Kimkim Trip Reviews for Portugal

Great location, beautiful rooms, and lovely park nearby.

We had a great day! The guide/driver did a great job!

Great experience and guide

The guide was great - we had a great experience

The guide/driver did a great job! We really enjoyed the day! We really appreciated the walk up to the Palaces via the paths through the gardens - it was a bit of a walk-up hill, therefore not for everyone, but our small group really appreciated it! The only negative was that the tour of the Pena Palace was very crowed, we would have skipped tour of the inside of the Pena Palance and spent more time in Sentra.

Great location in Porto, staff was always so friendly and helpful. Room was well maintained and very quiet. The breakfast facility and quantity and quality of the food was great. Would definitely recommend this hotel and stay there again.

Hotel, though older, was excellent in character and quality. We were fortunate to have been upgraded to a mini-suite. The suite was great, plenty of room. Hotel is well maintained. Staff courteous and very friendly. Breakfast was excellent. Would definitely recommend it and stay there again.

Wonderful location a short distance from the old town but still a short walk. We were fortunate to have a marina view room with a small balcony. It was great just to sit on the balcony and enjoy the view. Breakfasts were great. Even has a rooftop pool and a rooftop terrace .

We were only there for about 12 hours as our train was late coming in and we needed to be at the airport in the early AM so it is hard to give a full rating. The room was nice, small, but very clean. The overhead shower did not work as the knob controlling it came out. Not a big problem as there was still a hand held shower head. I mentioned it on check-out and they would get it fixed.

A great learning and tasting experience. Our guide, Pedro, was very informative and we learned a lot about Port wine. A neat experience on the Gaia side of Porto.

Wonderful place to visit, quite crowded, but not as bad as during the summer. Once you got through part of the castle, it thinned out and you were able to wonder around easier. Beautiful and amazing place. We felt it was less over-the-top than a place like Schoennbrun outside Vienna. Felt very nice.

Sara was an outstanding guide. She really knows and loves her city and that was very apparent. We felt that we had a much better understanding of Porto beyond what the guidebooks/reviews give.

Ivo, our driver, gave us a wonderful experience on a day trip to the Douro valley. He asked us exactly what we would like to see and do. Our focus was to see the area, take the 1 hour boat trip, and get and overall perspective of what happens in the valley. We did not visit any wineries as that was not our focus. I am sure the Quintas would be lovely to visit but that was not our goal. He took us to some quaint areas, gorgeouse views of the valley area, and even stopped at one of the 5 locks so we could see how that functioned. A great day out of the city. The restaurant in Pinhao he recommended, the Veladouro, was great.

see review of the boat trip

Great walk of the Alfama and Biaxia areas of Lisbon. Margareda was an excellent guide give great perspectives on the city, the culture, and the people. She gave a great history of Lisbon of the pre and post 1755 earthquake happenings in the city.

We were fortunate to have a private tour, arranged by kimkim, with Fia as our guide. She was so informative about what we were experiencing and had a great knowledge of the area and the coastline.

A highlight not to be missed!

Very comfortable and situated in a walkable area to the downtown, to the stores and restaurants.

A wonderful stay, enjoyed our apartments, lots of character. Loved the gardens. We had access to the garden from our room.

A beautiful and historical bed and breakfast. A castle with 9 rooms., beautiful grounds, close by to the downtown of shops and restaurants.

We enjoyed this city tour. We learned a lot about Porto's history.

This was a great day! The Douro Valley is beautiful. We enjoyed our wine tasting experience.

This was a great day! The lunch was delicious. And after lunch we enjoyed having our personal wine with regular and port wines.

We enjoyed the tour of the winery. I knew nothing about port wine and enjoyed the wine tasting along with the cheese board we had with it.

We weren't really sure if we would enjoy this but I'm glad we went. The food was fine. Not the best but not bad either. I enjoyed watching and listening to the music.

Very good location on a pedestrian street within easy walk to Alfama.

Gorgeous setting with rooftop wine offerings daily. Easy walk to the University.

Lovely hotel but we were placed in an apartment two blocks away. It’s very comfortable but had no elevator and had none of the distinctive, historical charscter of the main facility

Great guide. Informative and provided a good overview of the city.

Less a food tour than a meal with stops at a nice local cafe- lunch place and for dessert. But guide is excellent.

Both palaces are architecturally wonderful The driver was great; the private tour of Pena Palace most welcome given the mass tourism at the site; the lunch overlooking the sea in Cascai was great, though we’d have liked forewarning and we’d not have booked a major dinner experience for that evening.

Wonderfully surprising. Great scenery and vistas with fascinating settlements.

Amazing library with viewing of auxiliary buildings. But, note, no pix allowed in the library!

We travelled to Porto on a Saturday and had not planned thinking of closures on Sunday and Monday. In retrospect, I’d plan the trip to limit time in cities on Mondays and Tuesdays when many restaurants and museums are closed. Kim Kim should advise travelers in advance.

Very informative

We saw and experienced a lot on this trip. Vasco was a very good guide.

We saw and did a lot but it was also a long day. A bit too long.

This is the oldest hotel in the Iberian Peninsula, rich in history and charm! We were delighted by our suite which was large and looked out onto the beautiful valley. The staff, especially Beatriz at the front desk, were so kind and gracious. We were pampered and loved every minute of our stay!

Beautiful renovated convent overlooking the central core of Tavira! We enjoyed a comfortable room with a balcony/terrace and found it to be a perfect place to enjoy a glass of port before heading into town for dinner. The weather was perfect, blue sky and warm, so we did manage to lounge by the swimming pool - and enjoyed our soft robes afterwards!

We had a comfortable room with a balcony overlooking the back garden which was a lovely place to relax after exploring the city all day. The staff are exceptional and very helpful. And the location is perfect. A very quiet place in the heart of the city!

A very comfortable room, spacious and clean. Not particularly fancy but had everything we needed. The breakfast was very good (best omelette of the trip!) and the front desk staff were exceptional, very pleasant and helpful. Only one issue came up and that wasn't the hotel's fault - because of the openness of the building layout, sound carries up. There was a group of very loud patrons drinking in the lounge until 3am on our first night and that likely kept most of the hotel awake!

Such welcoming staff! And a beautiful comfortable room that was very quiet! Each night we received a gift: a bottle of wine, pens, custom soap - so unexpected but truly made us feel appreciated. GREAT location as well! And the staff were helpful in steering us in the right direction when we headed to Belem!

Peaceful and beautiful! One of our favourite places during our trip. The location in the heart of the Douro Valley is spectacular! We would have loved more time to relax and enjoy the pool so next time, we'll stay an extra night! The grounds are beautiful, and the wine is delicious. They have an Honour's Fridge where you can help yourself to either the estate white or red wine. Please note, however, that there is no welcome glass of wine when you arrive as the app suggested. They do have a meal service - a choice of cold meat salads, side salad, excellent desserts, bread, cheese and charcuterie. Wine is extra but very reasonably priced. We ate in the garden both nights and it was so special!

This was our first tour and we got off to a great start with Dani, our lovely guide! We not only got a fantastic history lesson about the different areas of Lisbon, but we sampled some of the most delicious delicacies which I never would have guessed were part of the Lisbon food scene - not just delicious charcuterie, but samosas, burrana sandwiches (my husband's favourite), and, of course, Pasteis de Nata! Lots of good beer and wine too! A great afternoon!

Our guide, Joao, was one of the most articulate and interesting young men we met on our trip. His knowledge of Portuguese history and love of his home town, Porto, really stood out for us. We felt like he genuinely wanted to get to know us and understand our country as well as sharing what life is like in Portugal. It was a lovey exchange of ideas and perspectives. And the food at the market was fantastic! Again, very generous portions of charcuterie, main courses, desserts - and three types of vinho verde! Who knew there were so many variations. We finished with Pastel de Nada and a lovely Muscatel! Truly a memorable afternoon!

Our driver, Paulo, was much more than a driver! He should be a tour guide! At each stop, he encouraged us to take our time and told us about things we should look out for! As a result, we got to spend time in Obidos early in the day, before the major tours arrived, and we got to walk the ramparts with virtually no people in our way! It was wonderful! Paulo also took us to see some sites that were not on the "tour" but were on the way to Nazare, so we enjoyed beach views that were less crowded than those in Nazare itself.

Our driver, Miguel, was charming and really helped us to understand the power of Fado. The experience at the Fado restaurant was wonderful, great food and the singers were amazing, such deep sonorous voices. My husband managed to get some wonderful video so we can be reminded of the experience now that we are home!

Fascinating area and our guide, Paulo, was so knowledgeable! We really appreciated seeing a sight that is literally off the beaten track - the road to get there was quite a challenge! And as a result, we had the place to ourselves! Fantastic!

More time with Paulo, this time walking through the fascinating city of Evora. Paulo made each era of history come alive ! Later, we enjoyed drinking the very generous samplings of wine at the wine cellar. The wines of were all excellent and very different than the Douro wines we had sampled earlier in the trip.

This was a very full day! Our guide and tuk-tuk driver, Federico, was a lovely young man who provided us with lots of information and took us all over Sintra and beyond! If we had it to do over again, we would probably have skipped the Pena Palace - too many people and more interesting to look at from afar than from inside. Federico did take us to the Chalet on the Pena property - this was lovely and there were very few people there. The Regaleiria was much more interesting due to the beautiful gardens and the initiation well. And our highlight of the day was the visit to Capo de Roca, the western tip of Europe! Going there by tuk-tuk was so much fun and it was a great place to take in the marvel of the ocean - great photo ops!

We really enjoyed the Convent of Christ in Tomar but found the Fatima part was not of as much interest. We would have been happy to skip that entirely and spend most of the time in Tomar.

Really enjoyed our boat trip along the Douro. It was a beautiful afternoon and being on the river helped us to appreciate how immense it is! The port wine tasting afterward was very special - we learned so much about port during the tour and really enjoyed tasting the three very different offerings. We, of course, purchased some to take with us!

Once we sorted out where we were supposed to be to start the hike, it went well! Our guide, David, was great and took us on a moderate hike into the hills above Regua. We really enjoyed the vistas and learned a lot about living in the area.

Very interesting subject matter and I learned a lot during our time with Nuno. I did find him to be a bit aloof and at times, a bit crude - not sure if this was due to language issues or not. He did spend extra time with us and gave us some good recommendations re: restaurants and shops.

We enjoyed visiting the farm, learning about what they produce and cooking our meal! Will definitely be making a couple of the dishes here at home, especially the carrots! Anna was a very good instructor, gave us the experience of getting involved and learning about key ingredients in Algarve cuisine.

We loved having a day to ourselves to explore the Islas da Tavira! Wonderful time playing in the waves and enjoying beer and seafood at the outdoor restaurants along the beach boardwalk. A real highlight of our trip.

The Roman ruins are fascinating! It is hard to believe that they are so old but so well preserved. The mosaic floors are incredible. Our guide gave us detailed information about the history and context so we were able to get a good idea of life in that city.

The villages were really interesting - but we did not have enough time to see all 3 villages so we had to skip one. We did not have enough time to fully explore the pottery shop and we never sampled local honey or liquors as promised in the activity description.

This was not worth doing. Would not recommend it.

We enjoyed the museum but the town itself was a huge disappointment. It is old and run down. The train station is under construction so we couldn’t visit it. The town is basically a tourist trap for the river cruise passengers. All of the restaurants are the same and many were closed on Monday and Tuesday. The inn where we stayed was nice but overall I wish we stayed at a winery farther outside the city.

This was a fantastic experience! We enjoyed both wineries and especially appreciated having Vasco as our guide. He was able to tell us about the family winery and the history of the area. It was great to taste the port out of the barrel and to meet all the pets. The vinho verde winery was also beautiful and the wine was excellent. We ended up buying wine from both vineyards.

The history of the University was really interesting and Sara Cruz was a fantastic guide- highly recommend using her for all of your tours. She was a student and is so knowledgeable! I wish we had more time to visit the library and the science buildings. Would suggest extending this to a full day tour to accommodate those other points of interest.

We enjoyed touring the castle and the cathedral, but the best part was the archaeological museum visit and the wine tasting.

Our stay at the Mercure Porto Centro Aliados was outstanding. The hotel was a hidden gem with a simple exterior but a lovely interior featuring a lobby bar and a large courtyard with a pool and garden. It was located downtown, yet the courtyard provided a peaceful retreat. I enjoyed spending time there, and the overall experience was excellent.

The AlmaLusa Baixa & Chiado hotel in Lisbon was disappointing. The rooms were very small and needed some maintenance. Although the location was decent, the view was ruined by construction fences. We also had trouble getting a late checkout, which was inconvenient. Overall, I would not stay there again.

The Cascade Wellness Resort in Lagos was a wonderful place to stay. It felt like a resort rather than a boutique city hotel. We had a suite with two separate areas, which was perfect for us. The hotel was expensive but worth it, especially since it helped us relax when one of us wasn't feeling well. The location and amenities were excellent.

The Meliá Lisboa Aeroporto hotel was nice and very close to the airport, which was convenient for our early morning flight. The hotel's proximity helped reduce some of that stress.

Our guide for the Private Pena Palace & Sintra Village Half-Day Trip was fantastic. He didn't just give a tour of the palace but also filled in many blanks during the travel to and from the palace. We had great conversations about the palace, the city, the country, government, and economy. He was very knowledgeable and good-natured, which made the experience very enjoyable.

The Private Douro Valley Hike was a highlight of our trip. We walked about twelve kilometers through the beautiful countryside with hillsides, vineyards, and historical sites. The guide shared a lot of interesting information about the area, the vineyards, and the local history. It was a great day and a wonderful way to experience the Douro Valley.

The Private Douro & Vinho Verde Wine Tasting was enjoyable, especially the first vineyard we visited which was a small family-run operation with beautiful settings. We learned a lot and enjoyed their wines. The second stop at the Vinho Verde was pleasant but less impressive, and since we don't drink much wine, it was less memorable. Overall, it was a nice experience.

The private river cruise was good and relaxing. Although we were a bit disappointed that we couldn't see the bridge built by the same company as the Eiffel Tower because the boat's mast was too tall to pass under the first bridge. The cruise stayed in the same area, but the crew was good and the food and wine provided were fine. Overall, it was an enjoyable experience.

Lovely and convenient location.

Beautiful location on the River.

Great location and friendly staff.

Very good accommodations, friendly staff, and centrally located

Hotel is central location to the beach nearby for walking distance and also walking distance to center city of Lagos, can walk or quick uber ride. Has good sunset views from the hotel trail. The front staff is friendly and helped with flower arrangements for my wife, however the overall state of the hotel does not appear to be on par with the other accommodations we have stayed at through Kim Kim. The hotel advertises as a 5 start hotel but really it is a 3 start hotel. Also, the housekeeping and room service staff is very rude.

Overall very nice hotel and accommodations, the welcome refreshments that were in our hotel room had hair in it, we ordered room service from Rocco restaurant that is associated with the hotel, the food had hair in it. Twice had hair in our food.