Portugal

Portugal was our 11th VBT trip and 12th biking trip. It was the best or at least equal to our other great trips. The guides were the best ever and the hotels , especially the Farm House, were excellent. The biking was challenging at times but very good overall. We highly recommend the trip and very much want to return to Portugal. Great food, great wine and a beautiful country. We felt very safe on the roads and highways as Portugal drivers are very courteous to bikers. Absolutely nothing to complain about and as with all VBT trips, a great value.

As with all our VBT experiences Portugal did not disappoint. The trips are planned well from the time you take off from home until you land back at home. The transfers, the accommodations, and the in between are well thought out and planned. Any necessary changes are planned for. Portugal is tourist friendly, they are ahead of the curve with the pandemic, follow the rules. It is tough to find a bad meal, the weather was great; there is a lot of history. The cycling was easily doable for all who cycle 25 miles with some wind or hills. If you take only a few trips, make this one.

We have done 4 VBT cycling trips before we decided to do this self-guided trip as we wanted to spend some time in the part of Portugal - the Silver Coast. All of the hotels, places we stayed and the cycling was wonderful. Despite this, and being a self-guided trip VBT has plenty of room to step up and make improvements. Most guests noticed within the first couple of days that the tire pressures were low and the little hand pumps VBT supplies are completely inadequate. Our VBT support people finally provided a proper foot pump at the end of the trip but the foot pump is something that should be provided and move along with the luggage each day. We also had a mishap and a leg injury and was surprised that a first aid kit was not provided with the bike supplies. And, finally there were 2 dinners provided on the trip mainly because the hotels were in more remote places. I guess because there is no VBT rep there for the dinners to provide feedback the one dinner seemed somewhat inadequate being a buffet style and not too appetizing. All in all, this was a wonderful trip - the Atlantic coast of Portugal is beautiful and the many cities, towns and villages we visited were spectacular.

Loved this trip! The hotels were great, breakfast yummy and the bikes all performed well. Portugal is a beautiful country and the people there were very friendly and welcoming to us.

We thoroughly enjoyed our first VBT experience. The tour route was very well laid out and we cannot not say enough about how impressive our tour leaders, David and Frederico, both of whom are natives of Portugal. Kudos to VBT for the way they planned and conducted our tour!

We loved this trip! Beautiful and varied biking routes; knowledgeable, competent and engaging guides, top-notch hotels, delicious food and interesting cultural activities. I wish I could do it all over again!

We really enjoyed this trip and would recommend it. The routes were scenic; the bikes excellent; the food very good; the leaders outstanding; the other experiences (tours, wine tasting, etc.) were fun and informative; the hotels at the beginning and end were very nice. We would suggest using the e-bikes as the terrain is hilly.

The scenery and biking were incredible! However, dealing with the ship's docking schedule was somewhat problematic and left less time for exploring the towns and shortened the rides.

It was the inaugural edition of the tour but it ran like they had been doing it for years - well planned and well run. Paradors and meals were excellent. Our guides, Diego and Pol, were the best. Great guides and just fun to be around.

It was well planned, had great accommodations and super guides. We experienced the best landscapes of three separate caminos. I give it a 5 in spite of some rainy days

The tour exceeded my expectations. Northern Portugal is beautiful and the walks were interesting and scenic. The hotels were all great and very different. Our tour guides were outstanding! They were very knowledgeable and communicated well. Included food and drinks were of high quality. I don’t have anything negative to say about this tour.

I had a wonderful time and found the trip to be be terrific. The guides, Helene and Anna, were wonderful - knowledgeable, kind, thoughtful, encouraging, and possessing great senses of humor. The trip had a good variety of activities. I liked the accommodations - they were all so different - and the food provided. I wish there had been more meals included although the guides did a great job making suggestions. Some people on the trip wished for longer hikes. I see their point although these were right for me, given the hills.