Dear Lifetime Member,

Portugal has been on a lot of our members’ wish lists for a while now, especially after hearing from women who’ve already been on this trip! We always sell out and we’re thrilled by the consistently stellar reviews.

If you’ve missed it, here’s your chance to come along.

In 2027, Portugal we’ll have a new trip leader—Ellesor Holder, one of our most vivacious and fun-loving trip leaders! Ellesor did this trip with Jeannie Ralston this year, and she is over the moon about showing it to a new group of travelers.

Over nine days, we’ll explore the old town of Lisbon, spend three nights at a wine estate in the Douro Valley, and end the trip in beautiful Porto.

As with most NextTribe trips, it’s not just a “walk and gawk.” You’ll paint your own azulejo tile (and take it home), cook a three-course dinner with a Lisbon chef, and pick grapes at a Relais & Châteaux vineyard during harvest week.

Come with us September 10-18, 2027 for 9 days!

Check out the itinerary

Portugal is easy to love. The food is fresh and simple, the wine is excellent, the people are warm, and it feels a lot less crowded than Italy or France, especially at this time of year. It’s also a country that rewards slowing down. Lisbon is all hills, river views and old neighborhoods. The Douro Valley, a few hours north, is terraced vineyards stacked along a river, and it’s where port wine comes from. Porto is smaller and a little grittier than Lisbon, in the best way.

We picked mid-September for the trip on purpose. That’s harvest time in the Douro, when the estates are busy and the whole valley is most alive. Unfortunately most visitors miss it by a few weeks, and that’s a real shame. We’ll be right in the thick of it.

⛵ A sunset sail. We start the trip on a traditional sailing ship at golden hour, welcome drink in hand.

🎨 Make your own azulejo. After a walk through Alfama, Lisbon’s oldest neighborhood, you’ll paint a tile at a local ceramics studio. They fire and glaze it so you can bring it home.

🍳 Cooking class at the Lisbon Cooking Academy. You’ll make a three-course Portuguese dinner, then sit down together and enjoy it.

🎶 A night of Fado. Portugal’s soulful, bittersweet music, performed near our hotel, after spending time at the National Tile Museum.

🍇 Harvest days at Quinta Nova. Three nights at a Relais & Châteaux wine estate overlooking the Douro. Join the grape harvest, then a five-course harvest lunch and a wine tasting. Afternoons are open for the pool, a nap, or the vineyard trail down to the riverside chapel.

🚤 A boat trip to Pinhão. We cruise down the Douro to a small river town where the train station is literally covered in beautiful, traditional blue-and-white tiles.

🌉 Porto with a local friend. Old Town, the Bolhão Market, and an afternoon walking across the Dom Luís I Bridge to Vila Nova de Gaia, where the port houses line the river.

We wanted a good mix of doing and just being. Most days have one or two planned activities and some free time, so you can wander, shop, or sit at a café and people-watch. Meals are a big part of the trip, and most of them are included.

The activity level is moderate. Expect two to three miles of walking a day, with hills, stairs and cobblestones (this is Portugal, after all), and plenty of breaks along the way.

September is a lovely time to be there, with warm days and cooler evenings. Coming solo? You won’t be alone for a minute. We can match you with a roommate, or you can opt for a single room.

And if you’d like to keep going after the trip ends, Porto is one starting point for the Camino de Santiago.

You’ll arrive in Lisbon on Friday, September 10th, and check in at the Lisboa Carmo Hotel. That evening we head out on the Tagus River for a sunset sail, followed by our first dinner together.

On Saturday we walk through the winding streets of Alfama, then try our hands at tile painting. Lunch is at a friend’s restaurant, and the afternoon is yours. In the evening, we cook (and eat) a three-course dinner at the Lisbon Cooking Academy.

Sunday is all about Lisbon’s famous tiles, starting at the National Tile Museum. We’ll have lunch at LX Factory, a former industrial complex now filled with shops and restaurants, and you’ll have the afternoon free to explore Praça do Comércio and Avenida da Liberdade. That night, Fado, and a farewell-to-Lisbon dinner in Chiado.

On Monday we drive north to the Douro Valley and settle in at Quinta Nova for three nights. Tuesday is harvest day. Pick grapes alongside the estate’s team if you want, then sit down to a long harvest lunch and a tasting. On Wednesday we take a boat down the river to Pinhão to wander the town and see its tiled train station before heading back to the quinta.

Thursday we drive to Porto, with an afternoon on the Dom Luís I Bridge, in the riverside Ribeira district, and across the water in Vila Nova de Gaia. On Friday, a local friend shows us around Old Town, São Bento station and Bolhão Market, and we finish with a farewell dinner. Saturday, September 18th, is breakfast and goodbyes.

Prices go up on November 16th, so if Portugal has been calling you, now’s a good time to answer.

Early Bird Price ends 11/6

Book today with a

$500 Deposit

then

8 payments starting November 13

As Lifetime Members, you’re the first to know about this new trip. Next week, we’ll notify other members that the trip is available. Then we’ll open bookings to the public.

So if you’re interested, don’t hesitate! Save your spot on this trip for $500!

Jeannie Ralston, Co-founder and CEO