Kimkim Trip Reviews for Portugal

A huge thank you to Tiago and his team! They made planning our trip, on short notice, a pleasure. The hotels, tour guides, restaurant recommendation and our travel book where all spot on! We will definitely be using KimKim again!

Had an absolutely amazing time thanks to the great planning by Marina. Hotels were fantastic as were the guides that were arranged. The driving trip to Sintra is a can’t miss event and our guide Rui was incredible, making it feel like a trip with our Portuguese cousin. All our other guides (Miguel and Pedro in Porto) and Felipa in Lisbon were top notch.
Truly had a great experience thank you Marina!

Hotel Review

Portugal Boutique Hotel

Lisbon

Very nice hotel. Great service. Very central to all key Lisbon locations

Tips for future travelers

No controllable AC

Activity Review

Private Day Excursion: Sintra, Cascais & Estoril

Portugal

The guide really makes the trip. Rui was our guide replacing Nuno at the last minute. I couldn’t think of a better and more enjoyable person than him he was terrific!

We really enjoyed everything that was planned. All of our guides were great. Sintra was probably our favorite outing. The accommodations were perfect. The hotel in Porto was very beautiful but it was a little far from everywhere we saw or ate. It felt like it was a 20 minute walk everywhere we went. It would have been nice to be a bit closer. The hotel in Lisboa was in the perfect location. There was no way to change the weather. As we could see a couple of days in advance that there was a 99% chance of rain, I should have made a backup plan in Porto. It would have been fun to do the tile making or cooking class instead of just walking around the city seeing more sights. Really everything else could not have gone better. We appreciated the restaurant recommendations. It was so nice to be able to check in with you with questions. You were very accessible and easy to work with. Thank you so much for helping us have such a wonderful trip.

Hotel Review

Rossio Boutique Hotel

Lisbon

This hotel is in the perfect location. It is centrally located and close to almost everything we wanted to see. It was clean, had a good breakfast and the staff were nice to work with. The rooms on the Main Street are noisier but our room that wasn’t on the Main Street was quiet.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Lisbon Foodie Experience

Lisbon

This exceeded our expectations. The food was good, the guide was knowledgeable and interesting. We learned a lot about the history of Lisbon, the different neighborhoods as well as tasted good food. We even went back to one of the restaurants later in the trip.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Sunset Sailing Cruise

Lisbon

It was a beautiful way to see the city. We really enjoyed it. The employees were nice and accommodating. It felt like it could have been a little shorter, just because it was chill. We were there with our kids and it felt like we watched people get more and more drunk. It would be nice if there was an option that didn’t involve wine, maybe geared for families.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Sintra Heritage Hike: Hidden Secrets

Portugal

We loved this outing! Our guide Susannah was wonderful. She was happy and fun to talk to and very knowledgeable. We loved where she took us to the castle and palace and the way down through the forest. She made us a yummy picnic lunch which we really enjoyed. We would highly recommend her and this excursion.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Get to know Porto by E-bike

Porto

This is a great way to see Porto. The bikes make it so easy to get around and see a lot of places. Our guide was fabulous. She knew a lot and was fun to inerrant with. We highly recommend.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Beatriz was extremely responsive and created the perfect itinerary for our once in a lifetime Honeymoon! She was available for any additional help while we were in Portugal which gave us peace of mind for anything from where to get a bite to eat to ensuring our drivers arrived on time. Beatriz and the KimKim team created the most PERFECT honeymoon above and beyond our wildest dreams! Thank you for giving us the most MAGICAL trip to celebrate our marriage!

We had the best time! All of our guides and transfers were amazing. Thank you Marina for helping us book an amazing trip. You were the best.

John and Donna

We had an amazing time in Portugal!  Marina was wonderful; we absolutely could not have planned this trip without her help. While we were in Portugal, the support we received from Karin was also so helpful.  I will definitely use KimKimin in the future.

Some of the highlights included: 
-Porto was a favorite! Thanks to Nelson, the day trip to Duoro Valley was one of the best activities/days that we had on our trip. Nelson went above and beyond to ensure we enjoyed the day, learned more about Portuguese history and culture, and saw sights we may have missed otherwise.  I honestly cannot say enough good things about Nelson; he was absolutely wonderful.  

-Also the tour of Porto with Sara was great.  Sara did a great job taking us to some unique points in the city.  Additionally, she assisted us with restaurants and other recommendations in the city.  Sara is really lovely.  

-The day trip to Sintra was also a fantastic experience.  Sintra is magical and Marta was wonderful.-The Lisbon walking tour was also very good.  This tour helped us understand so much about the history of Portugal as well as see a lot of the city.  Our tour guide Filipa had a great personalityand kept the tour interesting. 

-Lagos is absolutely beautiful!  While we enjoyed the Catamaran, we really enjoyed the Sunset experience with Pedro.  This activity allowed us to see the surrounding areas outside of Lagos and understand just how much more there is to see and do in the Algarve region.  Pedro really did a great job; he was very personable and made the whole experience really fun.

Other:
-It would be good to mention that flat shoes are required for pretty much all of the streets in Portugal. :)
-The Tivoli hotel in Lagos did not meet expectations.  While the rooms were clean, the service and the breakfast were lacking.  For example, every time we went to get towels for the pool, the front desk did not have any available. This is not a hotel I would stay at in the future. 

Our trip was absolutely wonderful, and it's hard to say what our favorite part was. Marina was absolutely fantastic in helping us plan our trip, and responded quickly and kindly when we asked for changes. A few standouts...4x4 adventure near Porto, Douro Valley wine tour, day in Coimbra, Knights Templar tour in Tomar, lunch at the olive tree farm near Evora. Overall an absolutely amazing trip! Thank you again to Marina, and to Karin for serving as POC for one week.

The trip was amazing because of the great planning and work Tiago did. He was with us every step of the way leading up to and duriung the trip. We changed plans and had issues - and he always picked up the phone - resolved problems and gave great advice. Its so awesome to have a partner in a country you haven't been to before. Its also really luxuriouls to have your hotels and car booked for you and have someone waiting at the airport.

We are so happy we spent a few extra dollars and used KimKim. It was only a 'few' more dollars also - incredible value for the money.

If you go to Portugal...ask for Tiago!

Marina designed an amazing trip for us! She really understood what we were looking for and went out of her way to deliver. She was also very easily accessible during our trip to help us navigate any hiccups or last minute changes. Would definitely book with Marina again!

We have traveled a great deal in our lives, but concerns about handling our own arrangements in light of the ever changing Covid restrictions led us to Kimkim, Espiritu Travel and Karin Exkhard our travel consultant. We were so pleased with every aspect of our trip, the attention to details, response time, selection of tours, guides, and flexibility when changes were either necessary due to inclement weather, or we decided to add a tour mid trip, or change a destination during the final days of our trip. Karin and her team were exceptional and we will without question return to them again, and use Kimkim in the future for other destinations.

We loved our time in Portugal, the care being taken regarding Covid-19, the warmth, friendliness and knowledge of everyone we encountered. Hotel selections, tours and guides were all spot on, reflecting a genuine understanding of the interests we expressed for our trip.

Our exploration of the walled city of Evora, in the Alentejo region, was enhanced by the knowledge of Martin, our guide. Our visit to a Cork Estate and Vineyard in the Alentejo region with a 4 x 4 Jeep tour, was an excellent way to deepen our understanding of the growth and production of cork, the numerous products made from cork, and the importance put on the preservation of these trees. We really enjoyed learning about the Alentejo region and the exceptional wines produced in this large region of the country.

We also, with Martin, visited several of the impressive megalithic monuments discovered in the Alentejo region. These standing stones, which you can walk among, predate Stonehenge by 3000 years. This day also included an olive oil tasting at a small organic farm, that has been in operation for three generations. They create an extraordinary olive oil, Amore é Cego "Love is Blind" and truly witness the love this family has for the trees, the olives themselves, and the creative process used to protect the olives and create this extremely high quality olive oil through the use of sustainable agricultural processes. The opportunity to sit among the olive trees for our tasting and to share a beautifully prepared lunch with the family, (both teachers) and their beautiful daughters, was a high point of our trip.

From Evora we traveled by private transfer to Lagos, which we used as a base for our exploration of the Algarve. The recommendations on what to do in this area while on our own were also spot on. We explored many of the beaches on foot, even walking from town to Ponta da Piedade shortly after our arrival in Lagos.

Although we'd planned a trip inland to explore the Western Algarve, inclement weather prompted our guide Pedro Marreiros to propose an alternative coastal tour, which turned out to be the perfect decision. Pedro's knowledge of the area, and our opportunity to see some of the smaller and more wild coastal areas and to visit Cape St. Vincent was a perfect day.

The next day as rain was intermittent, our planned Catamaran trip was cancelled. We were informed as soon as this decision was made, and a refund was promptly issued. With proper rain gear, we walked the long beach in Lagos and set off on foot to explore many of the other beautiful beaches, some quite close to town.

Our last day in Portugal we requested a transfer from Porto to Lisbon with a stop off to visit the city of Aveiro, often described as the Venice of Portugal. Our driver Anna was excellent and she took the time to show us around the city, encouraged us to take the canal tour even when rain was threatening (it held off until we finished our boat trip) and then she took us to another nearby community, Praia da Costa Nova, to show us the beach and exceptional tile work on the houses. She was delightful, and offered us a truly memorable last day in Portugal.

A big thank you to everyone who helped to make our first visit to Portugal truly memorable. We look forward to returning!

Every guide we had, and there were several, was prompt, professional, engaging and courteous!
I’d never travel again without going through Kim Kim!

We could not have asked for a better itinerary. We saw so much in such a short amount of time, yet had enough time to ourselves to explore.

Every guide was friendly and professional. It was like meeting a new friend in Portugal everyday.

Thank you so much for the very well thought of tour for us. I will definitely recommend you to my friends and family!

The trip was planned really well. Karin actually took into considerations my preferences and requests and planned it out well in a very short period of time. Karin and Marina were available even during the trip in case I had questions and were very prompt in their responses. They really were experts in the city and provided recommendations on what to do during my trip in a short period of tome with a blend of power packed days and free days for leisure so that it felt like a holiday. The locals who were responsible for walking tours Pedro, Jose actually customized the tour based on my preferences which is different from the typical tours and also the Nelson and Marta customized the day tours very well. They were experienced, know what they are doing, checked with me what I prefer or would want to make of the day and made the tours fun. This is a rare ask as usually the tours are standardized and there is no flexibility. Karin planned every details with recommendations in each city and was a splendid experience. This was my first experience with Kimkim and I would definitely recommend it. Obrigada<3

The trip was great! Well planned in every respect. It made sense to stay in only 3 places and not move around every day. All 3 hotels were great - we especially loved Casa Balthazar, everything about it. We enjoyed all three cities. The excursions to the port distillery could have been done in an hour at most, they didn't have much to show or explain, it was mostly tasting the 3 different ports. The trip to the fishing village was nice but not much to see - lunch was good, but it didn't need 1/2 day. I loved the walk around the University at Coimbra, learning about the culture of the place, and we arranged to hear good Fado there and had probably our best meal of the whole trip at No Tacho.
W e loved visiting Alviera and to Costa Nova on the trip between Porto and Coimbra, those were great stops. Between Coimbra and Lisbon we stopped at Tamor on the advice of people we met along the way, but it was closed. We went to Nazare, which was fun - the surfers and the ladies in their 7 skirts, and to Fatima as well. All the guides were good, they have done their homework and are well informed - our favorite was Tiago in Lisbon, took us to see lots of things one wouldn't ordinarily notice and was very personable. We learned a lot of history, ate a lot of great food and drank great wine, did a lot of walking (it seemed to be all up, rarely down), had amazing weather. It also made a big difference that most of the people, the younger ones at least, spoke English. Altogether a wonderful trip! Thank you!
Allyson and Bruce

Overall, our trip to Portugal was memorable! There were more positive things then negative. We loved the country, it's history, beauty and culture. All our local tour guides were friendly, knowledgeable, and very helpful. All the transfers were on time. However, there were a few things that were disappointing and that cost us some unexpected expenses, such as: one "free lunch" in Porto, that wasn't free; a "one hour Duro river cruise," that lasted only 45 minutes, and was not a tour-- it was only circling around picking up other tourists on the opposite side of the river-- we did not see anything; and, most of the tourist attractions that we thought were included, we had to pay for unexpectedly on the spot to enter. The trip to Evora was the most memorable, and the tour guide/s, Carlos Mileu with his trainee Manuel DeSilva, were absolutely amazing: although, the scheduled visit to the winery we had to pay for unexpectedly -- it was mentioned as a part of the Evora tour -- the other tourists had it included, this was a disappointing additional expense! The Lisbon tour was great. Our tour guide, Joao Ramos, showed us Lisboa at its best! We hope to return to Portugal someday, as we fell in love with the country and its people!

Wow - our Portugal biking trip exceeded all our expectations. The biking logistics were excellent- top quality bikes, GPS to make the navigation easy and good local tips for dinners. All the tour guides were very helpful and knowledgeable. The taxi service for the luggage was always very prompt and Hugo was so friendly. We had booked this as a budget vacation and we were blown away by the accommodations. We stayed in a castle and several convents / monasteries. We felt very spoiled and loved the living history. The riding was all very beautiful and just the right amount of challenge. We did a self guided biking tour in Provence France, several years ago and did not think it could be topped. But this tour was much more organized and the accommodations really made it special. I would book another tour with this tour operator in a heart beat. Thanks for a fantastic vacation

Thanks to KimKim I was able to arrange a bachelorette for 17 people within a month. It would not have been possible without the help, patience and cooperation of Karina (our local specialist). The tour was a perfect combination of planned moments and unplanned. It went above and beyond my expectations. Thank you so much!

Jorg was not our specialist. It was a woman Joanna, who was excellent.
The biking was fantastic. My only complaint is that the bike itself was too big for me, and it made it difficult to get on and off.. My understanding is that you only have 2 sizes for an E bike, but it actually felt a little dangerous. Generally , the bike trips I've been on before not only want your height, but your actual inseam (groin to ankle) to get the appropriate bike. It may have also helped it the saddle bag could have been on the side instead of the back, which just made it harder to get my leg over. I had to keep my water bottle in the saddle bag, as it would have made it even harder for me to get on and off if it was kept in the clips.

However, I still totally enjoyed the trip. The routes were great. / The hotels excellent/ the beeches beautiful. and the food delicious.

Karin was just great. She planned the best trip ever and help us get the most of Portugal in just 1 week. All the hotels, tours and transfers were perfect. She was always available and proactive while we were there.
The Kim Kim Team is also great. They have this great company that is always willing to satisfy and help their clients!

Almost all of the trip when exactly by the itinerary, except when one time a driver waited to pick us up at the train station where instead we were to be picked up at our hotel. Another time, one tour was rescheduled with no notification to Karin or us, but we were able to get in touch with the tour guide who cancelled and said our tour was rescheduled for the next day which still fit into our schedule. Most memorable places were the Douro Valley and wine and port tasting, and Tomar, the beautiful monastery. Also Sintra and walking up the old castle walls was memorable (it was very hot the day we went up, but we made it and the views were very rewarding.