About Us
Guest Book
-
John and Linda Joy, USA, July 2016
“Hi Diana,
Linda and I could not have had the trip we enjoyed without your guidance. The accommodation upgrades, tour guides, (Sofie in Lisboa, Elizabeth in Porto, and Carla in Sagres), the castles suggestions, beaches, restaurants, wine, port and cheese tastings, our Fado night in Lisboa was incredible and the GPS worked so well everywhere except in the location you mentioned. Of course we found the winery using the scenic route. Portugal is such a special place and you helped us appreciate your country. The whole Portugaltrails team is to be commended for the first class tour company that you are! Please pass these pics to our/your guides.
Best regards,
John and Linda Joy”
-
Manoj Raheja, Canada, July 2016
“Hi Rita,
Our trip was fantastic and we really enjoyed everything. I would definitely recommend your company to my friends and family. I’ll share this on trip advisor…Just wanted to provide a few more detailed feedback pts to help you guys
– We loved the car and driving around and the GPS pre-populated journeys made everything very easy
– While we loved all the cities – if we did it over – we might spend one night less in lagos and one more in Lisbon (maybe this gets achieved by doing Pena Palace the first time round vs. coming back twice)
– The walking tour in Lisbon was exceptional; great guide
– All the hotels were great (Lisbon the best) and lagos hotel is beautiful and rooms were just ok
– The fado music is Lisbon was amazing – service at restaurant was good – but the food was just ok
– The restaurant you helped me book for my wife’s bday was stunning and delicious – so thank you for that!Just wanted to provide those so you can keep improving your service but as I said – your service was excellent and I wish it was global because I would use you again to plan my trips if I could…
Manoj”
-
Marion, USA, July 2016
“Dear Christina,
We arrived home to the US from our wonderful holiday in Portugal! Thank you so much for arranging a great tour. My only complaint is that there was too little time, and too much on the itinerary to do! We were so busy I had to buy souvenirs at the airport, not in the towns. Shopping? When??
I fell in love with Portuguese food — in a coastal town on our way back up to Lisbon, we had the most delectable bean and cuttlefish stew. The fabulous walking tour of Lisbon with a tasting of cheeses, wine, and later pastries — the fresh breads, the sweets, the fried sardines we ate from the head down, the Fado music, Douro, Port, and the Vintage House Hotel – it was all so good.
I would have skipped the Ville Gale Lagos in particular, because it was too much like a factory for my taste, but my daughter loved it’s big resort feel with its abundance of swimming pools, while my husband and I loved the beach that was in walking distance. We opted to take a snorkeling trip from the dive shop, which took us to a beautiful little beach with a group of wonderful people.
I hope to come back and stay a bit longer some day, but there was enough to explore for a lifetime of trips. I found the Portuguese people we met to be so friendly and warm.
I wish I had time to write more. But thank you for helping us on very short notice! And thank you for our gifts. The delicious cookies were eaten throughout the trip, the port is sitting on our table, and our soap is divine.
Best,
Marion” -
Alain Romary, Australia, June 2016
Hi Nuno,
Sorry for the long delay in responding to your feedback request.Overall, we have been pleased with how Portugal Trails have managed our tour.
Our welcome gifts were much appreciated.
Except for a few hiccups, the GPS was well set, and the instructions accompanying the handling of it was well organised. Yes, the GPS has a few strange ideas of what route we should take. At one time we entered a rod we could not get through! But it all sorted itself as we got used to it.
As was the itinerary. We enjoyed the tour of the very modern vineyard and the degustation lunch that followed. The wine and cheese tasting was interesting. The organised walking tours in Porto and Lisbon were very informative and interesting.
Also the grotto boat tour was very nice and the guide did not rush us through. The fado music was ok, but because it started so late and we could not understand any of the son, it felt a bit flat (it would be so easy to have digital translation above the singers, like they do nowadays for opera).
We added a visit to Fatima, which we found very interesting in particular as I am a long term meditator and just completed the Camino. It was easy to program in.
We also added a visit of the ancient stones, and it is a shame it is not better set up from a tourism point of view.Your organisation allowed us to miss on some activities if we felt tired, or to do them in a different order.
Most hotels we were booked in were of a good standard.
It was very helpful for us to have booked twin share and included breakfast.However, there were a few setbacks.
Accomodatedat Folgosar instead of Pinhao meant unnecessary driving, and there was little there to do.Having the car in Lisbon for 3 days without using it added unnecessary expenses.
Suggestions?
An extra day at the start ( take a night off from Pinhao ) would have been good as Porto has so much to offer.I suspect it would have been better to start in Lisbon, and we found afterward that there was a bus direct from Santiago to Lisbon.
On the whole, we have enjoyed a tour of your country and would be happy to recommend you.
Thanks very much for your organisation which gave us a very different appreciation of Portugal, to what our pre-conceived views were.
Love & light
Alain Romary
-
Nadia and Mort, Canada, June 2016
“Hi Marta:
Our trip was a terrific experience, thanks mostly to the excellent plan and prepaid aspects Portugal Trails provided. The vouchers simplified everything: checking into and out of hotels; tours, etc. Everyone was courteous and we had no difficulties with using any of them.
Covering the country and experiencing the regional differences was a delight. Our tours were excellent. They, and the tastings, were extra special due to their small size. We didn’t cover everything but we covered and enjoyed 1978 Kms and, it seems, almost that much walking since almost everything was uphill!
We thought you might enjoy hearing about some of our adventures in dealing with our travels.
The biggest challenge was negotiating the street system. We missed some streets because we drove by them thinking they were for pedestrians. Some were raised or reached by driving over the sidewalk. Then there were the hard to find street signs or lack of signs. We were lost for an hour trying to find the hotel in Porto because streets on the GPS were closed. We called the hotel and found we were nearby. They talked us back to the hotel.After check in we were told the garage was down the street. Mort couldn’t find it and spent a half hour getting back to the hotel. He was shown two double doors right next to the entrance. Strange that such a good hotel wouldn’t think to put up a sign (garagem?) – we’d never seen garage doors like that. After parking we realized that was part of the fun of travelling. Did we mention that we found the streets narrow?
The GPS was “fun”. We never found the Pizza place. Somehow, leaving Sagres, we missed a turn or took a wrong one. We wound up on the highway and were detoured through a wonderful golf community and then onto a dirt road going up, up. We eventually wound up in a wind power electrical field next to one of the wind towers and a locked road. Turning around we found a downhill route and were back on the highway heading for pizza. Nearing Sagres, the GPS said we had 30 Kms to go but when we left Sagres it said 15. We drove for a while then gave up. It was an experience. We think we were on the road that services these wind towers.
Late in the trip we noticed the GPS made mistakes like saying “take the third exit” when the proper exit was the second, or fourth. Perhaps that’s what happened on our way to pizza. We discovered that the GPS was even programmed for sights within the city – but we wanted to walk. We never found the Roman Baths, in three tries. But the walking was great.
Finding the car return was a riot. It took 4 circuits. The GPS would say “turn right onto ………..” but we didn’t see a street, only a BP station. On our last circuit we saw the office on a 50 meter strip of pavement parallel to the main road. The entrance to this alley was not visible and was hidden behind a bus. The highlights of our circuit were stalling on a hill on the main road and Mort having trouble getting restarted. Somebody pulled in next to us. We expected anger but the driver simply smiled, asked if we needed help, and said “relax”. Portugal is relaxed and relaxing to its guests.
We loved the people and the widespread use of English was a plus. Speaking to the car representative provided a great insight. He was working to raise money for a return to university. A grocery store cashier with a British accent was from Bangladesh via London. He said he would never leave Cascais. In returning the GPS, we met a Dutch woman who led us to a post office. She’d lived there for 40 years and only goes “home” to visit relatives. She would never go back – “it would be crazy” she said. Our guide in Porto was a history teacher whose hours had been cut back so he was using his Tourism certification to make up some of his salary loss. Our vineyard tour to d’Ervideira was by a Tourism graduate. She said she took up tourism to ensure employment. It’s amazing how resilient and happy people were.
By the way, there is an error in your personalized guide for Evora. It refers to a three page description beginning on page 155 of the guide. It actually begins on 224.
We truly enjoyed the Fado evening. The dinner was superb and all-inclusive, plus we were proud that we got there by transit and didn’t get lost!
We marveled at the castle in Marvao as we had been watching on TV in Toronto, the re-creation of a castle in the north of France which is in its 17th of 25 years of being rebuilt using only the original materials available at the time it was built. The documentary helped us truly understand the logistics of this incredible fortress.
All the hotels were centrally situated except for the one in Porto. It was in a strange district and quite a distance from anything.
We have more tales but we can sum up by telling you that never on our travels have we had so much to talk about and so many memories. obrigada (and obrigado).
Nadia and Mort”
-
Wesley Leon, USA, June 2016
“Hi Diana,
I have just reached back to Singapore and had a lovely time in Portugal thanks to you and Portugal Trails. It was a successful and memorable trip which was well organised.
The hotels were well located and sights and sounds were very well chosen. Sintra was beautiful and so were the various castles in Marvao, Constancia etc.
Me and my wife had a great time. The recommended restaurants were great as well. We managed to patron most of them. It was also easy to navigate with the GPS. Only once, the GPS brought me off the map a little but that’s a small matter and only happened once.
Overall, thank you so much and I will recommend you and Portugal Trails to my friends who wish to explore Portugal.
Oh yes, also the transport limousine service was very good. The drivers were very friendly and helpful. Also, I already post back the GPS and I believe you would receive it by now.
No bad comments, only good ones.
Thanks,
Wesley”