We loved our visit to Taylors -- excellent explanations of the portmaking process. And lunch at the Taylor's restaurant is a must-do. You sit on a terrace with this amazing view of the Porto Riverfront, great food, complimentary glass of port, and superb service. Highly recommend it!

We also liked our visit to Osborne -- very generous pours there!

Here is my trip report from our recent visit to Lisbon, which we loved. It includes some restaurant recommendations and day-trip details:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-price-tag.cfm

Two nights in Sintra would be too much, IMHO. It is a fine day-trip.

I'm following the apartment recommendations in Lisbon closely since I hope to be there for about a week in March. Can someone tell me more about the Principe Real district?

We did the Sandeman port lodge in Vila Nova de Gaia (across the river from Porto), and the tour was great, and got to taste some very fine ports.

Anything in particular you'd like to know, WWanderer? Disclaimer: my opinions are biased as someone who lives here and not as a traveler

Hi, bubblywine,

The train schedule is available on the Portuguese train web site, www.cp.pt To get times, on the bottom right of the webpage, plug in Regua and Pocinho. I've done a round trip search for a random day, and I hope this link will bring up that page: http://www.cp.pt/cp/searchTimetable.do

If not, here's what I found:
LV Regua 9:15 AR Pocinho 10:35
LV Pocinho 11:16 AR Regua 12:39

Other departures from Regua are at 11:18, 15:42, 17:35 (there's also one at 19:07, but you won't be able to get back to Regua that night). Times for these later departures are essentially the same duration as the full trip I listed above.

IMO, if you are going to have a car, and if you want to save some time, I would drive to Pinhao and cut 40 minutes off the train travel (20 minutes each way) by starting and ending there. You can drive along the river between Pinhao and Regua, so the train doesn't give you any special vistas. If you are going to be traveling around the Douro area that day, Pinhao is just as good a base as Regua, IMO. But that may interfere with your idea about visiting a museum in Regua and eating lunch there.

And one little thing about the apt. in Lisbon, I think the Rua Augusta one is more convenient for public transportation, though the others (except for the Lapa one) are fairly close too. Sounds like this is all coming together nicely.

BTW, Guimaraes is a UNESCO world heritage center. And well worth a visit!

Bookmarking

You're right, lreynold1, I want to take the train from Pinhao rather than Regua. It's actually much closer to where I'm staying and I just reworked that schedule to fit it all in without much backtracking. Thanks!

I'm absolutely planning a day trip to Guimaraes. Hard to pass up those UNESCO sites when they're so close.

Thank you everyone for helping me put this all together. I’m feeling great about my first couple weeks in no small part to all your thoughtful suggestions. I’m now hoping for some help with my Lisbon itinerary. I’m going to go for the apartment on Rua Augusta – just looks so nice and comfortable and “me.” I have seven nights there, which some have expressed is a lot, but I’ll be taking this opportunity to just hang out, drink wine, read, and drink more wine.

Any other day trips I should do? I’m already hitting Batalha, Nazare, Alcobaca, and Obidos before and Sintra and Evora after.

Here’s what I’m thinking so far for Lisbon – what should I add or take out?

Friday: get in 6pm, dinner near apartment

Saturday: AM Flea market, wander Alfama quarter; Lunch: Restaurante Comidas De Santiago; PM: Tram 28, Estrela Basilica, Sé Cathedral and St George's Castle

Sunday: AM Fodor friend walking tour, Shopping on Pombaline Baixa, Rossio and Chiado

Monday: AM: Belem and Monastery of the Hieronymites, Nat’l Coach Museum, Solar do Vinho do Porto for drinks, Fado club

Tuesday: Day trip to Tomar

Wednesday: Walk Abril bridge & Ajuda area, Religious and historic sites walking tour (self-guided), PM: Aquarium

Thursday: AM Setúbal by bus to wander and seafood lunch, PM: Wander Bairro Alto

You should double check, but I'm under the impression that Belem Tower and Jerónimos, as well as many museums, are closed on Mondays (Segunda-Feira).

They are free on Sunday mornings. Also check for exact times.

Hi, bubblywine,

Nutella's right that places are generally closed on Mondays. Maybe you'd want to switch Sunday and Monday, since shopping is much better on Monday than Sunday (though some stores are open on sundays).

Since you'll be there in January, the crowds won't be too great in Belem even on the free Sunday mornings. If you get there early, you have plenty of time to visit many of Belem's attractions (which also include an anthropology museum, a naval museum, and the huge modern Centro Cultural de Belem with its modern art museum and a cafe with a terrace over the river that is very very nice). You might add the Torre de Belem to your vsit to Belem if you have time. I've brought a lot of people out to Belem and most like it a lot. And you absolutely can't leave Belem without eating a pastry or two at the Pasteis de Belem. The shop is on the block right before the monastery (coming from Lisbon) and is usually lmobbed. There will be a mad crush at the counter for take-out and there is also a warren of little rooms all weaving around where you can sit and have pastry and coffee or whatever else you want. There are tons of places in Lisbon and Portugal that make similar pastries (called Pastel de Nata), but NONE come close to what you will get here. Warm, with a little cinnamon and sugar dusted on the top, they are incredible.

When you say you're going to visit the April 25 bridge and the Ajuda area, I assume you know you can't walk or get anywhere near to the bridge. there's a very good restaurant right at the base of one of its main pylons on the Lisbon side, called O Mercado. Lots of delicious and very fresh fish. Ajuda is also home to the mansion turned Pestana hotel, and it's really quite an eye-popper. The Ajuda palace is not IMO worth a visit, but there may be other things I'm not thinking of.

The Saturday flea market may disappoint you. It's pretty much a lot of junk and a few people selling scarves and jewelry. I haven't been there in a few years, but that was my distinct impression, lots and lots of junk.

The day trip to Tomar is a great idea, it's a nice walk up to the Convento on the top of the hill. Trains are frequent, but kind of slow (about two hours each way unless you can catch one of the occasional fast trains that run to Porto and stop in Tomar). But that still gives you a lot of time there, it's a nice little town in addition to the Convento.

I note in your earlier post that you are a fan of art museums. Have you looked at what the Museu de ARte Antiga and the Gulbenkian have to offer? Arte Antiga is on the edge of the Lapa district, with a cafe with a great river view. The Gulbenkian is at the Praca de Espana, well served by metro, and adjacent to one of the main shopping areas with the Corte Ingles.

There's a lot of good fish in Setubal, but also a lot of tourist traps. I remember a great meal out at the fishing port where there are several simple and no-frills places that just plop the fresh fish on the grill. So I would do some research on the Setubal eateries.

As far as its architecture and design, the Estrela Basilica has never done much for me. The park right across the street has always been higher on my list. It's really an oasis in the summertime. Actually, continuing a little further up on the Tram 28 you'll enter the neighborhood Campo de Ourique, a 19th century grid street residential neighborhood that is one of my Lisbon favorites. Lots of good little restaurants hidden in here, some small shop shopping cafes, etc.

So much for my scattered thoughts, boa viagem!

Bubbly...seems like most everything that can aid your plans has been very well said. All I can do is add pix covering many of the aformentioned sites. This could give you a pictorial idea of what to see and do. There are some resto suggestions strung throughout also. There are also some fado pix taken at a place mentioned by Lobo Mau, our Lisboa resident maven on all things Portugal. We enjoyed it immensely...good place to try the populat caldo de verde (soup). If you decide to spend a night or two at a pousada, there are three where we stayed (Arraiolos near Evora, Marvao and Belmonte wherein I had a mission)...winter rates should be
reasonable, whatever that means!

Any questions, please pop 'em. Young lady, you are in for a super visit! Enjoy it!

Stu Tower
https://picasaweb.google.com/stuarttower/Portugal2008#

Thanks for the tip on stuff being closed on Mondays - that could have been quite the disappointment!

You are all just amazing at helping - thank you.

In Setúbal I heard good things about El Toro. Thoughts? Anyone been there?

Stu - great pics, thanks for sharing!

I'm now feeling pretty set for the Portugal portion of my trip. For any Spain experts, keep an eye out as I'll be asking many questions about it shortly.

Nutella, thanks. When our dates are set, I'll ask specifics. At the moment, I'm waiting on details so we can book our flights.