Pretty Good But Room For Improvement
Not a bad tour, particularly at this price point; however, as others have pointed out, be aware that this is NOT a traditional organised tour with the same group travelling together from Day 1 to the end. Instead, it is a collection of travel, accommodation and transport arrangements coordinated by an overarching tour leader, with an appointed 24/7 tour assistant. This arrangement works well if you know what to expect, but I think the distinction could be made much clearer in the tour description to help manage expectations from the outset. Furthermore, some of the transport and accommodation choices were less than ideal, with some hotels around 30-45 minutes away from bus/train stations and main attractions. For example, in both Porto and Lisbon, we were approximately 30 minutes away by car from the main attractions and site-seeing areas of the city, which added to our costs and ‘free time’ dramatically. The overnight bus journey from Madrid to Porto was a significant drawback and seems entirely unnecessary. The logistics made for an exhausting experience: checking out extremely early, leaving luggage in storage, and missing breakfast. The suggested takeaway breakfast option was not particularly practical, as we then had to travel by car to meet the tour coach, which did not allow food on board. After the tour, we had to make our way back to the hotel to collect our luggage, wait several more hours for transport to the overnight bus, and then attempt to sleep on the journey. We arrived in Porto in the early hours of the morning, only to face another long wait until hotel check-in that afternoon (we were so tired that we fell asleep in the lobby while waiting for our room). This was a tiring and inconvenient way to travel, and I suspect the overnight bus arrangement could be a dealbreaker for many people. To be fair, this IS outlined in the tour description, but we were shattered at the end of this part of the tour and spent the next few days recovering, so just something to be aware of if looking to book. At one stage, our tour was conducted via a large coach, with about 60 people rather than limited to a small group as advertised (necessitated by a last-minute tour change, which happens) but on pointing this out, the tour assistant upgraded our next tour to ensure we were in a small group. This was greatly appreciated, but this tour turned out to be slightly different from the one listed and we missed out on visiting the Megaliths, which would have been a highlight of our Portugal visit. So although not a dealbreaker, it would have been nice if this change was explained to us upfront rather than finding out by asking the tour guide that day. Overall, this tour would benefit greatly from offering budget, mid-tier and luxury options (especially for hotels, some of which were very, very basic), which at least would go some way up managing expectations. The 24/7 assistance service is the outstanding feature of this tour and was greatly appreciated and as advertised - always available and helpful. There is potential for this tour to offer good value for money, but clearer communication about the tour format, better consideration of accommodation locations, and a rethink of the overnight bus journey would significantly improve the experience.