Portugal

“Our trip went off perfectly and our guides were fabulous. It exceeded our expectations.

“Overall: great trip! We enjoyed the experience in both countries. The tours are varied and fun, and there is a good balance of tours vs ‘free time’. The itinerary, vouchers, tickets sent by VBR prior to travel is very thorough and detailed; we referred to it throughout the trip! Some observations: Hotels: in Spain, the H10 hotels were all wonderful and in central locations. All in very walkable areas, near the city centre per se. Granada: hotel in good location, but definitely not a 4 star hotel. The AC was somehow linked to a light switch, so the only option was light on to sleep with AC. ? In Portugal: not sure what happened. Both hotels quite far from city centre making it inconvenient, requiring taxi rides for everything. Plus you are away from the tourist crowds and don’t feel quite as safe. The Porto hotel was outdated (burgundy carpet on floor and matching heavy draperies; plus no toiletries or tissues in the bathroom?) and apparently frequented by bus huge bus loads of tourists making even the breakfast room super crowded ( Not to mention long waits for an elevator). Transportation: to be fair, the trip description did indicate that some of the to and from would be on your own. However, after experiencing the trip, we can say it was a bit confusing with the back and forth of ‘do we have a ride set up’ or ‘do we need a taxi’. Also beware: some taxi drivers will try to take advantage of tourists if you try to pay by credit card. We experienced this in Portugal. Tours: most of the tours were absolutely fantastic! Of note: the Alhambra in Granada, the city tour in Seville, the Porto Valley tour - spectacular! You have to find your own way to the tour meeting point, but this is not a huge deal since the itinerary provides the exact address. we did ask in advance about any of the tours being ‘bus’ tours (we are not “bus tour” people!): we were told no, that it might just be a bus taking you somewhere then you get off. This is pretty much the case but note that the city tour in Madrid was by bus (not a good experience, driving by beautiful structures at 45mph not knowing what they are while the guide is on her phone?!) and the city tour in Lisbon was also by bus, though we did get off the bus at a few locations on that tour, so that was certainly doable. Unfortunately some of the tours were ‘cut short’ for various reasons but nothing offered in its place and no (partial) refund : Madrid: palace was closed, so no tour; and in Lisbon: monastery closed, no tour. Also odd that some of the tour companies lumped a big multi-cultural group together; in Lisbon, the guide was speaking 4 languages as we toured the old palace. While that’s very impressive, it makes a short tour very, very long. Trains: We were a bit nervous about the trains, but they ended up being very easy to navigate! We upgraded our rail tickets and are glad we did- very comfortable train travel! We also had an unusual experience: our flight departing the US was canceled d/t weather, putting us into Barcelona a day later. VBR did reschedule the city walking tour for us which was terrific! Overall we had a great experience in Spain and Portugal on the VBR trip!

“The scenery on the cruise was amazing, the boat was nice but rooms were a little small? The food while there was plenty left a lot to be desired. We left the boat to go out to eat once and would have done several more times if there was a restaurant near where we docked.