Request Your Free Digital Brochure for Adventure Inspiration. Order Now

All activities
No results found
Select all activities Culture Cycling Family Mixed-Activity Multi-Country Holidays Polar Walking & Trekking Wildlife Holidays Winter Holidays
All months
March 2024 April 2024 May 2024 June 2024 July 2024 August 2024 September 2024 October 2024 November 2024 December 2024 January 2025 February 2025 March 2025 April 2025 May 2025 June 2025 July 2025 August 2025 September 2025 October 2025 November 2025 December 2025
Ask a Question
Turtle, Ecuador

Reviews

Your Words – We tell it like it is! Holiday Reviews by previous Exodus travellers  

Here at Exodus we thrive on feedback from our customers. It’s the only way we can ensure our trips continue to be the best they can be. So, for the real tales, twists and turns of the trip you’re interested in, look no further than the reviews from our previous travellers.

Simply use the selector below to search our trip reviews and start reading real feedback from real Exodus travellers who have ‘been there and done that’!

Lots of our clients also like to post handy tips and advice about their travels. It’s great to know what to expect on an Exodus adventure before you go, so make the most of their experience and you’ll make the most of yours!

Haven’t posted your review yet? Here’s how to do it…

Once you return from your Exodus adventure holiday, you will be emailed a link to add your review. Any feedback collected is posted onto our website, totally unedited.

Alternatively you can navigate to the relevant trip page and add your review via the Reviews tab.

Reviews

Sample of the cities of Northern Portugal

This trip covered the cities with the most attractions and sights in Northern Portugal. Our guides Catarina and Marianna were wonderful and caring. Both spoke perfect English and shared a lot of historical information. Both were always available on WhatsApp during our free time. The tour allowed us to see many cities in just one week. We were kept on the move from city to city, but there was plenty of free time. The old towns were so interesting and unique. Strolling on the stone sidewalks and glancing at the tiled buildings is a memory I will never forget. Sintra’s palace and gardens were also a highlight. The wine tastings were very enjoyable. Portugal’s food is incredible and I tried many new dishes. I combined this trip with Walking Portugal’s Coasts and Beaches, which made a perfect holiday of historic sights and coastal beach scenery.

Most Inspirational Moment

Having lunch in the Duoro Valley in a winery staring at the vineyards and sampling wines

Thoughts on Group Leader

Marianna and Catarina are the two nicest guides I've ever had! They were extremely caring. Both were very knowledgeable about the sights & history. I do wish they were with us more often. I would have liked them to accompany us to dinner on more nights.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Wear comfortable walking shoes with good traction. There is the potential for a lot of walking in the cities during your free time. The polished stone sidewalks get slippery if it rains. Add on at least one day in Porto at the beginning and at the end in Lisbon. There is so much to see in both cities.

Suggestions

Needed less time in Obidos and more time in Sintra. Make Obidos just an hour's visit, then push on to Sintra. I was upset because there are four major sites in Sintra and we only had time for two. The hotel in Obidos was damp and dark; I couldn't wait to leave.

Comments from Dave and Mary

Good introduction to central Portugal. Moving on after one night at each location quite tiring. Extra time at each end of Porto and Lisbon necessary to give the cities justice. Could do with more time in Douro valley to enjoy the benefits of the hotel and location.

Most Inspirational Moment

Douro valley hotel and location was exceptional.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Excellent, although sometimes more information would be of benefit.

Advice for Potential Travellers

See summary.

Not Recommended

I had heard a lot of great things about Exodus. However, the local company in Portugal did not live up to expectations. This was a fast-moving tour. We were in a different city (sometimes 2) each day and the guides did not give us the best of each city. Instead, we spent an hour (of the precious 3 hours we had each day) in a a cafe! One can assume this is because THEY needed a break. There was so much to see and we wandered aimlessly. It became a joke that when they would tell us how beautiful something was in a particular city, that meant we were not going to see it. I mean, who is going to be back to visit anytime soon. Also, their knowledge was not up to par. When we were visiting the Monastery in Batalha, there were these portraits on the wall and I asked who they were and the response I received were “they are not significant.” REALLY? I’ve been in enough churches in Europe to know that EVERYTHING has significance! The knowledge of these guides was so awful, it was almost comical. I realize new people have to be trained, but they should not be trained at our expense, as this was an expensive trip. They should pay their dues as local guides, giving local tours so they can learn how to be guides. These women were absolutely terrible. I felt like a friend had offered to show me Portugal and given their limited knowledge, that would have been exactly what I got – limited knowledge. But, I paid for this trip. And so did others. And we paid handsomely. Also, the nightly meetings were stupid. Just post an itinerary. No one wants to be in a meeting after a long day. The trip to Sintra was a disaster. They left us without coming up there with us. They should have been with us. We had no idea where to go or what we were looking at – we needed a guide! Plus, the whole issue with having to pay 12..50 more for the bus was really stupid. We all felt very nickled and dimed. That should have been handled much differently. Do not use Exodus for this particular tour in Portugal. You will regret it. It is far too expensive for what you get. You would be better off going on your own. You would see more and learn much more. They also weren’t very good about keeping tabs on the group. They didn’t wear logo’d clothing or have a flag or anything. We mostly kept track of each other to be sure no one was left behind – isn’t that their job?? And most of the restaurant recommendations were horrible. Very unimpressed.

Most Inspirational Moment

NONE

Thoughts on Group Leader

Terrible, uninformed, ditzy

Advice for Potential Travellers

Do not book this particular tour with Exodus. Perhaps other local companies are better, but this one is not worth your hard earned money

Suggestions

No.

Review Centre
Reply from Exodus

We would like to thank Stacey for taking the time to leave a review, although we are very sorry to read of her disappointment with several aspects of her trip to Portugal. At Exodus we take the roles of our tour leaders very seriously and provide each one with comprehensive training before they are assigned to lead our tours; for this departure, Stacey’s group was led by our experienced leader Carlos, who receives very positive feedback from our clients, as well as Catarina, who has led alongside him on past trips with success. While they were accompanied by a trainee leader who was shadowing this trip to gain experience, we have not found on previous departures that similar arrangements have detracted from our clients’ experience, as our regular leaders guide these trips as normal.

We would note, having reviewed the feedback forms from clients on Stacey’s departure, that the majority of respondents rated both the itinerary of the tour and their overall trip experience as being either ‘Good’ or ‘Excellent’. Further, the general feedback we received from the group about Carlos praised him as helpful and knowledgeable, and mentioned that Catarina was a personable and enthusiastic leader. We do, of course, continually monitor all our leaders’ performances to ensure they meet our high standards, but from the feedback we have received on this occasion we are confident that Carlos and Catarina led this trip effectively. However, we understand that this does not reflect Stacey’s experience, which we very much regret.

We are further apologetic that Stacey did not appreciate the free day in Sintra; we find from experience that our clients often like to explore this location at their own pace, and from previous feedback we have obtained about this tour we find that this excursion is generally very well received. However, we understand that some other group members from Stacey’s departure mention in feedback they have submitted that they would have preferred some guidance on-site in Sintra in addition to information provided by our leaders beforehand, and we are considering making a change in this regard to improve customer experience.

While we feel confident that this trip provides an enjoyable and insightful tour of Portugal for our customers based on the feedback we continue to receive from our groups, we would once again like to express our regret that Stacey was left disappointed, and will of course closely bear her comments in mind going forward.

– Emma Cambers, Exodus Product Manager

Portugal at a glance

A very busy trip with not very much free time.

Most Inspirational Moment

I loved Porto even though it was very busy with tourists. The included lunch at the port winery overlooking the Douro and Teda rivers was excellent with plenty of vegetarian options and nice wines. The tour beforehand was entertaining.

Thoughts on Group Leader

We had Carlos Santos and Flavio as our leaders/drivers. They were both efficient, friendly, helpful and safe drivers. Carlos took me to a late night chemist when I needed some medication for a bad cough. He did this when we were actually settling into the restaurant for dinner - we still got back in time to eat! Flavio would always find out answers if he didn't know the answer immediately. We had a very enjoyable group dinner on Thursday with both of them as this was the last evening they would have been with us. The food was good - lots of veggie choices - Carlos played guitar and we all sang along. One small criticism is that some of the evening briefings were rather long.

Advice for Potential Travellers

I have raised this issue with Exodus already. The group flight home is very late. We were collected from our hotel in Lisbon at 5 p.m. on Saturday afternoon and I walked into my house at 1 a.m. on Sunday morning. Exhausting. I would have liked a bit more time to look round Obidos. We were there for two nights but went to Sintra to visit the Pena Palace and the Moorish Castle. Pena Palace was extremely busy, it took about an hour to get in and then you just had to shuffle round due to the amount of people inside.

Suggestions

Although the hotel Douro Scala (Mesao Frio) is in a lovely position overlooking the vineyards, the bedrooms were rather 'tired' and there is not really a proper bar area so that you bought your drinks in the restaurant and took them out onto the terrace overlooking the pool. Finding vegetarian meal options was sometimes challenging. Carlos always made sure that the restaurants he recommended (or where we had group dinners) served veggie options but sometimes this was limited to one dish and not always very good. It was more of a challenge when we were on our own. Some restaurants had no veggies options at all.

Highlights of Portugal

Although described as a fast paced tour(which it was), it was a good introduction to visiting Portugal with many highlights as well as vising some lesser known parts. As someone who had not been to Portugal before and as it is so easy to get to from the UK, it was a taster for maybe visiting the country again and exploring other regions.

Most Inspirational Moment

With all these tours, it is difficult to highlight just one moment that was inspirational, especially on a short tour like this. Lisbon was very inspiring especially as we stayed on for an extra 3 days as was our short stay in the village of Ferraria de Sao Joao.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Goncalo was an excellent guide who always made sure we were away early to avoid the worst of the crowds. This was particularly important in the case of the Pena Palace in Sintra. He explained the history of the various sites very concisely which kept our interest and he would always try to accommodate any of our requests.

Advice for Potential Travellers

The Fado evening was very good indeed being in a small establishment in the Alfama district of Lisbon so was not only authentic but was a very pleasant farewell evening, Strongly recommended. Also, I would certainly recommend staying on in Lisbon for some extra days as there is so much to do and see and the atmosphere is very appealing.

Suggestions

We didn't have many local guides on this trip but mention should be made of the excellent young lady who guided us round the Douro Museum in Peso da Regua. Her command of English and the clarity of her voice as well as her interest in what she was conveying to us was a model of how a guide should be.