Country Roads of Portugal

The itinerary was comprehensive. We could have maybe spent a little more time in some of the beautiful towns, but everything had to run on a schedule. Our tour director was wonderful, & our bus driver was absolutely brilliant. Many thanks Insight Vacations.

For the curious traveller who wants to explore a bit more of Portugal, this itinerary was perfect. The beaches of the south, the plains of the centre, the hills and rivers of the north are all included. The result is an enjoyable time exploring a cultural and historic treasure.

The transfers to and from the Lisbon hotel were efficient and on time. As well, the extra leg room in the well-apppointed coach was welcomed! Great food, wine, lodgings, and experiences. Daniel Ferguson was an experienced guide who not only took us to beautiful sites, but also added a couple of extra side trips and treats. He and our driver Felipe worked extremely well together, and the local guides were all knowledgable and passionate about their subjects.

First of all, the guide Daniel and the driver, Felipe were OUTSTANDING!! they made the journey most enjoyable. Dan was very knowledgeable, kept us informed of the day to day schedule and was always available to assist with any issues that would arise during our trip. I know my fellow travelers felt the same. And we were all amazed how Felipe navigated some of the narrow, twisty roads without even a scratch to the coach.

The itinerary is good. I would like to see more relaxing time; especially at hotels that have great pools in southern Portugal. It was always go, go go! I don’t think two days in Porto are necessary either. I have been on this Insight route twice…just so you know I’ve had time to think about this.

What an absolutely wonderful tour. The tour guide went above and beyond for all tour members, one who needed medical assistance specifically. Each hotel was amazing and top shelf. The optional tours were beautiful and shared so much about each area and the people who live there. The pace was great as well were able to see so many areas of Portugal. I will definitely recommend to others. Portugal is green in beauty and taking care of natural resources. Loved our time there!

Excellent itinerary, tour director and driver. Coach was very comfortable. Hotels were very nice and in great locations. Only good things to say about my experiences.

Fantastic way to experience Portugal and see the diverse terrain. From cosmopolitan to country, hilly cobblestoned streets to winding mountainous pavement, hustle and bustle of larger cities to the quaint quiet villages and vineyards, all offering fantastic scenery, food, friendly people and of course wine! Additionally, the coach was extremely comfortable with plenty of legroom (40 of us on board). Absolutely loved every minute. And if that wasn't enough, we were blessed with the world's greatest tour guide and coach driver - and !

It's very fast paced. Beautiful scenery.

Everything was wonderful except for the choice of the first night venue in Lisbon.

A wonderful way to see the whole of Portugal. We were able to see and explore parts of Portugal that U certainly would never want to drive in. Driving though the countryside you see the olive trees, orange trees and grape vines. Stunning views as you drive through the Duoro Valley. .

Well planned out itinerary. Not too strenuous. Good for seniors

Full and very interesting!

The best way to travel in Portugal. All of the places we visited just added so much more to our experience. We are exceptionally satisfied with our insight vacation.

Was the "right" pace. (and ) were exceptional - made everything easy, fun, and interesting. It's so nice to let them to the hard work and your their to relax, learn, see, and taste!!!

Great way to visit the best cities in Portugal to learn the different cultures, foods and amazing sites. We visited 11 cities in 11 days. It involves a lot of time on the bus and walking on cobblestones, but it allows you to explore as much as possible of this beautiful country in a fast moving trip. My companion and I took advantage of all the extra excursions which were great. Those who didn't had free time to explore on their own. Our tour director, Lana and bus driver, Philip were highly experienced, informative and delightful. I highly recommend the Country Roads of Portugal. Wear comfortable, supportive walking shoes!

The diversity of locations. The country roads tour enabled us to see more of the way of life away from major cities of the Portuguese.

We thoroughly enjoyed our Country Roads of Portugal tour. Our tour director, was wonderful, so accommodating, knowledgeable, engaging and went the extra mile to make sure everyone was well taken care of. Our driver, was incredible. He swiftly problem solved in an unexpected situation and our group always felt safe with his experienced driving skills. The (extra leg room) coach, scenery, extra activities, meals, hotels and local experts were five star in every respect. We would highly recommend this tour, especially for experiencing the less traveled countryside of Portugal. It's a beautiful country!

We chose Country Roads b/c we wanted to see as much as Portugal as we could in the time we had. This tour did not disappoint at all. You get the opportunity to visit big cities, small villages/towns, the ocean side, the douro valley, etc. Also, the perfect amount of time in each location! Have been recommending this to my family and friends!

Good food, good friends, excellent staff and travel director. The locations were amazing and we loved our trip.

You got to see many areas of Portugal including cities and small towns. The trip was awesome!

A very thorough coverage of the country without being too aggressive. The pace was good.

Wonderful itinerary. you were able to major highlights. Enjoy the culture of the company taste the food of the country and have plenty of time to discover the shops or restaurants on our own.

Great views

Was jam pack but very manageable. If you like history and quaint villages and beautiful scenery this is the trip for you. We had a great guide (). He check in on each of us everyday to see if we needed anything or was not please with something he could fix. All the hotel were 5 stars in my opinion. I highly recommend this trip.

We were not rushed at any stop. We saw a smattering of the entire country not just Lisbon/Touro. Some stays were for two nights which enabled us to catch our breath and relax.

Provides a really good taste of some of Portugal’s most beautiful cities, towns and countryside. Thoroughly enjoyed the tour, the hotels were excellent, coach very comfortable and tour director excellent.

Very pleasant.

Overall excellent experience

It gives the first-time visitor to Portugal an excellent overview of the nation, its history and geography, and culture.

Extra time in Algarve, to cover some history of area. Maybe an extra day in Lisbon. We were pushed for time to explore historical area. ( we had extra days on our own seperate to trip which we benefitted from) When left to own dinner choices in smaller towns, maybe some guidance.

I would have liked to see Sintra and 1 more day in the Algarve

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.

It is a very well thought and and timed tour. Busy, but not too busy. It made very good use of the time we had.

Fantastic guide director Incredible food World class accommodation Excellent sight seeing and information

Would have liked to have some more time in towns and cities to check out museums and learn more about the culture. Felt like we spent a lot of time in the bus.

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.

There was too much scheduled for too short of time. The consensus of our group is that is should have been a 14 day trip. Also too many days started too early to be classified as a comfort schedule. You need to keep in mind that those on the trip are on vacation.

So many beautiful things to see—natural beauty as well as wonderful fortresses,, towers, churches, palaces, aqueducts and monasteries. Every day was a cobblestone path leading to history, stories, and wonders. And, with a guide like , it was a perfect trip!

Fantastic trip, great itinerary!