Mother-Daughter Trip to Portugal
Portugal
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Jul 11 - Jul 22, 2022
We really enjoyed our time in Portugal! The guides were great! Paola was wonderful on the Lisbon Culinary Experience tour. She shared lots of local info and had a great sense of humor. Alex was an excellent guide for our guided tour of the city. He made a wonderful adjustment to the tour based on the starting point at our hotel and took good care of us in the heat. It’s so nice to see a city through the eyes of a local. We thoroughly enjoyed our time with Paolo on our day-long excursion to Sintra, Cascais, and Estoril. Such an amazing area! The delicious food! The sights! The history! He also took good care of us in the unusual heat. Our water expeditions in Lagos didn’t work as expected, but the wind does not respect schedules. We enjoyed the one we were able go on, even with the change of itinerary. Martin had so much to share about Evora and the Alentejo region! He had to adjust his tour plan because we had already visited one of the places, but he did that quite smoothly. Somehow, the wine-tasting portion of the Jeep tour was left off the schedule, but learning about cork was fascinating. We loved the visit to olive oil farm and lunch with the owners! In Coimbra, Gil was a delightful guide. I will repeat how nice it is to hear about an area through from a local.
Our lodgings were entirely sufficient. They were clean, comfortable, safe, and centrally located. We were able to walk to restaurants and sights. The people at the front desks were very friendly and extremely helpful. They always offered restaurant suggestions and directions. The man at the Casual Belle Epoque in Lisbon gave us advice that saved us many, many steps up and down hills! The beach below the Carvi Beach Hotel in Lagos is a wonderful place to explore at low tide. The Noble House in Evora is in an amazing medieval house. The Oslo Hotel in Coimbra has a wonderful rooftop terrace that has a wonderful view of the University of Coimbra. It was lovely at sunset.
The private transfers made travel between cities so easy! It was a wonderful splurge. The only place we had any issue was finding our driver at the Lisbon airport the first morning. But we did finally find him.
When we had questions, the kimkim staff was very responsive. We only started planning the trip about 5 weeks before our departure date. Marina was easy to work with and very responsive to our interests and our budget. We would definitely recommend her and kimkim to other travelers.
Activity Reviews
I loved hearing the stories behind the local dishes.
Due to the wind and rough water, we didn’t get to Benagil. But the captain kept us safe and comfortable and took us to an alternate site to play in the water.
The cork part was fascinating and the trip to the small olive oil farm was wonderful!
Thank you very much Merry for taking the time to do the review and for your kind words! it has been a true pleasure helping you plan your Mother and Daughter's trip to Portugal and I am glad to hear you enjoyed all the cities and guided tours. I will pass your kind words to all our team :) Warmest regards, Marina