Porto till Lissabon självguidad cykeltur

Overall fantastic organization, highly responsive over one week, hiking, biking, additional activities. The tour was individual designed for a group of 8 people, luggage transfer during the tour, hotels, restaurants, winery tour, full service package. "Ana" was amazing, highly supportive and 24/7 available. Work with Ana and you get the best time ever.

In September when I did a search of cycle touring companies running a self-guided tour in southern Europe over Christmas and New Year, only Authentic Trails came up. Thank goodness it did! Starting in September, Teresa answered all my questions, booked us extra days in Lisboa and Porto, switched some hotels to suit my requests, booked transfers, and took care of all the details. We chose e-bikes because my 72-year-old fitness level and potentially stormy head winds could have left us on the road til after dark. From a special New Year's Eve dinner, seven comfortable hotels, a touristy fun boat ride in Aveiro, two welcome transfers en route, helpful route details, ferry times, restaurant suggestions, and the relief of being picked up after long flights from Vancouver, Canada, the trip was all arranged for us so we could just enjoy our adventure. When we needed a farmacia that was open on a New Year's Day, Teresa ably sent us a link and solved our little glitch. She was always speedily responsive and graciously helpful. The bikes worked ably without glitches, each hotel kindly helped us store them safely, and even helped remove the heavy batteries when we had trouble. I had expected to receive the route details earlier than the morning we set off. Many companies do that with bike fitting the night before. Some companies send the link to the route app days in advance. This would have helped us prep for the first day, and been primed to ask clarifying questions. We didn't know that not one but TWO transfers were actually built into our route if we wanted to avoid long boring mileage through sandy scrublands. Our lovely driver Rui told us that he was at our disposal for a shuttle, if needed, not just on the 89 km day we had been told about. Last, we needed the recommendation to bring phone holders with us: we wasted an hour in Gaia trying to buy one, to no avail. The Ride with GPS app is fabulous (we've used it with other companies). A phone holder is key to ease and safety of phone use. This lack of a holder came up in another review so it's not just me. Book a self-guided cycle tour with Authentic Trails and know that you are in good hands! And enjoy the wonderful people of Portugal!

Nice bikes, scenic and enjoyable route, easily and happily accommodated our different start date (with their advertised fee), good attention to detail, nice hotels. Easy to communicate with via WhatsApp. They provided mini tools, spare tires, patch kit, helmets, bike lock, mini pump, handlebar and pannier bags, reflective vests(which we didn’t wear), preloaded Garmin gps, and a phone navigation app with route loaded. Hotels that we stayed at were nicer than we expected. When the ferry was broken they provided alternative transportation. They also threw in several nice surprises. A few things to note: using the phone for navigation drains battery. I was very happy that I had a portable battery. The phone experience is much better than the provided GPS. We used the phone and kept the gps as backup. There were a few slight differences between the roads and the route but nothing a little examination of the terrain and Google maps didn’t easily overcome. Lots of the route is on bike path. They provide a set of tickets that IS the itinerary. I didn’t realize that at first and asked several times for an itinerary. There were two ferry crossings on this route which you will need money for.