Óbidos historic village and Mafra Palace Private Tour

We had a great day at Odeidos and Mafra with Ricardo of Taking U There Tours. He was engaging and knowledgeable, and he spoke excellent English. Mafra is truly a hidden gem--he showed us the palace, fantastic library, and hospital where the monks carried for the nobles and others--truly a fascinating site and not crowded (esp. when compared with Sintra and Pena Palace).

Had a wonderful time on this trip with our amazing guide Rodrigo. Beautiful and interesting! Thanks!

We absolutely loved our tour of Obidos and Mafra. Obidos is a lovely town and Mafra has an amazing palace/hospital/basilica. Although it is a less visited site, we felt Mafra was well worth seeing. Our guide, Joao (John) Dickman was absolutely incredible. So knowledgeable, fun, and easy going. Highly recommend this tour with John!!

We almost exclusively choose Viator when seeking an independent tour of a city as their tour guides are great. This time our guide surpassed even our expectations. John Joao Dickmann was extremely knowledgeable about Lisbon and our chosen sites of the king and queens hunting palace and the medieval village of Obidos. John was very personable and showed flexibility when our interests expanded to include other historical topics. He even showed us quaint patisseries! Thank you, John.

An amazing experience for anyone fascinated by Roman, Moor and Portuguese history, all rolled into one charming village. The stop in Mafra for a visit to this royal palace was just as awesome. Our guide from Taking U There was distinguished and knowledable. It was really a first class tour.

Loved Obidos and our guide, Rodrigo! He was super knowledgeable and accommodating. Great communication setting up the meeting place before the tour. We essentially were able to customize the day to our desire.

Very pleased with this tour - the explanation was in great details of the two sites we visited

My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed this trip. It was a private excursion with an amazing guide named Rodrigo. He was friendly, well-organized and had a wealth of information about the places we visited and as well as Portugal in general. Our first stop was the medieval village of Obidos. We went on a walking tour and it was like travelling back in time. We learned about the history of the village and stopped in to see various places of interest. We had time to buy some souvenirs. Afterward we drove off to the town of Mafra and had a lunch in a delightful café. We then went on a walking tour of an enormous, fascinating palace with Rodrigo's vast knowledge bringing the place to life. All in all a great day!

Joao picked us up for our tour to Obidus from our hotel. We were expecting a small van, so you can imagine our surprise when it was us just out for the day. Joao is a font of information and most charming. We were at the fortress town before lines of tourists and had a beautiful time strolling the street lined with interesting crafts. The view from the top of the rampart wall was stunning. Joao is flexible to your tastes, it's not set how long you stay or what you see. He later drove us to the Mafra Palace, truly magnificent and to see this with just him instead of the huge crowds that came as we were going made you feel like the King and Queens had just left for the day. The cathedral within was a marbled sight to behold with its still functioning five organs. And then we see the biggest library in Europe with rare books and stories of bats that are free to roam and eat worms that damage wood and books. Joao has many different tours on offer, all small and I think his expertise of Morocco would make this a trip unique.

This is an excellent tour to one of the top locations outside of Lisbon. We had a superb trip to Obidos and to Peniche formerly a fishing village and great for the view of the coast and for a late lunch. The company, TakinguThere, provides private tours for 2-6 people The pick up at the hotel was on schedule and seamless...getting us to Obidos before the crowd. We were able to walk around the village and to the top of the ancient city wall wear decent hiking or walking shoes with adequate soles if you want to do this as the climb to the top of the wall is a gravel and rock path we're in our late 60s and reasonably fit but path is a bit narrow and there are no railings along the way or at the top...something to keep in mind if you have younger children along. The views from the top of the wall are spectacular keeping in mind that Obidos is inland so you can't see the ocean. The history and architecture date to the Moorish and medieval periods. There are interesting examples where the earlier buildings were adapted into newer buildings as the ruling elite changed...a good guide is necessary and this tour delivers.If you aren't interested in going to the top of the wall, there is plenty of opportunity to sip coffee, try the Portuguese cherry liqueur Ginjinha, and to shop. The tour goes from Obidos to Peniche, a former fishing village along the rocky coast line. Here you can see the cliffs and get a feel for the hazards of navigation the lighthouse was blaring siren warnings to small boats due to the fog. The tour company is a small group that delivers high quality at an incredibly reasonable price. I can recommend them without hesitation for this tour and I would expect they deliver the same high quality on their other tours. Our guide, Rod, was very personable and knowledgeable, drawing on his world travels. He covered history, culture, science, technology and agriculture during our discussions and provided great advice on ordering lunch. Perfect day!