Stepping into Portugal’s Storied Past: Two Week Historical Tour

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.

The travel agent from Zicasso's tour company planned for my family of four the most spectacular and luxurious two-week trip around Portugal. We traveled to and enjoyed the highlights of Lisbon, the romantic architecture in Sintra, the incredible history of Évora, the beautiful coastline of the Algarve, the laid-back atmosphere and gorgeous scenery of Madeira, the beautiful, historical, bustling city of Porto, and the stunning scenery of the Douro Valley. 

The travel agent's suggestions and bookings were all perfectly aligned with what we envisioned and the accommodations booked were all beautifully appointed and family-oriented – five-star hotels that catered to the entire family, with indoor pools and kids greeted with backpacks and toys at the door, and nightly treats on pillows.

The tour guides booked were all very knowledgeable and kind. They were patient with my two- and four-year-olds, and taught us all so many new, amazing things.

Every day was a highlight, but I would say my girls really enjoyed the tile painting as well as the pastel de nata-making workshops.

My husband and I really enjoyed Évora and Sintra, and truly seeing the beauty and history of it all.

We absolutely fell in love with Portugal, the culture, and the food. My only regret is not having more time so we could’ve seen the Azores as well and stayed even longer. 

We so look forward to this travel agent planning us another perfect vacation in the near future!

The trip was fabulous. Our driver and guide was excellent.

We could have changed a few things around before we left to accommodate Batalha, but we saw everything else that we wanted to see.

A few hotels could have been upgraded, but the hotels in Porto were awesome and so was our hotel in Cascais. Lovely location and hotel.

Zicasso’s travel specialist was awesome to work with and very responsive, as were other members on the team while in Portugal.

Thank you for wonderful memories.

I'd make this 4.5 stars if I could. We had a five-star experience with a few glitches, but they were addressed quickly and kindly.

Zicasso’s travel specialist is a gem. She goes out of her way to clearly communicate what to expect, who you'll be with, and the times for meets and activities. She made us feel special, as though we were her personal guests rather than just clients. We had a luggage issue that she went out of her way to help resolve.

We asked to stay in nice places with AC and king-size beds, and she delivered. All places were great and a bit different from what we're used to and from each other. Most of the drivers were also a lot of fun to be with and spoke at least reasonably good English.

I offer two suggestions for those who use this service. One, always verify meet times and contact info that you receive. Two, don't pre-book two meals in a day if you're staying at a place that offers breakfast. It's just too much food too close together.

We had an 11-day vacation. We chose variety rather than immersion, so went from Porto to Douro Valley to Alentejo to Lisbon to Lagos in the Algarve area, with some stops in between and drivers who brought us everywhere. Next time, we'd likely choose two or three places for a more immersive experience.

I highly recommend this travel company and the travel specialist in particular.