“We have finished our trip in Portugal and are now in Spain.  We very much enjoyed our trip to Portugal and all the accommodations and tours.  Our tour guide in Lisbon was excellent and had an extensive knowledge of history.  I believe her name was Alex.
Fred left some money in the safe at Pestana  vintage Porto hotel.  Even before we realized he had done it, they notified us they had found it.  They continued to look for way to return it to us and finally wired it to us.  We appreciate their integrity in this manner. Pedro Bras kept us informed and was very helpful..
We will recommend your service to anyone planning a trip to Portugal.
Fred and Ursula Moretti”

“Hi Rita!
This memo is long overdue.  Both Ivan & I are doing fine. We had a wonderful travel experience in Portugal and Spain. You have set this trip for us to perfection. We have taken many pictures and now we are trying to compile all into a movie. There is much work on that end of it but we will slowly get there. The accommodations were excellent, the tour guides, and all who were involved to pick us up were all there on time. The pre-programmed GPS along with the guide Travel book was excellent and easy to follow. All information was all before our eyes.
Thank-you for the gifts you have given us. We sampled the cookies in Portugal but brought them home for our family to have a taste as well. Also, thank-you for the soap and the Wine. We just celebrated our 55th wedding anniversary on October 7, 2016 so both Ivan & I decided we will hold of with the wine until our 60th anniversary or a special birthday coming up for Ivan who will celebrate his 80th birthday in a couple of years. And who knows, can we wait that long, its very tempting.
Once again, thank-you for all you have done for us.
We wish you happiness along with good health and prosperity.
Our Love,   Evelyn & Ivan.”

“Sofia:
It is so good to hear from you!  I did not expect that you were going to be able to meet us, but thought I would give it a shot anyway!  I hope your trip to Madeira was fabulous.
Our trip was fantastic…. a “Home Run” as someone put it.
The first thing I have to rave about is the driver that we had.  Mario Bernardo was so professional, knowledgeable, pleasant and helpful that we all wanted to take him home with us.  I would request him specifically if we return to Portugal.  He had some suggestions for special stops, like the movie about Batalha at a center near the Church , we went there because the bus was acting up  and it was hot.  He thought we would appreciate the history more if we understood the battle – very true!   I recommend you see it if you go there.  We then went to Fátima the next day with the new bus, which was a Sunday, and many people were glad about this because there was a lot more going on with the Mass and the pilgrims.  He also took is to the Cristo going into Lisbon (what a view!!), rides along the Coast, some slight schedule modifications as needed.   He always was very concerned that we find a good place to meet, that we have water, etc.  We also asked him to go to the Recinto Megalítico dos Almendros, near Évora and he took us!  After we began to enjoy his company, we invited him to join us for some of the dinners that were for 15 people (the last minute cancellation) and it added to our trip!
Your planning was wonderful throughout the trip. The booklet and the book were very helpful to everyone!  Our time in Óbidos was perfect to get over the jet lag.  What a beautiful little town!  The hotel I chose was perfect… I recommend it.  We went to some of the little places there to eat that you recommended, and tried our first Ginja  there!  Nazaré is gorgeous, we had a nice lunch there at the end of the beach near the funicular, then went to the top.  Wow!
Day 3:  Conimbriga is really a fabulous site, very well cared for and preserved.  Everyone loved it and the museum is beautiful.  Coimbra  was fine, and Mario walked around with us so we would not get lost.  It was disappointing that we could not see the library, but it was impossible, and we would have had to wait 3 hours for a time to get in.  I had e-mailed them from the U.S., you had tried, and even Mario called them twice, but no luck.
I can’t say enough about Porto.  What a wonderful city.  Our hotel was great (not easy to get to with bags, but once there, perfect! – Mario helped us a lot with the bags and where to meet etc… not easy in Porto). We tried some of the restaurants suggestions from you, and some others.  SO may good ones!
Day 4:  The lunch in Guimaråes was such a surprise!  First Mario took us to the Castle and the Palace, then we walked over to the restaurant.  I realized immediately that it was in the building that was the old pousada where my husband and i stayed three years ago.  Restaurante Hool was fantastic!  The meal was truly memorable, and that was the first time Mario lunched with us.!  It was so good.  My favorite was the goat!  Perfect service also.
Our guide Antónia in Porto was perfect.  Interesting, but not too wordy,  The Bolsa is very beautiful.  I also asked her to take us to Livraria Lello because we had missed the Library in Coimbra.  I thought the group would enjoy seeing this special bookstore, and they did!  Of course, we then went out to different little restaurants for dinner…. some right by the river.
Day 5:  Our Duoro day began with a visit to Amarante, a beautiful town, and we had coffee and pastries at the Confeitaira da Ponte.   Later we had a wonderful drive with Mario, our driver, along the river with amazing views of the vineyards.
Then we had our one negative experience at the Quinta do Panascal.  We had Mario call ahead to see if they had some “petiscos” or something to serve with the wine and that we would pay for them.  They said no.  When we arrived, Mario realized that he could not take the bus (medium size)  up the VERY steep and long hill to the Quinta.  He tried calling, then walked up to see if they had a shuttle or van to take us up.  They said no.  I almost stayed on the bus!  it was also very hot that day.  Finally, we all walked up, it was very slow and long. By the time we arrived at the top, most were very hot and tired and did not want to walk the vineyards.  Only 5 or 6 did. I then realized that the small menu on the tables mentioned cheeses, crackers, almonds and cookies that one could buy!!!  When I asked they did not have most of it,  only almonds and cookies, so we ordered/bought them for the group. While they walked the vineyard they showed us a video about the winery.  The TV was the size of an average computer screen, and the sun was bright in the room, so we could barely even see it.  When they returned the woman did the tasting.  The wines were good.  The woman was OK, nothing special.  Overall, it was very average.  Most people walked down the hill to the bus, but a few of us had them call us a cab.  It was a 3-minute ride and cost 11 euros (they had to come from the next town).  This winery should not take groups that come in buses and should inform agents who are booking tastings that they are not a good choice for older people unless they come in a car.  As we were leaving, a very large bus arrived.  I am sure they had a surprise also.
The Douro Cruise was very nice, so we ended the day on a nice note.  The boat was not a Ravelo, but it was a very beautiful restored vintage boat that everyone enjoyed.
Day 6/7:  The following day was our drive to Évora with a stop for lunch in Marvao!  What a beautiful town and a delicious meal.  it seems they were happy with my choices!  I was relieved.  What a beautiful view we had from there.  Mario did not eat with us as he would not leave the bus because it had all the luggage.  We then went on to Évora.  We were all happy with our hotels.  Just as I had heard and read, the rooms at the pousada were not fabulous, but the location made up for it.  The others were happy with the Vittoria Stone!  I really liked the town very much.  It’s a great little town to shop, and the Pousada had a walking tour that some people did.  Our cooking class was a lot of fun.  The chef is a very nice man, and his assistant chefs were great.!  The food we made was good, not our best meal, but the experience made up for it.  The only “down” was that we had to wait about 2 hours between the class and the meal.  We sat out on the hotel patio and ordered wine and snacks while we waited.  It was very relaxing.
On day 8 we did our first stop in Monsaraz …. a very nice town.  The views and lakes are nice, and we were able to go to a few shops also.  We then went to Herdade do Esporao.  WOW!  a fabulous meal, with a fabulous staff.  Vasco was one of the persons who explained the wines, he was great.  The meal was excellent!  We then went to pick up our guide, Sofia for the cork tour!  Another great experience.  She was very nice and informative.!
The next day we left for Lisbon, but on the way, we went to the  Monoliths because some people had read about them.  Very interesting, then the stop at the Cristo, and the afternoon in Lisbon.  We liked our hotel very much!  The Fado at O Faia was excellent … the surprise was how excellent the food was also!  Often with a show like this, the food is only OK, but this is a very good restaurant and the service was also very good!
Day 10 was free in Lisbon, and then our last day was a visit to Sintra, with Sara our guide, who was very good  We were shocked at the crowds.  It was much more crowded than I remember it being 3 years ago at the same time of year.   It is as beautiful as ever ….. the Palace was great, and we went very early but it was still crowded.  On our way back to Lisbon we stopped in Cascais and had a late goodbye lunch at Restaurante Mar D’Inferno.  Then back to Lisbon to pack and get ready to go home.
Sofia, we all agree that this was one of our best trips!  You certainly helped make it so.  Thanks for all of your work AND your patience.  We will certainly go to Trip Advisor to rate PT.
Sharon and Mary”

“Dear Nuno,

Thank you for the note above and for such expert care throughout my whole trip – again, it was such a pleasure working with you!

As far as Portugal Trails is concerned, I wanted to take a little bit more time than just a quick “thank you” note because I feel the level of service and care I received for my trip deserves more than just “thanks, you were great” in a letter.

So, from September 2015, I started searching Portugal, deciding it would be my next destination adventure, and stumbled onto the Portugal Trails (PT)  website during my search and met Nuno via email. The amazing thing about PT is that you are asked to tell the travel consultant about yourself, and what type of experience you are hoping to enjoy. I found this amazingly helpful to really have to spend a few minutes describing what I wanted and how I normally like to enjoy my vacations. And it’s genius on your part because when Nuno first emailed me, he was already thinking of the exact places and plans to recommend to achieve my goals. The itinerary versions, the road book, the perfect email instructions on my payment methods and how to read all the materials and what to expect and do – all was just amazing and everything went exactly to Nuno’s plan for me!

So from the first email and throughout the entire planning period, Nuno was at my side, helping to adjust, recommend, and organize – and re-organize as many times as I needed until I had the perfect plan for myself! He was gracious and tireless and made so many changes for me, with perfect patience! It took us about 4 weeks to pull my perfect experience together and when Nuno was out of the office (with his wife and new-born son!) Vanessa picked right up where needed and the exchange was seamless and it was true that there had been excellent communication between them as she knew exactly where things were and was able to help me through several questions and some changes to our rental vehicle – which was comforting rather than frustrating when someone is picking up someone else’s work.

My sister, Liz, came with me on the trip and the package, mid-level, was perfect for my experience and did not feel “mid” level at all. The hotel recommendations (Hotel Lisboa Plaza and Hotel Carris, Ribeira) were fantastic. Service was impeccable (I gave Hotel Lisboa staff a fantastic review on TripAdvisor as well). The city guides, Sofia in Lisboa and Ricardo in Porto were both amazing. Friendly, putting us as ease immediately – great sense of humor (we Americans always put that first, in many cases!) – fun, energetic and so helpful. We didn’t want to leave them at the end of the tour, but wanted to take them out for lunch with us! The private guide made my mid level experience feel like luxury, they were so enjoyable. We were able to talk about school, and clothing, embarrassing decorating mistakes, funny childhood memories with each of these charming, amazingly professional guides – and that’s so much more enjoyable than just a “guided tour” of a city.We got to know them in those few hours and were easily able to get the feel for their city and move through as though they were with us the whole time. It was fantastic! And they were both “stand-out” experiences for us.

The car service team from and to airports were fantastic as well and so gracious. We felt truly welcomed when we arrived in Lisboa – jet-lagged, stunned and in a totally new place, but our driver made us feel comfortable and excited to finally be there in the first moments of our engagement and through the entire drive to the hotel – he was a wonderful “first ambassador”!

Daniella at the car rental office in Lisboa was fantastic. (Even the cute cab driver the staff called for us to get to the rental office was hilarious, sweet, jovial and shared driving tips with us: “Just go slow and you’ll be fine!”) Nuno told me exactly what extras to purchase from her, and we ended up spending a little bit more just because she was so familiar with Portugal Trails and was so wonderful, efficient and accommodating of us – we did not feel as though we’d been “sold” by her at all – we took her recommendation and were extremely happy with our Peugeot and the entire experience. (Except when we cause a major rush-hour back up getting back into Porto one evening when we got into the wrong V-Pass lane! The two cars behind us were so wonderful and no one yelled at us at all! – We apologize to all the poor people who were late for dinner that night!)

Thank you for your indulgence of such a long letter of gratitude and praise but I felt that the team I worked with and all your Portuguese associates deserve this detail.

I’ve already recommended Portugal and Portugal Trails to several of my friends who’ve see our photos and heard of the amazing experience we had in lovely, wonderful, fabulous Portugal – all to the credit of Portugal Trails and how you work with your clients!

Thank you, again for everything you do! You will hear from us again, and we will be back.

Sincerely,

Ashley Bird”

“Hi Rita,
We had a fabulous trip to Portugal. We rave to all our friends and family at how the Portugal trails experience enhanced our trip! I will input our feedback onto trip advisor. We appreciated reading reviews when we were in the planning stages so I will do this as well.
Do you have a provider in Italy or other parts of Europe?
Thanks again for helping us to plan our trip!
Julie and Claudio Di Vittorio”

“Hello there,
Yes, we were very happy with all that you planned for us ( though Peter’s driving in the Douro did freak me out – we are right-hand drive over here!)
Oh yes we have been singing your praises and will make our comments on trip advisor. I did give some feedback to Vanessa. The staff at Hotel Britania are so fantastic, it really was a wonderful way of settling into our holiday. One thing to remind English travellors – not all hotels automatically put out ‘jugs /kettles’ for early morning tea, one has to request it and not feel embarrassed! We didn’t really settle in with the Hotel in Porto “Carris”, it is well situated, but a very busy place and quite expensive in their extras, staff were pleasant but gave the feeling of being under pressure all the time. The Vila Gale group – though initially I felt were all chrome & glass – were very comfortable, staff lovely and accommodating.
I didn’t make it out to my school friend in Estoril – we were busy in Lisbon! We did call in at the Buddha Eden, reasonable entry fee and coffee costs; thoroughly enjoyed going over the place – really do recommend the visits and your GPS co-ordinates worked well. Peter wanted to see “The Torres Vedras” area and whilst driving up to Coimbra we did just that.
Think we should have done a boat trip further up the Douro as recommended by the receptionist at the wine lodge, the trip down the river was interesting, glad we did it on a Sunday ( though drove down the hill through a Sunday market at a village which was hair-raising with narrow street and market wares all about) – pleasantly less volume of tourists about! It did get a bit boring midway, however, the boat staff very accommodating with our luggage and the meal was lovely.
So thank you Nuno, I loved Portugal, it brought back so many childhood memories and we came across so many people who had links with some of Portugal’s colonies and to hear their stories of adapting “out of Africa”- like us, so interesting understanding from another perspective.
Regards Lorraine”