Late Spring in Portugal

Portugal | Apr 24 - May 9, 2025

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.