Portugal

This was our first VBT vacation. We were very impressed with the planning, accommodations, and route. It was a wonderful experience to bike along country roads with guides who knew the area. The hotels were lovely and the meals were delicious. Everything was top-notch.

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.

This is the only way I want to vacation from now on. I’ve never been a fan of the typical sightseeing vacations. I loved cycling through orchards, small villages, and along the coast. Weather was perfect and hotels top-notch. The equipment was excellent and the VBT staff were wonderful. Not a single complaint.

We've done several European biking trips......a couple with VBT. I would give a 5 star rating to VBT administratively, the bikes, the initial meet and greet, the towns we ended up in, and the lodging. However, I was a little disappointed in the actual bike route of this trip. A few legs of the trip were repeated, some on very rough roads, and some a bit monotonous. Also, since it was self-guided, it would have been nice to have a bit more historical facts and information with the GPS. Directions were very easy to follow, but would have liked more info. All this being said, we still think VBT puts great packages together!

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!

Having been on many VBT trips, this one didn't quite measure up. Two problems: 1) the E- bike was very heavy and as a small woman was difficult to manage and get on and off. You do need an E-bike though as many long hills. Number 2 was Portugal itself. There wasn't much to see or do in comparison to other European trips, esp. the bike and barge trips. Here, no cute towns to explore and for the first 4 days the scenery was mostly uninspiring. Also, difficult logistics catching the river boat.The guides and boat were excellent but couldn't compensate for a trip with little off-road interest.

Wonderful trip! Biking along the Douro and surrounding areas was amazing. We were able to go to some remote places and really experience the area without a lot of tourists around. The meals we had in the small towns were top notch! We had wonderful tours as well. Matyas and David were excellent guides. Riding an ebike on this tour enabled me to enjoy the multiple steep hills.

The Country Walkers Landscapes from the Camino de Santiago trip was outstanding. Country Walker guides Diego Del Barrio and Pol Roig Iniesta were extremely knowledgeable, organized, and capable leaders. On scale of 1 to 10, I rate both guides a 10. The various hikes and village tours were very interesting and completed as scheduled. The hotel or parador accommodations were all outstanding. Food was plentiful and exceptionally good.

Our tour of Northern Spain was a combination of seeing some of the beautiful landscapes of northern Spain, a flavor of what the Camino de Santiago is like and a wonderful history and cultural experience of this region of the world. Our guides were phenomenal. They took care of every detail of the tour, and made sure we got as many experiences as possible throughout the tour. They managed our safety while still giving us the freedom to explore on our own.

Portugal is very beautiful and interesting. The trip was lead by superb- very accommodating, very knowledgeable, wonderful guides. The hiking was not what I hoped for. Sometimes not great trails and some days too little walking. The accommodations were very nice, unique and high quality. The options for meals when we were “on our own” we’re limited and not always great. We had an excellent group of travelers and really enjoyed the meals, conversations and walking together.

This was our first Country Walkers trip, and won't be our last. Our guides, Helene and Ana, were terrific. They worked hard to make the trip smooth, organized, and lots of fun. The areas we hiked were gorgeous and varied, and our itinerary left us waiting for the next day's delightful discoveries.