Personalized trips to Portugal
for independent travelers

The trip was great! Well planned in every respect. It made sense to stay in only 3 places and not move around every day. All 3 hotels were great - we especially loved Casa Balthazar, everything about it. We enjoyed all three cities. The excursions to the port distillery could have been done in an hour at most, they didn't have much to show or explain, it was mostly tasting the 3 different ports. The trip to the fishing village was nice but not much to see - lunch was good, but it didn't... read more

The trip was great! Well planned in every respect. It made sense to stay in only 3 places and not move around every day. All 3 hotels were great - we especially loved Casa Balthazar, everything about it. We enjoyed all three cities. The excursions to the port distillery could have been done in an hour at most, they didn't have much to show or explain, it was mostly tasting the 3 different ports. The trip to the fishing village was nice but not much to see - lunch was good, but it didn't need 1/2 day. I loved the walk around the University at Coimbra, learning about the culture of the place, and we arranged to hear good Fado there and had probably our best meal of the whole trip at No Tacho.
W e loved visiting Alviera and to Costa Nova on the trip between Porto and Coimbra, those were great stops. Between Coimbra and Lisbon we stopped at Tamor on the advice of people we met along the way, but it was closed. We went to Nazare, which was fun - the surfers and the ladies in their 7 skirts, and to Fatima as well. All the guides were good, they have done their homework and are well informed - our favorite was Tiago in Lisbon, took us to see lots of things one wouldn't ordinarily notice and was very personable. We learned a lot of history, ate a lot of great food and drank great wine, did a lot of walking (it seemed to be all up, rarely down), had amazing weather. It also made a big difference that most of the people, the younger ones at least, spoke English. Altogether a wonderful trip! Thank you!
Allyson and Bruce

Overall, our trip to Portugal was memorable! There were more positive things then negative. We loved the country, it's history, beauty and culture. All our local tour guides were friendly, knowledgeable, and very helpful. All the transfers were on time. However, there were a few things that were disappointing and that cost us some unexpected expenses, such as: one "free lunch" in Porto, that wasn't free; a "one hour Duro river cruise," that lasted only 45 minutes, and was not a tour-- it... read more

Overall, our trip to Portugal was memorable! There were more positive things then negative. We loved the country, it's history, beauty and culture. All our local tour guides were friendly, knowledgeable, and very helpful. All the transfers were on time. However, there were a few things that were disappointing and that cost us some unexpected expenses, such as: one "free lunch" in Porto, that wasn't free; a "one hour Duro river cruise," that lasted only 45 minutes, and was not a tour-- it was only circling around picking up other tourists on the opposite side of the river-- we did not see anything; and, most of the tourist attractions that we thought were included, we had to pay for unexpectedly on the spot to enter. The trip to Evora was the most memorable, and the tour guide/s, Carlos Mileu with his trainee Manuel DeSilva, were absolutely amazing: although, the scheduled visit to the winery we had to pay for unexpectedly -- it was mentioned as a part of the Evora tour -- the other tourists had it included, this was a disappointing additional expense! The Lisbon tour was great. Our tour guide, Joao Ramos, showed us Lisboa at its best! We hope to return to Portugal someday, as we fell in love with the country and its people!

Wow - our Portugal biking trip exceeded all our expectations. The biking logistics were excellent- top quality bikes, GPS to make the navigation easy and good local tips for dinners. All the tour guides were very helpful and knowledgeable. The taxi service for the luggage was always very prompt and Hugo was so friendly. We had booked this as a budget vacation and we were blown away by the accommodations. We stayed in a castle and several convents / monasteries. We felt very... read more

Wow - our Portugal biking trip exceeded all our expectations. The biking logistics were excellent- top quality bikes, GPS to make the navigation easy and good local tips for dinners. All the tour guides were very helpful and knowledgeable. The taxi service for the luggage was always very prompt and Hugo was so friendly. We had booked this as a budget vacation and we were blown away by the accommodations. We stayed in a castle and several convents / monasteries. We felt very spoiled and loved the living history. The riding was all very beautiful and just the right amount of challenge. We did a self guided biking tour in Provence France, several years ago and did not think it could be topped. But this tour was much more organized and the accommodations really made it special. I would book another tour with this tour operator in a heart beat. Thanks for a fantastic vacation