Sintra & Cabo da Roca Private Tour

A trip to Sintra in the "Well" of the scam: where professionalism and honesty disappear

I write this review for a precise moral duty: to prevent other travelers from falling into the net of these pseudo guides... My wife was in charge of booking and managing relations with the tour operator, relying on Federico Almeida Santos of TOUR LIGHTHAWK based on a positive memory of his sister eight years ago, but that person evidently no longer exists: in his place we found only impropriety, lies and greed. The proof that it was all a plan studied at the table I had as the farce became more and more grotesque: already two days before the excursion, the owner sent my wife the link to buy tickets only for the Pena Palace, deliberately ignoring the Quinta da Regaleira. We had to insist that the second link be sent to us, because he had evidently already decided, without our knowledge, that we only had to see one building to do his bidding. Added to this is his tactical silence: the afternoon before the excursion, we write to confirm the details and he disappears into thin air. He doesn't answer WhatsApp messages or calls. If he had told us the truth at that time, we would have refused the service and demanded back the down payment for default, since we had paid for him and not for a replacement. Silent, he put us against the wall; in fact he sent a text back after midnight when we were sleeping because the next morning we had to wake up early to catch the train. So the same morning, I learned that the day before the cunning Federico could not answer because he was in the emergency room for a flu!!! Without offering us any chance to cancel the excursion, he arbitrarily decided to entrust us to a colleague of his. These are just the premises. The colleague picks us up not in the center of Sintra as planned, but at a desolate station, for his convenience. He arrives with a very uncomfortable, dirty military Jeep, but the twist is the driving itself: completely aphonous! He reassures us that his condition does not depend on flu, but I emphasize that we paid to listen to a voiceless guide!!! The most serious thing, which I want to say clearly to those who want to visit the beauties of Sintra, is the futility of this service: inside the Palaces external guides cannot enter. We visited both the Pena and the Regaleira completely alone, without any cultural accompaniment. These gentlemen are not guides, they are just expensive drivers, with precarious and dirty vehicles, who dump the unfortunate where they see fit, nothing more. As if that wasn't enough, after leaving us on foot in Sintra, the driver disappears for an hour and a half. The excuse? The car's broken. A drama with photos of cables on the ground, nothing short of ridiculous and above all unsolicited. After more than an hour of waiting, it was enough that I threatened to leave and not pay the balance for the car, by magic, to start working again in a few moments. The meeting was unpleasant, because he wanted to convince us to continue the excursion despite the fact that it was no longer possible to finish with all the visits. After losing more time and a climate ruined by the discussions, we decide to proceed with the excursion by foregoing the visit to the monastery and paying slightly less than agreed. The day ended with unsustainable wind in Cabo da Roca (which the guide knew about by his own admission, but did not warn us about) and a visit to Cascais from where we took the train back to Lisbon (about an hour). From Lisbon to Sintra you can get there in about 40 minutes by train for a few euros. Once there, take a taxi to move between the palaces, considering that some are within walking distance of the center of Sintra. You will save money, time, you will see the same things (since inside the buildings you will still go alone) and above all you will avoid scams, lies and waste of time. Stay away from this owner and his organization: they are the worst face that tourism can offer. Finally, I think it is right to inform you that we paid 4 people, 260 euros, instead of the 300 agreed, for a bad transfer service.

Response from the operator: Caro Sig. Bavaso, Mi dispiace sinceramente che la vostra esperienza non abbia soddisfatto le aspettative. Tuttavia, la vostra recensione contiene diverse affermazioni che non corrispondono ai fatti e che richiedono un chiarimento. 1. Visite guidate all’interno dei monumenti Lighthawk Tours offre regolarmente visite guidate all’interno dei monumenti quando il cliente richiede questo servizio extra, chiaramente indicato nella descrizione del tour (40€ per monumento). Nel vostro caso, questo extra non è mai stato richiesto. 2. Biglietti e prenotazioni Siete stati correttamente informati che, in linea generale, solo il Palácio da Pena richiede la prenotazione anticipata. Per la Quinta da Regaleira esistono anch’essi slot orari; tuttavia, nel giorno del vostro tour ci trovavamo in un periodo in cui è normalmente possibile acquistare i biglietti direttamente sul posto (soprattutto a partire da una certa ora), a differenza dell’alta stagione, in cui è invece consigliabile prenotare con anticipo. Per questo motivo questa è stata la nostra raccomandazione. 3. Sostituzione della guida e possibilità di cancellazione La sera precedente al tour sono stato ricoverato d’urgenza e mi è stata diagnosticata un’influenza A. Non appena ho avuto accesso al telefono vi ho informati (alle ore 22:07) e ho garantito, senza alcun costo aggiuntivo, la sostituzione con un collega professionista, il Sig. Tiago Couto, fluente in italiano. È importante sottolineare che non ho ricevuto alcuna vostra risposta a questo messaggio. Qualora aveste manifestato la volontà di cancellare il tour fino all’orario di inizio previsto, il deposito versato sarebbe stato interamente rimborsato. 4. Punto di incontro e itinerario Il percorso del tour, pubblicato sul nostro sito, inizia e termina a Sintra, come chiaramente indicato nella mappa e nella descrizione. Non era previsto l’inizio a Lisbona. 5. Convento dos Capuchos La visita è stata proposta e raggiunta, ma non è stata effettuata esclusivamente per vostra decisione, dopo aver verificato che l’ingresso prevedeva un biglietto. 6. Cabo da Roca Questo luogo fa sempre parte del nostro itinerario, senza costi aggiuntivi. Le condizioni di vento e nebbia sono caratteristiche del sito e non prevedibili con anticipo. 7. Condizioni commerciali Nonostante le difficoltà della giornata, è stato applicato uno sconto sul prezzo finale ed è stata offerta gratuitamente l’estensione a Cascais, normalmente soggetta a supplemento. Infine, desidero sottolineare che opero come guida professionale a Sintra dal 2012 e che, fino ad oggi, non avevo mai ricevuto una recensione negativa. Respingo con fermezza qualsiasi insinuazione di disonestà o di presunto “schema”, che non riflette né i fatti né la professionalità che contraddistingue Lighthawk Tours da molti anni. Restiamo a disposizione per qualsiasi chiarimento diretto. Cordiali saluti, Frederico Almeida Santos Lighthawk Tours

via Tripadvisor (translated)

Day of fun, history, and beauty.

Great day! Tiago was a very knowledgeable, funny and engaging tour guide. He spent extra time with us, and answered all of our questions thoroughly.

via Viator

Excellent. Would do again

We had the opportunity to meet and spend time with a local resident. We planned our day to visit what we wanted to see. He gave great advice on what to see and when. Extremely informative and knowledgeable. Very personable and spoke excellent English. We learned a lot from him. Would highly recommend this tour. We certainly could not drive the roads like he did. We were in good hands.

via Viator

Stunning

Frederico gave us an unforgettable day, in Sintra. He showed us the wonderful places, cities and coasts. With his knowledge, he has been able to tell us a lot about the history of each sight. We have been very very happy that we were lucky to have such a wonderful day with him.

via Tripadvisor (translated)

Magical day

We had the great fortune of having Nuno Marques as our private guide throughout our wonderful tour of beautiful Sintra and Cabo da Roca. Nuno is very knowledgeable and gave us a lot of insight to the different spots we visited. He also made sure we were always cared for and comfortable. We felt so very welcome as if we were honored guests. It was a magical day. We hope to visit Sintra and the surrounding areas with Nuno again one day.

via Viator