Leisurely One-Week Lisbon Itinerary for Seniors

We just returned from a 13-day trip covering Porto, Lisbon, Rabat, the Agafay Desert, and Marrakech, and the trip exceeded what we had hoped for. We are a family of five, ranging from our early 60s to mid-20s, and Zicasso's travel specialist built an itinerary that worked well for all of us, with some unique experiences that suited our interests and travel style.

He was consistently responsive throughout the planning process and followed through on every detail. More importantly, the on-the-ground logistics in both countries worked well: private drivers arrived on time, guides were knowledgeable and personable, and the accommodations were well chosen. Our camp in the Agafay Desert was a particular highlight.

What made the trip genuinely worthwhile was the texture of it. The Portuguese side offered the kind of immersion you don't get from a highlights tour: a sidecar ride through Porto's historic quarters, a kayaking day in the Douro Valley, and a cooking class the morning we flew to Morocco. The Moroccan half was equally substantive, from the Rabat medina to the Berber family lunch in the Ourika Valley. We came back feeling like we had experienced both cultures, something that we try to really accomplish when we travel.

If you are considering this type of itinerary, this travel specialist is the right person to plan it. I'd book with him again without hesitation.

Good Afternoon,

We are reaching out regarding a review request for our recent trip. Recently, we booked a 10-day trip to Portugal through Zicasso. This is our third trip booked through Zicasso, and we chose Zicasso because the previous two trips were fantastic; they were well organized, and we had very enjoyable experiences in two countries we had never visited. The previous agents built our itinerary based on their vast knowledge of the country, confirmed all logistics, were communicative, and provided us with a great and luxurious experience in line with the cost. 

Unfortunately, we cannot say the same about our recent experience with this travel company. We approached the collaboration with the travel company and agent similarly to our past two vacations. Based on the provided itinerary and our conversations with the travel agent, we understood, as before, that the itinerary items that required guides, reservations, and transport details had been worked out with the respective parties. However, on our trip, there were many miscommunications between the agency, ourselves, and our guides and drivers. The itinerary listed many places we thought we would be shown on the tours, but in reality, we did not visit many of them, they were just listed as options for us to explore ourselves, which was unclear from how the itinerary was initially presented to us in the planning stage. When the tours started, the tour guides were often asking us what we would like to see instead of having a list of stops to take us to. As this was our first trip to Portugal, we were not informed enough to provide that input and did not expect to have to do so. The guides were very good, they were knowledgeable, often kind, and tried to help us, but it was clear that they had also not received proper communication from our travel agent, which was upsetting and made the experience feel very disorganized. Additionally, the private transport drivers were not clear as to where they were taking us, again due to miscommunication from the travel agency. For example, when we traveled from Lisbon to Porto, as per the itinerary, we were supposed to stop at Obidos and Coimbra along the way for specific sightseeing and tours. Our driver was not aware that we were meant to make those two stops along the way. Luckily for us, we found out the previous day that the same driver would be taking us to Porto, and our guide worked with him to figure out the stops and timings for our scheduled activities on that trip. However, it was stressful to learn that our driver was not aware that we had a stop at Obidos, he did not know that we were going to have a tour guide in Coimbra who he had to coordinate with regarding pickup and drop-off. Additionally, we were meant to have lunch at a restaurant where the agent was supposed to have made a lunch reservation. However, when we went there, they had no reservation on record but they were nice enough to accommodate us. As this was happening and we reached out to our travel agent to request that she communicate with the driver, we just received a text message back saying that the driver was already aware, which was clearly not the case.

In the Azores, because of the weather, our whale tour was cancelled, which we completely understand due to safety, but we still had a jeep tour portion of the excursion. The guide for this jeep tour did not provide a good experience at all. He did not stop at a lot of viewpoints though we saw other jeep tours stopping at them, and he spent a lot of the trip complaining about tourists. The jeep ride was very uncomfortable as they made several of us sit in the back rear facing seats, even though we had specifically mentioned to the agent during planning that my mother is 70 years old and cannot easily climb in and out of some of these types of vehicles. As part of the itinerary for this day, a lunch was also included but the tour guide was not aware of it, and when he learned about it, he said he could not arrange the lunch because he needed to go to his next tour. We ultimately left and had lunch on our own. When planning, our agent said that although this was a jeep tour it would be comfortable and that the tour the next day would be in a minivan. However, the next tour was also in a jeep. The tour guide was very good but the ride was uncomfortable, and again did not accommodate the mobility issues we had identified with our agent previously. 

On the last day, we were supposed to be picked up for our transport to the airport for our flight home. The driver did not show up and the hotel staff tried to help us by calling the travel company’s emergency number. It was surprising that instead of helping us they were being very rude to the hotel staff who were actually going out of their way to help us. We found out that the agency communicated the wrong time to the pick-up driver and finally the hotel arranged for a taxi to take us to the airport, otherwise we would have been late for our return flight. 

Overall, the trip was not on par with the level of quality we have come to expect from a Zicasso identified travel agency. In addition to the general logistical issues we experienced, the agent never checked on us at any time to see if all was well. Whenever we had a question and we reached out to her, we received unclear responses via text, and nothing further. We wanted to provide this feedback as we know Zicasso takes pride in providing luxury travel experiences to their customers, and we have experienced that first hand in previous trips. As return customers, I would not recommend this agent/company to anyone who wants a Zicasso experience.

 Sincerely,

Jyotsna R.

We have taken about 10 trips through Zicasso and this tour operator is among the two best we have worked with. The travel specialist is incredibly attentive, organized, and responsive. She and her team didn't miss a beat in a three-week trip all over Portugal and the Azores, and quickly accommodated changes resulting from weather, a flight cancellation, and our simply opting not to do a scheduled activity.

Our guides/drivers were punctual, knowledgeable, and pleasant.

Our travel specialists even insisted on taking us to the Lisbon airport at 4:30 a.m., even taking us directly to the security check-in. They definitely go the extra mile and will pay close attention to your travel style and interests.

Zicasso’s tour company was quick to respond to our initial request, and was easy to work with to put together a trip around a family wedding my brother and I were attending on Portugal's west coast. Because we were traveling together, I asked for either 2 separate rooms or a 2-bedroom suite/apartment. They proposed two apartment-style accommodations.

The Lisbon apartment exceeded expectations. It seemed like a boutique hotel with apartments with full kitchens that were stocked with breakfast items and personalized daily fresh bread/pastry delivery to the door.

The only issues we had was with the apartment in Porto which seemed more like a regular short term rental. The location of the apartment in Porto was great, but it did not provide breakfast, which we were told ahead of time. However, we didn't really realize the impact that would make given our tour schedule and were lucky to have gone to a grocery store for a few staples.

The apartment was not well maintained, had a large stain on the rug in the TV room and stains on some towels. Also, I had to request service to unclog the slow/clogged drains in the bathroom sinks and showers, which was completed the following day. I provided pictures of the apartment and feedback, which the travel company seemed rather surprised by, as they had clients stay at this location previously and were very apologetic about it.

The was no comparison between the apartments in Lisbon and Porto, they were not on the same level, not even close.

The tours and drivers they set up were great, and we had a combo of private and small group. The travel company gave us a daily rundown of our itinerary and were quick to answer any questions.

Zicasso's travel agent was very easy to work with. She put together a great itinerary for our family vacation. She listened to our interests and also included some unique experiences for us that we would never have been able to set up on our own. She was also very quick to take care of some miscommunication at one of our hotels when we got to Lisbon and quickly got it resolved for us. Her communication was great and she took good care of us.

Zicasso exceeded our expectations! Our travel specialist listened to our requests, considered our lifestyle, and created the perfect 10-day itinerary through Portugal. We had amazing experiences we never could have planned on our own. While we are comfortable traveling on our own, this eliminated the stress. We cannot wait to plan our next adventure!