every year we traveled across Europe to visit our family and friends, discovering along the way numerous cultures and magical places: from the biggest cities to the smallest villages. In all of them, I have learned that the only way to get the most out of a destination is to dedicate time to the small details that make the trip unforgettable.
Further on I decided to move across the ocean to the US and stayed for some time in Virginia, where I learned that I was not the only one obsessed with the Spanish culture. All of these experiences made me realize that the world is just waiting to be explored and that the best way to start is to focus on close-by places. This made me travel all across Spain, Portugal, and the north of Africa, with some trips to other parts of Europe, to gather all my knowledge and prepare incredible experiences for other travellers.
