My husband and I just returned from the Portugal tour; our 4th Rick Steves tour. Several tour members in the group were on their 6th plus RS tour. Our guide, Cristina Duarte, was AMAZING!! She treated us all like family, and took extra time to help each of us navigate even the most mundane tasks. Her energy was boundless! Being from Lisbon and being an experienced tour guide, coupled with her knowledge and enthusiasm, makes Cristina an outstanding choice for the Portugal tour! The people of Portugal were friendly and most spoke English. However being with Cristina gave us added confidence. The only downside was unpacking and packing; even though I downsized three time before my trip, I still could have packed less. We were able to wash clothes in Portugal twice. The laundromats were exceptionally bright, clean, and uncrowded. Some of the hotel layouts were a little quirky but most hotel staff went the extra mile to make our stay comfortable. The staff at the M’ar de Ar Historic Hotel (not sure of the city) were the least friendly and helpful. My wow moment was visiting the cork farm, seeing the Cork Oaks, and hearing a presentation of how cork bark is stripped from the trees. We had a delicious lunch there and sampled several wines. We had several additional tours (cork farm, vineyard, wine tastings, Porto Food Tour, river cruise, etc) on this trip and all were fun and informative. On the last day of our tour, we returned by train to Lisbon and stayed another night at the first hotel of our tour, Hotel Lisbon Plaza. The staff at was the best and hotel lovely.
Posted by
Folsom
2707 posts
We too enjoyed this tour immensely! It's no wonder this has quickly risen to be one of the most popular RS tours (it looks about 1/2 sold out for 2018). Of our multiple RS tours we would rank this up there with Greece, still our favorite. We went a bit early to visit Sintra and also took a Culinary Backstreets tour of Lisbon. We loved both of those excursions and if we had to do it again we might add yet another day or two in Lisbon.
Posted by
franktown, colorado
2252 posts
Thank you for this informative and lovely review of the Portugal tour. It's been high on my Want To Take list and between your review and the rave reviews of some friends I just traveled with (they were on one of the a Spring tours), it has now jumped to #1. I copied your post and filed it away for next year; you have included some great advice for pre and post tour. Thank you again for reinforcing Portugal's position on my wish list!
Posted by
681 posts
Thank you for the review. Portugal has long been on my list to visit.
Posted by
Seattle
908 posts
Portugal has been on my list for a while too.
How was the food at the group meals? Were you given much selection?
Posted by
OP
4 posts
Teresa, Of course breakfasts were provided at all the hotels. They were abundant! Fresh squeezed juices, fruits, champagne, breads, meats, yogurt, etc. The group meals were good also with two entree choices. Naturally some restaurants were better than others. I have a shellfish and pine nut allergy, and our guide, Cristina, made sure every restaurant knew beforehand. I appreciated this because I hate to announce my allergies redundantly. Cristina also made recommendations for non-group restaurants in close proximity to our hotels, and of course we found others during our tours around town. This tour had two luncheons at vineyards, a Porto Food Tour, a group get together with heavy hors d’ oeuvres in addition to gelato and custard tarts provided by the tour guide/RS.