Culinary & Cultural Tour of Lisbon and Porto Portugal

You will be greeted at the Lisbon International Airport by your driver and traverse the city on your way to the hotel. Your professional English-speaking driver will greet you outside of customs and welcome you. Your private driver knows all about the city, ask about your areas of interest on your short 20-minute drive to the hotel. After check-in, you'll have time to unwind – you may wish to get a feel of Lisbon or simply rest after the flight.

Tonight, you will enjoy dinner in the old town, in a celebrated stylish modern restaurant renowned for great Portuguese cuisine mostly based on recipes from the coastal areas around Lisbon. The restaurant is a nice 25-minute walk or 10-minute ride from the hotel. The hotel can call a taxi for you. The restaurant is situated on the riverfront, providing for great views over the city and river. The chef/owner delights in preparing foods for your enjoyment with seasonal and regional offerings fusing excellent Portuguese fare with some Mozambican influences – think fresh seafood and tropical fruits. This three-course meal will be accompanied by good Portuguese wines. This is evening is a perfect introduction to the foods and wines of your culinary tour.

After breakfast, enjoy a walking tour with a local guide through some of Lisbon's oldest quarters. The meeting point for the tour takes about 15 minutes by taxi or Metro. Some of these areas date back to Roman and Arabic times and are still home to some of the best rustic, traditional eateries in Lisbon. Strolling through the alleyways and squares you will enjoy the sights and sounds of these quirky yet beautiful neighborhoods. There will be numerous facts and stories about these areas, which are not mentioned in guide books. The tour will end at one of Lisbon's most breathtaking viewpoints, beloved by the locals. Lunch will be at your leisure and our guides will steer you to their local favorites.

Later in the afternoon, you're expected at one of the best restaurants in the city. It is only 20 minutes by taxi and the hotel can arrange this for you. Here an enthusiastic young chef reinterprets traditional cuisine, resulting in light, refined dishes. Inspiration comes from the different regions of Portugal, leading to surprising and joyful combinations of flavors. The cuisine is contemporary Portuguese, with an emphasis on seasonal and organic products. The chef uses only the best ingredients, with a particular fondness for the products of the Lisbon region, where he grew up - such as oysters, clams, assorted seafood and locally produced rice. The cooking class is a combination of "hands-on cooking" with demonstration held in the kitchen of the restaurant. Dinner with the dishes you have prepared then follows at the '' chef's table '' or in the restaurant. The sommelier will choose for you the wines/drinks that accompany the dishes nicely.

After breakfast you will have a free day to discover Lisbon on your own. Perhaps you may want to visit the beautiful and atmospheric Chiado district, an area filled with beautiful boutiques, galleries and old-fashioned pubs or the elegant Avenida da Liberdade, home of beautiful designer shops. If you prefer to explore the cultural side of the city there is much to see and do. You might wish to visit the MAAT museum of Art, Architecture and Technology – really worth a look if only for its organic architecture and waterfront location; the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum is worthwhile seeing - with two permanent collections. One focuses on Egyptian, Greco-Roman, Mesopotamian and Islamic art. The second, concentrates on Western art - sculpture, paintings and eighteenth-century French decorative arts. The gardens that surround the Museum offer a beautiful setting to relax in between exhibitions. A last, but worthy, recommendation is the National Museum of Ancient Art with an assortment of displays from Middle Ages to the 19th centuries. Here you will find works by Hieronymus Bosch, Piero della Francesca or Hans Memling. An off the beaten track gem.

The farewell dinner in Lisbon will take place in a top modern Portuguese restaurant. The restaurant is a nice 20-minute walk or 10-minute taxi drive. The well-known chef adds a modern, seasonal approach to create a light and refined menu based on traditional flavors of Portugal. Ingredients are organic, in keeping with the chef's commitment to local farmers and fishermen. Dishes are imaginatively presented – the result is a wonderful authentic as well as creative gastronomic experience.

After breakfast, we depart to Porto and drive along the Tagus river. The land next to the river is Lisbon's orchard, with plenty of agricultural farmland: think of corn, wheat, tomatoes, pumpkin and rice paddy fields – all grown in abundance. As you head further north, the landscape changes from the green plains into a more barren and mountainous one. You have reached the Aire and Candeeiros mountains (a Nature Park) dominated by fault lines, cliffs and rocky outcrops. The olive tree becomes dominant. As the journey continues into Porto, the landscape regains the lush green color and the climate becomes milder, due to the proximity of the Atlantic Ocean. Large estates with grand manor houses give way to smaller family run farmlands, with tiny orchards and small parcel vineyards. You have arrived at the Portuguese epicenter for sparkling wines: Bairrada. Local grape varieties like Maria Gomes grapes, Bical or Baga abound; but international ones like Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir and Syrah are also gaining ground. Here, there is a nice break to tour a great winery – with a modern and striking architecture – followed by a sparkling wine tasting. Lunch will be served in the wineries intimate restaurant and paired with the different wines from the estate. Departing from the Bairrada winery you head up further north in the direction of Porto. This second stretch of the drive should take little over an hour.

This is a charming 4-star hotel located in the heart of the old town of Porto, within walking distance from some of Porto's most notable monuments. The hotel is a row of historic buildings of medieval origin, which have been renovated and converted into an elegant hotel. Rooms have views to the Douro river, or to the old town of Porto. This hotel offers all the amenities one would expect from a very good hotel, including air conditioning. The first dinner in Porto takes place at one of our firm favorites. This lovely restaurant is just a few minutes' walking distance from the hotel. Located on a charming pedestrian street, the chef knocks the dust off classic Portuguese dishes, making them fresh again.

After breakfast, at around 10:30, there will be a private walking tour around the UNESCO classified historic city centre. Away from the main streets, you will see how Porto was shaped over its many centuries of existence. Strolling through the narrow streets of the city center, accompanied by your knowledgeable and enthusiastic local guide, you will get a sense of what it is like to live in the city. Along your walk, there will stops for petiscos/tapas in some of the local eateries.

In the late afternoon you are expected in one of Porto's most celebrated restaurants, within walking distance from your hotel, here you will be hosted in an immersive cooking experience with a local chef. Located in a charming former convent, this restaurant has quickly become one of the gastronomic reference points of the city. The cuisine here is Northern Portuguese, comforting yet innovative. Dishes may include veal "Marones'' medallions combined with traditional Portuguese sausage and courgette, clams ''bulhão pato'' style, grilled Octopus dressed with olive oil and smoky pimento, and white chocolate brule with a raspberries coulis. The cooking class will focus on seasonal produce and will be held in the working kitchen of the restaurant. At the end of the cooking class, dinner will be served in the nearby dining room. The meal will be comprised of the dishes prepared during class and complemented with wines chosen by the restaurant's sommelier to complement each course. This will leave you wishing you were staying longer.

Today, the days is free for you to explore Porto on your own. You might wish to further get acquainted with historic city center and the areas around your hotel. The riverfront up to the Foz district, home of many beautiful restaurants and cafes overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, also deserves to be explored. If you are interested in modern art, the Serralves Museum is the place to visit in Porto. Set in parkland with grand plots of gardens, lakes, ponds and even a farm field, this museum of contemporary art takes advantage of its stunning location by exhibiting some of the artworks in the beautiful gardens that surround the Museum buildings.

After breakfast, you will be transported to Porto Airport to make connections via Lisbon or Madrid to your destination. Remembering all the sights and tastes of Portugal. Transportation to Lisbon airport can be provided at an additional charge.