Portugal Walking Trips

I had a great time and loved the itinerary - although some of the walks differ from the Trip Notes - and nearly all the walks were considerably shorter distance than the Trip Notes (but plenty of ascent and descent made up for that to me). Bonus the hike up to Pico Riuvo has just been re-opened! We were the first Explore trip to do it since the wildfires closed the route two years ago. Our guide Joao was excellent and very knowledgable about the flora and fauna we saw (not all of it native)

Perfect tour of Madeira with quite different areas and walks every day. Cliffs, forests, mountains - and plenty of free time in Funchal. Well looked after and our guide had good knowledge on all aspects. All the little stops such as cafes were charming.

Some of the walking - classified as 'moderate' - was harder than I had anticipated. The Porto Moniz hotel was a bit sad; the Funchal hotel was very good but its location, on the outskirts of Funchal - wasn't ideal. Not many buses into town, and the complimentary shuttle bus didn't operate at weekends. Our tour leader was laid-back without being lax. We all liked him, he is a real star.

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