Portugal

[rhumney]

Can anyone recommend a company for Portugal?

I would like to travel in September or early October.

Accommodations rank higher than food on my list.

Thank you in advance!

[jmlh]

We have booked with Uniworld for this July. Looking forward to a great river cruise. Will post a review when we return.:)

[H2Otstr]

I have also been interested in planning a trip for September 2008. I have found that Uniworld and INTRAV both have trips there. Does anyone else have any information? Done this trip?

[Ferry Beach Kayaker]

We did a 7-day trip Uniworld trip on the Douro Queen from Oporto to the Spanish’s border on the River Douro. We had a great time. It’s different for the French, German, and Austrian river cruises- less European history. We learned all about how port is made so the beautiful terrace vine lands along the river and visited Port Caves and Churches. We had two arranged dinners off the boat-one in a Monastery and one in a Pousada (an historical Portugal Inn). When we got to the Spanish border we had a bus tour to Salamanca Spain. We got there had lunch set-up by Uniworld at a restaurant. The appetizer was Paella and the main dish was chicken. I just asked for another appetizer of paella instead of the chicken dinner. The we had 3 hours of free time to wonder around. We visited the University of Salamanca. which was founded in 1218 and was very historical. Then our boat turned around and we sailed back to Oporto. The towns along the Douro River are small and into the European Union came in and put in good roads were somewhat remote so still a lot of old traditions which I found fascinating. Our tour director was a Portuguese woman who was well-educated and knew the history and economics of her country and we learned a lot. On another note we arranged are own airfare and fly in and out of Lisbon where we spend a couple of days. We actually took a bus up to Oporto from Lisbon. It was clean, air conditioned, safe and very reasonable priced. It dropped you of in the middle of the old city part of Oporto.

[fluffyb]

We also did this cruise last September. It was a wonderful trip. We went with Uniworld, but the Portuguese government owns the boat, so it is different than other river boats in Europe. We were in a category 1 cabin with a balcony. Very comfortable accomodations, but a little on the small side. Loved having the balcony. The lower rooms were bigger, but had a large window in place of the balcony. The shore tours were very interesting. Portugal is a true bargain compared to other parts of Europe. A good bottle of red or white Portuguese table wine was just $11 Euro. We enjoy wine and found the terraced vineyards beautiful. Everyone on board was very friendly and the cruise director was not only friendly, but knowledgable. The Portuguese are very proud of their country and history. We also stayed in Lisbon for 3 nights prior to the cruise and 1 night in Porto afterward. Fell upon a parade celebrating the year's harvest. That was a gift!