“Dear Sofia,
We had a wonderful time visiting Portugal. All of your arrangements worked out beautifully for us — the transports went smoothly, the drivers were very professional and helpful, and the walking tour guides were extremely knowledgeable. We also enjoyed the special activities that you booked for us — the canal ride in Aveiro, the lunch and wine-tasting in Monsaraz, and the Fado evening in Lisbon. Finally, the hotels were fantastic —  beautiful, historic sites in their own right, and with excellent service.
In short, we couldn’t have been happier, and we will post something on Trip Advisor to let other travelers know that we recommend your services highly.
Thanks again for all your help — and thanks also for our Welcome to Portugal gifts!
Debra and Larry”

“Diana,
Thanks for checking in with us and glad you had a nice vacation yourself!
We had a lovely time in Portugal, and were very impressed with everything Portugal Trails had arranged for us.  We also heard very positive comments on your company from other PT travelers at the hotel and from those providing services from us–hotel staff, Avis staff, guides.  All were friendly, helpful, and liked working with you.  That’s all very positive!  When I get settled, I’ll also post comments on TripAdvisor.
Some specifics.  We loved the hotels, and the locations were very good.  Staff at the Hotel Britania were extremely helpful, even to the point of mailing the GPS back to you so that we didn’t have to find a post office.  It is a lovely old hotel and its history, very interesting.  Elsa, our guide was wonderful, a great source of information and very accommodating about pace, etc.  Thank you for alerting the guides in advance about that.  After covering the center city on foot, she suggested, and we agreed, that we find a taxi driver with whom she could negotiate to spend an hour or so driving us to the hilly places, stopping for photos, and covering some of the other areas, such as the redeveloped site of the 1998 Exposition which I had attended as part of my professional responsibilities.  We went to Sintra as recommended, and did fine with the train.  It was a Saturday, and very, very crowded.  We took at taxi to the palace, but should have taken the bus (which was also very crowded–had to wait for 3 buses to have room to get back to town), stopped at the Moorish Castle first, then caught the bus up to the palace.  Jan was told that he could walk down, but would have to walk up, which he did, and said it was quite challenging.  But it was an interesting, if sometimes frustrating, day.  As far as restaurants are concerned, our best meals were at Bonjardim, where the roast chicken and piri-piri sauce (for me) and the grilled fish (Jan), were delicious, and our last night at Solar dos Presuntos, where we shared the traditional black rice with cuddlefish, prawns, etc., dish.
Enjoyed the drive to Sagres and beaches and castles along the way.  No problem finding the hotel.  Lovely, but would not recommend eating there for dinner.  We enjoyed a dinner at Vila Velha.  The sunset views from the hotel were spectacular.  Jan got some great photos and even saw the elusive “green flash” that sometimes occurs as the sun is setting.  Our only real problem with the GPS was in Lagos, where we lost the signal and had to drive around the tiny streets in search of the location where Silvano was waiting for us.  Thank you for providing his telephone number so that we could contact him.  Apparently the GPS isn’t set for the ring road which would have taken us right down by the harbor where there is an underground parking facility very near the meeting spot.  We were a bit anxious, but found him and he was also an excellent guide and we enjoyed the day.
No problem getting to Evora and the beautiful, interesting hotel.  Were able to get into our room before meeting Sofia, who was full of history and interesting stories about Evora.  Our walking tour with her was really good, and we were just disappointed at the end when we got to the Bones Chapel, only to find that it had closed early.  The next day was a holiday (October 5th), so museums on our day trip to Monsarz and Vila Vicosa were closed.  But we enjoyed the castles and lunch in the old city at Monsarz and buying pottery in Sao Pablo de Corval for gifts.  Our best dinner there was at Fialho–probably the best on the entire trip.  On the way back to Lisbon, we found the megalithic site and some smaller ones on very narrow roads, and enjoyed seeing that aspect of central Portugal as well.  Also enjoyed some fine wine and just seeing different regions.
So thank again for helping us to have a very successful visit to Portugal.  I hope we can get back there to see the northern part of the country next time!
Anne”

“Hi Cristina,
Mark wrote you a great review on trip advisor, but I also wanted you to know what a wonderful trip we had! You worked with us in planning the best trip we have ever been on!
We enjoyed all the different places that we visited from Lisboa and Sintra and Oporto, to the castle villages and vineyards. We really loved staying at all of the Pestana properties. Our favorite one was the monastery in Guimaraes. We loved the building, the food, the grounds and the pool! The one in Belmont was amazing also and the Casa outside of Évora.
We loved driving along the the Douro river valley and visiting the little villages and towns. We also loved the southern most point of Sagresh and it’s beautiful cliffs and gorgeous views of the ocean. We met many wonderful people of your country and heard their stories about their lives and their pride and stories of Portugal.
The Chocolatier, Laura, in Castelo de Vide; the tour guide at Pacheco Vineyard, Rubin, a college student who gave us a tour of the church Santa Maria de Viseu, who later joined us for dinner; one of the employees at the Casa named Marta; a sheep herder up in the high mountains near Seia, and a cafe owner in Viseu who wouldn’t charge me for my salad because he didn’t have all the ingredients to make it just right; and the list goes on and on…..
Of all the traveling we did, I would have to say that it was only the last day that was difficult. It was too much to drive 3 hours from the south into Lisbon, go to the hotel, return the rental car, pack and them get to the Fado dinner. We just couldn’t do it all and hated to miss the dinner, but we had heard it went on late into the night and we had to get up at 6 to get to our plane on time.
We have told many people about Portugal Trails and what a good service you offer. We hope to come back again one day as we love your country and would like to visit some of the areas we didn’t get to explore.
Again, thank you for all your help!
In Gratitude,
Laure and Mark Frank”

“Hi, Filipa and Vanessa
First of all, thank you again for the lovely gift bag (port wine, cookies and soap). What a lovely surprise! We ate the cookies while still in Portugal – they were delicious. We finished the bottle of vintage port wine in November and enjoyed it so much!
Clearly, this trip report will take a few days (weeks!) to write, but if I don’t begin, it will never get done so here goes:
We were very impressed with the overall organization provided by Portugal Trails. This helped to make things go smoothly overall. We loved the detailed Road Book and were glad that you made it available to us electronically before the trip! We appreciated that someone was always available by email and phone and it was very helpful to have the GPS.
Hotels: All were clean and comfortable and there was a nice mix of different styles. In all cases, the proprietors or owners were pleasant and helpful. I would suggest a few clues for how to find Casa do Pinheiro in Ponte de Lima: the sign on the street side is tiny and the door looks much like all the other doors on the street. Also, the house number doesn’t match that on the PT itinerary. We finally parked the car and walked up the street to find the entrance – Turned out we were within a few steps, just didn’t know it! Maybe, someone from PT could take a photo of the street entrance – All the online photos show the beautiful rear view with the swimming pool! Our room was upstairs – Fortunately, the owner was able to handle our luggage! As you told us, the Belmonte Pousada was lovely and the restaurant was excellent. The rooms are down a long flight of stair, but again, help was available. Hotel Oslo in Coimbra was basic, as expected, and very centrally located – great for our walking tour. H10 Villa de la Reina in Madrid: The location, as expected, was excellent for us – Walkable to the main museums and many restaurants. When we arrived, the staff had assigned us a tiny triangular room. We were surprised and I immediately requested a change, but all rooms were filled for the night. They offered to move us the next day – We accepted the offer as we were going to be there for four nights! Inconvenient to have to move, but the second room was much better.
Private Guides: They were all excellent. Elisabeth, in Belmonte, misunderstood that she was to meet us at the Pousada, but the hotel clerk called her and straightened out the instructions. Tiago, in. Coimbra was great and a wealth of knowledge about the city and its history. The best guide (perhaps the best we have ever had) was Sofia in Evora. She is remarkable and thinks of everything. She gives a very good talk about the processing of cork. We would have loved to have even more time with her! Of course, we bought lots of cork products – Bernie even bought a hat and my favorite purchase is a pair of cork sandals!
All the excursions you included in our itinerary were worthwhile so we did just about all of them. Enjoyed the International Garden Exposition in Ponte de Lima – Thanks for the suggestion. Although it was raining on the day we visited Barcelos and Braga, we managed to visit the museum and buy a cockerel and another folk figure in Barcelos and eat lunch at Frigideiras do Cantinho in Braga. By the time we got to Ponte Da Barco, the rain had cleared out so we could get beautiful photos of the bridge! Even visited both monasteries as each was different from the other. The side trip to Piodao, including a lunch at O Fortinha, featuring chanfana (goat, boiled potatoes and broccoli), turned out to be a highlight for us. I can’t get goat meat here so will have to make it with lamb. We  bought rag dolls on the street up to the restaurant in Monsanto and some delicious fruit liqueurs that we sampled from a vendor on the square in Piodao! The drive to (on N339) and from the town was beautiful.
All in all, it was a great trip and we have shared how pleased we were, as well as your contact information with some friends who may want to plan a trip to Portugal in 2017. Their names are David and Gayle Ebel – I hope that they contact you.
Feel free to share my comments with other clients who may want to plan a similar trip.
I have attached a few of my favorite photos.
Kathy Steinberg”

“Hi Sofia,

I’m hoping you’ve had some feedback from our group – but if not please know that everyone was very happy with all your arrangements.  I believe the cities you sent us to were an overall very good sampling of some of Portugal’s highlights.  Your recommendations of sights were very helpful and well chosen, and your tour guides in each city were all very knowledgeable. All of the transitions for this large group of 14 went quite seamlessly.
Everyone had a great time, and it was nice to hear that you’ve made quite a name for yourself in Portugal.  Keep up the excellent work.
Thank you!
Genevieve Cragg”

“Hi Cristina,
Nice to hear from you! We’ve had a fantastic holiday and loved the cities, hotels, and tours you booked for us. We’ve loved the variation and bring surprised each time we went to a new place. It was great bumping in to other Portugal trails clients at different cities too! Everything has gone smoothly, which we really appreciate your help with.
I hope it’s ok to give you some feedback?
We loved the inner city hotels and being able to walk or catch public transport to tourist sights. The walking tour guides were fantastic too.
We didn’t really enjoy Villa Gale in Lagos as it is a huge hotel and was full of senior German tourists. The location was fabulous but the dining room was huge and not nice for us. The hotel felt too big.
Our one big disappointment was in Granada as we weren’t able to get tickets to the Alhambra. I didn’t realise we needed to book tickets 2-3 months ahead of time. I think it’d be good if you could let your clients know so they can get their tickets early if they’re going to Granada.
We returned the car safely which was a nice relief and caught the train to Madrid. It was lovely being able to relax and arrive in this busy, exciting city.
We’ve had a fabulous time but feel ready to go home on Friday.
Thank you once again for all your great suggestions and work to ensure we had a fabulous holiday. We will certainly be recommending Portugal Trails to our friends.

Kind regards,
Carmel & Craig Anderson
Albany, Western Australia”