“Vanessa, we were very pleased with our entire tour that you arranged for us. The real highlight was probably our wine tour and “degustation lunch” as Esparado.  That was one of the finest meals we have had!  Also your GPS was well programmed and most helpful.  I think our accommodations at the Hotel M’Ar de Ar Aqueuto Hotel in Evora were our favorite.  And Tiago was a terrific guide in Coimbra.  When we went to the Roman ruins, we found they were closed for renovations;  so Tiago had us drive to a wonderful old estate outside of Coimbra, which again we thoroughly enjoyed.  And we did have a terrific lunch at “The Alice Restaurant”, thanks to your recommendation.

George may wish to add some comments also so I’m copying him on this message.

Thanks again for all your help and excellent planning on our behalf, Vanessa.

Dick Olde”

“Hi Sofia:

Sorry it has taken so long to send you our thoughts on the trip. I will also write a nice review on TripAdvisor.

First off, it was a terrific trip – I was so impressed with your attention to detail in planning the trip. All arrangements went flawlessly, with no glitches at all. 

One of the best services you offer is the pre-programming of the GPS! We never would have seen or done as much as we did without being able to easily press the various options suggested each day. We were impressed with how easy it is to drive around Portugal, the quality of the roads and absence of traffic problems. 

That said, the GPS did have a couple of problems directing us correctly to a couple of places. It took us in circles when we tried to find the Lagoa de Alfbufeira beach – we finally found it but it really wasn’t worth the effort – probably better in the summer. Then we wanted to drive up on the “knife edge” road in the Arrabida park. The GPS sent us to the centre of Setubal and proclaimed we had arrived at our destination.  We could have turned off into the park about a half hour before as we were driving east from Lisbon, Cabo Espichel (fabulous!) and the Sesimbra castle. I will admit that we did the least amount of research on what we wanted to do on the day we drove from Lisbon to Evora, and relied totally on the GPS that day without really mapping out our day. None of this is under your control, but just thought you’d like to know.

Another observation – totally based on our interests – we wished we had stayed overnight in Sintra. We had a great tour there with Patricia, but didn’t have the time to go up to the Pena Palace and the Moorish Castle. Had we stayed overnight we could have done some things one day and some the next morning before getting the rental car and heading out.

Guides – both Patricia and Sofia were terrific. Our guide in Coimbra, Tiago, was OK, but he is quite laid back and didn’t have the energy and enthusiasm of the other two and our conclusion was that he really didn’t add much to our experience of Coimbra; we could have just as easily done it on our own.

Obidos – driving to the Pousada was a nightmare. We finally gave up and walked up and they very kindly came back down outside the gates with us and drove our car up and parked it right outside the Pousada.. Likewise they drove us and the car out of the walled city was we left. Their service was really great! In hindsight we would have preferred to just stop in Obidos for a few hours and then drive on and stay elsewhere. 

Hotels – all of the hotels were fine. Our only complaint was the lack of overall service at Quinta Las Lagrimas. For instance they had nobody available to carry our luggage and when I asked the desk attendant if they had a valet he said he “supposed” that he could help, but then disappeared! We like to walk so we didn’t mind the distance into Coimbra, but we would have seen and done more if we had stayed in a more centrally located hotel. 

That’s it for my personal comments – it was a fantastic trip and we loved Portugal and would recommend your company highly. 

All the best,“

“Hello Cristina.

We have got back to Australia safely after a lovely Portugal holiday.

We did meet a number of people at the start of our holiday who were also on Portugal Trails holidays. All their comments were positive and happy. Most of them were at the end of their holiday and we were at the start so it was good to hear from them.

All went smoothly, the accommodation was lovely and all went smoothly. Thank you once again for all your hard work Cristina. I will certainly recommend Portugal Trails to anyone thinking of holidaying there.

Best wishes, 

Jim and Melanie Basham”

“Hello Cristina

Arrived home safely.

Thanks to you we had a wonderful vacation in Portugal.

We have been very impressed with the level of service that you provided to us and we were very happy that we chose you to organize everything for us

Your country is truly beautiful and the people are so friendly and welcoming. You must be very proud.

The accommodations were overall very good. Our favorite, in order were: Pousadas da Lisboa, Heritage hotel da Liberdade, the hotel in Evora, the resort in Lagos but not so much the Ozadi in Tavira. Thank you for arranging the upgrade at Ozadi but this place fell far below the other beautiful places that we stayed at.

The GPS set up was a real asset and was well set up and easy to use.

The limo services were very prompt and efficient.

Our favorite activity was the private walking tour that you set up for us. Our guide, Marta was superb and she gave us a very insightful overview of Lisbon and Portugal.

I really appreciated the high level of friendly advice that you gave us in organizing an incredible trip with little notice. When we had a few issues while on our trip, the response we received when we called your # was very prompt, helpful and friendly and we never felt that we were bothering you.

Portugal trails and especially you, Cristina are a true credit to your profession.

My son and his wife are flying in to Madrid in April and driving to Lisbon for about a 10 day holiday.

Does Portugal Trails offer trips overlapping in Spain?  If so I will strongly encourage him to contact you.

Once again thank you for all of your work and help in setting up our introductory trip to your wonderful country! 

Dan & Donna”

“Hi Ana,

I can’t thank you enough for organizing such an amazing trip. Everything went so smoothly. We were very sad to leave. 

I love how we had a flexible itinerary and we’re able to make minor changes to our day according to what we wanted to explore. We definitely didn’t want to be a part of a tour group getting bussed around and told what to look at. 

The private walking tours were fantastic and fascinating. I learned so much about the history and it was great to have someone to ask silly questions such as about daily life in Portugal. 

One of our highlights was in Caria after visiting Belmonte. The bed and breakfast was our favorite place to stay. It was so beautiful and unique. We had a great time hanging out with the locals who treated us to ‎locally made wine and liquors. We struggled to communicate since we didn’t speak Portuguese and they didn’t speak English but they showed us true Portuguese hospitality. They walked us to a nearby restaurant, O Cangas, which was delicious. 

The GPS was crucial to our navigation. I loved how there were additional destinations added for nearby sites, which we did visit some on our way to our main destination. 

‎Monsanto and Quinta da Regaleira in Sintra are on my top favorite places because they were lesser known (and less crowded) and full of beautiful surprises. 

Really, everyone was always so helpful and nice to us everywhere we went. I don’t have many ideas on how this trip could have gone better. Maybe just tips on how to use the metro and how to purchase train tickets to Sintra. We were eventually able to find some advice online (Yey smart phones!) I’ll send photos soon. 

Thank you!

Minori”

“Dear Cristina,

I just wanted you to know that we really really really enjoyed our time in Portugal.  I will recommend Portugal trails to anyone I know planning a vacation here. 

We enjoyed all of the pre-planned activities.  We especially enjoyed both of the walking tours. Both guides were very knowledgeable and patient. 

I will send a picture that I took from our hotel room in Porto. Our room was on the top floor and had a magnificent view.

Muito obrigado!

Glenn”