点评:My wife and I travelled throughout Portugal, with a brief sojourn into Seville and Ronda in Spain, and the Azores Island of San Miguel during the month of March. The weather was cool and rainy, but the upside was less crowds at the sites. We could not have done this trip, in this manner, without the help of Tour Tailors (TT). There were so many hidden places that were plotted out for us to visit. We saw, felt, ate and drank so much of Portugal that we would never have been able to sample if we had planned this trip on our own. We learned key words and phrases in Portuguese, but most people we met spoke English, except in the odd small village. Almost everything but the flights was arranged by Tour Tailors.
We spent much time and effort, both on our own and, with our travel consultant, Sebastiao, to attempt to ensure we got to experience as much of Portugal as possible. What started out as a golf vacation, quickly turned into an exploration of the country. We soon realized that with so much to see, we would not have time to golf…on the other hand, we realized that we could not see everything in the month we would be there! However, on the last leg of our journey (on San Miguel), we told our tour driver, Rui Medeiros of Azores Private Tours, where we had been, and he replied that we had seen more of Portugal than most Portuguese people!
When we first started planning our trip with Sebastiao, I must admit, I knew virtually nothing of touring Portugal by car, and very little about Portugal. The more we worked with him, the more we learned. By the time we were done planning, we had gone through almost 20 versions of our itinerary. We and Sebastiao started the planning with the idea we would fly into Lisbon airport. (Since that early stage I have read many negative reviews about that airport and am very glad we ended up not flying in or out of Lisbon.) We booked flights with our usual travel agent, who recommended we fly into Faro airport, so we could take advantage of the warmer weather in the south upon our arrival. That way we could also do our Spain portion at the beginning of the trip, rather than at the end. We then decided to fly from Porto to Ponta Delgada before flying back to Canada from there. All 3 airports were small but efficient. Much work was being done on the Ponta Delgada airport.
We had planned to buy the SIM cards in Faro, as we were told that they would be cheaper and quicker to get, away from the airport. We ended up lining up at the Vodaphone kiosk to buy our cards there, as the cards were reasonably priced for a month of cell service, and the staff member was very friendly and quick to change our cards.
The lady at the AVIS kiosk, just across the road from the airport was very helpful getting us signed into our car that TT had arranged for us. We were told by many to get the FULL insurance to avoid any issues at the return, as with the small roads in the towns, we were bound to get scratches on the car, at least. We returned both cars we rented in the same condition as when we picked them up! The Portuguese drivers were polite and calm, for the most part. The only thing they did that was annoying to someone who is following a GPS in a strange area, was to tailgate when they thought you were too slow. We rented 2 cars for our tour and drove well over 2000 kms…DO NOT be afraid to drive in Portugal! We did not drive in Lisbon or Porto, as advised by TT for all the reasons in other reviews. The Uber and Bolt cars were plentiful, quick in coming and very reasonably priced for getting around in the bigger cities.
Once we got to the hotel outside of Faro, we were given our box of material from Tour Tailors. The welcome gifts were a nice touch and included sardines and soap.
The Garmin GPS supplied by TT was WONDERFUL! As advertised, it made our car travel extremely easy getting from one point to another on a daily basis and it never let us down. We relied on it everywhere we went. We just had to turn it on, pick the right date and away we went. We never once had a problem with it. Of course, TT has a 24/7 Helpline in case you have ANY problems. We only used it once for a minor issue and the response was quick and full.
The “My Roadbook” mobile app was good, but didn’t always work and was slow to come up on our phones, especially when travelling off the beaten track, so we didn’t use it as much as we might have done. It always worked well while in the hotels with WIFI.
The printed Roadbook and Vouchers were also very helpful, although we were never asked for a voucher…it was all taken care of by TT.
We saw many beautiful towns and villages on our trip. Almost all the hotels that TT arranged for us were in great locations, well-appointed, clean, with parking and very friendly and helpful staff. Many were in historic buildings that have been converted into beautiful accommodations. To name a few of our favourites: Pousada de Faro – Palacio de Estoi (an old castle converted into a hotel with an art gallery included); Parador de Ronda, Spain (in the old city hall converted to a hotel with an amazing view); Vila Gale Cascais (beautiful hotel on the ocean with rooms all facing the ocean); Pousada da Serra de Estrela (an old medical sanatorium 1200 metres above sea level, converted into a hotel with rooms facing down the mountain); Morgadio da Calcada Country House (a winery outbuilding converted to 8 rooms above the Douro River – the winery has been in the same family for 18 generations and the owner and host, Manuel, was wonderful…recommend you have at least one authentic Portuguese dinner there!!); The Editory Garden Baixa Hotel in Porto (small hotel with beautiful rooms, very close to the old town); and our favourite, Octant Ponta Delgada on San Miguel (friendliest and most helpful staff and large rooms with patios that ALL overlook the Marina – right in the downtown.)
Our hotel in Lisbon, Olissippo Marques de Sa, was the only disappointing lodging we had. We were disappointed with the lack of personal, friendly service we got there. Each time we would come and go from the hotel, reception staff here, would keep there heads down and not even acknowledge us. The room was small, not well-laid out and the walls were thin enough to hear normal conversations from the room next to us. It was in a very nice area, but some distance to all the “tourist” sites. We would not choose to stay there again.
In addition to our hotels, tours and site recommendations from TT, the GPS and Roadbook have restaurant options at each of our stops. For example, our stop in Evora was in a modern hotel, nice and close to the town, which was beautiful and easy to get around. The recommended restaurant, A Bruxa d’Evora was amazing, as was our tour with Elsa! The Ervideira Wine Shop is a recommended stop…we tried their “Invisible Wine”…white wine made from red grapes!
All our actual “tours” arranged by TT were great. Private walking tours with one guide for the two of us allowed us to ask questions and go where WE wanted to go, led by professional guides. The only tour we arranged ourselves was a TUK TUK tour in Lisbon with Telma Peralta, based on the positive reviews of her services. That allowed us to hit all the sites in Lisbon while relaxing in the tuk tuk, rather than climbing hill after hill.
We had a couple of private driver tours as well. One was from Lisbon to Sintra and the Pena Palace. Even though the Sintra/Pena Palace tour was closed due to the weather, we had a great time with Luis Urbano, Tour Driver, who was more than happy to take us wherever we wanted to go after that. He was the personification of what we found of the friendly, helpful, eager to please, majority of people in Portugal! He was an excellent representative for his company.
Our other private driver tour was the one on San Miguel that we spent being chauffeured and guided by Rui Medeiros. When we were planning the trip, his reviews were so good that we asked TT to arrange an extra day with him to see the whole island. We cannot say enough good things about Rui’s friendliness, skills and expertise in showing us HIS home island!
Our airport pick ups and drop offs all went off without a hitch.
We had a fantastic holiday with Tour Tailors and would not hesitate to recommend the company to others. One thing that, in retrospect, would have helped make our decisions in the planning stages would have been more information on the costs and what’s included, associated with our trip, rather than an “all-in” price. For example, the hotel costs and what’s included in the walking tours…Sometimes we had to pay for entrances and sometimes our tour guide paid them. Don’t hesitate to ask for itemized costing.
My apologies for such a long review, but we can’t say enough positive things about Tour Tailors and recommend them highly if you don’t like group tours or just want to be on your own path.
翻译:我和妻子游遍了葡萄牙,在西班牙的塞维利亚和龙达短暂停留,并在三月份去了亚速尔群岛的圣米格尔岛。天气凉爽多雨,但好处是景点人少。如果没有Tour Tailors (TT)的帮助,我们不可能以这样的方式完成这次旅行。他们为我们规划了许多鲜为人知的景点。我们见识、感受、品尝了葡萄牙的丰富风情,如果自己计划这次旅行,这些体验是永远无法体验到的。我们学习了葡萄牙语的关键词和短语,但除了在个别小村庄遇到的大多数人都说英语。除了航班之外,几乎所有事宜都是Tour Tailors安排的。
我们花费了大量时间和精力,既自己安排,也和我们的旅行顾问Sebastiao一起,努力确保尽可能多地体验葡萄牙。最初的高尔夫假期,很快就变成了一次对这个国家的探索之旅。我们很快意识到,要看的地方太多了,根本没时间打高尔夫球……另一方面,我们也意识到,一个月之内根本没法看完所有地方!然而,在旅程的最后一段(圣米格尔岛),我们告诉了我们的司机,亚速尔私人旅行社的鲁伊·梅德罗斯我们去了哪里,他回答说,我们比大多数葡萄牙人都见识过葡萄牙的风土人情!
我必须承认,刚开始和塞巴斯蒂安计划行程时,我对自驾游葡萄牙几乎一无所知,对葡萄牙也知之甚少。和他合作得越多,我们学到的就越多。到我们最终完成计划时,我们已经修改了近20个版本的行程。我们和塞巴斯蒂安一开始计划的目的地是里斯本机场。 (从那以后,我读到了很多关于那个机场的负面评论,很庆幸我们最终没有从里斯本起飞或降落。)我们通过常用的旅行社预订了机票,他们建议我们飞往法鲁机场,这样我们抵达后就可以充分利用南部温暖的天气。这样,我们就可以在旅程的开始而不是结束时完成西班牙之旅。之后,我们决定从波尔图飞往蓬塔德尔加达,再从那里飞回加拿大。这三个机场都很小,但效率很高。蓬塔德尔加达机场当时正在大力修缮。
我们原本计划在法鲁买SIM卡,因为听说在机场以外的地方买卡更便宜、更快捷。最后,我们排起了长队,在沃达丰的售卡亭买卡,因为一个月的手机服务费很合理,而且工作人员非常友好,很快就帮我们换了卡。
机场对面的AVIS租车亭的一位女士非常热心,帮我们登记了TT为我们安排的车。很多人建议我们购买全险,以免还车时出现任何问题,因为城镇道路狭窄,车子难免会被刮花。我们归还的两辆车都和取车时一样好!葡萄牙司机大多都很有礼貌,也很冷静。他们唯一让在陌生地区跟着GPS导航的人感到不快的事情就是,当他们觉得你开得太慢时,就会紧跟在后面。我们这次旅行租了两辆车,行驶了超过2000公里……在葡萄牙开车,不要害怕!我们没有在里斯本或波尔图开车,TT在其他评论中也提到了各种理由。Uber和Bolt的车辆很多,来得很快,而且价格非常合理,非常适合在大城市出行。
我们一到法鲁郊外的酒店,就收到了Tour Tailors送的一箱旅行资料。迎宾礼物很贴心,包括沙丁鱼和肥皂。
TT提供的Garmin GPS太棒了!正如广告宣传的那样,它让我们每天驾车从一个地点到另一个地点都非常轻松,从未让我们失望过。我们去哪里都离不开它。我们只需要打开它,选择合适的日期,就可以出发了。我们从来没有遇到过任何问题。当然,TT有24/7全天候服务热线,如果您遇到任何问题都可以联系到。我们只用过一次,当时遇到一个小问题,回复很快,也很及时。
“My Roadbook”手机应用程序不错,但并不总是能用,而且在我们的手机上显示很慢,尤其是在偏僻的地方旅行时,所以我们没有像以前那样经常使用它。在有无线网络的酒店里,它一直都很好用。
打印的路线指南和优惠券也非常有用,尽管他们从未要求我们出示优惠券……一切都由TT负责。
我们在旅途中游览了许多美丽的城镇和村庄。TT为我们安排的酒店几乎都位置优越,设施齐全,干净整洁,有停车位,工作人员也非常友好热情。许多酒店都位于经过改建的历史建筑内,环境优美。列举一些我们最喜欢的酒店:Pousada de Faro – Palacio de Estoi(由一座古老的城堡改建成的酒店,内设艺术画廊);西班牙的 Parador de Ronda(位于旧市政厅内,改建成的酒店,景色迷人);Vila Gale Cascais(美丽的海边酒店,所有房间都面朝大海);Pousada da Serra de Estrela(海拔 1200 米的古老医疗疗养院,改建成的酒店,房间面朝山下);Morgadio da Calcada Country House(由酒庄附属建筑改建成的 8 间客房,位于杜罗河上方 - 该酒庄已由同一个家族传承 18 代,主人兼房东 Manuel 非常棒......建议您至少在那里享用一顿正宗的葡萄牙晚餐!!);波尔图的 The Editory Garden Baixa Hotel(小型酒店,房间漂亮,非常靠近老城区);我们最喜欢的是位于圣米格尔岛的Octant Ponta Delgada酒店(员工热情友好,房间宽敞,所有房间都带露台,可以俯瞰码头——就在市中心。)
我们在里斯本住的酒店Olissippo Marques de Sa是我们唯一失望的住处。我们对那里缺乏个性化、友好的服务感到失望。每次我们进出酒店,这里的接待人员都低着头,甚至不理我们。房间很小,布局也不好,墙壁很薄,隔壁房间的正常谈话都能听到。酒店地段很好,但离所有“旅游景点”都有点远。我们不会再选择住在那里了。
除了TT提供的酒店、行程和景点推荐外,GPS和Roadbook在我们每个站点都提供了餐厅选择。例如,我们在埃武拉住的是一家现代化的酒店,环境优美,靠近小镇,小镇风景优美,交通便利。推荐的餐厅A Bruxa d’Evora非常棒,我们和Elsa的行程也很棒!Ervideira葡萄酒商店也值得一去……我们品尝了他们家的“隐形葡萄酒”……用红葡萄酿造的白葡萄酒!
TT安排的所有“行程”都非常棒。我们两人的私人徒步之旅由一位导游陪同,这让我们可以自由提问,在专业导游的带领下,去我们想去的地方。我们唯一一次自己安排的行程是里斯本的嘟嘟车之旅,当时Telma Peralta的服务好评如潮。这让我们可以坐在嘟嘟车里悠闲地游览里斯本的所有景点,而不用爬一座又一座的山。
我们还参加了几次私人司机行程。其中一次是从里斯本到辛特拉和佩纳宫。虽然辛特拉/佩纳宫的行程因为天气原因取消了,但我们和司机Luis Urbano玩得很开心,他非常乐意带我们去之后想去的任何地方。他就是我们所见的葡萄牙大多数人友善、乐于助人、渴望取悦的典型代表!他是公司出色的代表。
我们另一次私人司机之旅是在圣米格尔岛,由Rui Medeiros担任司机和导游。在计划行程时,他的评价非常好,所以我们请TT安排一天时间,让他带我们游览整个岛屿。我们对Rui的友善、技能和专业性赞不绝口,他带我们参观了他的家乡岛屿!
我们的机场接送服务非常顺利。
我们在Tour Tailors度过了一个美好的假期,并会毫不犹豫地向其他人推荐这家公司。现在回想起来,在计划阶段,如果能提供更多关于旅行费用和包含项目的信息,而不是“全包”价格,会对我们做出更好的决定有所帮助。比如酒店费用以及徒步行程包含的费用……有时候我们需要自己付门票费,有时候导游会帮我们付。如有需要,请随时索要分项费用。
抱歉写了这么长的评论,但我们对Tour Tailors赞不绝口,如果您不喜欢跟团游,或者只想自由行,我们强烈推荐他们。