My Lisbon Holidays

We could write a book about our wonderful trip to Portugal -- but, don't worry, I'll just give you a summary of the experience.

First our specialist, Tiago: Smart, responsiveness, and knowledgeable. That would be enough. But he was also really warm and personable. Just plain nice. We had the good fortune of getting to know him a bit better because he served as our driver and guide on a day tour to Sintra and Cascais. When I am working with people in business, I sometimes run across a person who has "sparkle" -- a brightness and an intelligence that makes ever interaction great. Tiago has "sparkle".

Second our trip: Too many wonderful moments to mention -- but here are just a few:

Porto: Walking around this wonderful city was charming and great exercise (lots of steps and hills). We absolutely adored the views, the history, the shops. Had a wonderful dinner nearby at 5 Oceanos.

Douro Valley (drive and river tour): Simply gorgeous. We were late arriving for our scheduled boat departure -- but Tiago hopped right on it and rescheduled us. Problem solved. Unparalleled views of the vineyards along the river.

Tomar: What a beautiful and charming location. The accommodations were delightful and the main square was a postcard come to life.

Evora: More Portuguese friendliness and charm. We particularly enjoyed our hotel here -- the MouraSuites -- and the visits to the Chapel of Bones, the Palace Gardens, and again working are way around the city streets.

Olive Oil Making Tour: A true highlight of the trip where Joao took us through the history of his families small olive oil business that he is keeping alive through passion and ingenuity. A master class in a tour that was educational, engaging and well worth the time. If you enjoy intelligent people with incredible passion and storytelling skills, please go!

Lagos: Bustling and fun. We spent time in the Algarve looking for property -- and may have found something right in Porto de Mos in Lagos. That says it all!

Benagil Caves boat tour: Visually stunning with amazing crew, including "Lady Di" and the boat captain. Fun! Do it!

Sagres and Salema day trip: Wonderful history and views.

Lisbon: Truly a diverse, friendly and beautiful place. We could not have been more pleased with the staff at our the Hotel Britania -- shout outs to Omar, Jose, Patrick as well as all of the people who made and served us the incredibly breakfast daily.

Day trip to Sintra and Caiscais: While it was crowded, we were treated to a day with Tiago -- who was full of knowledge and knew exactly how to maximize our time to get a flavor for this amazing place. The specialty pastries in Sintra were absolutely delicisious.

OK -- perhaps I did right a book. But that is because we were captivated by Portugal -- it's beauty, charm, friendliness.

Muito obrigado!

Hotel Reviews

NH Collection Porto Batalha

Porto

Great central location and comfortable suites. A few minor maintenance issues with bathrooms that were quickly addressed by staff.

Authenticity & Character

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Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Casa dos Ofícios Hotel

Tomar

Charm, charm, charm. Friendliness galore.

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Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

MouraSuites Hotel

Largo da Porta de Moura, 7000-647 Évora, Portugal

Probably our favorite hotel during our 2 week visit. Beautifully designed, wonderful breakfast, gracious staff.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Marina Rio

Lagos

Perfect location on the Marina for our time in Lagos.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Britania Art Deco

Lisbon

The staff was amazing -- and this old hotel has character dripping from the walls. LOVED IT!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Omar, Patrick, Jose, and the desk and kitchen staff -- 5 star!

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Rabelo Boat Tour

Portugal

We loved the tour for seeing the beautiful scenery. Only thing keeping it from five stars was the lack of any narration of the experience by the tour operator.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Visit to a Cork grove or olive oil Estate

Portugal

Joao was amazing in telling the very special story of his family's olive oil estate. The discussion encompassed a lesson in the making of olive oil, the challenges of retaining a small traditional business vs when competing with the super large agriculture firms, how to taste olive oil (aroma, flavor, etc.) From my perspective, as a marketing professional, the branding of the product was fascinating! A highlight of the trip!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Azulejo Tile Workshop

Lisbon

Great to appreciate the history and importance of tiles in Portugal and truly appreciate the craft. Loved that we walked away with tangible, self-made tiles that will forever serve as reminders of this memorable experience.

Quality of Experience

Wonderful trip. Joao did great job of lining up variety of activities and we very much appreciated the reservations and suggestions for activities along the way - suggesting parking locations took a lot of the "stress" of trying to figure out exactly where to go.

Starting the trip with private tours around Lisbon, Cascais & Sintra with Francisco was terrific way to gain better insight into Portugal's history and introduction to the country. We feel we were lucky to experience the freedom day marches and festivities in Lisbon - added a unique and interesting touch to our short time in Lisbon. The Fado dinner was a very enjoyable evening - host, cook, and server were all terrific; singers & musicians were delightful (the evening got long, especially when still adjusting to the time changes).

All the lodging arrangements were very nice - enjoyed the boutique hotels in Tomar, Douro, and Evora - all served as great locations to explore the surrounding area. And we very much appreciate that KimKim allowed us to select our own lodging in Lagos - we ended up at a very special and unique place that made a wonderful trip even more special and memorable.

Too many highlights to mention in a short review - Obidos, Nazere, Batalha were all terrific stops as we made our way to Tomar; we stopped at a grocery store as we neared Nazere and had the first of many picnic lunches on the rock cliffs looking over the beach and surfing waves.

In Tomar we explored Christ Convent and castle and then went for a hike in the castle gardens & woods to a large swing on a high overlook - during our hike the power went out in all of Portugal, Spain & France so when we came back down to town all the stores, museums, and restaurants were closed - we enjoyed a picnic & afternoon in the park by the river and when power came back around 7:00 we found an English pub that reopened; for us the power outage was just a slight detour / blip in the trip and a relaxing afternoon.

The Old Library and Chapel at Cambria were amazing and well worth visiting on the way to Douro Valley. We set google maps to "avoid highways" on the way to Douro and traveled some amazing back country roads and villages including a short stop to watch a heard of goats and their canine keepers move up the valley along a beautiful stream. National Road 222 to Duoro was breathtaking - after checking into the beautiful hotel, we set out to an overlook spot recommended by the receptionist. The nearby village had a single restaurant that we stopped at - the chicken and potatoes were absolutely terrific - we entertained and laughed along with the few locals in the restaurant as we communicated with the owner through google translate (and with their assistance). We had rain for much of our sunset cruise, so we were only "topside" for about a quarter of the time, but our captain was very interesting and entertaining as we got philosophical about the differences between our homelands - a very enjoyable evening.

We really enjoyed our time in Evora; highlights included the bones chapel, winery visit (it was raining that morning) and we really enjoyed the ceramic workshop. The cork tour was interesting and we really enjoyed learning about cork harvesting - very glad for the experience, but it was a rather long ride for a brief visit to a couple of cork trees and back - probably the only experience of the trip that was a little disappointing or underwhelming. While in Evora, we decided to take a short guided tour of one of the marble quarries (slight departure from the KimKim itinerary) - the enthusiastic guide shared a wealth of geological knowledge and information and the ability to visit the marble quarry and stand on a platform over the deep pit was a neat experience.

We finished our trip with several days in the Algarve. We stayed in a very unique and special airbnb that we selected - for us it was the "icing on the cake" that made a wonderful trip even more special and memorable. On the first afternoon there, we hiked the entire beach/coastline of Lagos from Meia Praia to the light house on Ponta da Piedade. The sailing tour the next morning was wonderful - captain Rob and first mate Anatoli were great - here is the review I left for them after the trip - My wife and I had a lovely morning sail with Rob and Anatoli on Ocean Breeze. Wonderful vessel, delightful company, informative and patient with all of our questions and musings. A great way to see the coast at a relaxed pace and from a different perspective. My wife and I are traveling Portugal in celebration of our 25th anniversary - this is one of the highlights of our trip. Other highlights in Algarve were the ebike tour (really wonderful way to see some of the back streets, smaller villages, and dirt paths at a really nice pace), kayaking in the sea caves, several hikes along the cliffs, and exploring several beaches (we enjoyed an afternoon sunning on the beach and lunch at one of the beach side restaurants down many flights of stairs).

On our final full day, we headed back to Lisbon by way of Sagres and made short stops at several wonderful beaches along the west coast including Praia da Arrifana, Odeceixe Mar Beach, and Farol Cabo Sardão. We arrived back in Lisbon, returned car and enjoyed a late supper along the river front - Joao's advice to return to Lisbon the night before our flight was a good recommendation as it gave us time to pack and have a good breakfast at the hotel before embarking to the airport for our flight home.

We really enjoyed our time in Portugal. The people were friendly and had a great sense of humor. The history is rich and fascinating (in the review I didn't mention much about the many castles and cathedrals that we visited and admired). There are many other countries we hope to travel to, but we wouldn't hesitate to visit Portugal again and would highly recommend it to others. KimKim (Joao) did a great job of putting together an itinerary with excellent mix of activities, suggestions & recommendations, and feel like he made reservations with outstanding guides and services (and relieved us from needing to do the research, reservations, etc.). We liked the freedom of mostly independent travel and occasionally departed from the itinerary, but it was nice to know Joao was only a whatsapp chat or call away if we needed assistance or had any difficulties. Thank you.

Tiago was very accommodating and was always there to help us with anything we needed. Joel was fantastic and we highly recommend this team.

The trip exceeded our expectations! The planning with Tiago was effortless; we expressed our interests and he planned the perfect trip, totally and timely responding to every inquiry. Our driver, William to/from the airport was prompt and courteous, as were our tour guides, “Hugo 1” and “Hugo 2” as we nicknamed them. They were knowledgeable and responsive to our interests, as was Olivia, who coordinated the trip while on the island. They even switched the itinerary to accommodate the weather. Highlights of the trip included the beautiful green mountainside scenery, contrasting the blue waters and flowers beginning to bloom everywhere! We especially enjoyed our bike ride and trip to Furnas where we saw the hot springs and bathed in the garden waters. Finally the restaurants were excellent choices, catering to the local food. We could not have had a better time! Thank you to Kimkim and Tiago.

João helped design a wonderful trip for our family. It provided just the right variety of activity to appeal to everyone and he was flexible in response to our requests. Though we did not meet him personally while in Portugal, he was very responsive to any of our needs that arose and quickly helped us coordinate assistance if needed. He connected us with a simply outstanding local guide named Gustavo, who truly "made" the trip for us. He was so knowledgeable, friendly and helpful. When the weather forced a sudden change in our plans, he quickly filled the void with new ones - and our trip didn't suffer a bit. We enjoyed his company and appreciated his guidance as we explored the cultural and natural treasures of Portugal.

We had only one accommodation that was challenging, but I felt that João was very receptive to the feedback. And even with the challenges, we still enjoyed our time there.

Hotel Reviews

Monte do Serrado de Baixo

Évora

Challenging if it's your first time to Portugal and you don't speak Portuguese. The hosts aren't onsite when you arrive, and the staff that may be there speaks limited English. If you're in the off-season, not all of the written materials providing provisions and guidance for your stay apply, so it's tough to figure out. Beautiful farm, though.

Cascade Wellness Resort

Lagos

Gorgeous hotel with wonderful accommodations for a family. However, the limits on heated pool availability for children and restaurant options for guests under 16 should be understood before you arrive.

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Martinhal Lisbon Chiado

Lisbon

Fantastic staff and wonderful accommodations great for a traveling family. Clean and easy to use apartment - modern amenities and great location.

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Meliá Lisboa Aeroporto

Lisbon

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Activity Review

Cave Boat Tour

Portugal

So fun - incredible experience.

The whole trip was great! Every hotel was beautiful and welcoming. Our guide Joao was knowledgeable and fun to be with. He adjusted our excursions as needed for weather and went out of his way to show us around and accommodate our interests. He made Portugal special for us.

Tiago was a great specialist. He set up the Azores trip perfectly. Although the weather (January is an iffy proposition) was not cooperating for some of the days, Tiago continued to check in with suggestions. Most importantly when the car rental agency was having system issues, Tiago was available immediately by phone and follow-up to provide additional support and help take corrective actions. As we consider additional trips to Portugal I would absolutely engage Tiago again.

This trip was a much needed trip for us and Tiago really listened to us and made it truly memorable.
We got a very deep understanding of Portuguese history and Tiago made it come alive for us. Other than the usual sights we saw, he also took us to the Benfica and sporting stadiums that made the trip more personal for us. And last but not least …. He took us to the best places to eat and we had the most amazing variety of Portuguese food. We enjoyed it so much, one of the fist things we did when we got back was google, “best Portuguese food near us”
Loved every moment of our time in Lisbon and Porto and all the places we saw in between.

Hotel Reviews

Empire Marquês Hotel

Authenticity & Character

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Walking distance to a lot of places.

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Cleanliness & Comfort

Jardim da Batalha Boutique Hotel by Shiadu

Porto

Authenticity & Character

Had a garden and you got home made cookies in the front desk

Location

Close to everything in town.

Staff

So helpful and extremely nice.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Large rooms and everything was clean.

Activity Reviews

Cascais & Sintra Guided Visit

Portugal

We started by meeting Tiago and got going! It was so fun and beautiful and enjoyable.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

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Óbidos visit

Portugal

I loved óbidos. Such a cute little town. It was like being in a fairy tale. The cherry wine in chocolate cups…. So fun.

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Guides, Drivers and Staff

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Sunset Cruise of Lisbon

Lisbon

Was the first thing we did in Lisbon… and it was a great way to get to know the city and enjoy the easy going trip

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

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Guided Tour of Lisbon

Lisbon

We saw everything in one day…. And more!! Tiago is an amazing guide.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

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Explore Porto (Half-Day Guided Walking Tour)

Porto

Porto is such a vibrant city… was really nice to see it on foot. We crossed bridges, went in boats and even took the cable car! Was a great experience

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

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Port Wine Tasting Tour

Porto

The guide was very knowledgeable… but spoke too fast to understand her.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

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