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One week road trip Santiago de Compostela-Lisbon itinerary advice needed

One week road trip Santiago de Compostela-Lisbon itinerary advice needed

Old Jul 17th, 2017, 10:39 AM
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One week road trip Santiago de Compostela-Lisbon itinerary advice needed

Hi all,
I am once again asking for your expert advice. My DH and I are planning a week long road trip from Santiago de Compostela departing there October 12th. Our flight home(California) is October 19th out of Lisbon.
Basic info: This is the 4th week of our vacation. We will have spent a couple of days in Bologna, boarded a Windstar cruise in Venice (meeting up with my sister and her DH. ) cruised thru Croatia and Montenegro ending in Athens(9 days.) 2 days in Athens, fly to Porto meet some friends there. 3 nights Porto, 1 night Pontevedra, 3 nights Santiago. Our friends leave and we have our last week to make our way back to Lisbon. We have been to Lisbon once but just for a couple of days.
We like road trips as long as the drives are scenic and too long each day. I have been trying to keep it to approx. 2 hours between stops knowing we will meander a bit.
Here are my thoughts:
*After we leave Santiago I was thinking our first stop would be either Braga or Guimaraes?
*Can we see both in one day? Which one to stay overnight in? Recommended hotels or eateries?
From there I am thinking Viseu overnight
*Hotel recommendation?
This where I am lost as there are so many good choices!
Viseu-Marvao
Marvao-Tomar
Tomar-Lisbon
Or.....
Viseu-Marvao
Marvao-Evora
Evora-Lisbon
Or......
Viseu-Marvao
Marvao-Careres
Careres-Evora
Evora-Lisbon
Or drop Marvao and just do Coimbra,Tomar and Batalha

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!!!!
Kim
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Old Jul 17th, 2017, 05:02 PM
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Be sure to check rental are drop off fees. They can be exorbitant.

Some of our favorite northern towns Braga, Coimbra, Viana do Castelo, and Amarante.
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Old Jul 17th, 2017, 05:46 PM
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I'm picking up the car when I leave Porto so drop off wont be an issue.
Thanks for the town recommendation..
If I stay in Braga 2 nights are there a lot of day trips from there?
K
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Old Jul 21st, 2017, 08:18 AM
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My random thoughts
-- Santiago to Braga or Guimaraes. I like both cities, Guimaraes maybe has a little more to see. In the area there is a prehistoric hill fort site, Citania dos Breiteiros, and the out of town pousada in a convent is one of my favorites in Portugal. Braga is close to both the Mateus winery (not my favorite, but it was fun) and the Bom Jesus church with its famous criss crossing stairs up the hill. I have driven a lot in Portugal, and Braga is hands down the most confusing city for me to get out of. When I ask for directions, people just typically drive ahead of me to take me to the exit I want, so I guess they know their city is frustrating for cars!

-- Viseu now has a pousada. It's been done in the sleek and modern style, in an old convent. High standard but not really my style. In Viseu there is a cathedral and an art museum with one of Portugal's most famous paintings by Grao Vasco if you like religious art.

-- Marvao is one of my favorite castle towns in Europe. The views from the top at sunset are great, and the castle itself has been restored and has lots to explore. There is also a pousada here, but we have stayed in a couple of small hotels, just got them on booking. One was Casa da ARvore and it was fine. I would make sure to stay in the upper old town and not down below. From Marvao you can visit Castelo de Vide, which has some very interesting Jewish sites.

-- Tomar is a pretty little town, but the castle and convento de Cristo are a huge attraction. You could probably see it in a day on a drive from Marvao to Lisbon. Todal driving would probably be around 4 hours, almost all on toll roads.

I love Cáceres, but wouldn't go that far on this trip.

The monasteries at both Alcobaca and Batalha are favorites of mine, but you can't see everything in one trip, so you might have to choose between castles and monasteries! I might choose Marvao and Alcobaca if I could only pick two of Marvao, Alcobaca, Tomar and Batalha. Decisions, deciswions!
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Old Jul 21st, 2017, 02:44 PM
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Oh my gosh @Ireynold1 thank you so much. This was exactly the kind of information I was hoping for. I referenced my via Michelin app and wondered if this made sense.
1 night Guimaraes
1 night Viseu
2 nights Marvao
1 night Alcobaca
2 nights Lisbon
Too much??
Thank you so much for your guidance
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Old Jul 23rd, 2017, 07:00 AM
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For me, it's hard to get an idea of what you are thinking of with just the nights listed. How much are you going to try to squeeze into those days? It is a lot of moving around, but the total kms are perfectly do-able. I am one of those who really doesn't mind one night stays at all, with the caveat being that I want to make sure that I have time to do what I want to do at the place where I'm spending my one night. I know that some find that one-night stops mean that they wind up driving in late at night and leaving early in the morning to get to the next stop. That's silly, it seems to me, so I would always want to make sure I had time to get settled, do what I wanted to do, and that the days on either end would allow me to do that, if that makes sense.

If you have two nights for Lisbon, well, that is really maybe only one day and a half. If you arrive the afternoon before, you will have some time that day (I assume you will get rid of your rental car then?), and then the next day, but the following day, I assume is your flight out of Portugal. I think Lisbon deserves at least three full days, especially if people want to head to Sintra and/or Belem, and IMO when you add on one of those day trips you are cheating Lisbon. But then I am a real Lisboa fan, not everyone is. Hope this helps a bit!
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Old Jul 23rd, 2017, 10:31 AM
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I have not been to all the destinations you've listed. I can only tell you that I didn'c particularly care for Braga as a destination and, unless I missed something, I think I saw all of Guimaraes in the few hours I spent there. I mainly went there to eat lunch, but I strolled all over the town before and after. I'll admit the guidebook I had with me was not very helpful (I actually threw it away in Braga!), but I'm not sure what else there was to see in Guimaraes that would have kept me there longer. (And I happen to be there during the year the town was designated an EU "capital of culture", with many outdoor art installations that I looked at completely -- absent those, I probably would have spent even less time in Guimaraes.)

That's a long way of saying that while I think Guimaraes is a great example of a lovely small town of northern Portugal and I was happy to be there the whole time, I can't see any reason to spend more than a night there. I had a terrific meal at Historico by Papaboa, and would return to Guimaraes for their alheira sausage alone.

I can confirm the confusion about getting in and out of Braga. I was actually stopped by the police, for driving the wrong way on a one way street, and they kindly simply told me to back up & turn around and indicated that was the way out of town.
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