Pousadas of Portugal

We booked this holiday with high expectations, having had a very positive experience with SAGA last year when we did their "Way of St James" trip across northern Spain. We had never been to Portugal before, so were looking forward to exploring the country.

We had no complaint about the standard of accommodations in the four historic pousadas, and generally the food at breakfast and for the included evening meal was good. The weather was not that great, but no-one can control that. But what really upset and frustrated us was the very limited amount of time we had to explore on our own. Having been on several similar escorted tours in the past, we expected that after we had had the guided part of the excursion, we would have some time on our own for exploration and souvenire hunting. Not so! Most of the time we were given about an hour to an hour and a half, during which we had to have lunch and then if there was any time left over, we might be able to squeeze in a dash round the block.

We paid extra to go on two options excursions which were described as "full day"; however we found that these terminated at 2.30 and 3.15 pm respectively, to allow for travel back, so hardly a full day. For one, to Lisbon, we spent more time travelling than actually at the place. Every day we were back at the hotel by 4pm or in many cases before. This gave us between 3 and 4 hours before the evening meal. We were unable to utilise this time for our own explortaions in 3 of the 4 pousadas in which we stayed because they were in remote locations with very little to see and do around them. The weather was not always good enough to allow us to use the outdoor pool, and in any case, we had expected to be out seeing the sights not lying by the pool.

Many of our fellow travellers were very elderly and happy to go back to the hotel for a sleep every afternoon. But with all due respect, if they wanted to lie down or read a book every day, they should have chosen a different holiday rather than limiting what others could do. I have read another review here where someone encountered a similar problem on a SAGA holiday. Our holiday was listed as "active" but it was quite clear that some of our fellow travellers were very far from active. They wanted to go back to rest, we wanted to see the sights, and one day there was a bit of a shouting match when we objected to leaving Lisbon only 4 hours after we arrived.

I have taken this up with SAGA and their response has been exectly what I expected; "sorry if you were disappointed but we did nothing wrong, now get lost" sort of thing. They did say that "the timing of the excursions does not allow for independant exploration", and that it is "reasonable" to expect that the excursion will include the sights listed and lunch and that's it. Well, they don't tell you this when they are taking your money off you (in our case an additional 120 euros each) do they? If we had known, we might have used the money to hire a taxi and gone out to explore on our own!

What adds to the furstration is that we didn't encounter this last year when we had AMPLE time not only to see things with a guide, but for a leisurely lunch and a look round on our own as well. But then we were with a more sprightly crowd last year. This is something you cannot know in advance. SAGA really ought to be more explicit in its brochures. If I had difficulty walking for any distance, I would not go on a holiday that says there will be some walking.

What we managed to see of Portugal was lovely and interesting, and the pousadas were nice. Shame about the rest of it.

Anyway, we are giving SAGA a miss next year. They let us down badly and disappointed us badly, so we won't be putting any more money their way for a bit!