jaredleon

I am beginning to plan a trip to portugal and am looking for some help. We are thinking about going on september or october as long as the weather is still nice. we would rather stay outside of a city in the country. we enjoy wine, golf and the beach. any suggestions would be very helpful and appreciated.

thanks in advance, jared

me

Of what you're looking for ,there is no other better place than the Southern coast of Portugal (The Algarve), lots of golf , great wine and food ,the most beautiful beaches ! I've seen a lot of beaches in the Caribbean ,Greek islands,Morocco,Asia...you name it ,but the Algarve ,oh , my .If we're not 7 hours flight away , that's where I would love to have a vacation home (dreaming!).Faro , Portimao , Silves , Tavira , Praia Da Rocha (out of the world!)Lagos ,Selema? and my dream Albufeira- a combination of beautiful beach and town , with great nightlife ,great choices of restaurants . Been there twice and still dream about it.Enjoy!

jaredleon

thanks for the suggestion. do you happen to recommend any hotels or inns?

Nettie

The Algarve is superb, with wonderful beaches (the water is cold as it is the Atlantic and not the Med.) Beautiful countryside and good inexpensive food and wine. People very friendly too. There are hotels to suit all budgets.Try a google search for Hotels in the Algarve or something like that.The further west you go away from Faro airport (as you look on a map) the less touristy. Avoid Praia da Rocha, very commercialised. The village of Monchique in the mountains is superb.
Enjoy !

Nettie

Apologies, Praia da Rocha is not as commercialised as Albufeira, but if you like the country...avoid the latter

me

sorry it's been a long time (6,7 years),so I don't remember names , but we stayed in Albufeira , Tavira , and Faro and took day trips to visit the rest of others...Sept ,Oct weather should be still nice enough to go swimming ,but not crowded ( students are back in schools) so you won't have problem booking.I imagine you can just walk into a place (we did).It was very affordable also , a third of what we paid in Nice , Cannes.We just had a vacation in Argentina ( great too!),but now since memories of Algarve are brought back , I may have to talk to my husband.... Have fun travelling.

princessmu

We stayed in Lagos 2 summers ago. We didn't have a reservation( I remember it was hard finding info.) But we drove 5 minutes north of the main town and found a sm. hotel, 2 min walk from the MAGNIFICANT beach. We were there in August and it wasn't packed. There was an inexpensive restaurant steps away from the beach. My husband and I called it our lunch with a view. The main town was cute. Beware of Portugual's covert policy( which is... don't eat anything put on the table(bread, olives)they wil charge you)!!!
We also stayed in Lisboa. The drive from the Algarve to Lisboa on the back roads is not to be missed. In Lisboa make sure you visit the Port Institute

xxxx

Are you looking strictly for a beach/golf relaxation type of vacation or are you also interested in historical places?

jaredleon

i would say we are looking more for a relaxing vacation, but of course we will see what should be seen in the area.

MrMagoo

My partner and I went to the Algarve last September and stayed in a lovely English/German family run villa about 30mins west of Faro. They will collect you from the airport, point you in the right direction and hire a car very reasonably. You can use their small pool and cook your own food to save the pennies. The surrounding area is lovely, people friendly and there are lots of beach/golf/food and wine opportunities. We only had a week but came back feeling like it had been much longer. www.villabica.com

lreynold1

Portugal has so many lovely little towns and villages, it's hard to pick. One thing to do is check the website of Pousadas de Portugal, http://www.pousadas.pt/contents.html The pousadas are similar to Spain's paradors, usually in historic towns and frequently in historic buildings. We have done a 2 week driving tour staying mainly in the pousadas and were never disappointed. One of my favorites was the pousada in Estremoz, it's up at the top of the village in a castle. And down in the village center, there are a couple of large tables of local pottery for sale, where, believe it or not, the sellers just covered the pottery with a sheet at the end of the day before going home. They told me they had never had a problem with theft. (well, ok, the police station is across the street, but still...) Laurie

bobthenavigator

If you want beaches and golf then go to the Algarve. However, Portugal is so much more than that. How long will you have? Will you be driving? You should perceive Portugal in 4 geographic regions--the Algarve is one of those--the one with the most tourists.

NEDSIRELAND

Travelling on an Alfa Porto-Lisboa, we passed a beautiful looking Golf resort shortly after departing Porto (45km). When I got back home I researched it: it's Espinho: Baedeker's says it has a wide range of recreational facilities including the sandy beach, an 18-hole Golf Course and a Casino. The course appears to be pretty flat, not hilly like the typical British Isles links layouts. Baedeker's also says it is dominated by foreign tourists. This is evidenced by the presence of what looks like several high-rise condominiums. Mid-to-late September should be fine as far as the weather and the crowds of European tourists are concerned. It looks to me like a nice place to 'kick back' and relax for a few days.

You won't have the 'party scene' of 20-something (or younger) all-night binge drinkers to contend with like you might run into down on the Algarve.

jaredleon

Thanks for the advice. we think that we would prefer a smalller inn to stay in that we could call homebase. Also, your comment about 20 somethings was funny since we are in the catagory. i am 28 and my wife is 26, but not the binge drinking type. please keep the suggestions coming.

Pete1222

My wife and I LOVED Portugual.
12 days, and every day was a different surprise. Sintra, just outside the capital, is an excellent hill town to be explored. No golf but incredible Moorish ruins dripping all over the hillsides. Oh yeah, great food too!
We enjoyed the beaches but mostly because they were uncrowded.
You will not need reservations in Sept.
Driving is easy, except in Lisboa!!
Sorry, can't help with the golf thing.
Pete

cmt

Does anyone have suggestions for getting around without a car?

RAR

I will in a couple weeks cmt