Private Tours: Bilbao, La Coruna, Oporto, Lisbon, Cadiz, Gibraltar, Malaga...

[Bruin Steve]

Not going until July 2016...but starting up the research machine now...

 

Anyone ever did a small group (4-10) private tour in Bilbao, La Coruna, Oporto, Lisbon, Cadiz, Gibraltar, Malaga??

Who did you use? Where did you go? How was it? Cost?

 

Thanks...

[Turtles06]

Steve, in terms of La Coruña, while I have no private guide to recommend to you (as we docked there unexpectedly when a storm required a change in itinerary, hence no prior planning), I would strongly recommend that you leave the city to visit Santiago de Compostela (if you haven't already been there).

 

It's a UNESCO world heritage site, home to an interesting medieval cathedral that Catholics believe houses the ashes of St. James. As such, it is the destination for thousands of pilgrims annually who follow El Camino de Santiago (the Way of St. James) on foot, bicycle, etc. from all over Europe to get there. Absolutely no need to be Catholic or religious to appreciate the history, architecture, etc. If you go, I also recommend watching the Martin Sheen film "The Way" before hand, to get a good sense of the Camino.

 

EDITED TO ADD: I see from another thread you have already visited Santiago, so skip this suggestion. Have a great cruise!

Edited January 9, 2015 by Turtles06

[vakamalua]

For Malaga:

 

I can heartily recommend Victor Garrido at http://www.welovemalaga.com/#_=_

 

I arranged a custom private walking tour and lunch for seven of us and couldn't have been more pleased with his knowledge, flexibility and responsiveness, especially since we were there on a public holiday. Malaga is a beautiful city; enjoy!

 

This is my review from Tripadvisor:

 

“We Loved Malaga”

5 of 5 starsReviewed October 29, 2014

We--a group of seven friends--had a cruise stop in Malaga on September 8 which is the feast day of Our Lady of Victory commemorating the the end of Moorish rule. Because it is a local holiday and a number of things would be closed, Victor was extremely responsive and creative as we worked to come up with a custom walking tour to see the highlights of the city, as well as experience a bit of the feast day festivities, and end with a tapas and wine lunch.

 

Victor was a knowledgeable, flexible and fun guide throughout the day teaching us about the history and culture of Malaga, as well as giving us insights into his life there. We toured the Alcazaba Fortress with its many levels and great views of the surrounding city and the sea. We walked through the small local back streets of the city, then to the cathedral where the huge silver throne was being prepared with massive amounts of flowers to carry the statue of Our Lady of Victory on a procession later that day. He also took us to the street where women and children (adorable) in traditional dress were lined up waiting to carry additional bouquets of flowers to the Cathedral.

 

We ended our tour with lunch at Bar Lo Gueno; all seven of us ordered different tapas and really enjoyed them all. I especially thought the local Malaguena Salad was delicious, a cool and tasty dish. We each had local wine, beer or sangria were quite happy after a long walk.

 

Victor walked us back to the port and it felt like we were leaving an old friend. We would heartily recommend We Love Malaga!

 

Visited September 2014

[roothy123]

In Lisbon, my husband and I toured for a few hours on sidecar motorcycles with Daniel of "Bike My Side." It was lots of fun. He has posted pics on Facebook of 2 bikes traveling together, so perhaps if there's more than 2 going, Daniel could make it work. This is obviously not for everyone, but we loved it. We're in our early 60s so not the most mobile people in the world, but neither of us had any fear or discomfort riding on those things. (2 people go with Daniel, one on the bike behind him and one in the sidecar.) You get off at various places, although you don't go inside museums or spend a lot of time at any one spot. You do go to quite a few places around the city, including some off the beaten path places, and a couple viewpoints that are hard to get to on your own. We learned a lot without being bombarded with constant information. We loved Lisbon, and the Bike My Side tour was the highlight.

 

Just in case you don't know, you'll see some of the highlights of Lisbon when you come into the port (go right past Belem, for example, with Tower of Belem, Monument of Discoveries, etc. in plain sight (if daylight!)) Daniel took us to Belem for a short while, and that, plus sailing past it upon sailaway, was enough for us. It's a quite nice area, but there is so, so much else to see in Lisbon. We loved the elevadors (funiculars)....and loved the place we stayed for a night pre-trip (Lisbonaire Apartments). My pics are in the Iberian Sojourn album here: http://www.pbase.com/roothy123 Lisbon comes up first.

Edited January 22, 2015 by roothy123

[Steirisch]

We've done a couple of tours in Lisbon with We Hate Tourism Tours and both times there were only 6 in our group, plus the driver. The first tour was of Lisbon, Sintra and Estoril, with a final stop to get some Belem pastries at Pasteis de Belem. Our driver was used to going there, so went in and got warm pastriies and brought them out to us. The second tour, done a different year, was to the places the Knights Templar built. That was also fun, but more climbing than the previous tours. You also get time to explore on your own. Their driver/guides speak good English and also tell you what's going on in Portugal if you're interested. The first tour, we met at Rossio Square and the second tour picked us up at our hotel.

[epixx]

We did a private (6 people) walking tour with this company:

 

http://www.lisbonwalker.com/

 

Ask for the guide, Paolo. He's the best guide we've ever had, and we've had a lot!

[sarar]

The only one I can recommend for is Gibraltar and that is John Lopez and Gibraltar Rock Tours http://gibraltar-rock-tours.com/ he is excellent and his reviews are second to none, but beware, he does get booked up quickly.

[ConnieInNewJersey]

Just returned from a trip to Lisbon and Barcelona. For Lisbon we used David from Lisbonhost for two different full day tours - Sintra one day and Fatima the next. He was great! There were three of us and his fee was a total of 250E per tour/day.

 

 

(http://lisbonhost.com/ )

[alfiemom]

We did a We Hate Tourism Tours in Lisbon this past April on our X TA. Marcos was our driver/guide & he was super. Very knowledgeable about his home city & extremely funny. Did Pirates of the Cruiseship. Not the usual Lisbon sites tours, but sooo interesting. Great lunch at roadside stand with wine & cheese & sandwiches. This was a wonderfully exhausting day spent with a delightful young man.