Porto Art and architecture Trips

Trip was travel from Lisbon to Porto so obviously not covering other areas of Portugal. Plenty of places seen/experiences but also plenty of free time to visit museums etc not on the itinerary (would recommend Puppet Museum, Gulbenkian, Museu Medeiros e Almeida in Lisbon)). Hotels in Lisbon and Porto were excellent for central location.

Our tour guide Siri was the best! She was always suggesting great places to eat, and provided our group with an amazing tour. She tailored our trip to the group's preferences where possible to ensure that each of us was having the best experience. She spoke individually with each of us to ensure that our needs were being met and to trouble shoot any issues/problems that we might have had. The highlights of Portugal tour was exactly that. It provided a great introduction to the country and left us wanting more. I will definitely go back to Portugal to explore more of this beautiful country.

Hotels were top notch and everyday was filled with great adventures with an awesome group of people. Our guides and bus driver were the best ever. Loved this trip and will definitely share with others and book again.

Everything was perfect; 10days, 5 star hotels, and perfect driver. Our guide was well educated in history and communications with a very pleasant personality and humor. I cannot say enough about ? Sylvestri, forgot her first name. She surprised us with a stop at Nazare. I have recommended this tour to everyone.

I initially had some concerns about doing a guided group tour and trying to squeeze in so many places in 11 days, but this trip was absolutely fabulous. First of all, with everything being planned out in advance, the time is used very efficiently, and as a tourist you are never waiting in line to get into see an attraction or trying to figure out what to go see or do. Because of all this advance planning, and the 11 day (really 10 day) itinerary, you get to see so much more of Portugal than most itineraries, and trust me, there is a lot to see. Many of the shorter itineraries we considered focused mainly on Lisbon and Porto, and skipped the Algarve region or Douro Valley. This 11 day tour was extremely comprehensive. It went down the west coast area of Portugal all the way to the Algarve region, then went up the eastern side and to the central region of the country, as well as north to the Douro Valley and then to the west coast again to Porto and some other smaller towns. We really loved every place we visited, (except for Fatima, which was honestly a disappointment, grossly touristy, and a bit creepy in a way with every store and restaurant loaded with religious statues, vestments and chatchki stuff and the shrine of Fatima itself more like visiting the Vatican than a spiritual place.) We really loved the Douro Valley and Porto, these were two of our favorites, as was the Algarve region. I do wish that we had spent more time, just one more night in the Algarve region instead of spending two nights in Evora. For example, it would have been really nice to have offered more time in Cascais, and give people an opportunity to see one of the most unique sights, the sea caves and rock formations that are only available as a boat tour in that area. By allowing a couple more hours just in that location, a whole group of people on our bus could have gotten to do the boat tour. I recommend spending just one night, not two, in Evora, and although it is a very nice town, there is not a lot to do there and it's not as beautiful as the beach areas in the Algarve region. So please add more time in Cascais/Algarve, we all wished we had more time there and I have seen this on other reviews. Our bus was very comfortable; there were 31 people on our June trip, and we had lots of room to spread out. The Insight tour buses have expanded seating with reclining seats, footrests and extra foot room so they are really a pleasure to ride on. The bus has wifi and USB jacks for charging phones, but if you have a USB-C type cord, you will need to bring a converter, as these are the old style of USB jacks. There is a bathroom on the bus but I don't think anyone ever used it as we had plenty of rest room stops. I cannot say enough wonderful things about our Tour Director, and our bus driver, both of whom were amazing. is a 10 out of 10; he made this trip so wonderful for all of us. He is outstanding in every way. He was constantly considering everyone's needs, made sure that at every meal we each got the type of food we asked for, and made sure that frequent bathroom stops were factored in on the road. His knowledge of the country's history, politics, economics, and geography was incredible and in each town he also shared an in depth knowledge of that town's history and highlights. was also a lot of fun, had a great sense of humor, and was terrific in recommending restaurants and sightseeing in various towns. He prepared us with advance insight and expectations for each town and hotel stay, which was much appreciated. He was an incredibly kind and thoughtful person and in every town we visited he gave the entire group thoughtful treats or small souvenir gifts. He also went out of his way to provide extra value by adjusting the itinerary slightly to allow us to spend more or less time as needed in certain places, and he added in some additional surprises along the way that I won't mention here but were very much appreciated by the group. Our driver was amazing too, I have never seen anyone be able to squeeze such a huge bus into such small roads and spaces. His safe and expert driving skills were impressive and very much appreciated, he is truly a pro! Also a 10 out of 10. I would literally go out of my way to have and as my tour team again on a future trip. Finally, the hotels were all very nice and upscale. A few had some minor inconveniences; one in the town of Tomar had insufficient air conditioning, and we had a swarm of bugs get into our bathroom due to a bathroom window the previous occupant had not closed tightly enough. But otherwise, we were very satisfied with the hotels. The meals out with the group were generally nice, not 5 star but very good and satisfying, and being with the group was really the highlight of those meals. We particularly enjoyed the wine lunch in the Douro Valley, group lunch in Porto, and the two group meals in Lisbon. My husband also enjoyed the optional group dinner in the Algarve region, which I did not attend but heard was good. We had a really nice group of people on our tour and definitely enjoyed the group get togethers. I think in terms of food, the only group meal I did not enjoy was the dinner at our Tomar hotel, which was just "ok." Otherwise, we were very happy with the meals and breakfasts that were included. (One should be prepared to eat on the later side in Portugal; many places do not even open until 7 or 8 pm.) A couple of tips regarding packing; you want to bring a small bag like a back pack or weekender bag that you keep your daily necessities and a change of clothes for the next day, as each night you will have to pack and re-pack and you will have to put out your suitcase very early in the morning. So we just kept one outfit for the next day (plus our pj's, swim suits, meds and toiletries) in a backpack which we kept with us on the bus. Then when we got into our hotel, we didn't have to wait for our bags to make it upstairs, and we always had a change of clothes ready when our suitcases were out of our possession. Also recommend bringing a light jacket or sweater, as temps were sometimes cool in the morning even though sweltering by mid day. Finally, if you are considering taking this trip at all, rest assured you will love it. Portugal is such a wonderful country, and the tour is well planned and executed. We would definitely travel again with Insight tours, and I hope I will be lucky enough to get a tour guide as amazing as again, because he was a big part of what made this trip so wonderful.

It covers a large area of Portugal in a short period of time. Travellers should add extra days to cover Lisbon and Porto as there isn’t enough time allocated for these two main sites.