12 Oct 2024
We had a great day on this tour and highly recommend the tour company, and our guide Julio.
We booked this tour as two couples. Julio picked us up at our hotel at about 8:15 in a nice Mercedes station wagon (1 passenger riding shotgun, 3 in the back seat). Our tour included a quick stop in Amarante for pastries, two wineries that we hand-picked, a 45-minute quick eats lunch, and a 1-hour river cruise. He returned us to our hotel at about 19:00.
What we liked about this tour operator:
- Julio. He absolutely made the tour. He is a professional, and the tour guide work is his side gig. He offered us an excellent overview of Portugal’s history (our weak knowledge of European history showed, yet he was kind in setting us straight), a regional perspective of a Porto resident about the country and the EU, and helpful tips to find small, local businesses. He was a delight throughout the day, spoke excellent English, and was a very safe driver as well. We can’t say enough good about his tour.
- The small group size. We saw the bus-size tours in a couple places and were so happy to be in our group of 4 plus Julio.
- Preparing and customizing our trip was easy. Mariana of Touch Tours was particularly responsive to our requests. About two months out, we proposed an itinerary. With her advice we made a couple adjustments for time, and she arranged everything. We just paid the bill for the activities at the end of the day. Pro tip: you can use a card, yet cash is preferred for end of day settlement. Julio helped us find a bank ATM (not one of those rip-off Euronet machines), so really didn’t cost us anything and everyone wins.