My husband and I are doing the Heart of Portugal tour in early/mid May. We have a few extra days in Lisbon before the tour begins. Has anyone had a good experience with a private guide? Perhaps for Sintra visit or other day trip from Lisbon? Any good food tours you would recommend? Thanks
For food tours, I highly recommend Culinary Backstreets. I’ve taken a lot of food tours in various cities but the Culinary Backstreets tour in Lisbon was the best food tour I have ever taken. I took the Lisbon Awakens tour
https://culinarybackstreets.com/category/cities-category/lisbon/#
In March, I took this tour to SINTRA & CASCAIS.
https://lisbonriders.com/group-tours/sintra-cascais/
It’s not a private tour, but it is max 8 people. I really enjoyed it.
Caiscais is near Lisbon and so easy to visit on your own. We didn’t have a guide for Sintra but reading about the crowds there now, I think it would be a good idea to hire one.
For a guide to cover Lisbon as well as Sintra I can highly recommend Pats Madeira https://lisbonwithpats.com. Many of us here in Lisbon use Pats when friends visit. She can customize the tour around your interests. Highly recommended.
Thanks for all the input everyone
This is a late reply, but I want to second the Culinary Backstreets recommendation! I went in 2020 (RIGHT before things shut down) and the "Lisbon Awakens" tour was one of my favorite "culture through food" tours I've ever had, giving a great sense of how Portugal's colonial history shapes its food - and the food of the world. I've used the company in a few cities since then, but that remains one of my favorite experiences, highly recommended.
We had a fantastic 1/2 day tour in Lisbon with Peppe https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61567040137908
He was prompt, friendly, and very knowledgeable. It was a great way to get acquainted with Lisbon in the comfort of his car. He even gave us tips on other stops for the rest River two week trip. He’s the best ! https://www.portugaljourneyswithpeppe.com/