The season for this holiday is:
01 April 2020 - 31 October 2020
10 nights: 01 April 2020 - 31 October 2020
Start any day | End by latest date(s) shown above
| Starting | Price | Single room |
|---|---|---|
| 1 - 29 Apr 2020 | £1530 | £945 |
| 30 Apr - 12 Jun 2020 | £1575 | £990 |
| 13 - 22 Jun 2020 | £1530 | £945 |
| 23 Jun - 22 Aug 2020 | £1445 | £960 |
| 23 - 31 Aug 2020 | £1530 | £945 |
| 1 Sep - 21 Oct 2020 | £1575 | £990 |
| 3rd & 4th person discount | -£10 | |
| Single traveller supplement | £0 |
Includes accommodation, meals, travel between hotels and any other services integral to the holiday as described, plus a detailed information pack, but no travel from the UK, nor any connecting travel from the airport unless stated below.
Included travel: rail Porto-Coimbra-Sintra
Pay locally for inexpensive rail Porto-Pinhão-Porto & Sintra-Lisbon
Book your flights through us and we'll find the best route and times to suit you. Please contact us to find out more about our flight booking service. We can also book connecting travel - see below.
Room upgrades (£ per person per night)
| Hotel Pestana Vintage Porto, Porto | ||
|---|---|---|
| 'Plaza': 01 Apr - 30 Apr 2020 | £12 | |
| 'Plaza': 01 May - 30 Jun 2020 | £14 | |
| 'Plaza': 01 Jul - 31 Oct 2020 | £14 | |
| 'Vintage' with river view: 01 Apr - 30 Apr 2020 | £45 | |
| 'Vintage' with river view: 01 May - 30 Jun 2020 | £50 | |
| 'Vintage' with river view: 01 Jul - 31 Oct 2020 | £48 |
| Sapientia Boutique Hotel, Coimbra | ||
|---|---|---|
| Apartment: 01 Apr - 30 Jun 2020 | £42 | |
| Apartment: 01 Jul - 31 Oct 2020 | £50 | |
| Junior suite: 01 Apr - 31 Oct 2020 | £15 | |
| Superior: 01 Apr - 30 Jun 2020 | £60 | |
| Superior: 01 Jul - 31 Oct 2020 | £65 |
| Lawrence's Hotel, Sintra | ||
|---|---|---|
| Suite: 01 Apr - 31 Oct 2020 | £22 |
| Solar do Castelo, Lisbon | ||
|---|---|---|
| Superior 'Alfama': 01 Apr - 30 Jun 2020 | £28 | |
| Superior 'Alfama': 01 Jul - 31 Aug 2020 | £20 | |
| Superior 'Alfama': 01 Sep - 31 Oct 2020 | £28 |
Extra nights (£ per person per night) in a double or single room
| Hotel Pestana Vintage Porto, Porto (B&B) | Double room | Single room |
|---|---|---|
| 01 Apr - 29 Apr 2020 | £125 | £240 |
| 30 Apr - 30 Jun 2020 | £140 | £272 |
| 01 Jul - 31 Oct 2020 | £152 | £294 |
| Quinta de la Rosa, Pinhão (with dinner) | Double room | Single room |
|---|---|---|
| 01 Apr - 31 Oct 2020 | £148 | £238 |
| Lawrence's Hotel, Sintra (B&B) | Double room | Single room |
|---|---|---|
| 01 Apr - 31 Oct 2020 | £88 | £148 |
| Solar do Castelo, Lisbon (B&B) | Double room | Single room |
|---|---|---|
| 01 Apr - 30 Jun 2020 | £95 | £174 |
| 01 Jul - 31 Aug 2020 | £74 | £138 |
| 01 Sep - 31 Oct 2020 | £104 | £190 |
Travelling from the UK
| Outward route | Airline |
|---|---|
| Aberdeen - Lisbon (via Amsterdam Schiphol) | KLM |
| Aberdeen - Porto (via Amsterdam Schiphol) | KLM |
| Aberdeen - Porto (via Paris CDG) | Air France, KLM |
| Outward route | Airline |
|---|---|
| Glasgow - Lisbon | Ryanair |
| Outward route | Airline |
|---|---|
| London City - Lisbon | TAP Air Portugal |
| Outward route | Airline |
|---|---|
| Gatwick - Lisbon | Air Europa, Azores Airlines (SATA), easyJet, TAP Air Portugal |
| Gatwick - Porto | British Airways, easyJet, TAP Air Portugal |
| Outward route | Airline |
|---|---|
| Heathrow - Lisbon | Azores Airlines (SATA), British Airways, TAP Air Portugal |
| Outward route | Airline |
|---|---|
| Manchester - Lisbon | easyJet, jet2, Ryanair, TAP Air Portugal |
| Manchester - Lisbon (via Frankfurt) | Lufthansa |
| Manchester - Porto | easyJet, Ryanair |
| Manchester - Porto (via Brussels) | Brussels Airlines |
| Manchester - Porto (via Frankfurt) | Lufthansa |
| Manchester - Porto (via Lisbon) | TAP Air Portugal |
| Outward route | Airline |
|---|---|
| Newcastle - Lisbon (via Amsterdam Schiphol) | KLM |
| Newcastle - Porto (via Amsterdam Schiphol) | KLM |
| Newcastle - Porto (via Brussels) | Brussels Airlines |
| Newcastle - Porto (via Paris CDG) | KLM |
| Outward route | Airline |
|---|---|
| Norwich - Lisbon (via Amsterdam Schiphol) | KLM |
| Norwich - Porto (via Amsterdam Schiphol) | KLM |
This list of flight options should be used as a guide only, and you should check each airline’s website for current routes, frequency and schedules. Not all flights operate daily, and may not run for the entire season. You should also heed the latest flight arrival time and earliest flight departure time, as it may not be possible to arrange connecting travel outside these times. Please do not book your flights until we have confirmed your accommodation to you. Alternatively, our expert reservations team will be happy to offer advice and to make flight bookings for you. We charge £35 per person for our flight booking service (£60 for India and Nepal). Your flights are then covered by our package-booking conditions, which give you greater protection in the event of delay or cancellation, as well as providing ATOL cover.
Connecting travel options - flying via Lisbon
| Outward route | Price per person |
Latest flight arrival time |
|---|---|---|
| own taxi/bus/metro Lisbon airport to Lisbon Oriente (0h05-0h15 pay locally), rail Lisbon Oriente to Porto Campanha (2h30), own taxi Porto Campanha to hotel (0h15, pay locally) | £36 | 1800 |
| Homeward route | Price per person |
Earliest flight departure time |
|---|---|---|
| own taxi/bus/metro hotel to Lisbon airport | pay locally | flexible |
Connecting travel options - flying via Porto
| Outward route | Price per person |
Latest flight arrival time |
|---|---|---|
| arrange own travel from the airport | pay locally | flexible |
| Homeward route | Price per person |
Earliest flight departure time |
|---|---|---|
| own taxi/metro/bus hotel to Lisbon Santa Apolonia (0h10-0h30, pay locally), rail Lisbon Santa Apolonia to Porto Campanha (2h30), metro Porto Campanha to Porto airport (0h40, pay locally) | £36 | 1430 |
If you've experienced this holiday first hand, why not write a review?
We are keen for as many customers as possible to review their holiday. To make it easier to do so, we include a specific review section on our post-holiday questionnaire, and this is what we publish here, unedited. Read our full review policy >
Never been to Portugal before and this was an excellent way to experience a variety of places.
Did feel that travelling every other day rushed things a bit although trains definitely better than driving and parking, it would have been better to stay a little longer in some and relax, which of course we know can be a pre-arranged option when booking.
However, as this was a taster trip it gave us insight for future visits.
Tourism has swamped some of the cities and Sintra was gridlocked at certain times of day. Better to plan some site visits early morning or from 1500 onwards to avoid the crowds.
The Douro valley was a delight and luckily the weather was great while we were in the north.
It was a good holiday. Rather more urban than we would normally choose. Everywhere very crowded.
We were very happy with this holiday. The choice of locations and hotels was excellent. If we were to do it again, we would give ourselves extra time in Porto, Coimbra and Lisbon as we loved all of these cities and felt we had only scratched the surface of them. We were lucky to experience the Quinta de la Rosa at harvest time and to see people treading grapes. In Porto we would recommend lunch at the Mercado Municipal across the river in the little open square opposite the cable car station. The middle of the market is filled with tables and chairs. You go and buy whatever food and drink you fancy from the different stalls all around the market and take your tray to wherever you can find a space at a table. There was a vibrant atmosphere and locals as well as tourists were enjoying what the market had to offer, especially on the Sunday when we visited.
Never been to Portugal before and this was an excellent way to experience a variety of places.
Did feel that travelling every other day rushed things a bit although trains definitely better than driving and parking, it would have been better to stay a little longer in some and relax, which of course we know can be a pre-arranged option when booking.
However, as this was a taster trip it gave us insight for future visits.
Tourism has swamped some of the cities and Sintra was gridlocked at certain times of day. Better to plan some site visits early morning or from 1500 onwards to avoid the crowds.
The Douro valley was a delight and luckily the weather was great while we were in the north.
It was a good holiday. Rather more urban than we would normally choose. Everywhere very crowded.
We were very happy with this holiday. The choice of locations and hotels was excellent. If we were to do it again, we would give ourselves extra time in Porto, Coimbra and Lisbon as we loved all of these cities and felt we had only scratched the surface of them. We were lucky to experience the Quinta de la Rosa at harvest time and to see people treading grapes. In Porto we would recommend lunch at the Mercado Municipal across the river in the little open square opposite the cable car station. The middle of the market is filled with tables and chairs. You go and buy whatever food and drink you fancy from the different stalls all around the market and take your tray to wherever you can find a space at a table. There was a vibrant atmosphere and locals as well as tourists were enjoying what the market had to offer, especially on the Sunday when we visited.
Great trip. Very happy that we spent an extra day in Lisbon and in Sintra. All the walks were good, with the exception of the walk up to the chapel above the convent.
A good walk, pretty undemanding. The Cities were rather crowded with tourists and we were told it was high season. Queues at major sights were very long, meaning a wait of over two hours to gain entry. In most cases we gave them a miss. Maybe we did not go at the best time.
INNTRAVEL NOTE: These customers combined our Valley of Gold walking holiday with the Cities, Palaces & Wine journey by rail. September is a popular month in the cities.
We thoroughly enjoyed and would recommend this holiday. Travelling by rail is an easy and relaxing way to see many of the various aspects of Portugal's culture, history and scenery in a relatively short time with ample opportunity to sample its excellent food and wines along the way.
An amazing holiday organised by Inn Travel. The documentation was thorough and nothing was left out. All the accommodation places were of a high standard and centrally located which was of important to us as we relied on public transport. The background/ history provided was greatly appreciated and helped put everything in perspective.
Our highlight was Porto, loved the atmosphere and upgraded ourselves to a waterfront room so we could absorb everything going on.
I wish we had more time to spend in Lisbon (was our choice not Inn Travel), we loved absorbing the atmosphere of the castle and surrounds.
We really enjoyed this holiday - the experience of using Portuguese railways and exploring the various locations. We did drink too much Port, and are slowly recovering.
The walk from Sintra up to the Moorish Castle and the descent from the Pena Palace to Sintra were both delightful, especially through the gardens of the Villa Sassetti. Another example of Inntravel coming up trumps. Our experience at the Pena Palace was an exceedingly long queue for entry to the palace, which we avoided by walking up to the cafeteria and gaining access to the terraces and chapel with fabulous views but foregoing seeing the inside of the palace.
The vineyard stay was excellent in every respect with wonderful food and a very interesting insight into wine and port making. We loved the modern studio apartment in Coimbra despite there being nowhere to put our clothes and the hotel in Lisbon had the most hospitable and helpful staff. Take ear plugs if barking dogs stop you sleeping! (Quinta de la Rosa)
It would be hard to choose just one or two highlights. We always enjoy your intimate, historic accommodations and your carefully selected tour recommendations. My best memory will be the sense of exhilaration over each day's adventure, day after day, for the month that we travelled through your packages.
INNTRAVEL NOTE: these customers enjoyed a multi holiday itinerary to include our Cities, Palaces & Wine Self-Guided Journey by Rail, a stay in an Andalucian Cottage on our Authentic Southern Spain holiday, our Landscapes of Western Madeira Discovery Walking Holiday, with city add-ons in Madrid and Lisbon.
Visit to Graham's Wine Lodge in Oporto was superb, gilded interiors of the churches were amazing, sitting on a terrace at Quinta de la Rosa with a glass of local wine looking out over the stunning Douro Valley was a memorable moment, seeing so many beautiful cloisters, wandering around Coimbra and visiting the stunning library and talking to students in their black flowing capes, being bowled over by the Castro museum in Coimbra with its wealth of artefacts and a fabulus buffet lunch on the roof terrace, listening out for the 6 o'clock bell at our hotel when they served a complimentary glass of wine in the lovely garden, tasting grilled octopus with garlic in Lisbon, the surprise of seeing the purple jacaranda trees in the Lisbon squares, the quirky eccentric palaces in Sintra which completely take you aback and the sheer delight of an impromptu piano recital in a small music chamber in the Pena Palace, the wild Moorish castle with its ramparts and the beauty of the ceilings in the National Palace displaying swans, mermaids, galleons and birds, not forgetting the incredible views all over Sintra.
Everybody was unbelievably friendly towards us as Brits, and very helpful. Anne had to use a stick to help her with the hills, and all were most solicitous. Avoid big set piece restaurants; local bars, cafes and tapas bars are perfectly adequate everywhere. Plan on a sleep every afternoon. We were doing 5km a day and up and down at that, and it was hot perfect weather every day. Take lots of euros for taxis, bars, and snacks.
We enjoyed our holiday very much. Accommodation, restaurant recommendations and rail travel were all excellent. We particularly enjoyed the waterfront and Lello & Armao bookshop in Porto,the meals at Chanceleiros, the Tile Museum and tram ride in Lisbon and generally wandering around narrow streets in the sunshine.
The 2 recommended restaurants in Sintra were excellent - O Regional and Dom Pipas
Lunch at the restaurant at Quinta de La Rosa after the wine tasting was excellent. The visit to Graham's in Porto is well worth doing and there is a very attractive restaurant there too.
We have done many walking holidays with you and have also done Slow Motion holidays with a hire car, but this was our first using the local rail network. It all worked very smoothly and we had no difficulties. In fact we thoroughly enjoyed our holiday which was up to the usual excellent Inntravel standard. The hotels were all really good, but it was essential to include extra days in order to get to know the cities.
Chanceleiros was exceptional. Would recommend allowing plenty of time for purchasing rail tickets at Sao Bento station (understand that they can be purchased on train but were unsure whether this would allow for senior discount).
This is now our third Inntravel holiday and it lived up to our high expectations. We look forward to our next Inntravel adventure! (We live in Australia and find Inntravel most reliable and the booking process from afar to be straightforward.) We particularly enjoyed our time at Sintra at Lawrence's hotel and we did the recommended day walk to Monserrate. This was a wonderful walk from start to finish. The countryside was stunning and we felt we had stepped back in time, passing a monastery and seeing a communal stone wash house in use! The day was a welcome escape from the crowds at Sintra and the palace and gardens at Monserrate were magnificent and importantly from our point of view were almost deserted. Another unexpected highlight was Coimbra. We enjoyed the town walks which took us for example to the colourful and vibrant indoor market which we would not have found otherwise. The university with its unique library and colony of bats was fascinating. We went back to the historic cafe on the town square for a lovely Fado concert in the early evening which cost nothing other than a purchased drink.
We enjoyed our holiday tremendously. With the exception of Lawrences, you picked beautiful luxury hotels to stay in. We have 2 restaurant recommendations you may wish to share with future visitors: Porta 4 - Rua Do Dr. Barbosa de Castro 4, Porto. High quality but reasonably priced small plates, open kitchen. Really small and cosy venue. Chef and owner passionate about food. And Romario de Baco -Rua Gil Vicente, Sintra. Delicious main meals, steak, duck etc. in lovely sauces. Very friendly young team of staff. A Lisbon resident advised us to take the old tram from Sintra to Praia das Macas. We really enjoyed the trip, uncrowded, unlike everything else in Sintra, 3 euros each way.
We had never been to Portugal before and were unsure what to expect. July/August is not the best time to go and it was very hot towards the end, but despite this we had a brilliant time. We will remember our holiday for a long time - and it was greatly helped by the choice and quality of hotels.
Also, I would advise not getting too worried about finding the "best" restaurants. We just walked around at random until we found somewhere we liked the look off - and found the general quality to be very high (and gluten free awareness much better than we expected).
We thought the standard of accommodation in all of our tours was outstanding. One personal highlight was walking along the Costa Brava Coast with its beautiful little bays and rugged headlands. Another was the slow train through Asturias and the chance to see small towns set in beautiful mountainous regions. In fact, we enjoyed all of our train travel, including the journey up the Douro River to Chanceleiros, which in itself was a highlight.
We all enjoyed our stays in the larger towns and cities, made even better because the accommodation was so close to the centres.
INNTRAVEL NOTE: Mrs Baker did a combination of our Along the Catalan Coast walking holiday, and two Slow Motion journeys - Cities, Palaces and Wine in Portugal and A Slow Train through Asturias.
Recommend that when at Chencelleros, people also have lunch at Quinta Del la Rosa when they take the tasting tour there. Lunch was fantastic.
Sintra was my favourite; it was a smaller city, easier to get around. If you are wanting slow travel - that I equate with a relaxing holiday - I would miss the bigger, busier cities like Lisbon.
This was one of our best holidays and we enjoyed every minute of it apart from the 50 mins queuing for tickets at the station in Porto! The standard of accommodation was consistently good and we were delighted with the rooms we were allocated, as well as by the distinctly different characters of the five hotels we stayed in. Highlights included a very interesting and enjoyable visit to Porto and Grahams, a delightful stay at Chanceleiros, the discovery of Coimbra and the Quinta das Lagrimas, the Solar do Castelo in Lisbon, the delights of Sintra and of Montserrate in particular, delicious seafood, outstanding breakfasts, all round good value wining and dining, friendly service, generous concessions to seniors.
Our first Inntravel holiday was thirty years ago, in the Auvergne. Since then we've walked with you in different parts of Europe and the States and had some wonderful experiences. Now our joints are creaking, and going uphill is harder (so is downhill actually!) and the prospect of 15km a day is daunting. So we were delighted to find this holiday, which still fits the Inntravel model of travel and discovery, but allowed us to explore sitting down. We had a very good holiday, and went to several places that we'd wanted to visit for some time. Thank you.
Highlight: In Porto we found an excellent vegetarian restaurant called Da Terra in Rue de Silveira which is on the way to the hotel from the station. It is buffet style - eat as much as you like of both hot and cold dishes for just under 10 euros. A real find!
Like most Inntravellers, we were most impressed with the Chancelleiros hotel - amazing place. So much so that we would have liked an extra night as the only full day was busy with winery tour and boat trip! Also in hindsight we would have done the holiday in reverse to have the relaxing time at Chancelleiros nearer to the end. Also loved Porto (and hotel) so will return to all places.
The hotels were well picked and the places visited were very good, luckily a lot of Portuguese speak English, which helped a lot at the stations when buying tickets and asking platform info, as not all stations show destination boards on the actual platforms. Chanceleiros was the most memorable place to stay, relaxing atmosphere, host with a good sense of humor and excellent food.
We found the arrangements faultless and the detail accurate and up to date.
The accomodations on the Valley of Gold section were individual and fascinating with two fantastic hosts. The walking journeys took us to delightful destinations through idyllic countryside. A perfect de stress activity.
Well done Inntravel!
INNTRAVEL NOTE: These customers combined Valley of Gold with Cities, Palaces & Wine.