Tour Guide Recommendations (Lisbon, Evora, Nazare, Coimbra, Porto)

Have you seen that the Rick Steves guidebook have self guided walking tours? I would look at those first and determine if you feel you'd like additional guiding. Also, typically, there are suggestions of local guides for each city.

I wouldn't think a guide for Nazare would be necessary, but make sure you get to Sitio. When we were there, the funicular was not running. I would advise that over driving up. Parking was a nightmare, but I think there was a special event. I don't currently have the RS Portugal guide, but we went to one of his recommended restaurants. It says in the restaurant guidebook listing that RS travelers get a free apertif or something. We liked the restaurant very much and we were well taken care of when the owner saw the guide in my hand. We got a few freebies. I wish I knew the restaurant name, but, you have to get there early for a table. The only other thing I can remember is that it was on a street perpendicular to the coastline. Actually, looking at google maps, the restaurant may have been A Tasquinha.

Thanks Jules! I appreciate the quick reply and Sitio endorsement with a parking warning. The RS guide highlights Restaurante O Luis and Sitiado for dining in Sitio.

I forgot to mention in my original post that cork, tile and fabrics are my wife's passions in addition to both of us looking forward to the wine and canned fish.

Cheers!

Scott, I was not clear. We didn’t eat in Sitio. We would have liked to, but we visited Nazare on a day trip and the Sitio restaurants were either closed for the rest of the day (might have been a Sunday) or weren’t going to reopen until too late for us. The restaurant I mentioned is in the old town area of Nazare

Tour guide or not is a personal preference. We never get tour guides because we like to move at our pace, only visit places we want to visit, and won’t remember 98% of what a guide would say. I agree that a guide isn’t needed in Nazaré and parking in the upper town would be a nightmare. The funicular was running (cash only) when we were there. Our hotel had its own parking garage.

In Coimbra, the university tour is self guided and entry to the library (No photography) is timed admission. There’s really only one primary street through town and I don’t think a guide is necessary if just walking around. I believe entrance to Santa Cruz church was cash only as was Cafe Santa Cruz next to the church. The cafe had free nightly fado performances that last an hour. When we were there in 2024 the performances were at 6pm and 10pm.

In Porto we walked everywhere and a guide wouldn’t have helped. We did go into a couple churches, but skipped Bolsa Palace.

In Lisbon we booked a private tour with Cristina Duarte’s company, Lisbon and Beyond (listed in the RS Book). Cristina wasn’t available for our date, but she set us up with one of her colleague, Pedro. It was an excellent walking tour, about 4 hours. He took us all around Lisbon and we covered a lot of ground. Highly recommended!

In Porto we booked another walking tour with Lisbon Walker, which offers private tours in Porto. Coincidentally, our guide there was also named Pedro. I felt it was a worthwhile tour, and we had a good time. Not knowing much about Porto, I was glad for perspective from a local.