Toptour canceled our tour to Fatima and Tomar with no explanation.

I can’t help you with TopTour and hope you get your money back. It’s so last minute that you might have trouble finding someone but you can reach out to Lisbon Riders. I’m sure they’re booked up for the 27th but they might refer you on to someone else they know and trust. I did three tours with them last year and so met 3 of their guides and they are fantastic and trustworthy. https://lisbonriders.com/

Just remember Viator is NOT a tour operator. They are a travel agency or more commonly called a consolidator. They have no control over tours. They just collect your money.

It isn't uncommon for tour companies to cancel trips. I have had this happen on at least 2 occasions in the past several years. Too few people signed up and the second excuse was sea condition for a boat trip but every other tour operated and the currents were not as stated. In both cases, I received notice the evening before the scheduled departure. These were day trips - it is not clear to me how long your tour was meant to be.

I never book with Viator, as noted, a consolidator. My cancellations came direct from the two different operating companies. You made your arrangements through Viator, so it is unlikely that Toptour will respond to you. Most likely, they simply changed their schedule and are not operating the tour on your date. Viator may or may not have received the info on a timely basis.

Best to try another company or contact Toptour regarding the date you see available. In both of my cases, I was able to find a substitute. A private driver in one instance and another tour operator in another.

I have found that it is best for me to have a list of alternative plans or sites for instances when things go wrong, cancellations happen, or I simply am disappointed with the day's plans. Being flexible has served me well. It is often upsetting and disappointing when a plan goes haywire, but knowing I can move on to a "second choice" that I have previously researched has helped my outlook immeasurably.

....what the heck kind of day trip is worth now well over $1,000
unless it was for a bunch of people

According to the review the OP left on the TA site, the tour was for 8 people:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/AttractionProductReview-g189158-d19279610-Fatima_e_Tomar_Full_Day_Private_Tour_from_Lisbon-Lisbon_Lisbon_District_Central_Po.html

So sorry for your disappointment but as Frank said, Viator is not a tour company; they are a 3rd-party consolidator. For that reason, many of us won't book through Viator or similar consolidators as, if problems arise, it's best to be dealing directly with the company managing the tours and not the middleman. Anyway, it's not as uncommon as you might think for tours to be cancelled later the game for any number of reasons, such as illness or other cause for sudden guide/driver shortages.

The price may have gone up for other reasons as well, such as having to increase pay for guides and drivers (possibly substitutes), a big increase in the price of fuel, etc. Just guessing but as we all know, stuff happens! :O(

At least it sounds like you won't be out your original payment?

Hi Judy, i would send a message to your lodging right away and see if they can recommend an alternative option to your original plans.

Don’t beat yourself up for booking through Viator, although I also don’t recommend that method. I had a food tour booked directly with a small business cancel on me the night before the event when I was in Parma, Italy. It was very unfortunate because my backup ideas for museums were closed that day.

Agree with Jean; hopefully your hotel can help you find a replacement tour. You might also find tour operators in Lisbon who can book a similar tour for you.

There are all kinds of reasons a tour operator would have to cancel a tour like this. It sucks, but it would suck equally if you had booked directly with the tour operator. I'm not sure why people are so negative on Viator. It's not their fault, and they will refund your payment. If the tour operator had gone bankrupt or were shady and refused to respond to your requests, you might not even get your payment back.

I hope you won't let this disappointment prevent you from having a great trip!

Fatima is a very popular excursion from Lisbon. There must be many ways to go.

I did some research and came across this site. It seems like they may be Portugal Visitor Information.

https://portugaltravelhub.com/tours-from-lisbon-to-fatima/

And if you scroll down the page, there is a Fatima / Tomas excursion offered.

Aa some one else suggested, I would also ask at my hotel.

I hope that you will keep us updated about how well everything worked out and what a wonderful time your group had.

Travel Portugal, and Portugal Travel and Discovery are two groups on Facebook. They have locals who lead guided tours who post on both of them daily. Sometimes you might even find one available at the last minute. Most of them come very highly recommended. You might give it a try, although finding one who can take eight people is a bit of a problem.

Thank you all for your recommendations and support. We will check the different tours when we get to Lisbon. And yes, there is eight of us and the total package price went up about $1000.

I understand that Viator is not the tour operator but it clearly states on their website they are a disclosed agent on behalf of the Supplier and that "Viator provides the Platform through which you can enter into a contract with a third party supplier of a Product ("Supplier")" After speaking with both the agent - Viator and the supplier - Toptour, both are blaming the other. UGH

Bottom line, we are letting it go and we will have a great time in Portugal and thank you all for your help again.

I'm sorry this happened to your group. We once hired a private guide for two days of hiking in Yellowstone, and they cancelled 47 hours and 59 minutes before our start time - coincidentally our deadline to cancel was 48 hours in advance. I paid them 11 months earlier. I am convinced that they got a more lucrative offer from another group, and were just waiting to see if we would cancel first.

We had a great time in Yellowstone anyway, but it still sticks in my craw that I basically gave them a $1,000 interest-free loan.

Thanks for letting me vent!

After speaking with both the agent - Viator and the supplier -
Toptour, both are blaming the other. UGH

That's why some of us prefer to book directly with the supplier. It eliminates the potential of being caught in the middle of a finger-pointing war between booking site and supplier if things go wonky. Yours isn't the first time we've heard of that happening.

But I hope you have a GREAT adventure in Portugal regardless of this unfortunate snag!

Interesting how much the Viator language sounds like AirBnb language. Yet AirBnb has become a must-have, like Uber.