10 Best Portugal August 2024 Tours and Trip packages

Portugal August 2024 Tour Reviews

4.7 - Excellent

Based on 180 customer reviews

3 - Average

Hayley Cu

Spain was incredible, everything that was organised through Spain was just so memorable. I quickly added Spain to my list of favourite places I've visited, highly highly recommended! I booked this tour because it went to Morocco, as I was under the impression I shouldn't do it alone and it was high on my bucket list. Morocco sure was a letdown unfortunately, I 100% put this down to the trip leader we had for that leg of the trip. He was nice enough but I believe he is used to showing around an older demographic, he skipped over the history and ruins but would constantly point out 4&5 star hotels, which we were all super confused about. He also recommended places for lunch/dinner, which were massive disappointments, especially the 50 euro dinner and show he'd organised. On our Fes city tour, he took us to all the places he's obviously pre-organised, which is to be expected, but these were all super touristy places, again probably because he's used to an older demographic that likes that kind of thing. We were told not to go off on our own as it was too dangerous, and after speaking with locals that live there, this is just not true. I believe we were scared into not wanting to leave the group so we went to the places he wanted us to go to. The three cities we visited were so far away from each other too, the first stop was Chefchauen, which we didn't arrive at until 9 PM, and that was with an on-time ferry, so we only got a few hours the next day to explore, and we weren't allowed to do this on our own either, the trip leader took us on a walking tour, and would get very upset if people fell behind. At one point a few of us broke away from the tour, because we are adults and perfectly capable of looking after ourselves, he'd made everyone stand in one spot for about 20 minutes while he tried to find us. Being hand-walked around the city is not my idea of travel, I was there to explore and be present were I was, not walk past, take a photo, and leave. The third city we went to was Asilha, while it was super beautiful, again we only has a few hours at night and a few hours the next morning to explore, it was a very small city with not much to do, so this was so bad, but felt like we could have skipped this city and had more time in Chefchauen. We then went back up to Spain and had an included dinner with Flamenco show that evening, which was absolutely amazing, and very memorable. Then onto Portugal the next day, the included dinner that night was at an Italian restaurant, which was odd, we were in Portugal and were taken for Italian, the food was pretty poor too, with a few getting a tad sick the next day. In summary and in my opinion, this trip needs to be split up, either Spain and Morocco, with more time in these places, and most definitely get a different tour operator in Morocco, it was the biggest letdown. Or Spain and Portugal, with more time in Portugal. Trying to fit in all three meant far too much driving time, and Morocco was left unexplored. Also, for those who struggle to see famine and animal abuse, Morocco will be difficult to explore without seeing these things.

4 - Very Good

Anonymous

Spain and Portugal are stunning. Always lots to see wherever we stopped over. Our tour leader, Danny, however could have been better in terms of really making sure the group was on time to the coach and having consequences for the ones who put us behind 30 minutes for our travelling time. Sometimes unprofessional and I felt he wasn’t totally organised. Was very informative and knew his history about the places we visited, but also felt as though he would speel off about things that weren’t necessary.

A great way of seeing four islands

4 - Very Good

Anonymous

The Azores are beautiful, especially if you go when the hydrangeas are looking good. This trip is a great way of seeing four islands but, since you stay in only two hotels, you’re not repacking all the time. The accommodation was very good. A smart hotel in Ponta Delgada and a good enough hotel in Horta with each room having a balcony with amazing views of the harbour, Pico island and the sunrise. The breakfasts were pretty good and provided plenty of food before the walks. Both towns have plenty of interest and the nautical side of Horta is great. There were seven of us in the group plus our Sao Miguel guide (Tony) and our four islands guide (Filipe) both of whom were very good. We all got on well. If you’re fit and mobile, and strong enough going uphill and especially downhill, the walks are good exercise and not overly challenging. There’s plenty to see and photograph along the way and each walk is slightly different from the next. The group meals are the lunches with our guides having organised three picnics and three terrific restaurant lunches - local food in Sao Miguel and Pico and very good tuna in Peter’s Café on Faial. In the evenings we generally split into two or three smaller groups. Tip: it really pays off booking restaurants in advance. As The Azores are quite some way away, we decided to stay two weeks and so followed this trip with the self-guided ‘Cycling in the Azores’ on Terciera. So we ended up seeing five of the nine islands.