Portugal Eco Tours

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

We loved every moment of the tour. Rita, our tour manager was exceptional and was able to share many pieces of historical information about the country and the areas we were in. We were glad that the weather held out for our (optional) coastal boat tour of the Algarve caves. It was a highlight of our trip. We especially love Monchique. Would have loved to have stayed overnight. The lunch/picnic on the top of the mountain was spectacular. Sintra was another town we loved, but because we choose to do the inside palace tour, we did not get to spend any time walking around. My birthday was during the trip and Rita gave me a little gift from the tile factory...so sweet. The last hotel we stayed in, also had a bottle of wine, and a dessert for my birthday! Made the day very special. We also, loved meeting new friends from the tour. Several of which, we have discussed doing another trip together.

The 3 Villa Gale Resorts were EXCELLENT VENUES: rooms, healthy breakfasts, meals poolside,decor & cleanliness. The option to go sailing in Algarve & Explore caves just incredible. May weather, getting to see nesting storks .

Packed itinerary, great walks in beautiful countryside, good variety of wine/port tasting - particularly enjoyed the smaller, off beat ones (hello Carlos!). Magdalena was a great guide even throwing in some extra activities and found us some great restaurants.

I cannot say enough good things about Explore and my trip to Maderia. This was a very special trip with my two daughters. Everything from the initial contact with Explore to the advice, hotels, excellent guide, and the food was great. Hope to line up future trips.

Another brilliant Explore trip. As usual the tour guide, in this case Tania made the tour even better with her unceasing energy, enthusiasm, knowledge and dedication to everything you might need. The hotels were very good, in fact the best overall in the 3 tours we have done. The scenery was fantastic and the walks were varied in length and level of challenge. Eating out was inexpensive by UK standards which was a refreshing surprise as were all drinks from coffee to alcohol. We covered 4 islands on the tour and intend to return for the others