Portugal Explorer Trips

Our tour guide was knowledgeable and professional, as well as compassionate. The tour itself with interesting and informative. The hotel, the mini tours, the included excursions and the meals were all top notch. I have nothing but praise for this trip.

I would recommend this tour on several levels. Comfortable bus but we only had 15 on board. 18 would have been a sqeeze. The accomodation was interesting, very quirky, an Abbey, Castle, a Hotel Maze (dont drink to much and hope to find your room when you return home, let alone fit in the toilet). This just addded to the experience. The tour leader was exceptional. Patiriza got to personaly get to know all of the tour group and what they would like out of the trip at the begining. . I cant praize the driver and tour leader enough as they went out of their way to make sure all requests were ticked off. Some added experiences that were not included little surprise stops. I am unsure that olive oil tasting was my cup of tea, maybe with tasting the olives included may be the answer and being in an olive grove, this tour was an overly touristy tour long and boring feed back from other tour members was similar. But we also had a sherry tasting experience which was top notch. All in all a great trip. Lovely dinners and occasional lovely lunch. A good mixture of sightseeing immersion into the culture fun and camoradory.

An excellent tour, covering a variety of places and experiences that made me feel I’d really dipped into the essence of Portugal. Accommodation was very good, in several places outstanding, as were the meals and wine. The activities - cooking a gourmet meal, wine tasting, painting a tile, cultural events, the cruise on the Douro and visiting historical sites with informed and engaging guides were well judged and balanced for our enthusiastic group. This was interspersed by lovely journeys on our very comfortable compact bus, meandering the back roads. But the glue that stuck it all together was our wonderful tour leader, Lara. Her Vibrancy, knowledge, warmth and genuine interest in each of us went far and beyond what one would expect. She was there for us 24/7 in a most delightful way. She used her own local knowledge to enhance our experience by arranging meals and suggesting walks and shopping. Her rapport with our lovely driver Luis was also a bonus. I’ve not done a tour like this before, certainly not as a solo traveller, but because it was a small group I was included and made welcome. I plan to travel again with BackRoads.

Our guide, Patrizia. ensured all our needs and wishes came true. All the local guides were informative and engaging. The accommodation was of a good standard as were the meals provided

We couldn’t have asked for more … excellent itinerary, interesting accommodations, and a tour leader (Patrizia) who exceeded all expectations. The supplemental guides, each with their own area of expertise, were fun and informative.

Very impressed with the whole tour, loved the smaller group of people and the relaxed atmosphere. It felt like a holiday rather than rushing through venues Thoroughly enjoyed being on the back roads and small villages rather than the cities