Why hire a Guide?

Hi travellers!

WARNING: THIS IS A (VERY) LONG POST! - And no AI used.

Most of the posts are request for help and how to visit different sites or monuments on your own; and that's perfect and a way to travel! Others search for guides for the same; also perfect! But the real questions are: Shall I book a guide or do that trip/travel on my own? Did I plan my itinerary well? Am I making the most of my travel days? Is it doable to visit all this in one day?

Well, let me try to deconstruct and help sorting out those questions; you must consider always one thing about all those, and, that is that "Time is money"; sometimes, going for cheaper option doesn't mean you go for the best one; let me try to give you examples:

Ititnerary planning:

Arriving and departing from Lisbon, only 7 days, 6 nights, and wanting to explore Lisbon, Porto and the Algarve; It is doable, but....

That itinerary is not wise; will make out of the 7 days you have 3 for travel, and of those 3 one at least will be a long one. and removing 3 out of 7 you stay with 4... is it enough for the 3 places? In my opinion, no. You will want to spend at least one day exploring Porto, one day exploring Lisbon, one day for the Algarve beaches and leaves one day out: Douro valley, Sintra, Benagil caves? That is the issue. You might think or say, I had the flights planned and no other option... and I really want to see it all.... Well, the solution might be in either removing one stop (Porto or Algarve), and that can be the wiser one, or trying to adapt your travel to your itinerary; and you can ask how? On the arrival day, you travel to one the other locations (Porto or Faro) - yes, I know that! - that is your answer, but... do some math: leaving the airport, 1 hour; travel to Oriente (Train and Bus station), around 45 minutes; Bus or train to Porto or Faro (between 3 and 4 hours); travel to hotel (Taxi, Uber/Bolt or other public transportation methods), another 45 minutes to one hour; total time spent travelling: between 5 and 6 hours; what have you seen or visited on your first day? Bus/Train stations, roads, railroads... And if I rent a car? You can travel more freely all around, its true but... add narrow roads you don't know, following the GPS all around and missing the landscape, traffic signs that are strange to you, toll services that only work electronically, and topping to the cake, parking fees or limitations wherever you go. So as you can see what seemed like an easy solution, both the situations are time consuming and not easy....

There is the question on how many things you want to visit in one day; Example: Sintra; A lot of people want to visit 3/4 monuments on their own in one day; Yes it can be done. But... how much did you really enjoy? How many times did you rush so that you could visit one more site? How much did you learn about it? And, how much time did you loose to go from site A to site B? (yes, remember the beginning, "Time is money"); Again an exercise: travel time by train from Lisbon to Sintra: 1 hour (packed commuting train); then arriving in Sintra 2 options: 45 minutes to 1 hour bus to go to Pena Palace or Moorish Castle; or 30 minutes walk to the Historical center (National Palace, Quinta da Regaleira, Biester Chalet); And if I Uber/Bolt? Well, same timings, because unfortunately the traffic limitations in Sintra are making it worse every day; Oh! I have a car and I'm driving to Sintra! Well good luck on it; the historical center and monument access has severe restrictions to privately owned vehicles and parking is very limited; you will end parking far away and taking the same bus to Sintra.

So a visit to a magical and charming place ends up in a nightmare of parking, public transport and people doing the same as you, turning your experience into a don't go! And this is only about the obvious.

Now the first question: "Shall I book a guide to do that trip/tour?"

Well, being a guide I will always say yes; but it depends always on your budget; I found this tour on Viator/Tripadvisor/GetYourGuide/Airbnb/etc, and it charges only X€ per person. Why shall I book you? The difference is always in the details... When you see this offers, often too cheap, there is always a catch: most of the times you end up in a bus (or buses) to get around, or you end up paying for everything except the transportation... so what seemed like a good deal is a mash up of add-ons and very limited time in each place; And more... meeting points, swapped emails with different timeslots... conflicting information... all that and what was going to be a pleasant day ends up in doubts and in questions; and explanations? most of those tours going on buses don't even provide radioguides for you to listen to your guide; so when outdoors is a constant exercise to listen to him/her.

What is the difference between any of the options? Budget and TIME...

Like I said being a tour guide makes me a bit more critical about things; I usually spend my free times studying more and learning more about the sites and about Portugal. Each one of us, guides, have different skills and knowledges, different backgrounds. No one knows everything, but we have all some different expertise. With background in architecture, you focus on design; with background in history, you focus on it; with background in landscaping, nature, you focus on the gardens/outdoors; a Sommelier will focus on wine; with a background on a Guiding degree you have it all plus the skills on how to guide a group, or how to place yourself to show something (it looks easy but it takes time and knowledge), how to create your itinerary reasonably, listen to your likes and dislikes and plan your visits accordingly.

All the guides have different skills and backgrounds; but all of us have the goal to help and to provide you the best experience possible; It's not about selling our services (of course we all want that) but our ultimate goal is to have each and every traveller to Portugal to have the best experience possible. Do we keep some spots and information for us? We do, after all, years of experience led us to know more than the surface, and as the portuguese saying says, "O segredo é a alma do negócio" - "secret is the soul of the business". So choosing a local and trusted guide even if only to have a small chitchat and to have some inputs and ideas is worth it in the overall. In my case, I took several degrees, like National Guide and Interpreter (going to do some more "extra classes" this Winter), Regional Guide and Interpreter from Lisbon and surroundings, Wine pairing, Portuguese sidewalk, etc - just as examples. So the book is more than the cover (that goes for all of us).

I hope that this post can open some eyes and help some of you to reach me or any other guide for help. I'm happy to help each and everyone that reaches me for it.

Why Storytelling Tours? Because we have the expertise to help you plan your trip the most enjoyable way, either if it is with shorter days, either with places for you to do shopping or just the cultural insights. Remember that behind every monument, every person, every wine, every tradition there is a story; telling it it's Storytelling! And providing a curated and tailor made experience is the base of our foundation.