Guided tour of Lisbon included in the tour price

We traveled to Portugal from 09/29/12 to 10/13/12 from the Soleans Travel tour operator. The tour was combined "2 days in Lisbon + 12 days on the Algarve coast".

We had 2 days to get acquainted with Lisbon and its environs, and then we went by fast train to the southern coast of Portugal, the Algarve, to Porches, the resort town of Armacao da Pera, which is 20 km from the tourist center of Albufeira. We rested at the Pestana Vicing 4 * hotel. The hotel is very good, located on a cliff 50 m above sea level, from where stunning views of the Atlantic open from all sides, on the first line, go to the ocean, going down the "snake" of mines. 5-7, there are no Russian-speaking staff, and there are only a few Russians in the hotel.

But first I want to say what prompted me to write a review about this tour.

Our host in Portugal was the tour operator "Lusitana Sol", which left an indelible mark on the rest.

I want to warn you, if anyone is going to Portugal and chooses this combined tour "Lisbon + vacation on the coast in the selected hotel", which, by the way, is offered by many travel agencies, specify when booking who will be the host, and keep in mind that the Russian representative office of this tour operator provides disgusting service. Our ticket price included a full-day excursion costing about 100 euros per person, the program of which is colorfully painted on the website, and which includes: a sightseeing tour of Lisbon, a visit to Cape Roca, Sintra, the resorts of Cascais and Estoril. Initially, the tour did not go according to the plan set out on the website, and there was no organization. We went to Cape Roca, on the way just passing through the resorts of Cascais and Estoril, without even getting off the bus, we had 30 minutes at Cape Roca, which was not enough to even take a normal picture, because. There was a huge crowd of tourists

Sintra saw only one palace, free time was not given at all, the guide never even announced technical stops where you can go to the toilet. The so-called guide must be said separately. This is a former Russian who emigrated to Portugal in the late 90s, the name is NINA TOLKUNOVA - do not mess with such a "guide"! This is not just a non-professional, but also a deeply dishonorable person. The guide's story was uninteresting and illiterate, almost nothing from history, mainly consisted of notes from the life of the Portuguese, such as what they eat, what they drink and what lifestyle they lead, and was constantly interrupted by personal conversations on the phone. But most importantly, when asked when there will be lunch, the guide replied that lunch was not included in the program (this is a full-day excursion!), And offered to have lunch during a 35-minute break.

On the question of where you can have time to dine in such a short break, the guide immediately suggested the nearest "Hokey kafe", where "you will be quickly served." Naturally, everyone understands the situation when a guide sends his tourists to dine at a certain cafe, and what she gets from this, but there was nowhere to go and we went. For 7 minutes they didn’t bring us the menu, then for 20 minutes they didn’t bring us the order. The guide all this time “hung out” nearby, and I turned to her with these problems, to which she replied “Now I’ll sort everything out” and we didn’t see her or our bus again! The order was brought 8 minutes before the end of the break, and it took 5 minutes to walk to the bus stop. We had one of two things to do: get up, pay 50 euros and leave "not salty," or have a quick lunch and be a little late. We chose the 2nd option, in full confidence that the guide, knowing about the "quick service" in the cafe, she proposed, would delay the departure a little. Exactly 15 minutes later we were there, and the bus was gone.

We were abandoned in Sintra and left for Lisbon - the last point of the excursion route, which we didn’t really see, with our things ... It just didn’t fit in my head that it was possible to do this. The rest of the tourists consisted mainly of pensioners, and they all apparently ordered only tea and buns(It turned out that since my husband and I "bought" the guide's promises, this is our problem.

On excursions, someone is always late, all the time you have to wait for someone, it was the first experience of being late for us in 20 years of traveling around the country and abroad, I have never seen anyone left and for a much greater delay, even in Russia! In Prague, they waited for more than an hour for 2 tourists who probably bought half of Prague, and people had train tickets in their hands and three borders ahead ... And they left us here intentionally, knowing where we are, and most importantly, why !! !

We somehow got to Lisbon by train, and then we took a taxi, our English is weak .. Nobody even thought to look for us at the hotel, at least in order to give our things left on the bus, until we ourselves got through to the Russian representative office of Lusitana Sol and did not offer us a refund. They were already aware of the events there, not only did they not apologize, but they began to blame us for everything, they said that they were not obliged to wait for us, and so on. Things were brought to us late in the evening and not all, it’s good that I didn’t leave the video camera in the cabin as unnecessary ...

Can anyone imagine that they would do this to the Germans, the British, the French? Why is it permissible in our travel business to work like this? Why are Russian tourists being torn into three skins for a tour, and at the same time they are also deceived, bred or even abandoned?

And it's not about compensation, but about the fact that people's vacation was ruined for no reason, no reason.

Maybe someone has come across a similar attitude on the part of the tour operator and will tell you what can be done so that there is less impunity for rudeness and improper provision of services, and so that henceforth such people will work less in the tourist business?

As for the rest of the tour, I want to say that I liked everything, the very idea of ​​​​the combined tour, because. in Lisbon there is something to see and where to go, it is worth staying longer. The second day we walked around Lisbon ourselves, quickly figured out the map and directions in transport, visited the aquarium, climbed the observation tower, walked around the historical part of the city, and had a very good day, of course, we didn’t see everything that we wanted .. It’s better to go to Lisbon for 3-5 days, and take a sightseeing tour of Lisbon on the spot at the ex-bureau on a 2-storey ex.

by bus with an audio guide - you can ride around the city for at least a whole day, get off and go at stops as much as you want, higher from one bus, and after 20 minutes you get on the next one, and so on ad infinitum, and this pleasure costs about 25 euros there.

Southern Portugal, i.e. The Algarve is magnificent in its beauty of landscapes, comfortable weather and warm ocean, which cannot be said about holidays on the Lisbon Riviera.

In early October, the air temperature was about 30 in the afternoon, in the morning and in the evening about 20, there was no rain, not even cloudiness, which made it possible to walk a lot, tirelessly make long walks along the plateau, where routes were laid among junipers, pines and cacti, you go and you admire from a height of 50 m the beauties of the ocean and the coast, indented by numerous rocks and cozy coves, you can go down to some and swim without swimsuits, snorkel and watch the underwater world, and where the Ribeira de Alcantarilla river flows into the ocean are bird colonies, we watched gray and white herons and other birds there. The water temperature was somewhere around 22-24 degrees, and even during the cold period of the year it is maintained at about 18 degrees. The territory here is not densely populated, as in the Riviera, and the coast between small resort towns is almost not built up.

Therefore, if you would like to admire nature, swim in the clear waters of the Atlantic, take a break from civilization and enjoy the silence, try fresh seafood and various delicious fish, then you are here.

Hotel "Pestana Vicing 4 *" is considered one of the best on the Algarve coast, and we have no complaints about it.

Excellent location, attentive and friendly staff (there were no Russian-speaking staff), service at the level, the rooms have a mini-kitchen with a full set of dishes and a refrigerator - you can take takeaway portions in the restaurant and dine on the balcony overlooking the ocean, but it’s better to take 2- x-room suite, there is even a stove in the kitchenette, and not just a microwave and a kettle - you can buy fresh fish very cheaply in the supermarket and cook it yourself, a good access to the twin beaches most popular in the region are two bays separated by a natural grotto in a cliff 50 m long, on the shore there is a very good fish restaurant Vilarinho, where fresh fish is brought every morning. But again, the question is for the tour operator: the site does not say anything that there is no Russian-speaking guide at the hotel on the coast, although it is written that "you will have the opportunity to book additional excursions at the selected hotel on the coast." I wonder how?

Therefore, if you want to travel there on excursions or rent a car, then keep in mind that it will be difficult to do this. The cars at the hotel rental were all booked online from home. We decided to go to Albufeira for a local bullfight in order to somehow diversify our vacation, but, as a result, we were late because the end of the season, the last performance took place on October 5, and we would have had time for it if we could find out this information at the hotel .

In conclusion, I want to say that it is certainly worth a trip to Portugal, and I will definitely go again, but I will choose a tour operator more carefully, and of course, we must take into account the factor that the tourism business on the Russian side is poorly established there, there are few Russians resting, and in You have to rely a lot on yourself.

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