Douro Valley Tours and Trips

Learned so much about history of Portugal. Enjoyed traveling through and seeing the different areas of Portugal - big cities of Lisbon and Porto; the beautiful Douro valley with its vineyards, olive groves, and cork trees; and smaller places like Monsarez, Evora (walled city with its Roman Temple) and Coimbra university. We were surprised by the lovely Algarve coastline & wished we could have stayed there another day. Such a wonderful trip.

The cities and sites seen were beautiful and historical. The coach had plenty of leg room. The travel time was managable, we felt comfortable, safe and very entertained. The local tour guides were knowledgeable and friendly. The hotels were upscale, clean and comfortable. The choices of dining experiences were great, food was delectable and there was no shortage of wine or beer at the restaurants.

I found the itinerary great, varied and great food & wine. I loved the history of Portugal, the language and the places visited. I was concerned that there was at least one person on the trip not fully physically capable of the walking, steps, cobbles, etc.

Good variety of restaurants & stops. Comfortable bus with legroom & plenty of comfort stops. Experienced bus driver keeping a clean bus & a smooth ride. Experienced & friendly tour guide sharing valuable information on locations and tour logistics. Upgraded hotels in city centers. Interesting itineraries & excursions with knowledgeable guides. Small group trips available.

Terrific local guides Your bus seats are awful They are the opposite of good ergonomics I experienced excruciating back pain by day 3. It lasted through both trips with you. It went away in the 4 days between trips and after the second trip finished I have no history of back pain and am physically fit and healthy and not overweight. The seats have no lumbar or lower back support. The curved edges force one to sit with rounded shoulders, which is the opposite of recommended posture. This places abnormal stress on the lower back. My husband and I had to insert rolled up clothes to provide adequate lower back support to get through the trip. Without this solution we were going to leave the second trip. We will never take another trip with inspired vacations again because of this

Especially for these small group trips, at the beginning of the trip, each traveler should be given a list of all the travelers and where they’re from. It would be great if it could even include a sentence or two about them.