2 wonderguides1. Ivo - we were pleasantly su...
Portugal
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May 21 - May 28, 2026
2 wonderful guides:
1. Ivo - we were pleasantly surprised how easy it was to spend hours driving with Ivo. He helped us learn so much about daily life in Portugal and felt like a true friend by the time our trip ended. We spent much time talking about our own family and Evo even joined in during our weekly FaceTime call to her three year-old granddaughter.
2. Bernardo - a treasure trove of history in Porto and there probably was not a question to which we did not receive an informative response.
Hotel Reviews
Location was excellent and staff was very helpful. One of the things which annoyed us most was the lack of outdoor non-smoking gathering places, but this may be a nationwide problem as we also encountered it in Lisbon. Breakfast was good except for the coffee and unfortunately, I could not find a nearby Starbucks or similar. Also, the step in bathtub without any handrails was treacherous.
The location was excellent and staff were very helpful. Accommodations were “dated” or “charming” depending on your personal preference although the only minor inconveniences for us were slow elevators and hard room keys.
Activity Reviews
Bernardo was a superb guide and a wealth of information. We felt it in a 2 1/2 hours we spent with Bernardo that we received an excellent introduction to Porto and directions on how to spend some of our remaining time.
I guess it’s something that you need to do in Porto, but it seemed like a typical tourist driven experience with diversions to the gift shop. We’ve been on Wine Tours before and there didn’t seem much to differentiate it from others we have been on. However, the most pleasant surprise was the cheese tray that was added in by Kim Kim. The tray was huge, and we passed it around to some of the other tasters at our table.
The day was a great mixture of a visit to historical beautiful palace with gardens, walking up the narrow inclined streets of a centuries old village and concluding with a lunchtime stop at a modern coastal resort.
Basically, the evening did not seem much beyond a dinner show. Perhaps, the experience might’ve been better at a different restaurant. It just did not feel authentic, but more of an activity designed solely for tourist and something locals have grown tired of. If I had a good friend that was going to Lisbon with limited time, I would tell them to investigate some of the other wonderful restaurants in the city and skip the Fado experience.
The whole day was a wonderful experience and something that I would clearly recommend to anybody who includes Porto on their itinerary. The dining experience and lunch were superb as was the wine tasting. The only part that could’ve been improved was the boat trip down the Douro river as our guide did not really add much and it just felt like a perfunctory out and back trip.
