Perfect Portugal & Southern Spain - 14 days

The tour was fabulous .. Maritsia was so funny & made the trip for us & Antonio was an incredible driver .. how he managed in those busy small streets was a constant source of amazement.

The tour was fantastic, and we had enough time at all the places we visited. Our tour manager David was very kind and helpful and generous with his time. Our bus driver Andreas was also great and very skilled at his job. The local city tour guides were all very knowledgeable and friendly. The accommodation was good and mostly walkable to the main attractions and every hotel had great breakfasts. We enjoyed the 3 dinners we had with the group including the Fado and Flamenco shows. The meal at the Fado dinner was a little ordinary but otherwise all was well.

Overall, hotels were very good. But two: hotel in Fatima (I believe Estrela de Fatima) had severe odor problems in the rooms and the hotel in Lisbon (I believe VIP Executive Entrecampos) was horrendous on crowds at breakfast - total chaos and overcrowding; also more focused on Portuguese speakers.

We were disappointed with the location of our hotels. The hotels were away from the main areas we wished to visit and required us to either catch a taxi or some other transport to get back to our hotel at the end of the day. Only 2 of the hotels were close to the main tourist attractions. The hotels were generally a very good standard. We felt the tour leader could have provided more information on things to look at in our allotted free time, instead it required research by ourselves on the internet either before arriving at each location or while we were actually at the town. The tour leader would read a small amount from his phone giving facts about each town before we arrived at every town. It sounded like he was just reading from Wikipedia. We were told to "go and wander" in our free time. The tour leader was a great guy, but we felt he could have given more practical tips on different options on eating out. Perhaps more optional tours could be offered to make better use of free time. One of the nights included a dinner while watching a Fado show. The "fish" dinner was hardly edible, and the service was very slow, so much so that we had to quickly gulp down desert, so our bus driver didn't go over his hours of driving for the day. Our bus driver did an amazing job weaving his way through the traffic and parking in some very tight spaces. This was our second On the Go tour and I think it may be the last!

I loved Amaya our guide, she was thoughtful, helpful and shared loads of information with us. I was very surprised to find out that this was not operated by ‘On the go’. I was not happy about going to Carcares. It seemed like this was just to pick up extra people.

Both Alex our guide and Lorenzo our bus driver were good and always prepared to answer any questions or help . Some feedback though 1. Sightseeing in Madrid - a lot of it is on the bus . Plus no introductions between group members until after the tour and us the guests ourselves introduced ourselves to each other . 2. Hotel in Madrid whilst lovely to far from Centre of town . Plus original trip notes indicated it would be centrally so disappointing.. 3. The town guide in Toledo wasn’t very informative and the walk was extremely slow, making it uninteresting for all . So not sure if required . Furthermore if this is going to continue it should be done when we first arrive , not after our 2.5 hrs of free time ., 4. Dinner in Lisbon with Faldo show was not very good . Many of the group also commented on it , plus dessert not served before we left as they were behind schedule. 5. Would have preferred to stay in Nazaré instead of Fátima , but understand driving restrictions may be the concern with this . Others in group also said the same thing . 6. Hotel in Seville was outstanding. Otherwise enjoyable trip with lots of own time to explore

Great tour overall. Improvements to consider - There was no orientation meeting. The Douro river cruise was overcrowded, raining and we did not know about the audio tour. The Fado dinner was awful (no choices given). More time in Rhonda.

Overall we enjoyed the tour very much. The cities on the Itinerary were generally very interesting. Local guides for local tours were very good except for Madrid which was poorly done. However, several highlights on the tour required additional onsite charges. . Most afternoons were free time and we were given the choice of returning to the hotel or being dropped off in city and making our own way back. It would have been helpful if we were provided a suggested list of points of interest for the free time. Transport was via bus, it was comfortable, included WiFi, and was driven by a very capable and knowledgeable driver. The tour guide was cheerful, talkative, knowledgeable, and ensured that the tour operated on time and without any problems. However, this was an English language tour and the tour company should have provided a guide with better English skills.

Our guide, ryhad was great. The local guides also did a nice job on the tours. The bus driver, Antonio did a marvelous job. The bus was clean and comfortable. All the hotels we stayed at were very nice. The locations could have been better or closer to the points of interest.

Driver was awesome. We didn’t have a guide, we had a tour director which meant we were plonked in the main square and told to explore. Fado night food/service was appalling, fish stew full of bones and no taste. Accom at Fátima terrible, small double bed, feet hung off and roll away single bed.