Discover Portugal

We enjoyed our Blue-Roads tour of Portugal. The company was great, the accommodation was excellent, except in Lisbon which was very tight, the bus comfortable and most of the locations we visited were really interesting. Some locations were tourist traps which was a bit disappointing especially when we pulled in with half a dozen big cruise busses at the same time. I would have preferred a bit more "back roads". Also, our guide appeared jaded and did not appear to like women very much judging by the way he spoke to us at times, even though around 75% of the tour group were women. I am sure with a different guide, the tour would have been much improved.

A wonderful tour with a great mix of sights and activities. Best features were the lovely and knowledgeable guide, Eddi, and very capable driver, Pedro. Accommodation was varied and interesting. Allowance was made for individual interests and levels of stamina. The whole tour felt more spontaneous that preordained. Love that we visited small local producers and craftspeople with no pressure to buy! Also loved the limited numbers on the tour - 17 in this case - and the fact we rarely travelled more than an hour at a time in the bus. The country roads through small villages were the very best of the daily trips. The rest day in a vineyard was very much appreciated too - although there were still activities for those who wished. Cannot recommend highly enough!

The tour was a very enjoyable one. Reasons being that the range of venues we stayed in were very good and the experiences offered gave us a really great understanding of the country and it's people and their culture and history. One thing we really enjoyed was how it lived up to the 'back roads' label bytaking us to places we wouldn't have found (or thought of!!) by ourselves. Examples being the farm visit to see the wine and olive oil process and tasting (such genuine 'down to earth' people) who shared their history and culture and the sheep cheese visit. That was something different and very interesting. Our guide was knowledgeable and the tour was well organised. Our bus driver was lovely too. We saw a lot of the country and gained some idea of places we might return to in future to explore further.

Great tour with 15 New Zealanders and Australians. Our wonderful tour guide Sonia had a wealth of knowledge and was entertaining as well.

A great tour with a very experienced tour leader and driver.. This was my third Back Road tour.

Our guide Sonia was absolutely amazing, nothing was too much trouble, took us to extra places if time permitted. She was so passionate about Portugal and her love of her country definitely rubbed off on us all. It was a fabulous tour with a bit of everything to please

Very good tour. Comprehensive. Lots of extras.

Apologies for the late review of our June Tour in Portugal. First off - a big shout out to our wonderful Tour leader, Lara. A very understanding young lady who could relate SO well to her 60+ age travel group . Her knowledge of our local was amazing; her ability to help people connect; humor and empathy was excellent - I give her 15* out of 10. AND coupled with Milo our driver - whose driving was so smooth, his empathy for those that were a bit slower to hop back on to the bus and his amazing music play list - together they formed an exceptional team. Our accommodation was varied and amazing, from small to larger establishments. The group dinners were allvery enjoyable. And I was very impressed with the additional specialized Tour leaders who were engaged. All in all, I highly recommend Back Roads Tours and have already booked our your for 2026 in Sicily.

We loved our time in Portugal. Georgina our tour leader was great. The hotels we stayed in were fabulous and all quite different. My gluten free needs were well accommodated, all the meals were lovely. We enjoyed all the locations we visited and the experiences we had. Cooking dinner was fun at the beautiful Nature hotel.

Fabulous tour just loved it.

Great historical information provided by guide Georgia and others. Lots to see in a full packed itinerary. Beautiful and sometimes quirky accommodation. Careful and courtious driver. Would recommend to friends.

Most enjoyable ,except for the long walks and climbing high buildings.Maybe having a rest in between all events will solve all problems.Have regular meetings

Such an excellent itinerary, and well organised support team Every detail was thought through, and we definitely experienced the unexpected.

Was fantastic great guide

Had a great trip, visited all the sights you could have, the tour coach “Edwina” too ensure everyone was enjoying themselves. The use of the WhatsApp group feature made communicating with group easy and factual. She even did meal selections via the app. I’ve been travelling on busses for 43 days and this made making friends so easy

Fabulous trip

I went into this tour quite looking forward to discovering Portugal. I feel that this tour didn't provide the experience I thought I would have. This is my opinion only and you might find that others on the tour can offer a different view. Churches Portugal may have a wealth of churches that are incredibly beautiful and be a deeply religious country, but my hope for this trip was to discover Portugal through its food, its lesser-known villages, and along its picturesque coastline. While I can appreciate the significance of these sites, and visiting a few would have been ok, the itinerary felt dominated by church visits leaving little space for the local experiences that drew me to Portugal in the first place. Food I was disappointed with the cooking lesson that was part of the tour. The 3 course dinner we cooked felt rushed, there wasn't enough space for everyone to participate, and the menu wasn't to my liking. I thought a cooking class for Pastel de nata should have been part of the tour. We did have a couple of wonderful group dinners organised with wonderful menus. Itinerary and stops The allocation of visiting time at each day's stop felt inconsistent and random. Sometimes not enough to truly explore, at other times too much time with little to do and the group would be sitting waiting for the bus anywhere from 45 mins to half an hour early as we’d exhausted all options and walked around the town a couple of times. In villages and towns that I would have loved to have more time to explore, we were rushed out the door too early. Then in other places that I couldn't quite see why we stopped there except for coffee and lunch, we'd have 2 hours which was about an hour too long. Activities and bus travel I would say that this tour was a pretty passive tour. We seemed to be on the bus a lot. Much more than I thought we would be over the 10 days. I would say it doesn't suit an active traveller and is more tailored to an older demographic. Summary Before you sign up, read more into the tour, find out exactly where it goes and ask lots of questions to make sure it suits the style of travelling you would like to do.

Well organized and relaxing way to discover Portugal.

The tour was excellent for the following reasons: We had fun We jelled as a group Our tour leader was professional, gorgeous, funny, caring and a participant in all activities Our driver was safe, professional and fun Destinations were varied and full of interesting detail Food very good organisation outstanding Accom on the whole very good A few surprise events added bonus

From start to finish Discover Portugal was a great 10 days. Our tour leader Sonia allowed our tour to run seamlessly as we moved from the south of Portugal to the north discovering many interesting places, learning the history and the day to day lives of Portuguese families. We visited the large cities which was fun, but I really enjoyed the small villages which were close by our accommodation. The walking tours we did with historians were very interesting as were the walking tours we did with Sonia. Our driver, Pedro was great. Accommodation, breakfast and included dinners were also great. This was my second trip with Back Roads.

Portugal is a beautiful, friendly Country. This Tour was amazing, we had a great group of fellow travellers and an amazing, well organised, passionate Tour Leader - Sonia - who went above and beyond to make this trip through Portugal a very memorable one. Thank you Sonia and thank you Back Roads Touring.

We thoroughly enjoyed our tour. Others on the tour were good company & most importantly our tour guide Lara, and our bus dricer Melo were both great. We especially enjoyed the small group experiences su h as visiting the olive Grove & the cheese tasting

Enjoyed the trip immensely made better by Lara who was warm, friendly, informative, helpful, easygoing, flexible.

Excellent tour. We had an excellent guide and really lovely, helpful driver. We had a number of title side experiences, things I doubt I would get to if I went on my own.

Fantastic tour. I really loved the experiences and the small group size. Lara the tour leader and Melo the driver were fantastic! The accommodation and tour pace were very good.

Fabulous tour showing the real life side of Portugal. Very well organised and accommodation lovely. Lara our guide and Mehlo our driver were exceptional always available to assist in any way. Would definitely recommend Back Road tours.

Fantastic trip - loved every minute of it. Portugal is a beautiful country. My tour guide and driver worked so well together - they both made the tour so special. My tour guide was very informative, kind, friendly and such a professional- he is one in a million. The tour itself was interesting and very well planned out with enough leisure time. Would highly recommend this tour.

The tour was fantastic largely due to Lara the tour guide & driver Merlo, They both brought Portugal to life. Enjoyed every day of the tour

Enjoyed learning about Portugal's history through our learned guide in small group tour. Especially enjoyed the smaller towns with less tourists ....like us...and meeting and sharing the experiences with like-minded travellers. Although a little variable, on the whole, the accommodation was more than adequate for such a tour. Will definitely consider another Blue-Roads tour in the future.

No complaints.