Great trip to central /northern Portugal!
Portugal
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Mar 18 - Mar 26, 2023
This was a wonderful trip and James and his team made the planning and execution seamless. We loved the hotels they chose, especially Casa Balthazar in Lisbon - very intimate, beautiful and charming hotel with a spacious room, helpful staff and in a great neighborhood. We loved Lisbon and Porto. The walking tour in Lisbon was really fun and informative, as was the bike ride there but a little scary (for me) with so many people walking, riding scooters, some cars etc. on the bike path. It was hard to navigate. It was not a big deal but I just hadn't anticipated that from the description. But seeing all the people was also quite fun and it was a very scenic ride.
Possibly my favorite place was Coimbra, the old and very picturesque university town. I liked seeing a smaller city that was very walkable, historic and interesting. I would have liked to spend more time there and skipped Aveiro. This was not a fault of Kimkim; I could have done more research about it beforehand. Our guide for a bike ride in Porto, Jose, was very informative, patient, and took us to a fabulous restaurant where we chose our fish (in Afurada, near Gaia). We also really liked our guide for the trip to the Douro Valley, Francisco, who was fun and interesting, and the trainee Paulo who came along. The quinta we went to was beautiful. I think Kimkim did a great job of planning for us considering I had said I didn't want to stay in too many different places. I might ask next time for suggestions about something a little more off the beaten path to do, particularly if we have more time, such as meeting with a family or a cooking class. The additional suggestions that Kimkim provided for places to see and eat in each city were also great!
We found and went to the Museum of Liberation and Resistance in Lisbon, which I highly recommend. It's a smaller museum in a former prison that explains all about the dictatorship, censorship, jailing, exiles and resistance movements, so we learned a lot we didn't know before, and it is in the Alfama district in a picturesque area.
Hotel Reviews
Activity Reviews
A little scary due to so many people on the bike path riding scooters, walking, running, and having to navigate in traffic and around cars, but the guide was very informative and it was fun to go along the river.
Coimbra is interesting and fascinating. Sara knew so much history and interesting information. She also showed us the fado organization/ school where she works and explained about the type of fado music in Coimbra and how it is unique.
Our guide, Walter, was really nice and informative. However, personally I was not thrilled with Aveiro. We were allotted a lot of time there we did not need. They call it the "Venice of Portugal" but the canal ride and scenery is overhyped (in my opinion - others might love it!). There are a lot of nice cafes and interesting history of salt production in Aveiro, and some good architecture but overall I could have spent more time in Coimbra, or go to Obido instead I think. Not the fault of Kimkim, I just didn't really think about this. It sounded like there are lots of canals to wander around the city but that isn't the case. We were on a boat ride with a huge bunch of schoolchildren and couldn't really hear or undersatnd the information from the guide on the boat.
Loved our guides, the scenery, learning about the wine and port production, the wine tastings and learning about the industry. We had an amazing lunch at a very scenic restaurant on the river. Really a great day! it is a long day trip so an alternative would be to spend aa night at a lovely inn in the Douro Valley.
Really fun to pedal through Gaia and have great views of Porto. We had a great lunch at an outdoor restaurant in Afurada. The guide was very understanding of my fear of riding through the Porto streets at the begnning and took it slowly. He even stayed with us for a while after the tour and showed us more things in Porto, such as some of the famous and beautiful churches, but we did then want to determine ourselves what we were going to do after that. He had a really interesting background and it was great getting to know the various guides and learn more about their lives.
Hi Laurie, many thanks for taking the time to review your trip in detail and it's great to get your feedback about all the different elements that went into the trip. Of course, we're also thrilled that you enjoyed the trip and that it was an enriching experience overall! As you say there is so much to see and do, it can be tough to squeeze it all in and keep it to a reasonable pace! I hope there will be a next time for you. With v best wishes from Chaima, myself and the Tailormade team