Portugal Discovery, Self-drive

Traveler Reviews

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  Melissa

  April 2nd, 2026
  We had a wonderfully immersive and scenic 8 days throughout Portugal! However there are 2 very important details...
  We had a wonderfully immersive and scenic 8 days throughout Portugal! However there are 2 very important details that were not provided to by Tour Radar. 1. Being previously unfamiliar with being in Europe it would have saved us a lot of initial stress if we were given some basic instruction on the car’s operation, for example: how to get the gear shifter into reverse. There was zero information that you needed to pull up the shifter knob before getting it into reverse. The car rental stalls are so narrow it’s impossible to pull out of your stall and turn onto the parking garage path without having to pull ahead and back up multiple times in order to get out. I blocked traffic and had car horn blowing at me until a good samaritan came and showed me what to do. 2. Once on the road I became immediately aware that listening to Google Maps telling me the names of the roads I needed to drive on was almost useless. There are very few, if any, road/street signs in Portugal. Driving the highways was much better identified with road signs but they are heavily tolled. Once you exit the highway's you are left completely without any signs to indicate what road you need to follow because Google Maps most often only provides you the long Portuguese street names to follow however, there are no street signs to tell you what the road names are and there’s often multiple roads branching out from your exit. The only way I succeeded was to follow which way the arrow was pointing along the bard blue line on the Google Map on the car screen. This was truly the most annoying and continuously stressful part of the self driving experience in Portugal. Aside from these 2 experiences the rest of the trip was wonderful! 3: we were given a final itinerary of where each night’s hotels were located however, the only information provided on what to be sure to see or do was only provided in the initial travel description on the site when your looking for places to travel. Without that initial travel site information we would have been left with nothing. As it was I also had to Google a lot on what to see or experience in the areas we were in. So all being told, we saw many wonderful things and loved Portugal!! Lastly, absolutely buy the rental car insurance because Avis came up with 5 or 6 dings or scrapes that were never initially tagged prior to our rental and wiuld have cost us nearly $1,000 to repair. But our insurance covered all if it. By the way, I was an extremely careful driver and never encountered any of the issues Avis Rental Return noted upon our return.Show more
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  Traveled in March 2026
  

  Reply from: Destination Services Portugal

  Dear Kevin Thank you very much for your detailed feedback. We are delighted to hear that you had a wonderful experience exploring Portugal and truly appreciate you sharing these insights. We are sorry to learn about the challenges you faced with the car rental and navigation. We fully understand how stressful this must have been at the beginning of your journey. We will follow up with our partners to ensure clearer instructions are provided, and we will also review our pre‑departure information to better support future travelers with practical driving guidance. We also take note of your comments regarding the level of detail in the itinerary, and we will work on improving this to provide more comprehensive daily recommendations. Thank you as well for highlighting the importance of the insurance option — this is very valuable advice. We truly appreciate your feedback and are glad that, overall, you enjoyed your trip. We hope to welcome you again in the future for an even smoother experience. Kind regards, DS Portugal

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  Meegan

  September 21st, 2025
  The self discovery of Portugal certainly met our expectations. We saw so much & had a great time doing it. We only...
  The self discovery of Portugal certainly met our expectations. We saw so much & had a great time doing it. We only changed one thing on the proposed tour & that was the vehicle. When we got to the Avis, we had a long wait for service, to discover that the primary driver was the person who booked the car. This was not part of our plan. Secondly, the voucher was for a 7seater & we had it confirmed that we had a 9 seater booked. Initially Avis was not going to allow any changes. But I was able prove what our booking was & then they assisted us. Otchanges made to the itineraof meet & greet at the tour company.Show more
  Traveled in September 2025
  

  Reply from: Destination Services Portugal

  Thank you for sharing your experience. We’re delighted the self-discovery tour of Portugal met your expectations. We’re sorry for the inconvenience with the vehicle rental and appreciate you bringing it to our attention. Your feedback helps us improve coordination with our partners, and we will find out what happened this time We’re glad everything was resolved and hope to welcome you again soon! Warm regards, DS Portugal FB

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  Jill

  April 26th, 2024
  The accommodations, the sights, the roads were all fantastic, five star. But the time allowed at each stop was...
  The accommodations, the sights, the roads were all fantastic, five star. But the time allowed at each stop was insufficient and exhausting by the end of the 12 days. Some places we wanted more time at, but had to stay on driving schedule. Others we could have given a miss altogether.Show more
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  Traveled in February 2024
  

  Reply from: Destination Services Portugal

  Dear Jill. We appreciate you taking the time to give us your feedback. Your comments are very important to us as it help us work continuously in our services. Thank you so much for joining us on this adventure and we will redirect your comments to our team. Kindest regards! FB

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  Becky

  November 3rd, 2023
  The locations and hotels selected were excellent. At the last minute my husband ended up in a wheelchair for most of...
  The locations and hotels selected were excellent. At the last minute my husband ended up in a wheelchair for most of the trip. Once I mentioned it to the check-in staff they went above and beyond to accommodate our needs. Changing rooms so that he had a walk in shower, a room close to the elevator and assistance with luggage or whatever we needed. Thank you.Show more
  Traveled in September 2023
  

  Reply from: Destination Services Portugal

  Hello Becky, Thank you for your review! We are glad that the trip was to your liking and that both you and your husband were able to enjoy Portugal and its beautiful cities. We hope to see you soon on another of our tours. Best regards, RG.

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  Amanda

  July 1st, 2023
  Overall, we had a very nice trip. The itinerary is arranged well and includes good recommendations for places to stop...
  Overall, we had a very nice trip. The itinerary is arranged well and includes good recommendations for places to stop and points of interest to visit. The hotels are all owned by the same company called Vila Gale, and are all about what I expected for the price point – nice and comfortable with basic rooms – the one outlier was the Vila Gale Collection Alter Real, which was stunning! The one hiccup we had was that the car booked for us on arrival was a manual car, which none of us were able to drive. Apparently manual cars are much more common in Europe than in the U.S, and the only automatic cars available required an upgrade, which cost us another $1,400. JUST BE AWARE THAT THE DEFAULT CAR RESERVATION IS FOR AN ECONOMY SIZE, MANUAL CAR. Request an upgrade ahead of time if you need it. Pros of this trip: - Comfortable hotels - Nice itinerary with good suggestions on places to see (don't skip Evora, Tomar or Aveiro – Porto was our absolute favorite) - Independence (by self-driving, we avoided visiting points of interest with 40+ people getting off a tour bus together at the same time) Cons of the trip: - Hiccup with the manual car, no clear description of what kind of car was provided ahead of the trip outside of "category Y" - Hotels don't have shampoo/conditioner – only one "multi-purpose soap," which would have been good to know ahead of time so I could have brought my own - There are two separate nights in Coimbra, which our family felt was not the most interesting town. It helps break up the drive but is not nearly as scenic or interesting as Porto, Lisbon or even some of the smaller and quaint towns along the way. We had a very nice trip to Portugal overall.Show more
  Traveled in June 2023
  

  Reply from: Destination Services Portugal

  Hi amanda! We are glad that both the itinerary and the hotels were to your liking and that you could enjoy your vacation days in a country as beautiful as Portugal. Regarding the inconvenience suffered by the car, we are very sorry that you had to pay an extra amount to rent a manual car. The reservation includes the rental of a category Y car, although we can make a reservation change as long as it is before the trip, to another type of car for a supplement. We will try to let future passengers know from now on so they don't suffer the same inconvenience. We really appreciate your comment because it will help us to improve our services and thus be able to offer the best to our customers. We hope to see you again soon on our page. Have a nice day. Best regards, RG.

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  Rachael

  June 11th, 2023
  I’m still travelling and currently in the middle of Morocco with limited access to Internet. I need to provide some...
  I’m still travelling and currently in the middle of Morocco with limited access to Internet. I need to provide some feedback. The trip was great. The hotels were amazing. Getting the car was not a great experience. A 2-hr delay sitting in Herrz due to a “distribution issue” and no cars. Then when I was finally called it got rushed, no real opportunity to explore excess, given a full EV car that added a huge element of stress continually having to find charging stations and wait. The hotel ones charge slow and never fully. The maps stopped working on the 3rd last day and I had to turn on international roaming at a cost. Emailed Hertz when it happened. No response. The sat nav kept turning back to Portuguese. I navigated my way safely through 1200kms of crazy driving and roads and on the 2nd last day, leaving a hotel car park, the boot flew open and hit a concrete beam and damaged the boot. With no excess I’m yet to be informed re what this will cost me. Given I used the remote and buttons to open/close I do not feel responsible for this incident. I spent a lot of time writing a response in Portuguese and English re the incident but they didn’t want to hear about it when I dropped the car off. They said the 1 1/2 pages was too long. Other than that - I had an amazing trip. I’ll write a more detailed response when I get back. Thanks Rachael StephensonShow more
  Traveled in May 2023
  

  Reply from: Destination Services Portugal

  Hello Rachel, Thank you very much for your comment. We will send all your observations to the Hertz company and we are very sorry that you had so many difficulties when renting the car. For the rest, we are glad that you had a good trip and that the hotels and the itinerary were to your liking. We work so that our clients are as happy as possible and spend an unforgettable vacation. We hope to see you soon in one of our products. Thank you so much. Have a good day, Destination services.

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  Ted

  November 4th, 2022
  Great itinerary. Hotels were quite nice with breakfast included. Highways in Portugal may be the best in the world.
  Traveled in October 2022
  

  Reply from: Destination Services Portugal

  Hello, Ted! Thank you very much for your review. We are glad that you enjoyed your trip. We`re waiting for you soon back here. Have a nice day! Best regards, RG.

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  Aisoon

  November 24th, 2021
  Good not great could have been better
  Traveled in November 2021
  

  Reply from: Destination Services Portugal

  Thank you for your feedback, we are pleased to know that you had a nice time with us. Your review has been well noted and will look into improvements. You will be always Welcome to Portugal again. Regards, DS Portugal Team

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  nick

  September 1st, 2019
  The only problem was starting us with a car that was way too small. Would have appreciated a little more information...
  The only problem was starting us with a car that was way too small. Would have appreciated a little more information about the places to see, and other possible options if we so wished. Otherwise a great tripShow more
  Traveled in August 2019
  

  Reply from: Destination Services Portugal

  Thank you for your feedback. You will be always Welcome to Portugal again. Regards, DS Portugal Team

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