paco ducal

Great place, like we are back in time.Visit Palácio Ducal with a tourist guide to learn portugues history of XIX century.

No English speaking guides available!. I understand we are in Portugal but this is a tourist attraction and to have no translation available is not the way to attract visitors.

This is an impressive palace of the Bragança family that went on to become the royal line of Portugal. It was given directly by the family to be opened to the public so it has not lost its carácter. Almost everything in the house is from the royal family. The last King was quite an artista and his paintings are well worth seeing. Although you are not allowed to take interior pictures, you can take pictures through the windows of the gardens. All tours are guided. aour guide spoke some English and for our sake, lots of Spanish which made the tour more enjoyable.

It's a beautiful palace, well preserved, full of history, impressive as many palaces that I've visited around the world, perhaps less well known which is a pity...Despite the preservation seems unquestionable, we can notice that there are some floors that recently were " converted" from wood to marble. Other thing has to do with the fact that the environment doesn't depict the day by day activity of the palace; Objects disposition is more towards Museum layout rather then King's palace... The guide was excellent and did his best to manage the big group. Again, as in many other places, in order to reduce costs the first thing to do is to reduce man power with negative repercussion on the tourist.The ticket price is quite fair.

Beautiful palace, very well preserved.The guide was excellent! I found the visit a bit expensive, though.

i had the time to visit this palace it is very beautiful and one can see a lot about the royal way of living. I was very annoyed and felt that it is rude to force me (a non Portuguese speaking person) to be under the guide of an only Portuguese speaking guide who did not even make any effort to accommodate a tourist. i know that i Europe the commercial language is English but that is not the point, the point is that this method is unacceptable and rude. it was a full hour of boredom.i will not go back and definitely will not spend 6 Euro/person. by the way one is not allowed to take any picture at this tour not even without a flesh.i give this place less than 1 star.

This is a very beautiful palace that gives the impression that the royal family still lives here. This palace belongs to the House of Brangança, the last royal house to rule Portugal and where the king slept his last night before being murdered. I would recommend a visit to the carriage museum (you can buy the ticket once you finish the guided tour), it is lovely!Be aware that you can only visit the palace as part of a guided tour and you might have to wait for it (I believe they only have a couple of tours in the morning and again in the afternoon - the palace closes during lunch time). Some other reviews state that guided tours are only available in Portuguese but when I visited the palace I remember a paper announcing an English tour at 11am, I am not sure if it was due to a higher number of visitors during Summer.

its a must go...wonderful journey through out the years.you can go without a guide...just look and enjoy!

Open only by way of tour and though our guide conducted the tour in Portuguese he was kind enough to repeat the highlights of each talk in very understandable English. The Portuguese seem proud of the profligate consumption of their former leaders but I could not help thinking about how having habits like buying 14 sets of 500 piece china settings from the best manufacturers in the world and every other indulgence sucked vitality from the economy for many a year. Room after room of conspicuous consumption was impressive, but a little sad, but of course the same can be said of all the palaces of Europe. Still a great tour of a beautiful palace, very well maintained by the private non-profit and well worth the time and money: highly recommended.

Yes, you can not wander. Yes, the tour is conducted in Portuguese. Yes, the tour is a little pricey. BUT WAIT! We have been to palaces all over the world, but nothing like this. The property is not government owned. The staff is trying to preserve all of the original contents: furniture, tapestries, carpets, artwork, etc. The contents are not pieces brought in to fill the rooms but rather items original to the palace. The guides go so far as to open the drapes and turn on the lights when entering a room and close everything when leaving. This is done to help eliminate damage from sunlight. Our tour guide spoke just enough English so we could understand his main points, and the number of people in our tour group was very small, 6. Spectacular and should not be missed!!!

Well organised and beautiful palace. Interesting collections. Very good guide. The kitchen is unique. Great majolica pieces.

This place is fascinating IF you speak/understand Portuguese. We were duly forewarned that the tour was only in Portuguese but at nearly 10 bucks a ticket, I would hope for a simple paper map of the rooms with a small translated description of key elements in several common European tongues. That would have made a big difference.

The tour is only given in Portuguese but the castle is absolutely stunning and I do not think you could find too many castles with all of the original furnishings. You will find every single detail left unturned. I loved the place just for the fact that the furnishings are so intact. If you love old castles you don't want to miss this one!

Its a big square, with impressive view, due to the architectonic of the place. Its really worth your while. Go and see the palace. You breath history!

Pretty big and fascinating palace, but a very boring guide. Not worth a detour, but still pretty fun if you happen to stay in Vila Vicosa.