Portugal Tour Reviews — 1 to 30 of 363

Towns and route good, tour company great, breakfast and hotel quality very good

The professionalism and compradore amount the entire crew was refreshing. Knowledge of individual accountabilities and task focus were outstanding…as a well- oiled machine!

Of the many excellent hikes available in Madiera,
This tour manages to curate some of the best. The accommodations happen to be some of the best too from those must do beachfronts to the highly regarded Castanheiro hotel in Funchal. So basically it’s a pretty classy tour package. Now, for the hardline: especially for the risk adverse Americans, who might be reading this. These hikes are only for experienced hikers. Experience means having strong enough joints for very long, extremely steep and very narrow trails over potentially lethal drop offs. We have Vibram soled, lightweight hiking shoes to navigate the stones and steps and narrow causeways where a slip is not an option. We use a carbide tip quality hiking pole. We were absolutely dependent on the Ride with GPS app when the fog closed in on the trails on the high mountain. With that in mind, we found these well marked routes and trails to be some of the most beautiful in the world. Lush with flowers in early June, punctuated by waterfalls adjacent to moss clad rock walls, those drop offs give breathtaking views. The logistics are wonderful to have a ride to the trailhead where parking can become impossible. The guide book was decent yet yet not too detailed and allowed for some fun surprises. But, you must follow the warnings about trail closures to avoid hefty fines and fatalities. We did discover that it was best on the very last day to hike from the overlook point up to the village to the restaurant O Forno, and the coffee shop Legal Gato for what may have been the best cup of coffee we ever had anywhere in the world. The taxi driver was happy to pick us up from there instead of the trailhead. We suggest you utilize these drivers for post hiking activities, such as this when you can.
Funchal is fantastic and worth spending additional time thereafter this tour. From Funchal, we suggest the Pico to Pico Trail for the most hard-core hikers or taking the ferry to Porto Santo for beach R&R, and biking and hiking all over this smaller island. The taxis are fabulous. Bus system easy. Don’t hire a car. It’s ‘impossible’ to drive and park on these islands. Too many bad drivers already.

The bike route was fantastic with stunning scenery along the coast line.

Our stay at the Convento de São Paulo was exceptional. Lots to explore in the hotel and grounds. The food was great.
The 12 speed ebikes were the best we have used on several trips we have taken in Europe. Having the extra lower gears makes a big difference if you want to minimize the amount of power used. The tour staff service was excellent.

Great mix of beautiful coast line, old villages, historic sites and rolling terrain.

Views, great Rute. Excellent hotels, beautiful towns.

The bikes perfect, the gps good, the company where we rent the bikes and move our luggage perfect.

Great experience. Very recommended.

Enjoyed the trip. Last 3 days were the most scenic rides. Tripsite and the local tour operator were easy to deal with.
My only suggestion is to make the downloadable maps available for offline use sooner. The first maps did not correspond to our itinerary and were confusing. When we finally got the right maps it was right before the trip started making it difficult for many in the group.

Awesome trip. Really enjoyed biking along the Portuguese coast.
We had 6 on our trip, 3 e-bikers and 3 human powered bikes. The human powered bikers were able to keep pace with the e-bikes except for the steep hills. It turns out that the cobblestone streets and dirt trails are self limiting on the speed of e-bikes.

The Torre do Rio and Parador de Baiona hotels were the highlight of the trip.

I had some frustrations:
1. The Ride with GPS directions did not match the GPS device directions
2. The GPS device directions were wrong for the boat crossing and no advanced warning that the boat launch location may differ was given.
3. The route lead you to paths that were clearly marked as bicycles prohibited
4. The elevation gain numbers did not match across any of the literature. It was off by hundreds of meters depending on where you looked.

We had no previous experience with a bike tour. We really appreciated the guided aspect of this tour and Sergio and Pedro were excellent guides. We chose the e-bikes because of the flexibility it provided to make our riding as easy or as difficult as we wanted. We recognized that some in our group chose regular bikes and adjusted our riding on the steep inclines knowing it would take them longer to get to the rest stop and cheered them on as we waited for them. The scenery is so stunning and made ride that much more enjoyable. All the hotels were excellent and the food was all wonderful. Each city we stopped in was beautiful. The only suggestion we would make is to make less stops along the Camino and get to the hotel around 3pm each day. That way, even if the rooms are not ready people can can go have lunch and then return to check in and relax before dinner and site seeing.

Thoroughly enjoyed our "boat & barge" trip on the Duoro. We were a group of 11 (family & friends) and enjoyed the time on both the boat and shore. Aside from our 6 cycling days, we were offered a walking tour of Porto, dinner at a winery and a port company tour and tasting. Cycling was enjoyable and gave us a good overview of the countryside, small villages and local customs. Our cycling guides, Horacio and Kevin were excellent! They were informative, supportive and patient in dealing with 16 riders of varying abilities and comfort levels.
Most of our meals were onboard and they were great - lots of options for every course and meal. Service staff were friendly and accommodating.
Cabins were comfortable & well appointed and housekeeping services were wonderful.

The scenery was spectacular and there is so much history to hear about and experience

We had a great week with lots of delicious local foods and wines. Our guides did a great job facilitating everything and provided good information. The accommodations we memorable, especially the two farms where we did cooking classes. The biking was very manageable with the high quality e-bikes. Lots of local sites and history food and wines!

The terrain made this a difficult and technical ride. The word ‘easy’ should not be included in the description.
Also I thought the group size, 21, was too big. It is listed as an e-bike tour but 6 people elected to ride regular bikes, which caused problems on the steep uphill portions.
Except for Porto, the hotels were very nice but we didn’t get much time to enjoy them. There were too many stops during the day but mainly for snacks (provided), rarely did we stop for an actual lunch.

Great trip and unexpected pleasure with different restaurants and sights. Highly recommended! Bikes were in top shape and luggage was always delivered as expected.

I think this trip was rated easy to moderate, but due to some difficult terrain it was hard at times and seemed somewhat dangerous. I wasn’t aware before the trip that more than 50% of the terrain would be off road biking. I could cope with it but many of those on the trip found it difficult to manage at times.
The tour leaders were excellent but the mix of non electric bike amongst the electric bikes could also be difficult at times. Several members of the tour mentioned that if they knew beforehand what the riding would be like they would not have taken this trip. It should be made very clear what the cyclist should expect. Some days seemed longer than necessary due to many frequent stops for coffee and restrooms which meant we had little to no time to enjoy the nice towns we were staying in. All hotels were great except for the first night in Porto which was in a strange part of town away from the bike garage(long walks needed to get there) and the unfriendly staff on the front desk.

A wonderful immersive tour of the heart of Portugal. Great biking, beautiful landscapes, cooking classes. The accommodations were great as was the food. Interesting tours (cathedrals, caves, cork factory, cactus farm). Everyone everywhere went was so inviting and hospitable. We had an amazing guide who made sure we had an amazing tour. It was truly a great and memorable trip and left us feeling we had truly experienced Portugal. This trip left us wanting to return to further explore Portugal.

The Alva and crew were exceptional. while primarily a German tour company the Stewart and staff accommodated we Canadians very well with all services in both languages

Great food and atmosphere and a very pleasant boat cabin experience

The crew who ran the e-bike portion were exceptional with Daniel (a Porto native) and Kevin (a German native) providing an exceptional quided e-bike ride and support service in a very beautiful countryside they both knew very well

A beautiful destination and a well organized tour

We had only one very minor thought

The information from Tripsite re the bike tour was not consistent with the e-bike tour providers. I t would have been very helpful to be able to contact the providers directly prior to the tour

While this did not detract in any way from the excellent trip. It would have made preparing and packing decisions easier as the company does accomodate hybrid ( non e-bike ) cyclists which would have included my younger family members and does provide helmets which would have simplified packing

The trip involved spectacular scenery, wide open bike paths and roads, and small villages and cities. We did the trip in December which was cooler with fewer travelers than other times of year. Our local guide Sergio was kind, energetic, and knows the area— routes, restaurants , hotels-inside and out. I would highly recommend this trip.

The locations on this tour are fantastic, from tiny towns and ancient villages, fields of grapes, olives and cork, to medieval castles and cathedrals. That being said, it was the people made this tour awesome. Bernardo, our guide, and Sonia, our support person, were outstanding. Both are very knowledgeable about the region and Portugal, and all logistics were seamless—they are a great team who put us all at ease. The hotels and meals were a highlight, we stayed in 2 converted convents, one of which was like staying in a museum but with a 4-star hotel inside! The restaurants that our guide chose were authentic and charming, the food and service were amazing. We sampled many local specialties and locally produced wines. Our guides dined with us, answering all of our questions about the food and region. The e-bikes were top notch, and any small issues were handled promptly by Bernardo. This is such a great way to see a country, very different than what most tourists will experience, we loved it!

Great, personable guides on the bike rides & wonderful service & food on the ship. My favorite part was cruising downhill on the windy roads through vineyards & olive orchards toward the river! Highly recommended!

The boat was great, staterooms were very comfortable and the staff all around very friendly, competent and thorough. The food was very good with a nice variety and just the table wine was fine for our taste. The young men running the bike portion were excellent, very friendly and thorough in their planning and communication, with everything executed in a timely manner. They were so kind, funny and personable! The food they provided was very good and everyone enjoyed the rides, which were mostly downhill! Make sure you bring bike gloves!
The only suggestion would be to have better correlation beforehand between the bike rides and boat excursions. It was very confusing when trying to look at both before we arrived and with the boat asking us to sign up for excursions at least 4 days before arrival, it made it hard to see if there were any excursions available to the bike riders. Bottom line is that you can sign up for excursions once you get there, so if you are in a riding group, I would wait until you arrive.
As far as excursions, and I only did a few, they were again well, executed, but on the one to Guimaraes, we did not go in anything, but were given 45 minutes to just walk around. I would have liked to go in a few places with the guide since we had so much time.

The guides were super engaging, and they carefully curated daily trips for our group that reflected our ability level. they also worked really well with the cruise ship to make our experience very special. I'd cycle and cruise with our guide team again, in a heartbeat!

A super tour made possible by great guides. Horacio, Fabian and Kevin kept our group of 20 bikers safe and entertained. Explanations of the ride, terrain, history of the area and things of note were briefed before each ride. The e-bikes were easy to operate and we had no equipment issues. The Douro Natural Park Barca d'alv was stunning. The Alva was a great boat with a super crew. The meals were good and the entertainment was enjoyable. Highly recommend the Douro River Bike and Boat.

Phenomenal trip. The bike rides were great but the guides made it fantastic. I can’t compliment them enough.

This trip was excellent overall. Tripsite was easy to work with ahead of the tour and then, even though we were self-guide, the tour operator was communicative, hands-on, and all their staff were friendly and helpful.

The app they use for directions is excellent, and even in the intricate streets of rural Portugal, we were able to easily find our way and knew within a couple minutes when we were off track. This also made it easier to find points of interest because they were clearly marked in the app. The points of interest were good and were a mix of "look at this" (roman ruins, churches, etc) and "get a tour here" (cork factory, several wineries, etc). If you are self-guided, the tour operator will help you book reservations for tours once you get there, but we missed a few because they needed to be booked more than a week in advance and we didn't know that. As soon as you get access to the app, take a look at what you want to do and either contact them yourself or ask the tour operator to book them. Some days only have a couple viewpoints/tours, and if they are both closed or not booked it could be disappointing.

The cycling was generally pretty flat. I've seen other reviews that there is a lot of climbing, we didn't find that. There are some long uphills, but the longest of these was clearly mentioned in the app before we started up to that point of interest. The bigger challenge for us was the routes that aren't asphalt - I think every route had us on gravel for several sections and sometimes it was quite sandy or rutted. The most difficult section we biked was marked as an "alternate more adventurous path", so we expected it. If you're worried about the hills, I would suggest an e-bike, although I did it with a normal bike.

The bikes were in excellent condition. We were provided with everything we needed - water bottles, repair kit, handlebar phone holders, chargers for e-bikes, and a bike jersey.

The dinners at the farmhouse were excellent. They were home-made and rich at the same time and are a highlight of the trip. The rooms are well appointed, and although the building is old, it worked very well for us once we realized you have to run the shower for 5 minutes to get hot water.

The trip was excellent. Starting with our local host Bernardo who explained everything clearly (the best we’ve had on any tour), to the brand new e-bikes and accessories, the fabulous accommodation (which was a highlight of the tour) right through to perfect weather, all went well.

Bernardo and Sonia were both fantastic. Bernardo created great routes each day with coffee stops in towns where we could explore a bit. Sonia made extraordinary picnics each day. The dinner venues, cuisine, and service were extraordinary. They both anticipated our needs and catered to every request. It was the best bicycle tour I have experienced!

The local team in Porto did an excellent job. My ebike had two flat tires during the first hour, before we lever left the city. but they switched out the bike and the remaining 6 days of riding the bike was perfect! The navigation through the app - Ride GPS was flawless. Two of the hotels were beyond amazing, all the others were perfectly fine. The logistics of the airport pickup, luggage transfers, hotel reservations and transportation back to Porto all went off without a hitch. The only suggestion that I might make in terms of route is if a group is NOT staying in Vigo having the route go right though downtown which we hit during lunchtime rush seemed unnecessary, confusing and long.