“Dear Marta
I wanted to write to express our appreciation for the excellent trip that you put together for us, and on such short notice. We have had a wonderful holiday, and Portugal Trails in no small way made that possible.
The route was great, and gave us flexibility to stray to places that we wanted to explore. The country is magnificent, with much history and natural beauty, and we experienced both. All of the extra arrangements that you made on our behalf, such as tours or tastings, worked smoothly, and added to our experience.
We did have one small discomfort with one of the places that we stayed, and I will send you our feedback on that in a separate email. I did not want to let that take away from the excellence of the service that you provide.
In fact I was at a birthday party the other night and gave your email and web site to a friend who is planning to visit Portugal and Spain in the spring. I have recommended you highly.
Again, thanks for everything. Our experience was beyond our expectations.
Cliff and Sandra”

“Hi Marta:
I just want to let you know that we had a wonderful time in portugal and to thank you and portugal trails. The itinerary allowed us to see many great places and sights throughout the country and having the car to travel with was perfect. Your instructions, guide book and gps all helped make everything work well. I would like to mention that purchasing the toll transponder was definitely the best way to go.
Before leaving home I had thought that I would just avoid the main toll highways so that we could see more of the country side but after the first day of travel I realized that this would have been almost impossible. Also thank you for the wine, cookies and soap. They were a nice addition.
Thank You
Duane”

“Hi Sofia,
Portugal Trails was an amazing way to travel and we will be writing some great reviews on TripAdvisor and Facebook!  You made it so easy to get around the country and the places we stayed were amazing!  We actually tried to follow all your suggestions in each place we visited and all were spot on!
The guides you contracted for us were great.  The only exception I would say was the Porto guide, who was fine, just did not give us the whole time we were booked for.  The others were outstanding and went above and beyond to help us understand and appreciate the places we were visiting.  It’s so important to understand the history of a country to appreciate all that you are seeing.  Guide books alone cannot give you the heart that the guides did for us!
All the hotels were lovely and the staff helpful.  Hard to choose a favorite, but we absolutely loved the Valverde!  Our least favorite would be Hotel Moliceiro because the staff were not as helpful and did not speak english with the exception of one lady.  The breakfast was not as good as all the other hotels.  Minor problems in the scheme of things.
We remarked many times that we wished every country we visited had a Portugal Trails for their country!  Thank you again for making our trip so memorable!  Portugal is a beautiful country and we will return some day!  Thanks to you we feel like we really got a good taste of the places and people!  We also have a new appreciation for port!  🙂
Thank you again!
Kristen”

“Vanessa
So sorry that I have been so late in getting a response back to you.  Our trip was so action packed that we did not have much time for reflection.  And then when we got home our lives quickly went back to normal with all the things to do to catch up and prepare for Christmas.  Anyway, here are some comments for you.
1. Portugal Trails was an excellent company to deal with and I would highly recommend it to any traveller to Portugal.
2. Your personal management of our file, Vanessa, was superb.  You are a great travel agent!
3. All of the planning and preparation by internet in advance of the journey was easy and successful.  Your systems work well and are very accommodating and responsive to the customer.
4. One of the main highlights of the trip for us was the outstanding hotels that you booked for us.  We wanted something unique, special and out of the ordinary and you certainly gave that to us.  While every place was exceptional, the convent at Evora and the Pousada do Castelo in Obidos were the most memorable experiences.
5. The tours of both Lisbon and Porto were excellent.  The guides were knowledgeable and personable.  In particular we really enjoyed our walk with Rita in Lisbon.
6. The transportation/transfers were top notch.  Vehicles were on time, clean and comfortable. The drivers were extremely courteous and catered to our needs.  A special thanks to Anna for meeting us right at the train in Lisbon on our return and escorting us to the parked vehicle.  The train ride from Porto to Lisbon was fast, comfortable and very convenient.
7. Unfortunately we did not have enough time to see all of the sights that you had recommended but we did many of them.  All were good recommendations and we enjoyed them thoroughly. We could have easily used another 3 or 4 days on this route to get everything in and to have more time to just relax and soak it all up.  Alas, that is life.  So much world to see and so little time to see it.  But a good reason to come back to Portugal again soon.  Next time we want to go up the Doura valley for sure.
8. The Guide Book is an excellent initiative and we relied on it a lot.  The basic format, layout and approach are really good.  We did have a bit of a problem with navigation though, particularly in the towns and cities.  In some cases the maps in the book showed different routes than those programmed in the GPS.  And the GPS, while good on the open road, had a lot of trouble in urban areas where turns were very close together.  After a few days, we stopped using the GPS and just followed the instructions/maps in the Guide Book.  And we sometimes got lost but helpful locals got us to where we needed to go.  In Porto, where we got totally lost, a good Samaritan we met at a gas station drove his car as an escort to get us to the Yeatman.
9. The food we ate everywhere was very nutritious and tasty – perhaps too many yummy pastries that made it hard to avoid over eating.  And of course, the wine, port (and even the ginja) were delicious.
10.  Overall we found Portugal a great country to visit – perhaps the hidden treasure of Europe.  The scenery is beautiful, the country is steeped in history with well-preserved sites and yet the the amenities for travellers are totally modern.  We were particularly impressed with the apparent prosperity in both cities and countryside and the obvious cleanliness and care with which properties were kept.  And all of the Portuguese people we met were friendly, courteous and helpful.   We never felt concerned for safety or taken for granted.
11. Thanks for passing our donation to the charity in Estoril.  That was a very kind initiative which speaks volumes to the civic mindedness of yourself and Portugal Trails.
Peter and Karin, John and Patricia”

“Hi Cristina

Just a quick note as we’re at the airport right now. Thanks so much for organizing such a varied and interesting trip in your beautiful country! I feel as though I learned a lot about the country and the wonderful people who live here.

Everyone we met related to your company and all of the facilities and tours were excellent. A special remembrance to our walking guides – Sophia, Roderigue, Carla and the wonderful staff at the Hotel Britania.

Thank you again for the welcome gifts – we are taking them home to enjoy!

All the best and thank you again,

Pat Penner and David West”

“I wanted to let you know we were very pleased with the trip you arranged on our behalf. Thank you for the gifts on arrival. The soap and cookies were put to great use. The wine returned with us to Canada. We had the opportunity to try many of your recommended restaurants and all but one exceeded our expectations. Our winery visit from Evora was wonderful. However, our greatest joy came from the many services you contracted for us. The drivers, guides and equipment were excellent. Thanks for the Fado evening. It got going at around 2:00 am. It was terrific.
Thanks again, Ron and Suzan Boudreau”