Reviews of our Tours in Portugal
Emily helped plan all of our excursions in Spain and Portugal. Several months before our trip, we worked with Emily to fine tune the excursions, so they were customized to our preferences. We had 9 people in our group, and everyone was totally satisfied with the tours. Each guide was superb, knowledgeable, and Had a good sense of humor. The transportation was comfortable and punctual as were the guides. I highly recommend!
Jenny Ill (US)
★★★★★
Emily put together an incredible trip!
Emily put together an amazing trip for me through the Andalusia area of Spain. From the minute I touched down in Malaga, Emily and her team made sure I met up with all of my drivers and private tour guides in each city. Every tour was incredible and each guide was extremely knowledgable on the city's history, culture, food scene and architecture. I highly recommend Emily Matthews and her team and would use her again the next time I go to Spain, Portugal or Morocco.
Kalush (US)
★★★★★
Fantastic. From the moment we were working on our itinerary together - nothing was a problem. Emily was extremely accomodating and helpful in getting our trip perfect for us. I did a lot of swapping and changing and she was more than happy to help us plan our perfect trip.
The 15 day tour of Spain and Portugal was so great and we visited some places that we would never have heard of had it not been for Emily.
Our day trip to Benlauria (south of Spain) was a once in a lifetime experience. Our husbands who are in the hospitality industry are still talking about this day.
The daily communication from Emily, Manuel & Elisa was perfect and explained everything perfectly for the day ahead.
I highly recommend Emily and her team and I would not hesitate to get in touch with her again for our future trips.
Marcia Cipri (US)
★★★★★
Emily is absolutely fantastic! She is super accommodating to our needs and comes up with wonderful itineraries tailored to our liking. Most importantly, she is flexible to last minute changes and requests, as we all know things can change duration vacation. We will recommend them to all our friends and will use them in the future! Also, the guides she works with are all fantastic! The best part of her tours!
Mona Ascha (US)
★★★★★
Fabulous excursions:
We used Guided Portugal and Emily to plan several excursions for our group of 9 friends across Spain and Portugal. All of the guides were knowledgeable, personable, and flexible. We loved every tour, and we learned a lot about each of the places we visited. Rather than just seeing things, we also had hands on experiences, like baking bread in one of the white villages. The drivers and guides were always punctual. I highly recommend Guided Portugal if you are visiting Spain or Portugal.
Jhi (US)
★★★★★
Emily organized a fantastic 8 day trip for my family of four. We had excellent communication from start to finish. Emily answered all our questions and helped us along the planning path. Great personal touches. We decided on a Portugal vacation and Emily added the wonderful bonus idea of the Azores. She went above and beyond to help us have a memorable family vacation with myself, husband and two high school aged teenagers. It was stress free and incredible. Walking food tours, bike rides, hikes, boat trips, scuba diving. You name it, we did it! She booked all of our accommodations too which were fantastic. All the local guides were top notch and punctual! Highly recommend her. No issues at all. Thank you!!
Portugal: Lisbon, Porto & Sao Miguel - Azores.
Brishel Family (US)
★★★★★
Emily provided us with an itinerary through Portugal and Spain. What distinguished our experience with them was their constant communication, guidance and support throughout the trip, AND that all tours were private, with our own private guides and drivers, always in a clean crisp Mercedes van for the four of us. They intervened on our behalf when we had serious issues with a hotel. We highly recommend!!
Bill (US)
★★★★★
Absolutely flawless job arranging our trip to Morocco, Spain, and Portugal! Our local guides were superb and the accommodations were incredible. The team was easy to contact and kept our travel worry-free. Highly recommend without hesitation!
KT Michtell (US)
★★★★★
We used Emily's team for our trip to Spain & Portugal. One week we were staying with a friend and the other they arranged the transport and hotels. We could not have been more pleased. They worked the planned excursions around our schedule. We were able to visit Spain, Morocco, Gibraltar, and Portugal while there. This was all within the budget we gave them. We highly recommend them for any travel needs in Spain and surrounding areas.
Jerry D (US)
★★★★★
We booked with Emily solely after reading these reviews for a 2 week trip to Portugal and southern Spain. Never met her prior. She and her team exceeded our expectations. Every detail of the trip went smoothly and her planning was perfect for our group. Lots of guided tours intermingled with just the right amount of free time. We challenged Emily and her team with 3 generations of travelers from 18 months to upper 60's and she handled our group perfectly with details such as baby seats in cars and cribs in hotel rooms. Our trip included Lisbon, Porto, Sevilla, and Madrid with day trips to Cordoba, Rhonda and and a small "white city." All in, we would highly recommend Emily and her team for any travel in Spain and Portugal. She also does Morocco but we didn't have time for that.
Gene Petrie (US)
★★★★★
Amazing! Great vacation, great time.
They handled everything for us. All transfers and tours were taken care of. We didn’t wait in lines. Whenever any issues arose. They solved them before we even knew about them. Can’t say what a pleasure it was to work with them, and to visit these beautiful countries! Worth, every penny! Priceless memories that even the beautiful pictures can’t describe enough. Especially loved the dinner we made at the cooking class in Barcelona and the balloon ride in Segovia. But everything was wonderful!
Todd Runyan (US)
★★★★★
One of the best vacations that we have ever had. The accommodations, activities, tour guides and drivers were top notch and the “flow” of the vacation from city, to sea and then country was perfection! In addition Elisa was extremely organized, provided a summary every morning/evening and was always available. We will definitely use them again
Jennifer Bennett (US)
★★★★★
Emily and Jorge are the absolute best hosts! Sweet, knowledgeable, and fun people, would book a tour with them without hesitation!
Russel Yu (US)
★★★★★
Deciding on a private tour operator is always fraught with uncertainty especially if it is one found on the internet without any first hand recommendations. Nevertheless, Emily and her team exceeded our expectations. If our experience is anything to go by, you can be sure to expect excellent services and speedy responses.
We completed a 12-day tour of the Iberian Peninsula over the Christmas period. The process started early and through regular dialog settled on starting in Barcelona and ending in Lisbon. In between Emily managed to include Girona, Grenada, Valencia, Malaga, Gibraltar, Sevilla, Jabugo (to learn about Jamon) and Evora. It was a celebration of Spanish and Portuguese food as we feasted for almost two weeks.
She even found us a nice hotel to chill on Christmas Day. Transfers were well organised with friendly and safety-conscious drivers. Local (knowledgeable and passionate) guides showed us their home cities. It was a crash course in the history, culture and traditions of the various areas through the eyes of experts.
Were there the occasional hiccups? Sure there were but nothing that couldn’t be solved by Emily and Manuel, who must be glued to their phones the whole time as any questions were usually very quickly answered.
So, if you are interested in a bespoke private tour of the Iberian Peninsula and/or Morocco, Emily should be your first point of contact! Let her worry about arranging logistics, booking hotels and seeking good and knowledgeable local guides.
James C (US)
★★★★★
We are experienced world travelers, and the 35-day private tour designed and executed by Emily was our best ever. We toured Portugal, Spain, Morocco, and Paris in May-June 2022. Every detail was managed professionally and timely by Emily and her staff. Daily communications with us were the norm. We have never been treated so personally in our other overseas travels. We highly recommend touring with this company.
Tom & Family (US)
★★★★★
Had a wonderful experience with the tours in Portugal. The guides , John Luis, and Nuno were terrific. Each one had excellent ideas about local attractions, were flexible and had an incredible knowledge of the country. Do not hesitate to use this company. Five stars, top notch professional services. Use them, you’ll be happy you did.
Bill B (US)
★★★★★
My husband and I just returned from a 16 day tour of Spain and Portugal planned by Emily. It was truly a memorable, fascinating and relaxing trip! We had wonderful local guides and drivers that really made the different cities and towns come alive. Everyday, we received a text on WhatsApp that told us the time our driver or local guide would pick us up and the attractions that we would be seeing that day. It took all the stress out of our journey with no last minute cramming of the tourist guide book. Our guides always had the tickets with jump the line privileges so we never waited in line at crowded sites. We spent 2-3 nights at each town so the pace was active but very doable. We had a good amount of free time that balanced well with planned activities. It made for an extremely enjoyable trip that I would highly recommend.
Jill G (US)
★★★★★
Meet Our Founder & Owner
Hello! I’m Emily Matthews, tour director at Private Portugal Tours.
After working as a guide for several years, the arrival of my wonderful children has seen me build our agency, where I now channel my energy into crafting personalized custom tours across Portugal, Spain & Morocco’s diverse regions.
Our team of tour planners and officially licensed guides is delighted to offer their local insight and knowledge to deliver bespoke itineraries and seamless experiences for your Vacation. We look forward to getting to know you and creating memories you will cherish for a lifetime.
Contact Your Portugal Private Tour Specialist
Interested in learning more about our exceptional guided tours of Portugal? All you need to do is drop our team an online inquiry below.
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Call our team
US: +1 (240) 540-5240
Example Itineraries in Portugal You Might Like
Our tour itineraries help you explore the best of Portugal and beyond, and our expert tour planners are standing by to customize one of these trips to you and your private group.