For the price, I had expected a guided tour, but what we got was basically just transportation with a little bit of introduction enroute. The guide was polite and friendly, but she simply left us after taking us to each place and told us to meet her there again after x number of hours. Her explanation for not being able to give us a guided tour at Santiago de Compostela was that Portuguese guides were not allowed in the Basilica. But if that is true, I wonder why Viator could not have arranged for a local guide to do that? That has been the arrangement in other tours I’ve participated in, and there were certainly tour groups with guides in the Basilica. As for why the guide could not have given us a guided tour of the places on the Portuguese side of the border, she did not explain.

Ours ended up being a private tour, with only my husband and I being on the tour. Milena was our guide and she was excellent. We were picked up and dropped off at our apartment. Milena was very knowledgeable and pointed out sites of historical interest and told us about each area as we drove to and from Santiago de Compostela.

While Santiago might seem a long way from Porto, the trip is entirely freeway and the time passed quickly. I would definitely recommend this tour to anyone considering Santiago de Compostela for a day trip.

A very good trip to have a quick look at these two places

Yes, it is a long trip from Porto to Santiago de Compostela 2-1/2 hours by van each way. But the trip was worth it. We arrived at the cathedral in time for 11 am Epiphany Sunday mass, were driven almost to the door by our great guide. She also showed us where to sit, and we were able to witness the great heavy, gold colored, incense burner, only used on the 11 am Sunday service being swung by six priests directly over our heads. Then our guide took us around the city, we enjoyed an excellent lunch, then drove back through Viana dela Castelo, another interesting, historic city, on our way back. The guide was knowledgeable, friendly, and very willing to share her love of the area with us. great trip.