Spain and Portugal - Paradors of Northern Spain

Tity

My husband and I are traveling with Tauck for the first time starting in Lisbon on September 4, 2015 and then connecting to Paradors of North Spain on September 18, 2015. Since this is our first trip with Tauck and first visit to Portugal and Spain we would appreciate any suggestion with regards to tours outside Tauck are a must see.

Any readers of this note on either of these tours.

[Deleted User]

I am doing the Paradors in April and will likely post a review on return, but as far as must sees I would recommend the Gulbenkian Gallery in Lisbon. One of the best I have ever seen.

Fly Wagon

Tity we're departing Barcelona on the Sep 16th Paradors tour. This too will be our first trip with Tauck—or any other tour company for that matter. We've traveled a lot, all over the northern hemisphere, So. Africa and Namibia (a self-drive safari), and much of Europe, but never have we been led along. I'll be interested in seeing what responses you get on this thread.

Allen R.

vivamus

Tity: I so enjoyed the Northern Paradors tour in 2013. Great variety of natural scenery, great food, culture, etc. I stayed a day extra in Lisbon at end of trip and coupled off with another of the Tauck group to take a day tour to Sintra. Amazing! Great old castles. Scenic near the sea. UNESCO sites. If you pick up any travel book, google, or even just wikipedia, you will find reference to Sintra's great historic sites. We took a private tour through Lux Invicta and saw a couple of palaces, castles, and gardens. It was a very full day -- with lots of walking -- but one that I would not have missed. Lux Invicta had high trip advisor ratings and the guide for the 3 of us (I was solo) spoke understandable English and had a clean, modern vehicle to comfortably take us around. He picked us up and dropped us off at our hotel. I can recommend them highly. We did not have time to go to the coastal towns as we preferred to focus on the historic sites in Sintra, but there are tours that couple Sintra with coastal towns, but because we did not go, I cannot say whether that was better or not. I did not check if Viator offers tours to that area. .... The Northern Paradors tour is really great and if you have time to watch the movie "the way" before you leave, it will get you in the mood for the trip.

And to Fly Wagon who is also taking this trip, I want to say that I went on my first Tauck trip in 2008. My husband had died and we had travelled quite a bit independently and honestly the idea of taking a group tour was not too appealing to me. But I wanted to go to Scandinavia and was not sure I wanted to deal with all that needs to be dealt with putting a trip together. I so booked with Tauck and really enjoyed the thoughtfulness of the tour, time to explore on one's own, convenient comfortable hotels, informative tour guides who really make for a rich experience. I am now hooked on Tauck. I have completed (I think) 7 Tauck tours all overseas and have 2 more booked for this year. If you are used to making your own arrangements, relax as Tauck takes care of it. They 'design' a great tour so that you get to enjoy a variety of things -- history, culture, food, natural beauty, creature comforts. ....and you do meet some of the nicest people as travel companions.

joycesw

Since we will be embarking on our 14th trip abroad with Tauck next year, I want to reassure you that this is the VERY best way to travel and vacation!! I will spare you the cheerleader portion on my rant, although, it has convinced numerous friends of ours to jump on the "Tauck Bandwagon" for leisure travel! This is not a budget organization, and you will love the people you meet, the places you stay, the immersion in a local culture, and the ease of travel. But, I digress. If you check through the thread for this trip, I recommend two great activities, outside of Tauck's itinerary, for both Barcelona and San Sebastian. We took Tapas (Pintxos in San Sebastian) and wine tours in each city and loved both! It was a great way to see the city by foot, to mingle with the locals and to learn how to order tapas and pintxos, a must in both cities!

Tity

Many thanks to joycesw, vivamus, Fly Wagon and whw for comments and suggestions. Whw, looking forward to you comments after Paradors tour next month.

mazalea

Hi, Tity -- Dennis and I are on the first part of your tour, and arrive in Lisbon a day early. At the end, we are adding days in Barcelona. I know we go to Sintra on our tour, and not sure how much else they would cover there. HAve you found any walking tours of Lisbon? Or the much-talked about wine tour? We are very excited about this trip. We have traveled with Tauck before, including a wonderful excursion to Australia and New Zealand in January and February. Great company! Maryanne