Portugal Adventure Vacation for Families with Teens

We had the most amazing trip through Portugal thanks to Zicasso putting us in contact with Filomena and the entire crew at her travel agency. Our trip was just what we enjoy doing. As a background we are in our mid-70s, but we like to be active meaning we enjoy moderate hikes, food walking tours, cooking classes/demonstrations, local music, some private tours and some group tours while visiting normal tourist areas and having time allowing us to wander around the cities and towns so we can meet the people, sample local cuisine and do a little shopping. Portugal offers mountains, rivers, beaches, large cities and smaller towns. Filomena listened to our likes and dislikes and developed the perfect tour. We like to visit a country for at least a couple weeks which allowed us to visit Portugal from the northern border to the southern coastline. We do not like the night here and a night there just to say we were in a specific area. We love being places for 3 to 4 nights so we can enjoy the area. The Portuguese are most accommodating with most speaking some if not perfect English (we did manage to find one hole in the wall restaurant were NO English was spoken but we ended up with a great grilled fish dinner and a very good wine – perfect for us). Everywhere we visited the areas were very clean, we drank the tap water with no ill effects, and we ate local fruits, salads and vegetables again with no problems. The food was universally great many times we opted to eat at the same restaurant as the tour guides, not fancy but great food! The selection of hotels from Porto in the north to Lagos on the southern coastline were very nice with very good breakfasts, very comfortable rooms, great locations and very good WiFi connectivity. We felt perfectly safe wherever we wandered as a matter of fact we slept with the patio doors open at night to enjoy the coolness of the night breezes. Every driver and tour company arrived if not exactly on time a little early. Our travel agency team put together a complete itinerary with an app which allowed us to verify pick-up location and directions, hotels, tour operators and times as well as a description of the planned tour/visit. In addition to that app, the use of the WhatApp app allowed us to contact our travel agency team and they responded almost immediately when we had a question. Additionally, they recommended local attractions that we might enjoy and food suggestions we needed to sample in each location. Filomena kept us busy but also allowed some free time for us to explore things on our own. We have had the good fortune to visit Asia, various Caribbean Islands, Mexico, parts of Europe, Northern Africa, South America and of course the USA. This Portugal Tour put together by Filomena may well have been our best trip to date. We highly recommend their services and are sure you will not be disappointed.

Many people told us that if we liked Spain, we would love Portugal. This is a very accurate statement. This tour agency made our 15 day trip a memorable experience. Our guides/drivers were professional, personable, knowledgeable and passionate about their country and vocation. In addition, this tour agency arranged for a tour of the Lisbon Synagogue with a member of the congregation, and a special tour guide, for the Jewish Museum and Quarter in Belmonte.

Our Destination Expert, was very hands-on. Upon our arrival, she and our guide met us at the airport and provided us with a portable WI-FI and for our return flight, she even guided us through the airport to navigate check-in, baggage tagging, and security. She was always on top of our travels, especially notifying our guide when there were unplanned changes, such as the change in the time of the mass in Belmonte from Sunday to Saturday evening.

We visited the castles and villages in the East where you could see Spain in the distance. We toured and tasted wine from the Alentejo region. Our visit to the Douro Valley included a Port wine tasting and production tour. This area had spectacular vistas which we viewed from. the highest peak and from the boat tour on the river which gives you a very different perspective of the terrace grape vines. Next, we traveled to Porto, the second largest city in Portugal, and added a tour of the Casa da Musica built in 1999 and the Serralves Museum and sculpture garden. Lello bookstore was a magnificent surprise. What a beautiful interior! From Porto to Lisbon, we visited many beautiful seaside villages. We loved our tour of St George’s Castle and the Alfama area. Our evening at a Fado House with dinner and music was a special experience. Cooking Lisbon was tasty, and we can hardly wait to make some of the dishes at home.

Over the course of our trip we visited magnificent churches from the 13th to the 19th century and we never get tired of looking at the Azulejos. The pastries throughout Portugal are exceptional, though we are glad we waited until Belem to try the pasteis de nata, a delicious warm custard pastry. Of course, we sampled other treats during our travels.

The guides truly listened to us. When we expressed a delight in seeing the Roman Temple of Diana in Evora, our guide asked if we would like to take a short side trip to see a small Roman excavation, Ammaia. It was delightful. Also, when visiting Sintra. Our guide gave us a choice with the pro and cons about visiting Queluz National Palace rather than the Pena Palace. We decided on the Queluz National Palace. It was a wonderful and a relaxing tour.

If we attempted to tour Portugal on our own, we would not have visited the great range of sites that the agency provided. Moreover, without the expert commentary of our guides, we would not have understood the subtleties of Portuguese culture and history as well as we did.  This agency is an excellent resource and should we re-visit Portugal, we would not hesitate to use it again.

We had a wonderful trip to Portugal with an itinerary created by this travel agency based on our preferences. They met us at our first hotel in Porto with a programmed GPS, cell phone and a device to create a WiFi hot spot wherever we traveled. They offered a guide with a car to sites in Porto, Braga and Guimares and again in Lisbon and Sintra. This freed us to relax and enjoy the cities without a car but also learning so much of the history of Portugal provided by our guides. They secured a a rental car for us to continue through the Douro Valley Wine country then south visiting smaller towns with castles and fortifications as far back as the Romans. We chose mid level accommodations that were all unique. A restaurant and dinner reservation they arranged in Evora was intimate, family owned and the best culinary experience of the trip. Transport to and from airports, connections with guides, rental car pickup and drop off was all seamless and stress free.