supporting women entrepreneurs in africa
A non-profit organization with a mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty. Leveraging the internet and a worldwide network of micro-finance institutions. Learn more about how it works.
what makes our tours unforgettable
We want you to have an authentic experience! We are a network of carefully selected scholars, professors, researchers, authors, and licensed guides specializing in art history, archeology, architecture, literature, and related subjects. Many of the scholars who lead our original tours hold MA or Ph.D. degrees and are known for their vibrant, enthusiastic presentations, bringing each location to life with historical and relevant detail and personality. Our guides provide accurate information, dispelling legends and myths recited by countless guides, and answering questions with a depth of knowledge that only comes from scholars with academic qualifications.
We can customize private tours to meet the specific interests of our guests, and today we are recognized by travel writers, travel agents, and online travel sites as home to some of “Portugal’s Top Rated Tour Guides”.
we are foodies and art lovers
Curious about the best restaurants where locals enjoy authentic Portuguese cuisine? During many tours, our guests have the opportunity to sample some of our most popular food items, wines, liquors, and coffees. Afterward, our guides are free to assist guests with sights to see in their free time, as well as with restaurant suggestions for every budget and insider local secrets for finding everything from interesting local shops to art galleries.
what we are not
Our intelligent tours are for travelers who desire an alternative to unenthusiastic, joke-telling, or misinformed guides in colored t-shirts or leading huge groups around with signs and umbrellas. We are not a budget tour operator using students on summer break with memorized scripts or part-time actors. We do not offer free tours to large groups, which contributes to mass tourism and the destruction of the heritage that we work to preserve. We do not accept drop-in guests without reservations, and we do not offer cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all tours for mass consumption. This type of cattle-herding experience is contrary to our mission. If you have a large private party, don't hesitate to get in touch with us so that we can discuss the best way to create an intimate tour experience.
excellent english language abilities
Each Lisbon Explorer Private Tour guide must possess excellent or native English language abilities. Our private tours can be provided in a variety of other languages upon request, and the available languages vary depending on the availability of scholars to lead tours.
smaller is better
If you haven’t heard of us, it’s because we are a boutique tour operator. As a result, our guides will never wear bright-colored t-shirts with a logo to stand out in a crowd. We do not need to use audio amplification systems unless we have a larger private party, or in some cases, when museums require groups to wear Whisper-audio headsets. All of our guides have clear and resilient voices that are easy to hear, even in busy locations. Our guides often learn about guests' interests during the tour and can tailor each itinerary to inspire curiosity, regardless of age or education level. If you have a large private party and would like to reserve a tour, don't hesitate to get in touch with us to discuss how we can best accommodate your request.
no commissions
As a matter of fair practice, we have a strict policy prohibiting our staff from accepting commissions from restaurants and shops. We will never divert our guests into a souvenir shop or cafe where they feel obligated to buy something. If you are curious about shopping, restaurants, or where to find purveyors of locally produced items, ask your guide. We possess a passion for restaurants, shops, music, and artisanal items, and our guides will direct you to places we enjoy as locals.
how we started
In 2009 we started with the idea of sharing our food & wine excursions with visitors, eventually, this led to art, culture, and history tours, with the help of some friends, well respected local guides, possessing a vast knowledge of the city’s monuments. We share a common desire for visitors to know our city from a local perspective, up close and on foot whenever possible.
why a walking tour
Portuguese are among Europe’s biggest walkers! A Eurobarometer survey published by the European Commission in December 2014 revealed that Portugal is among the countries where making journeys by foot is most common, with 23 percent of respondents saying they make their daily routine trips that way. To really know Lisbon, one must go into those small maze-like streets of the city’s old quarters, where automobiles are limited, and real life unfolds in pedestrian-friendly streets and squares. Join us for an intimate walk on quiet narrow streets, where Fado music and songbirds can be heard from open windows, mixing with the sounds of clanking of old trolley cars (electricos) and church bells, where the aromas of grilled meats (churrasco), oven-baked pastries (pastéis), and orange blossoms drift past friends in conversation at cafes, (tertulias). Lisbon is a city of small squares that breathe cool Atlantic breezes, best enjoyed from scenic overlooks (miradouros), where a backdrop of pastel-colored houses comes alive as laundry rustles on lines at sunset. These are some of the subtleties in Lisbon that many visitors miss while rushing through traffic-filled streets, rather than experiencing the city on foot with their senses and the help of a local expert.
We look forward to bringing Lisbon alive for you in truly amazing, historic, and relevant detail.
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António Costa, Tour Manager, and The Lisbon Explorer Staff
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• Tiered pricing at a flat fee
• Customizable
• Meets where you like
• Luxury vehicles and drivers
• Multi-lingual guides
• Flexible cancellation policy
PRIVATE TOURS
Our tours outside of historic centers require the use of sedans, vans or buses. We use only luxury vehicles with licensed and insured drivers who can stay with our guest’s personal items at all times.
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ABOUT
We are reinventing travel through intelligent tours that support the principles of Sustainable Travel International, Slow Food, and Slow Travel.
we proudly support the following organizations
a thousand gardens in africa sponsor
Creating food gardens in every Terra Madre community across Africa, assisting them in their work to cultivate more sustainable and healthy regions. To learn more click here.
contributing member
With Slow Travel you experience a deeper type of travel by staying in one place longer and seeing the things that are close to you. It is an easier, simpler and slower way of traveling. To learn more click here.
