Canadian travel advisor Autumn Fiske returned from nine sun-drenched days in Portugal with a Contiki group, a deep love for custard tarts, and an insider's understanding of why this country refuses to be experienced just once.
At a Glance
Portugal's Contiki Highlights tour covers Lisbon, Porto, and coastal towns in nine days with groups of maximum 24 travelers. The experience emphasizes walkable cities, exceptional seafood and wine, cultural immersion, and the Portuguese tradition of leisurely dining—where bills arrive after 45 minutes by design, not accident.
Some destinations politely introduce themselves. Portugal, it turns out, pulls you in by the hand, presses a glass of red wine into your palm, and refuses to let go. That is precisely what happened to Canadian travel advisor Autumn Fiske when she joined her Belgian friend Nathalie for a nine-day Contiki Portugal Highlights tour one October, trading the familiar rhythms of home for azure coastlines, fairytale hilltop towns, and the kind of unhurried joy that only a truly confident culture can produce.
The friendship that made the trip possible began, fittingly, with a solo adventure. Fiske met Nathalie in Panama in 2019, two travellers crossing paths in a foreign country who quickly discovered a shared appetite for exploring the world. Since then, the pair have made a habit of reuniting across international borders. Portugal was simply the latest chapter, and by all accounts, one of the best.
From Lisbon's Laneways to the Shores of the Atlantic
The Contiki itinerary swept Fiske and her group through Portugal's biggest cities, Lisbon and Porto, while also weaving through smaller towns and the country's celebrated surf-culture coastline. With a maximum of 24 travellers on the tour, the group was intimate enough to feel like a community almost immediately. "My friend Nathalie and I made instant friends with others in the group from all over the world, including fellow Canadians, Europeans, and Australians," Fiske recalls, describing the easy camaraderie that formed among young adults ranging in age from 18 to 35.
For Fiske, who typically finds capital cities overwhelming rather than compelling, Lisbon delivered an unexpected revelation. She describes the Portuguese capital as entirely walkable, lined with fantastic food markets and street stalls, and brimming with an energy she had not anticipated. "Normally I don't like to spend a lot of time in capital cities," she admits, "but Lisbon will not disappoint. I wish I had more time there." A day trip to nearby Sintra sealed her affection for the region. The hilltop town, with its colourful palaces and lush forested hills, reminded her of something out of a storybook. She compares it simply and perfectly to "a fairytale kingdom."
The Food, the Wine, and the Pastéis de Nata
If Lisbon captured Fiske's imagination, it was Portugal's food and drink that captured her heart entirely. A self-described seafood enthusiast, she found the country delivered on every level. The Bacalhau, Portugal's beloved salted cod, was a particular highlight. "The Bacalhau melted in my mouth," she says, her enthusiasm still palpable. But the true obsession, the one she returns to again and again when telling people about the trip, is the Pastel de Nata. These warm, flaky custard tarts, a national icon as much as a pastry, became a daily ritual. By her own admission, Fiske was eating three or four of them every single day.
The wine was equally revelatory. A lover of European reds, Fiske found Portugal's offerings to be among the finest she has ever tasted. Paired with long, leisurely restaurant meals, the wine became part of a broader cultural education in the Portuguese art of slow living. Dining in Portugal, she learned quickly, is not a transaction. It is an occasion. Fiske's Contiki Tour Manager offered a practical heads-up that became one of the trip's most memorable lessons: expect to wait around 45 minutes for the bill. In Canada, where the cheque arrives almost before the plates are cleared, this required a genuine shift in mindset. Fiske's advice to future travellers is direct: "Pack your patience when waiting for the bill at restaurants." Far from frustrating, she and her group came to embrace the delay as an invitation to linger a little longer over that final glass of wine.
A Destination That Demands a Return Visit
One of the most valuable things a travel advisor can offer a client is an honest assessment of a destination's depth, and Fiske is now fully equipped to deliver one. Portugal, she is clear, is not a place you see once and consider done. The mainland alone offers more than a single trip can hold, but the country's island territories add an entirely different dimension. Fiske already has her sights set on the Azores, the remote volcanic archipelago in the middle of the Atlantic, with its dramatic landscapes and world-class hiking trails. Madeira, too, is on her radar.
For clients considering their first visit, Fiske is enthusiastic about the Contiki format as an entry point, particularly for solo travellers or those looking to combine sightseeing with genuine social connection. She also encourages travellers with flexible itineraries to think regionally. "If you have the time, add on a bit of Spain or Morocco," she advises. "These are great additions as neighbouring countries to Portugal." It is the kind of practical, personalised guidance that only comes from someone who has stood in those places themselves.
What She Brings Home
Beyond the memories and the well-documented pastry habit, Fiske returns from Portugal with a refined understanding of what makes Contiki work as a supplier for a specific kind of traveller. The small group sizes, the curated mix of iconic landmarks and cultural immersion, and the built-in opportunity to form real friendships all serve a young adult market that wants more than a highlight reel. It is a model she has seen succeed across other Contiki Europe trips, and Portugal, she feels, may be one of its finest showcases.
As for what comes next, Fiske does not hesitate. She is already planning her return to the Portuguese mainland, drawn back by the promise of more Pastel de Nata, more exceptional wine, and the hiking trails of the Azores still waiting to be explored. For a travel advisor who has circled the globe and built a career on firsthand experience, that pull back to a single country speaks volumes about what Portugal has to offer. Some destinations, it seems, do not simply leave an impression. They leave a standing invitation.
