Lisbon City Add-On

Nicole at Pergola House.... marvellous warm welcome, noticed it was Tony's birthday from his passport. Birthday 'letter', cake, candle and decanter of port awaiting us on our return from sightseeing in Cascais. She was a delight.

Mushroom rissoto and scallops at Cantinho do Avillez in Cascais.

Pasties and fresh orange and a huge smile from the chap at Bar do Guincho.

Chapel of Peninha built into an outcrop of rock....lovely walk on Day 3 Around Azoia, taking the short cut.

Monserrate Palace... stunning and fascinating. Beautiful, tranquil gardens too.

Hotel Britania in Lisbon 

A beautiful week of walking in a stunning unspoiled part of Portugal. We loved our experience of walking the Rota Vicentina with its pristine beaches and towering cliffs all set amongst a backdrop of a fabulous array of wild flowers. The accommodation is varied but well selected by Inntravel to give a real flavour of the local way of life and cuisine, we enjoyed every stop. At times we wished we had heeded the advice of other reviewers and invested in some ankle gaiters to keep the sand out of our walking shoes! I found using poles helped with walking on sandy paths. We added on a trip to Lisbon, arriving there by train. A word of warning, if your (official Lisbon) taxi driver doesn't turn on their meter ask for a receipt & note down their taxi number/plate - we learnt a tough lesson. 
The restaurant Chapito does have an amazing view from the top.

We would thoroughly recommend this holiday. 

Beautiful area to walk and we enjoyed meeting fellow travellers at our hotels which were excellent 

information packs were very good and accurate 

overall a wonderful experience 

Costa Vincentina...

The walking was probably easier than we expected (it was our first holiday with Inntravel) - we'd expected it to be something like the South West coast path with plenty of ups & downs.  Most of the path is pretty level on a plateau a couple of hundred of feet above sea lavel with drops to a beach just once or twice a day.  There was a lot of sand but as it was level and never deep so it was not too exhausting although by day 5 we were finding it rather hard work.

Hotel Solar do Costelo, Lisbon...

A fantastic hotel - 100% recommended.

We had lunch at Sao Jorge restaurant just by the Baixa elevator - we'd recommend the cod with eggs & straw potatoes

This holiday was ideal for our current needs as we had two nights at each hotel, so could walk or sightsee on the second day. We decided not to do the walk on the second day in Azeitao as it was retracing a fair proportion of the walk of the previous day. If we did the trip again we would only stay one night only in Azeitao and have an extra night in Sesimbra. The walking was good with the first long walk being about flora and fauna and the second more about windmills, ruins and history. The weather was ideal at the beginning of October. Be aware that none of the hotels have walk in showers all are over the bath. Highly recommend the Lisbon add on. 

Restaurants we particularly liked were

Sesimbra - o Batel - need to book. O Velho et O Mar was almost next to hotel but very pricy compared to other restaurant and food nowhere near as good.

Azeitao - Casa das Tortas - excellent grilled meat and fish - hard to walk past without the smell enticing you in. 

Palmela - Culto Panoramico was only 150m from hotel and had excellent views with good food. No need to go all the way back to town. 

Lisbon - taberna anti dantas

Faro and Salema were high points, wonderful relatively small towns, along with the restored houses in Aldeia da Pedralva.

The walk from Salema to Vila Do Bispo had a very long and dull stretch. 

The restaurant recommendations at all locations were excellent. We also found the suggested use of taxis helpful at some locations as it enabled us to see local places much easier. The location of the hotel in Sesimbra was superb, and the the Lisbon hotel was excellent. 

INNTRAVEL NOTE: This customer did our self-guided walking holiday 'From Cape to Castle' followed by our city add-on at Hotel Heritage Avenida Liberdade in Lisbon.

Most of the walking was in areas of beautiful scenery and well away from other holiday makers. Sintra and Lisbon were however very busy.

INNTRAVEL NOTE: This customer did our walking holiday 'Palaces & Pathways of Sintra' followed by a city add-on in Lisbon.

Starting the first walking day quite late, gets the walker to the facilities at Guincho for mid day but leaves the walker moving in the hottest part of the day. A picnic and an earlier start would have been more comfortable. The gpx files and a gps device, whilst not essential, did help with route finding a few times

We liked all the hotels especially Britania in Lisbon. If staying at the Britania there is a cafe close by called The Fam Kitchen which is very convenient to the hotel. The "flower filled meadows" were spectacular in late May.

INNTRAVEL NOTE: These customers combined our walk From Cape to Castle with our Lisbon City add-on

A great walking holiday - we enjoyed both the coastal and inland paths, including more wild flowers than we expected for the time of year. All the hotels were lovely and Casa Fajara exceptional - wished we had stayed a bit longer! We added on 4 nights in Lisbon in another excellent hotel, then took the train south, all seamlessly organised by Inntravel.

INNTRAVEL NOTE: These customers combined our walk A Coast of Many Colours with our Lisbon City add-on at Hotel Solar Do Castelo

We encountered unexpected clear skies and high temperatures for mid October, having been warned by friends in Lisbon that this could be a rainy season. However, even the older members of our group of friends managed the walking without too much challenge, and the whole mixture of scenery and varied towns provided superb relaxation. As promised, the varied restaurants - in Lisbon and the three stopping towns in the Arrabida nature park - produced wonderful evening meals, especially fresh fish, at welcome prices. A particularly memorable monkfish stew was discovered and hugely enjoyed in a very modest establishment. And Lisbon was as delightful as ever, with notably friendly welcomes everywhere. Long live the ancient Portuguese-British alliance! Meanwhile, thanks and congratulations to Inntravel.

INNTRAVEL NOTE: These customers combined our walk From Cape to Castle with our Lisbon City add-on

Walking in the National Park is wonderful, with fabulous scenery and very few people about. The walking paths mainly take you along quiet country lanes but I recommend using an app that incorporates the GPX files for the more remote sections as this provides reassurance and avoids any confusion. Be prepared for large crowds and long queues at some attractions in Lisbon but using the public transport system is relatively easy and a good way to get around. 

This holiday takes you on a lovely variety of walks through different environments which provide stunning vistas, a wonderful variety of plants and trees to enjoy and time to stop, reflect and take in the beauty of the area. The accomodation was varied with three very different set ups, but each one was interesting, very comfortable and run by great people who added a lot to our stays there. We enjoyed finding out more about the history of the area through the notes we were given to accompany us on our walks, and the directions were generally very easy to follow and detailed. Our Lisbon add on was well worth doing - a lovely city to explore.

Wonderful holiday, with varied but generally not too challenging walking and generally high standard of accommodation en route. Written directions for the walks were clear and helpful, and we loved the sense of getting to know some corners of Portugal which are slightly off the beaten track. October is a much rainier month than we had expected, and the climate of all the places we stayed was extremely humid so it is really hard to dry clothes - bathrooms don't have hot rails, tumble dryers are not easily accessed - so take plenty of spare clothing! Sintra is stunning - well worth allowing plenty of time for Monserrate, too. We spent an extra half-day in Sintra due to poor weather earlier in the trip, and were glad to have had enough time to explore it thoroughly and see all the palaces, castle etc without rushing. The Lisbon add-on was well worth doing - we loved the city and could have done with longer there, but we will return! Be prepared for eating out in Lisbon to be much pricier than the excellent and (by UK standards) very moderately priced food we had around Cascais and Sintra.

The whole administrative package was excellent, the holiday details comprehensive and we would recommend not only this holiday but Inntravel at large to family and friends. A great value for money experience.

Great three centre holiday (including walking holidays 'From Cape to Castle', 'Palaces & Pathways of Sintra' and a stay in Lisbon at the Hotel Solar Do Castelo) which we thoroughly enjoyed.