A Rich Itinerary, flawlessly executed! No hassles, no worries, my kind of travel!

Portugal | Sep 30 - Oct 16, 2026

This is the oldest hotel in the Iberian Peninsula, rich in history and charm! We were delighted by our suite which was large and looked out onto the beautiful valley. The staff, especially Beatriz at the front desk, were so kind and gracious. We were pampered and loved every minute of our stay!

Beautiful renovated convent overlooking the central core of Tavira! We enjoyed a comfortable room with a balcony/terrace and found it to be a perfect place to enjoy a glass of port before heading into town for dinner. The weather was perfect, blue sky and warm, so we did manage to lounge by the swimming pool - and enjoyed our soft robes afterwards!

We had a comfortable room with a balcony overlooking the back garden which was a lovely place to relax after exploring the city all day. The staff are exceptional and very helpful. And the location is perfect. A very quiet place in the heart of the city!

A very comfortable room, spacious and clean. Not particularly fancy but had everything we needed. The breakfast was very good (best omelette of the trip!) and the front desk staff were exceptional, very pleasant and helpful. Only one issue came up and that wasn't the hotel's fault - because of the openness of the building layout, sound carries up. There was a group of very loud patrons drinking in the lounge until 3am on our first night and that likely kept most of the hotel awake!

Such welcoming staff! And a beautiful comfortable room that was very quiet! Each night we received a gift: a bottle of wine, pens, custom soap - so unexpected but truly made us feel appreciated. GREAT location as well! And the staff were helpful in steering us in the right direction when we headed to Belem!

Peaceful and beautiful! One of our favourite places during our trip. The location in the heart of the Douro Valley is spectacular! We would have loved more time to relax and enjoy the pool so next time, we'll stay an extra night! The grounds are beautiful, and the wine is delicious. They have an Honour's Fridge where you can help yourself to either the estate white or red wine. Please note, however, that there is no welcome glass of wine when you arrive as the app suggested. They do have a meal service - a choice of cold meat salads, side salad, excellent desserts, bread, cheese and charcuterie. Wine is extra but very reasonably priced. We ate in the garden both nights and it was so special!

This was our first tour and we got off to a great start with Dani, our lovely guide! We not only got a fantastic history lesson about the different areas of Lisbon, but we sampled some of the most delicious delicacies which I never would have guessed were part of the Lisbon food scene - not just delicious charcuterie, but samosas, burrana sandwiches (my husband's favourite), and, of course, Pasteis de Nata! Lots of good beer and wine too! A great afternoon!

Our guide, Joao, was one of the most articulate and interesting young men we met on our trip. His knowledge of Portuguese history and love of his home town, Porto, really stood out for us. We felt like he genuinely wanted to get to know us and understand our country as well as sharing what life is like in Portugal. It was a lovey exchange of ideas and perspectives. And the food at the market was fantastic! Again, very generous portions of charcuterie, main courses, desserts - and three types of vinho verde! Who knew there were so many variations. We finished with Pastel de Nada and a lovely Muscatel! Truly a memorable afternoon!

Our driver, Paulo, was much more than a driver! He should be a tour guide! At each stop, he encouraged us to take our time and told us about things we should look out for! As a result, we got to spend time in Obidos early in the day, before the major tours arrived, and we got to walk the ramparts with virtually no people in our way! It was wonderful! Paulo also took us to see some sites that were not on the "tour" but were on the way to Nazare, so we enjoyed beach views that were less crowded than those in Nazare itself.

Our driver, Miguel, was charming and really helped us to understand the power of Fado. The experience at the Fado restaurant was wonderful, great food and the singers were amazing, such deep sonorous voices. My husband managed to get some wonderful video so we can be reminded of the experience now that we are home!

Fascinating area and our guide, Paulo, was so knowledgeable! We really appreciated seeing a sight that is literally off the beaten track - the road to get there was quite a challenge! And as a result, we had the place to ourselves! Fantastic!

More time with Paulo, this time walking through the fascinating city of Evora. Paulo made each era of history come alive ! Later, we enjoyed drinking the very generous samplings of wine at the wine cellar. The wines of were all excellent and very different than the Douro wines we had sampled earlier in the trip.

This was a very full day! Our guide and tuk-tuk driver, Federico, was a lovely young man who provided us with lots of information and took us all over Sintra and beyond! If we had it to do over again, we would probably have skipped the Pena Palace - too many people and more interesting to look at from afar than from inside. Federico did take us to the Chalet on the Pena property - this was lovely and there were very few people there. The Regaleiria was much more interesting due to the beautiful gardens and the initiation well. And our highlight of the day was the visit to Capo de Roca, the western tip of Europe! Going there by tuk-tuk was so much fun and it was a great place to take in the marvel of the ocean - great photo ops!

We really enjoyed the Convent of Christ in Tomar but found the Fatima part was not of as much interest. We would have been happy to skip that entirely and spend most of the time in Tomar.

Really enjoyed our boat trip along the Douro. It was a beautiful afternoon and being on the river helped us to appreciate how immense it is! The port wine tasting afterward was very special - we learned so much about port during the tour and really enjoyed tasting the three very different offerings. We, of course, purchased some to take with us!

Once we sorted out where we were supposed to be to start the hike, it went well! Our guide, David, was great and took us on a moderate hike into the hills above Regua. We really enjoyed the vistas and learned a lot about living in the area.

Very interesting subject matter and I learned a lot during our time with Nuno. I did find him to be a bit aloof and at times, a bit crude - not sure if this was due to language issues or not. He did spend extra time with us and gave us some good recommendations re: restaurants and shops.

We enjoyed visiting the farm, learning about what they produce and cooking our meal! Will definitely be making a couple of the dishes here at home, especially the carrots! Anna was a very good instructor, gave us the experience of getting involved and learning about key ingredients in Algarve cuisine.

We loved having a day to ourselves to explore the Islas da Tavira! Wonderful time playing in the waves and enjoying beer and seafood at the outdoor restaurants along the beach boardwalk. A real highlight of our trip.