Leisurely One-Week Lisbon Itinerary for Seniors

We met for one week in Portugal for a family reunion, a large group of 17 people spanning three generations aged three to 68 from three countries (US, Germany, Sweden).

I am so glad I reached out to a professional travel agency to organize this trip. Communication with Zicasso’s tour operator was easy, always prompt, and helpful, including on weekends. They recommended and booked exceptional and child-friendly accommodations in Lisbon and Nazaré which were perfect for our group and which I wouldn't have found on my own. All transfers from and to the airports, from Lisbon to Nazaré and back to Lisbon, were prompt and the drivers flexible, friendly, and very professional.

For a private tour to Sintra, a bilingual guide accompanied us to explain everything in English and German. We requested a couple of short-notice changes to the itinerary and our main contact went out of her way to accommodate these requests.

A pair of sunglasses forgotten in one of the apartments was reunited with its forgetful yet happy owner at the final stop of our tour, only because of the initiative of our contact and her colleagues who retrieved them for us.

In short, our tour company delivered on every level (including reasonable pricing) and I highly recommend their wonderful staff and services.

I highly recommend booking your personalized Portuguese itinerary with our Zicasso travel partner. We booked a short six weeks before our trip, yet he still put together unique hotels, an amazing variety of dining experiences, and guided tours that perfectly met our interests.

Our 10-day trip was a perfect introduction to Portugal in late October, with home bases in Lisbon, Évora, and Porto. Our travel agent booked accommodations that exactly met our preferences for warm, professional staff, historic buildings, and luxurious touches. We felt like royalty.

Our Zicasso tour operator arranged a terrific and varied slate of guided private and small group experiences balanced with time to relax and explore on our own. He was immediately responsive to our requests and questions before and during our trip. Every aspect of the trip flowed seamlessly. We hope we have the opportunity to book with our travel agency again.

Samuel and his team at at this European travel company did an excellent job in customizing a 12 day luxury family trip to Spain( Barcelona, Madrid, Toledo,Nerja,Grenada, Sevila, Cordoba) and Portugal( lisbon+ day trips)  for 10 of us- 4 senior citizens, 2 teens and 4 adults.

From the get go, he worked with us to stay within our budget, recommended and selected very good hotels at the right locations and made travel between cities as seamless as possible.

The tour guides at each place were also very good- the Alhambra guide Elisa and Lisbon guide Maria and Madrid- Prado Museum guide Rosanna were exceptionally good.

He was always in touch with us before and during our trip- via phone or email- and was quick to respond to any questions or concerns that came up.

He met with our family in Madrid and presented each family with thoughtful gifts.

When he found out that we had paid again for entrance tickets at Toledo( tickets were already included in tour price) he refunded the money.

He arranged for the tour guide in Lisbon to help us at the Lisbon airport with check in and wheelchair arrangements- which proved to be very helpful.

So we will highly recommend Samuel and his team at this company for a worry free luxury vacation to Spain and Portugal.

This travel company was very responsive during the initial planning and booking stages. Mariana was able to answer our questions, offer suggestions, and customize our trip. Jose reached out to us at the beginning and recommended not to cram so many cities in one week. Once we paid for our services we noticed the company was not so responsive. We were told we had to pay in full one month before travel but then didn’t hear back about our final itinerary until I sent several emails and called the company line. I was told that the last couple of weeks were so “hectic” in the office and it’s not normal for them not to respond. So, we took this as a one off.

When we arrived to Lisbon, we received a text and email saying our first excursion on the first day was canceled due to a sick tour guide. We were offered to reschedule, receive a credit, or take a different excursion. This was all done via text, not even a phone call. They didn’t disclose the price of the substituted last minute Tuk Tuk  excursion. We thought it would be less than what was canceled, but later found out it was, surprisingly, more expensive than the dinner show excursion. 

The tour guide in Lisbon was awesome! He was very knowledgeable and cordial. Overall, our guides were very good and we had no complaints with them. We had another last minute change when our train to Lisbon was canceled. I understand this was not necessarily our travel agency’s fault, but perhaps it could have been communicated earlier as it appeared the train was canceled for that time all week. The only suggestion was to take a train at a different time. The problem was it affected our last day in Lisbon. No other solutions were offered. 

When we tried to find out about settling the first day’s substituted excursion, we called, texted, emailed and after many attempts someone finally responded that our substituted excursion was more expensive but we wouldn’t have to owe money. Prices should be disclosed upfront. 

Finally, we were provided a number to call 24/7 should we have any questions or problems. On at least two different occasions we had to make multiple calls or send texts until someone finally returned our call. 

Overall, we would rate this travel company a 3.5/5. 

We started to plan our trip to Portugal eight months prior to traveling. It was going to be a two-week sojourn which would include the island of Madeira and mainland Portugal. We reached out to Zicasso because they seemed to offer an upscale luxury tour experience. They put us in touch with our travel company and another tour contractor, but from the beginning, we chose our agency, with whom we worked very closely.

We had a great phone conversation indicating what we wanted to see. They put together an extensive itinerary that we fine-tuned. Once we signed off on our itinerary, our agent went to work to secure our accommodations and tours. She left nothing out.

During the eight months, we chatted by email to confirm everything. We were always in control of what we wanted and they made sure it happened. Our trip was an amazing success. We were extremely impressed with her arrangements. Every facet of our itinerary was met beyond expectation. We were completely shocked when our driver, who picked us up in Lisbon for our three-and-a-half-hour drive to Porto, showed up in a Mercedes-Benz. Not a thing was missed or misrepresented.

In fact, we had a tour arranged from Lisbon to Sintra and Cascais that we could not make due to a severe, rare, coastal storm that threatened all of Lisbon. Our travel team dropped off umbrellas for us to use in case we wanted to get around Lisbon and worked very diligently to rearrange the trip on our last day in Lisbon. Our travel agents showed up on the morning of our return home (in a Mercedes van), drove us to the airport, checked in our luggage, and directed us to our take-off gate.

I cannot say enough good things about our travel company and the service they provided. I will highly recommend them to friends (many of whom have said Portugal is on their "wish list") and would use our travel team again in a heartbeat.