Traditional group tours can often pack every moment of your day with scheduled activities—leaving little room for wandering a sunlit alleyway, lingering over a glass of vinho verde, or following your curiosity into a tiny, family-run tasca.
Many travelers with refined tastes and limited vacation time want a balance: meaningful, curated experiences and the freedom to savor Portugal in their own way.
Our Flex Tour was designed exactly for travelers like you: food-, wine-, and beer-lovers who crave rich culinary encounters and the freedom to explore independently—without giving up the comfort and expertise of a professionally crafted itinerary.
Enjoy signature Taste Vacations experiences and expert local insight, paired with relaxed blocks of free time so you can discover at your own pace—perfect for wandering, resting, café-hopping, tasting flights, or finding the hidden corners that make Portugal linger in your memory. It’s Portugal’s wine, cuisine, and culture—made wonderfully flexible.
You’ll enjoy exclusive winery visits, a private cooking experience, a traditional rabelo boat ride, visits to charming towns and historic sites, and windy-paired emails that turn every meal into an experience.
Your expert Lisbon-based guide, Francisco, is always on hand with personalized suggestions—whether you want to relax at a riverside café, hunt down the best local pastries, browse a market, or book a last-minute tasting.
Join us in 2026 for a more relaxed and flavorful Portugal journey.
Fun reads for this tour:
We meet you in the afternoon at our riverside hotel at 3:00 PM in the magical city of Porto. After the introduction, we’ll head to what is perhaps the most famous of Portugal’s port wine lodges, Graham’s, followed by a wine-paired dinner at our favorite restaurant, VINUM, that features impeccable views and amazing food.
After dinner, if the weather is good, we head back to our hotel on foot along the sparkling promenade.
After breakfast, we will check out of our hotel and wander the food market to explore the local flavors and pick out the ingredients for our private cooking class. We’ll don our aprons and learn to make an egg dish with a traditional Portuguese sausage called alheira, Bacalhau à Lagareiro (cod prepared the local way) and the most delicious pastries you’ve (probably) ever had: Pasteis de Nata! The famous Portuguese egg-custard tarts are a sweet circle of chewy goodness and were first made by Catholic monks. They have influenced pastries all over the world, including the egg tarts found in Hong Kong and mainland China. And just to make things a bit more fun, we might drink a little wine while we cook!
After lunch, we sweep you away to beautiful city of Pinhão where we’ll check into our hotel for the next two nights. The Vintage House Hotel sits directly on a lovely bend on the Douro River and is encircled by terraced hillsides that produce some of the world’s best port. Afterwards, we’ll enjoy dinner at the legendary Cozinha da Clara.
This morning we suggest you stay in bed a little longer than usual and get into the vacation zone. Enjoy breakfast in the hotel at your leisure and explore your surroundings. We will depart the hotel a bit before noon for a tasting and vineyard picnic with wine at Quinta Seixo just across the river. As you might guess, the views will be tremendous!
Upon return to the hotel, the afternoon is yours. Embark on a boat cruise up the Douro River on a Rabelo boat, venture into town for a wine tasting at Quinta do Noval, or simply relax by the pool. Dinner is on your own tonight, and we highly recommend the delicious food at your hotel!
After breakfast, we will check out of our hotel and head to the town of Evora, a UNESCO World Heritage city. Evora is one of Portugal’s most charming and most beautifully preserved medieval towns, complete with 14th-century walls around its center, and narrow, winding cobblestone streets. This small city has the second largest number of national monuments of Portugal, second only to Lisbon, and sits upon a hill above the fertile Alentejo plain.
Along the way, we’ll stop at Prior Lucas for lunch and meet with owner Rui Lucas for a tasting and lunch in his wonderful winery.
From there, we’ll check into our hotel for the next three nights and embark on an orientation walk around town with your local guide, Francisco, before splitting up to have dinner on your own.
This morning you can opt for a historical walk of Evora with a visit to the Chapel of Bones, led by your guide, Francisco. By mid-morning, we’ll depart for the ancient town of Monsaraz (considered by some to be Portugal’s most picturesque village), which sits high on a hilltop and is the tallest point for miles around. Surrounded by thick castle walls, it overlooks the giant Alqueva reservoir — the largest manmade lake in Europe — and one can see Spain on the other side of the water.
Dona Isabel, the proprietor at Sabores de Monsaraz, prepares a fantastic family-style feast for us at her tiny restaurant overlooking Alqueva Reservoir. With its dark, medieval interior and Isabel urging you to have more of each dish, it is a bit like having a meal at your grandma’s house, who cooks for you with all your favorite aunties helping in the kitchen! Pork cheeks slowly cooked in red wine, baked cod with egg, potatoes with fresh cilantro, goat cheese over watercress, bread, olives, rice with raisins and nuts and a variety of desserts. Delicioso!
After lunch, you’ll have time to explore the town of Monsaraz before heading back to our charming town of Evora. Since the lunch is quite substantial, it’s possible you may be satisfied enough that you won’t want a large dinner. For this reason, we’ve left the evening open for you to enjoy in Evora as you wish.
After breakfast, we will depart for a wine and olive oil tasting and tour at Mainova, a beautiful estate featuring over 100-year-old olive oil trees. We’ll take a jeep tour through the olive groves, then enjoy a tasting of extra-virgin olive oils and wines.
We’ll head back to our hotel and enjoy lunch and the rest of the afternoon on your own. Choose to wander the town and shop for last-minute souvenirs, enjoy a pastel da nata in the town square, and people watch or relax at one of the main local wine bars and loose time.
Tonight, we will walk to dinner together for one final dinner at a wonderful, tiny traditional restaurant that features unbelievable food and wine, and cheers to new friends and memories that will last a lifetime!
After breakfast, we’ll check out of our hotel and depart for the tiny wine town of Azeitao in the Setúbal region south of Lisbon. We’ll have lunch at By The Wine Azeitão, the flagship restaurant of the oldest quinto in Portugal: José Maria da Fonseca.
Afterwards we’ll continue on our way to Lisbon, where we’ll bid everyone farewell.
Night 1 > Hotel Pestana Vintage Porto Hotel & World Heritage Site / Porto > This is the quintessential lodging in Porto in the heart of the Ribeira district and on the river, with views of the port lodges of Vila Nova de Gaia across the Douro.
Night 2 – 3 > Vintage House Hotel / Pinhão > The Vintage House is a luxury property in the center of town on the Douro River with fantastic views of the terraced vineyards.
Nights 4 – 6 > Hotel Mar d’Ar Aqueduto / Evora > The Mar d’Ar is another luxury hotel (complete with a spa) and is located just outside the 14th century medieval walls of the old town next to the 16th century aqueduct.
Not Included: Travel to and from destination/meeting point, meals not listed above, optional activities on your own, one internal flight between Porto and Lisbon (which we will purchase for you), personal expenses, and optional gratuities to your guide and drivers. Travel insurance is also not included, though we highly recommend it. Check out our Travel Insurance page for more information.
While the general trip itinerary will remain the same, the actual restaurants, hotels, and activities listed are subject to modifications. Changes that are out of our control are common — restaurants close or lose their amazing chef, a winery changes their visiting hours, a hotel gets remodeled, etc. You are entrusting us to create an outstanding vacation for you and so it is possible we may take the liberty of making necessary changes to the itinerary that will improve your overall trip experience. If there is any one experience that is going to make or break your trip, please discuss this with us in advance.
We meet you just after lunch, the first day of the trip, in the city of Porto, Portugal, at 3:00 PM at Hotel Pestana Vintage Porto Hotel. Our trip ends on the afternoon of the last day. We will drop you off in the city of Lisbon, at either your hotel or at the airport.
You should make your flight to arrive in Porto (airport code OPO) and depart from Lisbon (airport code LIS).
