Private Porto Half-day Tour With Optional Shared Sailing

André was an excellent guide! From the very beginning, he was incredibly thoughtful and made the whole experience feel relaxed and informal, always listening to what we were interested in and respecting our pace. He is a great communicator and has a solid knowledge of Porto’s and Portugal’s history and culture, which he shares in a very engaging and natural way. We also really appreciated how he introduced us to Portuguese food and local traditions, not only the typical specialties, but also how and where locals actually eat. It made the experience feel much more authentic. He also recommended some excellent restaurants that we truly enjoyed. It was a wonderful, authentic, and enriching way to experience Porto. We highly recommend André!

A wonderful tour of Porto with a fun sail boat ride and wine tasting. I highly recommend this tour. Adrea was excellent! Very knowledgeable and fun!

Extremely Disappointing and Disorganized Tour Experience As someone who has owned and operated a travel company for 10 years, this was one of the most baffling and disappointing tour experiences I have ever encountered. I booked a half-day tour of Porto through Touch Tours, which was supposed to include a private guided city tour, private sailing experience, and wine tasting. Unfortunately, the experience was nothing like what was advertised. Our guide, John, arrived 20 minutes late and simply sent me a picture of his license plate without explaining where he was parked. I had to ask him to come to the hotel to meet our group. From the beginning, his behavior was extremely strange and confusing. He made jokes that made no sense and provided virtually no information about the city. When we asked questions about the sights, his answers were incredibly vague. When we asked why children were wearing certain uniforms, he responded, “That’s just what they wear.” When we asked about a church, he said, “It’s just a church.” When we asked about a school, he simply replied, “It’s a university.” There was no historical context, no meaningful explanation of the landmarks, and essentially no actual guiding. While driving, John only spoke to the two people sitting in the front seats. Nobody else in the van could hear him. I specifically asked him to speak loudly enough for the entire group, so he suggested pulling over and walking instead. Unfortunately, even during the walk, he continued speaking only to whoever happened to be standing directly beside him. The rest of our group could not hear a thing. We also did not follow the advertised itinerary. When I asked John whether he planned to guide us according to the itinerary I had booked, he told me he didn’t know anything about it. As a professional travel company owner leading a group through Portugal, I found this incredibly embarrassing. I had to repeatedly apologize to my guests for the lack of organization, information, and professionalism. I had hired a professional guide so my guests could learn about Porto, not simply be driven around the city without explanation. Unfortunately, the problems continued when we arrived for our sailing experience. I had specifically booked a PRIVATE sailing experience. However, when we arrived, the very friendly boat operator informed us that four additional people would be joining our group. I then had to go back and forth about the reservation in front of all my guests, explaining that I had paid for a private experience. This was yet another uncomfortable and completely unnecessary situation. The one bright spot was the boat operator and his staff, who were absolutely wonderful! They were friendly, professional, and provided a lovely experience. However, they are not part of Touch Tours and should not be held responsible for the problems with our booking. Overall, this experience left me questioning how Touch Tours coordinates its reservations, communicates with its guides, and ensures that customers receive the services they actually booked. I would absolutely not recommend booking this tour through Touch Tours. If you are interested in a sailing experience with wine tasting in Porto, I would recommend booking directly with the boat operator instead. After 10 years of organizing international travel experiences, I have never encountered a tour quite like this. It was confusing, disorganized, and incredibly disappointing, especially when I had entrusted this company with providing a memorable experience for my guests.

Porto is a worthy stop on every travelers itinerary! Get a half day tour of the city to get oriented and to pick up some of its unique history. Finish out your tour experience with a sunset tour on the Douro River. Then strike out on your own to explore in greater detail. Our tour with Touch Tours was a perfect blend of attention to the details of the booking and the free-flowing storytelling style of the guide. Mariana kept all of the details together with texts and phone calls — even finding a way to upgrade our sailing experience as an extra slot opened up unexpectedly. Her husband, Andre, knows the city and its people and speaks with knowledge and ease. After the tour he treated us to a lovely tasting of a Tawny Port and followed up later via text with restaurant ideas and walking routes to taste the many sandwiches of Porto. He also took time to make a restaurant reservation for us at a very local Portuguese restaurant in Gaia. Put this restaurant on your must visit list if you want “Moms” home cooked Portuguese food (Zé Da Serra)! Simply the best experience that you could imagine! Touch Tours was the best in how touring should deliver to clients! Amazing!!

Our day with Davide was wonderful. He has incredible knowledge of Portuguese history - he made it interesting for us but not overwhelming. He totally catered the day to our style and flow!! We would highly recommend this tour and highly recommend Davide as a guide!! The boat ride on the Douro was also amazing! Lots of wine, but my husband is only a beer drinker so he brought his own and it was perfect!! Our captain & first mate took very good care of us!! The water was calm and was a very enjoyable cruise! And yes, private bathrooms on board the beautiful sailboat!! Obrigada ☺️

Amazing experience with Andre. So much knowledge and experience. From history of Porto to food to drink, he was nothing short of phenomenal. Will definitely use again

Maria Santos was our exceptional guide and it felt like a family member taking us around her hometown. Great experience on the sailboat with cocktails and snacks with friendly stewards navigating along Porto waterway. Maria then took us an extensive drive and stops at highlights and history in Porto city with many recommendations of places to eat and places to explore further. Couldn’t have asked for a better tour and lively discussion with our guide Maria.

We had a lovely sail on the river with a Port tasting and pastry, as part of our time with Andre. He picked us up in a new MB Electric. So very comfortable to be shown the notable historic city. Andre is very kind, soluble and a great teller of the tales of Porto. He is a native of the city and has a depth of knowledge of the best places to go dependent on your taste. Would make sure to have Andre help us again when we visit Porto

We were fortunate to experience our day with Andre. A native, history buff and raconteur. Personally guiding us thru Porto and a river cruise. Ending again at riverside with much respect and love for Porto

Americo provided us with a great personal tour walking tour of Porto. He was incredibly informative and went out of his way to provide a memorable experience. Thank you!

Joao is young man well versed in the english language and very proud of his city and country heritage he guided us and explain every detail of the city. Upon arrival to the winery a local employe of the establishment continue to explain to us how to wine is produced, you are not obligated to purchase any wine. However, we like it so much that we order three bottles tobe sent to the USA.

Julio was a great tour guide, who walked us through Porto's incredible history and beautiful architecture. The port tasting at Churchill's was a definite highlight. At one point, Julio took us to a street market because my mother had expressed interest in buying some woodwork. Julio was also our guide in Guimaraes, which is also a must-see!

We went on the walking tour with Julio. He was very friendly and extremely knowledgeable. Customized our tour for us and made us fall in love with Porto even more. Thank you!!

Touch Tours are the best! We loved the Douro Valley and the City Tour. At the walking tour our guide Andre was very knowledgeable and made our walk fun and interesting. Sabrina from the sales team was ver responsive and flexible to accommodate our requests such as the pick up from the airport. Do not hesitate planning your vacation with Touch Tours. If you want to know more abut the Douro Valley see my other review :) as Alex was also amazing!

It was an incredible experience! The day went wonderfully; the guide was very funny and knowledgeable! He made the tour very enjoyable. He listens to his clients and is passionate about his work. It is a very complete tour that offers several activities that complement each other well! We were a group of three girls, and we were accompanied by two couples and a solo tourist. We all had a wonderful day, and we all got along well. I recommend this experience for a hassle-free visit to the Douro Valley.

superb experience, especially the sailing tour with port and pasteis tasting. the guide was punctual, attentive and must have shown us Porto. Thank you and we look forward to returning