Lisbon City Add-On

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.

On a cycling front, the whole holiday was excellent, but in particular the route around the lagoon from Ovar/Salreu/Aveiro and the Furadouro to Porto legs were excellent. The provision of GPX files made navigation completely stress free.

As this was the first time we've done one of these, we've probably concluded that for us there were too many one-night stays and we should have limited the number of things we tried to do to allow it to be more relaxed. In particular we've had liked to spend an extra night in Aveiro itself, which was a lovely place.

Porto is a wonderful city and we will definitely go back and spend more time there and perhaps try a route up the Douro valley.

INNTRAVEL NOTE: These customers added stays in Lisbon and Porto to our Laggons and the 'Silver Coast' cycling holiday

We loved the Solar do Castelo hotel in Lisbon (we added on stays in Lisbon and also in Porto). Graham's port tour and tasting and meal at their restaurant was the highlight in Porto. The whole walking tour experience was very relaxing and enjoyable. Having an extra day at Paço de Calheiros gave us a really relaxed end to the trip.

This was our first experience with Inntravel. We were a group of five people. All of us agreed that the trip could not have been better. Our accommodations far exceeded our expectations. The taxi service was excellent. Our first trip with the taxi was from Lisbon to Sesimbra. The taxi was not there at the appointed time. However they called the hotel promptly to let us know they were delayed by a traffic accident and they sent another taxi to transport us. The train was also a pleasant surprise as were our seats which were perfect. I could see the thoughtfulness you put into every detail. We loved the hikes, especially the one from Azeitao to Palmela. We were a bit disappointed in our accommodations there. We were not in the Pousada and the Casa de Italia was a unique inn. My husband and I chose the bedroom on the entry level as we would have been unable to get our luggage up the spiral stairs. The room we chose was dark and we all found the rooms interesting but not functional. The pool there was delightful, however, and the young lady at the desk was extremely helpful, assuring us that we could take the bus to Setubal easily as there were no cabs available. We used many of your restaurant suggestions as we traveled and they were all great. We ate at Casa Mateus twice we had such a wonderful time. The hiking directions were perfect. We were a little uneasy about that aspect but we only missed the Number 10 gate and it didn't matter because we came out at the right place to have our picnic. We feel we would have liked easier to read and more detailed maps but we ended up asking for local maps in the small towns. We did use the city walk directions to get started in the cities and to try not to miss anything. But we ended up veering off on our own when we saw something of interest. All in all, we all felt it was the trip of a lifetime and that we saw parts of Portugal that most people don't see. I am totally looking forward to our next trip with Inntravel. I'll also add that the hotel in Porto was wonderful about making an appointment with someone who came to the hotel to give us our Covid tests before returning to the US. They made it very easy for us. Thank you all so much for your attention to detail and for making this such a wonderful trip for us all.

INNTRAVEL NOTE: These customers combined a stay in Lisbon, the From Cape to Castle walking itinerary, and the On the Waterfront rail journey.