Hi there:

A big group of us will be going to Portugal in mid June (June 15ish to 24ish). If you recall, we had a gigantic group that did Greece last year (details here if you are interested) and it turned out surprisingly great, so we are trying our hand at Portugal this year. There will be 19 of us (10 grown ups, 9 kids ranging from 4 to 11). Interests include beaches, lounging by the pool, other family friend activities, good food and wine, wine tours/tastings, some history/museums (for the grown ups), some light hiking, some architecture. (I say "some" for the last three because not all 19 will be interested in these things but if there are attractions around these, a subset would visit).

This is the itinerary we are playing around with, please critique it. We will all be flying in from US.

June 15th, Fly into Faro
5 nights - Algarve
3 nights - Porto / Douro Valley
2 nights - Lisbon
Some people will leave and some will stick around in Lisbon for another 1-2 nights
Fly out of Lisbon

Any changes you would recommend?

Some other questions:
1. What do you recommend is the best way to get around? Rent a car or by bus/train?
2. Would you recommend staying in Porto or Douro Valley? They seem quite close to one another. So I am not sure what would be a good base to stay at and explore.

Looking forward to hearing from you Fodorites! Thanks in advance for your help!

Hi folks - any feedback? Thanks!

Hi Manisha
I recomend you rent a car or use bus for the trips between Algarve/Lisbon and Lisbon/Porto. To buy bus tickets go to Rede Expresso buses.
You should sleep in Porto and do a day tour to Douro Valley.
In the Algarve there is na interesting museum in Portimão.
With childrens you shoul visit: Lisbon: Oceanário (Aquarium) and Lisbon Story Center; in Porto visit World of Discoveries.
It is a good itinerary, although you don't have much time in Lisbon...
Enjoy your holidays

5 days Algarve - great if folks are into beaching it but otherwise just a few neat towns - lots of modern high-rise beach resorts. Seems you're slim on Lisbon for those not staying few days more. Day trip to Sintra and its fairy-tale castles is awesome - short commuter train hop.

Faro to Porto I'd do by train as cars are useless in cities and do Duroro as a day trip by excursion boat or bus

Consider first class for trains - more comfy and roomy as fewer people in each car.

Book train tickets far ahead - may get a group discount and book seats together - do this as early as possible at www.cp.pt - Portuguese Railways site - www.seat61.com has tips on booking your own discounted/group tickets - general info trains - www.budgteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

Be sure to check out the Belem area of Lisbon with the famous royal castle (? or some huge castle) with a neat seaside promenade.

Take tram 26 up into the old town built on hills thru the Alfama district: https://www.google.com/search?q=tram...w=1097&bih=536

I wouldn't use the train from Algarve to Lisbon. I would take the bus instead. What part of Algarve will you stay in?

I loved the aquarium in Lisbon (https://www.oceanario.pt/en). Some of the adults might enjoy the tile museum as well (Museu Nacional do Azulejo).

For the adults who like art, I highly recommend the Gulbenkian Museum!. It was one of our favorite sites in Lisbon. I think the children would enjoy the Sao Jorge Castle and its peacocks! They can walk along the walls, and the views are gorgeous.

Thanks so much for all your feedback and wonderful suggestions! Will definitely research them more and include them. I am sorry for my late reply. It took me a while to get back to this thread and check.

We are considering adding 3 days/ 4nights in Lisbon at the start of this itinerary so hopefully that will be a bit more time in Lisbon. Still not enough but better than our original itinerary of 2 nights. We also reduced 5 nights in Algarve to 4 nights. So our new itinerary looks like this:
4 nights Lisbon
4 nights Algarve
3 nights Porto
Fly out of Porto

@PalenQ - any specific reason why you recommend doing Faro to Porto by train? We are actually thinking of flying because the train ride seems so long (6-7 hours) and spending the entire day on the train with the kids might be a bit much. Unless the scenery is interesting. Do you know?

@semlimite - we are staying in the Portimao area at this airbnb : https://abnb.me/GeFAFnSUKT Closest beach seems 1.2 miles away - Beach Avlor Nascente. Know anything about the area?

@burta - thanks for your suggestions! Oooo tile museum sounds like fun!

@KarenWoo - thanks for your suggestions. Getting excited just reading all these suggestions

Oh, also we are considering staying at this place in Porto? Does anybody know much about the location? https://www.floresvillage.com/en-gb

We did a trip to Portugal with 14 people (and included Azores). On the mainland we had about 11 days. We had a car more of less the whole time expect for in Lisbon.
From Lisbon visit Obidos and Tomar (the church is Tomar is stunning and not touristy)
We enjoyed the time out food market in Lisbon.
From Porto make sure to visit the wineries in Douro valley (the strip between Reghau and Pinhao is the most scenic).

Experience with groups has convinced me that some guidelines should be agreed upon even before you start packing. The main point is that members of this gang can go off on their own to explore what pleases them, without the others getting annoyed. Meet for supper together and share the experiences of the day. Less compromise = more fun. And it should go without saying that a scheme for how to pay for shared expenses, food tabs, etc. will help avoid hurt feelings.

The house looks very nice! Alvor is a great beach but you will need a car to explore around...go out for dinner, etc. I'm sure the host will have a list of where to go for dinner and visits...

The location is great, very touristic but with plenty of restaurants, close to the river and Gaia (Port wine Lodges), Cathedral, Bolsa Palace, S. Francisco Church, Clerigos, Lello Bookshop and tram to Foz. From here you can walk all downtown, Ribeira and Aliados and you have th subway quite close.

Hi mnag, thanks for posting! I checked out your trip report and took a lot of notes. Looks like you did some wonderful things! What did the kids do while the grown ups were wine tasting in Porto? I am not sure how old the kids in your group were. But our group has kids ranging from 4 - 11 and I am wondering how to keep them occupied while the adults do some leisurely wine tastings

Yes Southam agree with everything you have said We went to Greece last year (with an EVEN bigger group - 26 of us, can you believe it? Oi!) It was fun but let's just say we all walked way with some valuable lessons on how to do things better

Thanks for your tips!

Yes, we have a car. Thanks for letting me know what you think of Alvor. I was getting concerned about that one and whether there are some nice beaches nearby. A lot of folks seem to talk a lot about Lagos and that is 30 minutes away. So probably would not go there every day. But maybe check out one day.

AWESOME! Thanks so much for letting me know. There was a LOT of back and forth on the location for where to stay in Porto. Am glad this is a pretty good location. Given all the things to do and tourists, I am guessing relatively safe (as long as people are careful and exercise the same caution as they do in other big cities around the world) Do you know?