About Us
Guest Book
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Myrna and Dick Charles, Canada, September 2015
“Hello Tiago,
Sorry for such a late response. I have been a little busy since our return to Canada. Whenever I would see this email, I would start to think about any pros and cons and then get busy and forget to reply. So here is our feedback!
Pros:
You provided excellent customer service. You demonstrated extreme patience with my one million questions and changes in preparation for our trip.
You designed our vacation to suit our every wish of places we wanted to see (including giving some good advice when we wanted to add more to our itinerary. You advised not to pack in too much as we would lose the time to enjoy)
Knowing we were active and enjoyed walking, your itinerary including information on hiking trails in many locations, and the city tours were “walking” tours. We loved them! We loved the intimacy of having the guide all to ourselves!
And for your information, we walked the 621 steps up to the church in Viana do Costelo, as well as the 687 steps up to the church in Lamego (the town near Folgosa in the Douro Valley). We also walked all the way up to the Palace in Sintra with many tuk tuk rentals stopping and asking if we wanted a ride as it was a very long walk!
We appreciated the recommendations of places to see and the local shops and restaurants in the guide book.
We loved the boat trips and winery tours that were included. These are things we would most likely not have participated in, but because it was “already paid for”, we went, and thoroughly enjoyed them.
All hotels were lovely and in great locations, and all had breakfasts included, which made everything so much easier. There were actually a few hotels that we felt would be priced WELL ABOVE what we would normally budget for, and when searching Expedia, found them to be VERY EXPENSIVE. But…..the total price of the overall trip was agreeable to us. It was a nice treat to stay in these higher quality hotels than what we would have picked on our own!
As for Cons…..
We really don’t have any with respect to the quality of service provided by Portugal Trails. In thinking about the trip, there was one aspect that we felt we MIGHT have done differently. By the end of the trip we were getting tired of packing up that suit case so many times! We considered perhaps staying more days in more central locations with the ability to drive (take more day trips returning to the same hotel), but…..we also felt that we would not have been able to see as much or get to as many as many places this way. We felt we would end up driving through the same areas on the day trips and therefore “wasting” in a sense, the time we had, seeing the same countryside more than once… so, not really sure what the answer is. That is what travelling is all about I guess! It really depends on what each individual wants.
But absolutely, we will, and have been, recommending Portugal Trails to our friends who are considering traveling to Portugal!
Thank you Tiago! I am sorry we did not get to meet in person!
Myrna and Dick”
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Zach Griese, Canada, September 2015
“Hi Joana!
I just wanted to say thank you again for all the work you put into our trip to your beautiful country. Our honeymoon was exactly what we envisioned and we’re so thankful for all your help!
Also I just want to make a point in saying that everyone you set us up with was absolutely excellent! Patrick was an amazing guide, Rosario was so kind and a lovely lady who was always on time (even for our early morning flight), and Sofia’s cooking class was amazing, definitely one of my personal favorites. They were all fantastic and I wish them all the best!
I totally forgot about the Garmin and forgot to drop it off at the post office in the airport. I’m so sorry! I just opened my luggage today and saw it and felt so embarrassed. I’ll be shipping it to you in the next couple days, again I’m so sorry about that.
Lastly thank you again for everything, I’ll be definitely recommending Portugaltrails to anyone who wants to visit your beautiful country!
Take care,
Zach”
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Peter Goldstein, USA, September 2015
“Tiago,
I have been meaning to write back to you about the trip. Overall, it was excellent. All the accommodations were great. I would definitely recommend that you put Quinta do Vallado on your list. It is terrific, although I guess expensive. Great wine tasting there, and the rooms and views are fantastic. The guides were all excellent. We loved Portugal. Highlights were Sintra, Nazare, and the Douro Valley. The last day was hectic, we just made it to Porto in time to check in to the hotel, return the car, and meet the guide for a walking tour from 5 – 8 pm. We could have used another day in Porto. Also, for some reason, we had a lot of trouble driving in Coimbra (between the river and all the round abouts), but we ended up walking into town from the hotel, which was fine. Maybe a few more restaurant suggestions for Lisbon would have been good too.
Overall, a great trip.
Thanks for your help.”
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Pierre Seguin & Lili Bertrand, Canada, September 2015
“Hi Sofia,
We are back from our fabulous trip to Portugal…We would like to thank you so much for all that you’ve done for us and always replying promptly to our emails… We have to say that the hotels selected were always well located and that the guided tours were excellant….Thanks to Patricia and Maria. All tours were great, especially the Herdade de Esporia wine tour which was the culinary highlight of our trip. We fell in love with the Douro region and the Quinta do Pego hotel. Having the pre-programmed GPS was essential for us to travel worry free from place to place. All people we met were always very friendly and helpfull.
We have only good things to say about Portugal Trails and will not hesitate to recommend you to any traveller wanting to explore Portugal.
Thanks again…!
Pierre and Lili
It would have been great to have the point of return of the car (at Avis uptown Porto) pre-programmed on the GPS in Porto, which gave us problems when returning the car.”
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Hazel and Jim Ringheim, Canada, September 2015
“Good morning Nuno.
We just wanted to send you a quick note to let you know that we had an outstanding time in Portugal. We were very happy with the itinerary for our trip and many of the suggested stops or activities. The hotels that you selected for us were all unique and we enjoyed them all. The car rental worked out very well and the pre-programmed GPS was extremely helpful throughout our entire trip. We put the GPS in the box you provided and mailed it from the airport in Lisbon on Saturday.
Thanks very much for your assistance with our trip. We look forward to returning to Portugal sometime in the future!
Regards,
Jim and Hazel Ringheim”
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Janet and Greville, USA, September 2015
“Hello Joana we have been home for nearly one week now and the jetlag is disappearing though it has been quite bad.
We want to thank you for your organisation of our holiday in Portugal which we think is a lovely country.
Having drivers to pick us up from every arrival point and take us to our hotel is a luxury we have not experienced before but it certainly removes a lot of stress. Without exception the drivers were on time or early special mention please to Rosario who was very kind and I think conveyed to you our concern about the Lisbonaire Apartments Their location was excellent of course but the noise was truly bad. We should have tipped Rosario but we are unused to tipping and do not want to insult people anyway please thank her.
The apartment you chose in Barcelona was excellent! The location was so convenient only 5 minutes’ walk from the Picasso Museum It was very large had an always changing look out to the street and we were told triple glazing!! Highly recommended.
I wish you Happy Holydays”