Help! My guide had to cancel our trip, and now I'm frantically looking for a reputable guide/company when so many have already been booked. Any recommendations out there? We will be there in roughly a month.
Posted by
California 🦋
5298 posts
When my daughter and I visited Portugal (Spring 2019), we’d considered staying at the Douro Guest House in Porto.
I’d asked Carmen, the owner, about some recommendations, and here’s a copy of the email I received:
Hello Priscilla, how are you?
Thank you for calling just now to let me know that you will not be staying with us after all. We are sorry we will not have the pleasure of welcoming you !
The company I was telling you about for the Douro Tour is called Cooltour Oporto. We like to work with them for daily tours such as to the Douro valley or Guimaraes. But you can do guimaraes on your own with a train that gets there in a little more than one hour.
Do enjoy Porto !
Take good care,
Carmen
PLEASE NOTE: We did not end up doing a Douro Valley Tour.
You may want to ask your hotel who they recommend.
You may also contact Carmen, at the Douro Guest House, to make sure she’s still recommending this company.
I’m sure others will chime in with more recent recommendations.
Wishing you a wonderful trip!
P.S. I just found this recent post, and the OP is recommending the same company: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/portugal/boat-tours-in-douro-1-2-day-with-port-tasting
Posted by
24 posts
If you belong to AAA they have a tour company called Viator. They outsource to local guides as well. I've booked many Viator excursions and tours through them and have had excellent experiences every time. Good luck!
Posted by
Minnesota, USA
25 posts
A friend of mine on this tour earlier this month and liked it a lot. https://www.livingtours.com/en/tour/douro-valley-historical-tour
90 euros: They stop in Amarante, a viewpoint, lunch and get to Pinhao for a one hour boat ride on a scenic section of the river. Then a stop at a quinta. 10 hour trip.
Good luck.
Posted by
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, USA
14830 posts
Actually Trip Advisor owns Viator. Viator is a 3rd party booking company that makes it's money charging a 20-25% fee to the tour guide so either the guide is losing money or you are being charged a higher rate. If you find a tour on Viator you like you can figure out who the guides is and book them directly which will probably please the guide.
Posted by
Edmonds, WA 🌨 ☂
11948 posts
Did the guide that cancelled not have a suggestion for a substitution?
Posted by
Washington, DC USA
514 posts
in 2020, I used Cool tours Oporto for my Duroro Valley small group van tour. It was very good and I would recommend it. It looks like the operation is now called Cooltour Portugal.
Posted by
Victoria, Canada
40 posts
Portugal Trails puts together a very nice custom itinerary or you can select one from their website. www.portugaltrails.com. We are heading to Portugal for 4 weeks end of September using this company; friends used them a few years ago and gave very good reviews. They are thorough and easy to deal with.