Forest fires and strikes
 

This is probably a post for the Lounge, but I will post it here in hopes someone has encountered similar issues while travelling.

I have decided to make my first stop Sintra. I leave in about 3 weeks. First off, baggage handler strikes. I know I can (and probably will) have to carryon only. Not the worst that can happen, but then the closure of some of the sites in Sintra worries me. We have seen horrible devastation in Canada and air quality issues due to forest fires. I am wondering if the closures in Sintra is usual at this time of year or is it best to change my plans. At this point, I am still flexible in my plans. Any thoughts on this?

Forest fires in southern Europe are certainly getting worse. But you are in the lap of the gods on this one.

I have no advice, other than to have a back-up plan.
Wishing you -- and everyone in the affected areas -- good luck!

I am working on alternate accommodations with cancellation.

At least I can do that, those in the affected areas, can’t.

On the Road and Looking to Cancel Sintra and Porto due to Air Quality Concerns
 

Hi All. We are actually booked in Sintra for tomorrow night and have decided to cancel since the monuments are closed at this point through 8/7. We are also considering canceling Porto given some air quality concerns.

We have been in Lisbon since Thurs and flying out of Lisbon this Sat, 8/9. Any suggestions for alternative plans aside from the Algarve?

Sorry, I thought I was starting a new thread!

@ sublue: I'm sorry you are having to change your plans! Some of the places I enjoyed in Portugal that you might check: In no particular order: Coimbra. Braga. Guimaraes. Evora. Viana do Castello. Porta de Lima. Amarante.

If you want, you can click the orange triangle to ask the moderators to start a new thread for you.

no worries! I can share!
I have made alternate plans (just in case). I can weigh in as I have been in Portugal twice before. So I am not sure what you are interested in, but I was in Coimbra and I liked it. That was a day trip. I went specifically to see the library. Some people have suggested Evora (hoping to go this year). There are day tours from Lisbon. I have been in Cascais,. Very nice. I think I will end up in Ericeria. Let us know where you end up.

May I ask where you stayed in Lisbon?

Hi, just an update for anyone interested. We ended up coming to Sintra even though everything was closed except for the National Palace of Sintra. The air quality is absolutely fine and it was becoming too much of a hassle to change our plans. We will also be going forward to Porto as we have heard that the city is fine. We may try to visit Sintra again on our return from Porto to Lisbon as the palaces are supposed to open up again on 8/7.

As far as where we stayed in Lisbon - Hotel Avenida Liberdade. Although this is considered a “deluxe” hotel according to the Hotel Travel Index (segments hotels into 12 categories which I find very helpful), we were very surprised at the experience. The a/c was barely functioning in the lobby (and I mean BARELY) and the service left a lot to be desired. Apparently, this hotel is pretty famous in Lisbon and we had several issues - so much so that the hotel comped part of our stay. It is extremely well located, however. For anyone else reading this thread, we walked into another hotel almost right next store - Turim Avenue Libertade - to see if their lobby a/c is working (it was). It is a nice modern hotel and we booked a room on the spot for our last night in Lisbon at 151 euros all in including breakfast! They were having some sort of flash sale of 30% off (called Turim Club)! What a steal - they have a pool, a restaurant, it includes breakfast and the tow twin bedded room was very spacious. The only downside is there is no formal concierge - the front desk serves this function. Great location and a nice classy, modern hotel.

By the way, forgot to thank everyone for their responses! The suggestions were all great but I am maxed out on research. We tried to rent a car next to our Tivoli Hotel in Lisbon this morning for maximum flexibility and they wanted $800 euros for 1 1/2 days (pick up Lisbon, drop off Porto). And no, this wasn’t for a Bentley or Rolls Royce! 😉 Apparently, if we rented at another location, the rates were cheaper but there were no cars available without going to the airport.

I am going to do a much better job in planning my next trip - LOL.

Hi Kelsey,

Just back from Portugal yesterday and thanks for starting this thread! Before seeing it, I had no idea about the wildfires in Portugal, that most of Sintra was closed or that there was a baggage handler strike. (Many travelers we met en-route had no idea either!)

We ended up doing our trip as planned which ended up working out fine. We were glad we went to and stayed in Sintra (in spite of making a concerted effort to cancel) as it felt magical even with most of it closed. I’m sure there were many fewer tourists than normal which was also a positive. We didn’t notice any smoke or particles in the air and the closures were really just a precautionary measure.

On our first day in Porto, we did notice the air quality though it improved during the rest of our time there. (We couldn’t seem to get an answer on this beforehand from anyone local we asked which was kind of amazing . . . They seemed to think a fire 30 km away was quite a distance and not a concern. (Everyone must be either pretty laid back or very tourist dollar conscious because the air quality rating was listed as “UNHEALTHY” when we got there!)

With regard to the handler strike, although we got a few notices from our airline, things seemed to be functioning quite normally.

Thanks to all who provided suggestions about potential detours . . . It was very difficult and time-consuming to adjust our plans and also ridiculously expensive to do so given the extreme short notice.

Kelsey, enjoy your trip!

Update on forest fires in europe. https://www.euronews.com/2025/08/09/...d-temperatures

caused by the subject I'm not allowed to mention

Hello Sueblue,
I am glad you got to enjoy Sintra. I was there just before the pandemic as a short day trip. I knew I had to go back. I am also glad I posted this. As it turned out, my son ended up in Sintra and had no idea about the closures (he should read my posts :))
I have been following your posts as well. Thanks for the details about the hotels and thanks for commenting.

Thanks for the update.

Kelsey, so funny about your son . . . Now we don’t feel so bad! lol.

Thanks for the additional update on the fires - we have friends going to the South of France.

These forums are the best! Thanks again!