First time to Portugal-Itinerary in progress
 

My husband and I are in the preliminary phases of planning our trip to Portugal next May. I would love some cities of recommendation and the ideal number of days to stay in each location.

ados,

I know that you will get many suggestions on cities to visit but be sure and add Lisbon to your list. We visited Lisbon for the first time last May and really enjoyed the city. The Geronimo's(sp) Monastery is beautiful and worth the trip to Lisbon alone. Bring your walking shoes and don't be afraid to take the trams to see all the sights.
We spent three days in Lisbon and it was probably enough time although I am sure you could spend more time and still enjoy yourself.

Ados - Hopefully you will enjoy Portugal as much as we did on our trip last June. Started off with a few days on Madeira Island (what a tropical paradise), then flew to Lisbon for a week. Centered ourself in Lisbon and walked ourselves silly. Take the #28 tram for a great overview of the city. It's quite easy to get around Lisbon without a car, as the public transportation systems are well designed and very user friendly. You can easily make day trips to outlying areas like Cascais, Sinta, Cabo da Roca, Belem and on and on. Lisbon offers numerous museums, palaces and the like for exploring. Don't forget to walk thru the streets of the Alfama-you could easily spend an entire day just wandering thru the area and exploring its many shops and restaurants.

If you have the time and inclination, plan a side trip to Madeira-and easy flight from Lisbon. Funchal, Madeira's capital, and Lisbon are like night and day in their differences.

We enjoyed some of the best food we've eaten on this trip - and at very affordable prices.

Get a good, easy to carry guide book, some comfortable walking shoes, plan ahead, and enjoy your trip. Portugal was an unexpected treat for us!

aj and Debs - thank you for the tidbits of info. It's a great start. It looks like Lisbon and Algarve are definite destinations for our trip. I can' wait!!!

What are your interests? Lisbon is wonderful, but there is much outside of that area depending on what you wish to see and do. We chose to pass on the Algarve only because there was so much else we wanted to see.

Hi, we just returned from two weeks in Portugal this past Saturday. It is a fabulous country with wonderful warm and genuine people. The food was incredible. We rented a car and traveled north and east. The diversity of the countryside is amazing. Here is what we did...
Sintra - 4 nights
1 day Lisboa by train
1 day all great sights in Sintra area
1 day Convento dos Capuchos and then out to the coast to Cabo da Roca down through Cascais
Obidos - 1 night
1 day visited Batalha, Alocbaca, Nazar and Obidos (not enough time o visit Tomar)
Viano do Castello (the Minho was beautiful)- 3 nights
1 day travel and Viano
1 day south to Guimares, Citania de Brtieros, Bom Jesus and Barcelos
1 day north to Caminha to Valenca, Ponte Barca and Ponte Lima (one of our favorite rides)
Bucaco - 1 night
1 day travel, visited the forest and ate the best pig ever
Evora - 3 nights
1 day travel Castelo de Vide, Marvao, Estromez
1 day in Evora (lovely)
1 day to Monsarez and Megalith tour
Palmela - 2 nights
1 day travel and then to Jose Maria de Fonseca winery and tile makers
1 day through the Serra da Arradida to Cabo Espichel and Sesimbra (great ride)

Buy the DK Eyewitness and Fodors guide and have fun planning! Good luck.

Hi from Portugal,

You may want to check my website:

http://pwp.netcabo.pt/ricardo-duarte/

where I suggest a roadtrip along the countryside:

http://pwp.netcabo.pt/ricardo-duarte...alreloaded.htm

Regards,

Ricardo Correia Duarte
Porto, Portugal
advice and tips when traveling to Portugal:
http://pwp.netcabo.pt/ricardo-duarte/

Hi easygoer,
Great that you enjoyed your trip to Portugal,would be interested to know where you stayed in Viana do Castelo. We are planning to stay there for 3/4 days next June and trying to decide on a hotel or self catering in a cottage on one of the Manor House estates. Haven't been to Portugal before so really looking forward to it. Thanks....

Patricia, we stayed at the Pousada Santa Lucia, a large mansion above town. I tried booking months before and it was sold out. I had reservations at the Melo Alvim house in town. About three weeks before we left, I was notified that a twin standard was available at the Pousada. Our heart was set on staying there because of all of the positive feedback on the boards. I did a post because I didn?t want to give up our reservation at the Melo Alvim for a small room. Bob the Navigator had a perfect reply? I would stay in a broom closet at that Pousada. He was right, it was magnificent. When we arrived I asked if they had a better room. They told me that the "one and only" suite was available for two of our nights and that they could move us to a sea view standard room the last night. We saw the twin standard, it wasn?t bad, but it faced the parking lot. We splurged and went for the suite #107. Incredible! It had a huge living area and a separate bedroom, large bathroom with a Jacuzzi. The best part was the large terrace with big wicker lounges, which we thoroughly enjoyed. When it came time to move, they put us in the room next-door, #108, which shared the big terrace. The room was a good size and we were pleased to have enjoyed the suite for two nights. It turned out that the ?Honeymoon Couple? who had booked the suite that Saturday night never showed up. I sighed at the darken windows next door. However the $ saved by moving to #108 was worth not having the suite for the full time. At first I was terrified of driving down to town for dinner, after walking to dinner in Sintra and Obidos, but no one was on the winding road and we had no problems. The staff at the Pousada was our favorite of our whole trip. Good luck! Planning is half the fun. You?ll love Portugal.

Easygoer, thanks sounds great, have already checked out Pousada on internet so will try and book in.

xxxx - the reason we are thinking the Algarve is that we are both beach bums. We could spend the entire day relaxing in the sun and love every minute of it! Of course we're not going to Portugal soley to spend time on the beach. We are both anti "tourist-type attractions." No group tours, etc. We do enjoy checking out major hot spots, EATING/DRINKING, just bumming around places checking out the culture. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

We were in Portugal in August and LOVED IT! Here's our itinerary:
Flew into Lisbon - stayed 6 days. Took the train to Sintra (a must!) and took the train to Estoril and walked the boardwalk to Cascais where we enjoyed a relaxing day on the beach. The train is so easy and cheap. Driving and parking in and around Lisbon is awful! Rented a car and drove to Tomar and world heritage site - nice. Spent 1 night in Marvao and wonderful hilltop town, with a great pensionne (Dom Dinis). Spent 2 nights in Evora. By this time we were done with wall cities and found this place to be rather dull. Stop by and see the sights in one day only! We drove to Monsaraz and cute little village close to the spanish border. This was a little gem of a place and we ate well there! Drove to Lagos for 3 days to relax in the sun and explore the alcove beaches. Spent our last night in Setubal. Although the town itself isn't all that exciting there is a lot to see and do. Next time we would skip Evora and spend more time in Setubal and area. Driving to and from places was easy and all is well labelled. Much better than Italy! Enjoy your vacation!

Another two thumbs for Portugal! I just came back from a trip to Spain and Portugal and after visiting some great sights in Spain I was sort of expecting a letdown when I got to Lisbon. Boy, was I ever wrong! Although I only stayed in Lisbon for 3 days, I really enjoyed it, I wish I could have stayed longer to explore other areas. The views from Costelo de São Jorge are incredible and a day trip to Sintra is a must! My favorite thing about Sintra was walking on the walls of the Moorish Castle and taking in the spectacular view. Enjoy your trip!

Our itinerary was close to easygoer's, although not as extensive. Tomar and Marvao were the highlights of our trip. I'd love to go back and spend time in the Algarve. We only skipped it this time because we didn't know if we would have "beach weather" in March and there were too many other sites we wanted to see-figured we could go to the beach on less money than a European vacation was costing.