KenP

I am researching a trip to Portugal in October. I was looking for an area for a day or two of hiking and saw a couple of blogs about the Schist Village trails about 30km West of Coimbra. Recommended town for lodging is Lousa. Doesn't appear to be a lot of info on the area, interested in any Foderites who may have visited this area and have experiences to share.

lreynold1

I have been to that area twice, and it is lovely. We have stayed in Lousa both times, and you can get good information from the tourist office there. The Palacio da Lousa (used to be a Melia, but isn't any more) is a comfortable but faded place. Not many good places to eat in Lousa, but the hotel food is ok, nothing great.

Just in case you haven't already seen the official website, http://aldeiasdoxisto.pt/en

One of my favorite schist towns is a bit out of the way coming from the Lousa direction, but it is really nice, Piodao.

As I was typing this, I had a memory that the first time we visited I wrote up something for the forum, and sure enough, I found it. http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-try-lousa.cfm

I'll hunt and see if I can find something from our second trip, which was just a year or two ago. On that trip we stayed in the Lousa area.

I think you will love this part of Portugal.