Luxury Tour

Summary: We had the most memorable day touring with João. The tour was outstanding from beginning to end. A very special part of the day was lunch at a local restaurant where he knew the owner. We ate what the owner prepared. I would recommend any tour with João as he is a warm, knowledgeable, intelligent professional!

Summary: If TripAdvisor went to 100 for ratings we would give Joao 200…. The whole experience was the best part of our trip to Portugal ….

Summary: Wow! Is the word I said the most yesterday and wow it was. Joao was an amazing tour guide, he organised the whole day for myself, my wife and my two friends who are visiting us from the UK. The whole day was seamless, filled with information, beautiful views and of course food and wine. This is once in a lifetime experience and in my opinion one of the most beautiful places in the world and what a better way then to visit it then in luxury.

Summary: I surprised my fiancé with this trip to get engaged - one of the best decisions of my life! It was better than I could have ever imagined! I want to start by saying, I never write reviews but João deserved one because everyone needs to know about this tour (more accurately, many tours inside of one tour) and make it happen at least once in their lifetime. First off, João really made the trip extra special. He was incredibly friendly, welcoming, passionate and insightful; by the end of it we felt like we were old friends. Also, he has some of the coolest cars around, which to my surprise, my fiancé even appreciated more than I expected. We had the most premium views of the entire Douro Valley at our first stop at Quinta das Carvalhas, overlooking the River and other vineyards on the mountains. I even popped the question at the top of the vineyard and João and Fernando (the tour guide from Carvalhas) surprised us by popping a bottle of champagne they snuck into the tour van before we scaled the mountain. We then had an exceptional wine tasting with delicious charcuterie board back in the tasting room. From there, our next stop was Casa do Arco where we had a beautiful lunch at a very quaint and private restaurant that had only 4 tables overlooking some of the best views in the Valley. They had provided a wine pairing made with grapes from their own small vineyard in the rear of the house/restaurant. They also provided an olive oil which was made with olives that were grown on the property as well that we dipped a locally made bread into. Next stop, was a private boat ride on the river - just my fiancé, the captain, a tour guide and me. They provided some additional insights into the history of the Valley and what makes it so special, while we took in the amazing views from the water and had a local drink they introduced us to (yes, port wine but with a twist) and a charcuterie board. Final stop, was Quinta do Tedo, a boutique vineyard. This was by far the most hands on, most behind the scenes wine tour I have ever been on. They took us through where they actually mash the grapes, still with peoples feet to avoid breaking the seeds (don’t worry, it’s totally hygienic!), and funnel the juice into the barrels to go through the aging and fermentation process. Then my favorite part was when they took us to where they store huge barrels of wine that have been aging for decades and they cracked the barrels open and started serving us tastes of their special batches directly from the barrels. A really unique and special experience. The wine was delicious. The views were breathtaking. The people were superb. I can’t say enough about the trip and highly recommend it to anyone who is looking to go on a wine tour or just to try something different. I have already whole heartedly directly recommended it to friends and family and I haven’t even left Portugal yet! PS I don’t want to give away all of the surprises, because they definitely helped make the trip, but even with all of these words they will never do the trip the justice it deserves - you just have to take the trip yourself! You will not regret it! You will be in great hands with João!

Summary: This tour exceeded my expectations and made my trip to Porto! Absolutely an unforgettable trip to Douro Valley with the best tour guide! The adventure started at pick up when we were greeted by Joao in a Mercedes van. We then transferred over to one of Joao’s antique cars to start off Quinta das Carvalhes. I felt like I was in a movie/music video at this point. We were greeted by Fernando (who works at the vineyard) and was brought to some of the best views in Douro valley! After touring the vineyard we went wine tasting before a private lunch at casa arco. 4 table restaurant owned and ran by a couple. Absolutely excellent! The end of our tour ended with another vineyard. Joao went above and beyond and I would absolutely recommend this tour! It was a full day experience that I will never forget

Summary: As a wine and classic automobile enthusiast, I found this company to be the absolute perfect way to enjoy three of my favorite things. I already mentioned two of them. The most important of the three is my lovely wife who shares in many of my passions as well. We traveled with my wife’s sister and husband who are super passionate about wine and travel. As this was our first time visiting the Douro Valley, we did not know what to expect. Our travel agent (Andrew Harper) recommended this company and wow, what an incredible experience. Our driver John is an educated historian and is well educated in both his region and the rest of the world. He’s an incredibly comfortable young man with whom we spent the entire day driving around in his 1975 Cadillac Eldorado convertible. He could not have been more attentive our needs and desires and is an incredibly good conversationalist but not overbearing in ANY way. The quality of the car was outstanding given that these lovely automobiles require maintenance that is not typical of the cars in the region. These folks have very high quality cars with excellent maintenance and cosmetics. My wife often gets car-sickness so driving around is not her favorite thing to do. Thankfully John was understanding and drove in a manner that caused absolutely no motion sickness to her which is uncommon. He is an outstanding driver that drives slowly and respectfully unlike so many of the other maniacs on the road! We very much enjoyed our time with John and his knowledge of the region as well as the personal relationships he has with the folks in the Douro Valley made for both an enjoyable and educational experience. As a collector of classic and vintage automobiles, I am very impressed with the quality of his equipment and will definitely book them again the next time I travel to the area. Please consider this my most enthusiastic recommendation for Luxury Douro Tours.

Summary: This classic car guided tour of the Douro Valley will be a highlight of your time in Portugal! Don’t miss it!! João is a delightful host and thinks of everything. He will be on time to pick you up in a very clean, very stylish classic car and escort you to beautiful wineries and a delicious lunch. Along the way, he will tell you all about this gorgeous region of Portugal and take pictures of you, too! We had such an enjoyable day and would highly recommend this tour for anyone visiting the region. Obrigada, João!!

Summary: Simply wonderful! João was the perfect guide and the trip he put together for us was very special. There were a few surprises to delight us and the lunch was absolutely delicious. Days don't get much better than this!

Summary: I have no words to express my gratitude to our tour expert João. He truly made this an unforgettable experience and took some out of this world photos/videos and possessed unrivaled knowledge of the area. So how it works, he picks you up at your hotel/Airbnb in a gorgeous vintage car and drives you to a couple of wineries, a boat tour and a yummy restaurant and a beautiful pastry basket and port on the way back. The tour took from about 9:30- 5 pm but since it’s private you have the leisure of customizing with Jaõa to fit your needs. I was able to visit Quinta Das Carvalhas (historic Portuguese owned vineyard with incredible views) Quinta do Tedo (a very charming and friendly winery with a really cool cave full of wine barrels for you to do a barrel tasting). My restaurant was Casa Do Arco and I highly recommend you go here, the views, the food and the hosts were five stars each. The boat tour was in a vintage wooden boat down the river with a lovely guide that taught me so much about the area, of course port and yummy snacks are provided here as well. By the end of this tour you will be tipsy, gloriously happy and full of knowledge - just as I had hoped. Needless to say, I wouldn’t ever do any other wine tour but this. This is the oldest wine region in the world and as such deserves a special and unique experience an average tour will never be able to provide, book this now.

Summary: We had a once in a lifetime time experience with João on our private day tour around the Douro Valley. It started with him picking us up in Porto at our request which was a really easy way to handle our bags since we were spending the night at a Quinta. We visited 2 amazing quintas, had a fantastic lunch in a beautiful location and had a private boat trip up the river with port tonics and more delicious food! It really couldn’t have been better or more convenient. The roads are small and it was great having a local drive us, in addition he was great with communication from start to finish!