Dee_Dee

Deonca, thank you so much for this well written report. You obviously did a great deal of research before your trip. As a solo traveler myself, I appreciate reading trip reports using public transportation as I don't always rent a car. Portugal has been on my radar for a while. While 2012 I'll be back in Germany, I'm now considering Portugal for 2013. Again, thank you!

thursdaysd

Glad you had such a great time in Portugal - one of my favorite places. One point about Coimbra - I think the Roman ruins at Conimbriga are also worth seeing - enough that I'd add another night there.

crckwc1

Wonderful report and lots of tips to help us plan our trip to Portugal and Spain next spring. Thanks!
K

deonca

Thanks all for reading my report and for your really kind words. I'm genuinely thrilled that you've enjoyed reading it, and that you'll be able to make use of some of my tips.
Larluk - so happy that you got in touch with Cool Tours LX and that you had a great time with them!!!
"Obrigado"!

vicki2201

Deonca, thanks so much for sharing your experience with planning and the actual trip. It's very helpful for me, who is usually very good at trip research, but the holiday season really came in the way of planning. This report is heaven-sent. I will be checking out Cool Tours LX and will be rereading part of your report again. We have only 3 days in Lisbon and was hoping to cover Lisbon, Sintra and Obidos, only because I heard that those are the places to see.

With your report, I think I can do it inexpensively.

Thanks!
Victoria

bilboburgler

A great write up and it looks like you had loads of fun. I try to get to Portugal every other year as
1) it stays warm into winter (hence the British OAPs who may be staying in your hotel for 60 days!)
2) it is very good value
3) there are so many wonderful buildings

your pile of meat in Porto translates as a "little frenchman" and describes what they did to the French when they re-took Porto in 17?? or 18??. I think it should be made with 5 cuts of pig but hey it will kill you.

lobo_mau

francesinha = "little frenchwoman" (explanation left to experts, I don't dare to advance one)

deonca

vicki and bilbo - thanks so much for your positive comments! Vicki I hope you enjoy your trip and can use some of my experiences to improve your time there. Belem is definitely worth a half day. Obidos in winter, midweek, was quite sleepy, but still a worthwhile stop for an hour or so on the way back from Fatima. I had a nice tour with cool-toursLX. If you're thinking of doing a trip like that, I'd definitely get in touch with them to confirm that they're running trips when you're there. As I said in my report, they were the 3rd company we called because others weren't running tours due to offseason lack of demand.

lobo - great to learn more about this tasty, satisfying, and it must be said, great value dish! For a budget traveler like me, filling yourself up at hotel breakfast and a nice francesinha in mid-afternoon is enough to carry me through the day (with one or two delicious Portuguese pastries along the way of course).

lynclarke

Thanks for your report. We will be there in May for one week so we will use several of your suggestions for Lisbon and Sintra. Also appreciate that you included prices. It can be annoying to read a great restaurant review only to find out the meal cost the price of my new car. We travel on a budget, too.

lynclarke

deonca- I looked at ryanair but I can find where you located the SIM cards for sale. HELP!

deonca

lynclarke - You're absolutely right. I combed the Ryanair home page and don't see any links to SIM cards. I'm fairly certain they were advertising it prominently at the top of their home page last winter. At any rate, knowing that Ryanair was dealing with a company called Maxroam last year for their SIM cards, I googled "Ryanair Maxroam" and came to this link, which is the same page I recall seeing about 12 months ago. Hope this helps you, have a great trip!

http://ryanair.maxroam.com/Home.aspx...artner=SIMCARD

MyriamC

Thanks for this extensive report. We did a similar trip last year (by rental car) and are going back this June to see more of this beautiful country: Braga, Guimarães, Óbidos, Tomar, Évora, Tavira, to end our trip (again) in Porto.

Jfgarner

Hello Deonca. I will be going to Portugal soon. I plan to visit Sintra in one day. I can't decide if I want to splurge on a private tour, walk, or use an E-bike. I am wondering how you found your way around by yourself. Were there a lot of signs to direct you to the monuments etc? Hopefully you will actually see this ha! Thank you in advance!

deonca

Hi Jfgarner, thanks for going back in the archives to read my trip report! Can't believe it's been almost 5 years since I was there. Forgive me if my memories aren't razor-sharp. To find my way around Sintra, I had Rick Steves' Portugal along with me. I find that his guidebooks do the best job of helping me find my way around. I also recall that the tourist office in Sintra's railway station was able to answer a few questions.
http://www.cm-sintra.pt/en/tourist-i...mation-offices
There was some confusion getting back down to the village from Castelo dos Mouros. As I said in my report, when I was making my way back down to the village, I wasn't entirely sure where I was going at all times, but I trusted that I'd make it back down ok and probably not end up too far from town. There was signage, but I probably could have researched that a bit better beforehand.
https://www.visitportugal.com/en/con...overing-sintra
The choice of doing it on your own or taking a tour is of course your own. With some planning, it's entirely doable. If I were planning this trip today, I'd look at the costs of public transportation, individual entrances/admissions, and compare it to the cost of a tour. If the difference isn't too great, it might be worth the extra money. Just don't assume that all tours will be running on full schedules. As I found with my attempt to get a tour to Fatima, I had to call 3 different tour companies before I found one that was running. You shouldn't have too much trouble finding one to Sintra though...it's a popular attraction. But as a 'low season' traveler, I've found that you can't assume that tours printed in brochures are going to be offered. Good luck and have a great trip! Sintra is wonderful.