pgautam01

Hi,

We are 2 couples in our mid 30's planning our first visit to Portugal. We will be traveling from 21st September to 5th October. We are fairly active travelers and do not mind moving around for a few days back to back. We love cities, villages, beaches, outdoor activities, running, kayaking, etc. We like to experience local culture, cuisine, and unique experience that a foreign country can offer. We normally like staying at smaller family run B&B rather than large hotels or resorts. Following the our 14 day plan. Please review and assist us with your advice and suggestions.

21st Sept: Fly from Mumbai and arrive in Lisbon at 11.00 am. Check in and spend the day in Lisbon.
22nd Sept: Lisbon
23rd Sept: Lisbon
24th Sept: Early morning Rent a Renault Megane Station Wagon (reason I mention this is I am not sure if this car is able to accommodate 4 passengers with 3 big hardcases and 1 small suitcase or should we look to move up a segment to a bigger vehicle, so if someones knows this and can help that will be great) from Europcar at Lisbon Santa Apolonia station and drive to Sintra and spend most of the day there. Evening drive from Sintra to Evora. Dinner and night at Evora.
25th Sept: Explore Evora and then drive to Cape Sarges. Spend the night in Lagos.
26th Sept: Algarve Beaches, Sleep in Lagos.
27th Sept: Algarve Beaches, Sleep in Lagos.
28th Sept: Algarve Beaches. Sleep in Tavira.
29th Sept: Algarve Beaches. Sleep in Tavira.
30th Sept: Depart 8am to Obidos. Either spend the night here or move on to Coimbra and spend the night there.
Oct 1st: Leave Coimbra/Obidos post lunch and drive to Pinhao. Dinner and Sleep at Pinhao.
Oct 2nd: Douro Valley and leave for Porto in the evening and return car at Campanha Station. Night at Porto.
Oct 3rd: Porto
Oct 4th: Porto
Oct 5th: Leave Portugal in the morning.

So need opinions, advice and suggestions if this is doable or should we look at leaving out something or we are spending too much time in Lisbon/Algarve/Porto and can shorten it in favor of increasing time in Obidos/Coimbra/Douro.

We will be getting the 0 deductible insurance, wind-shield and tyre protection and toll machine. Should we be looking for anything else.

Thanks..

PalenQ

IMO Algarve is rather boring with mainly modern seaside resorts though Lagos and Tavira are neat old towns.

24th- sounds kind of impossible -do Sintra as a day trip from Lisbon perhaps.

Yes more time in Porto area - check out Batalha and Alcbaca monsteries; Braga and Guimares.

pgautam01

jpie

We haven't rented a Renault Megane in Portugal before but we have in France. Since it is a station wagon the capacity is pretty good. Here is a link on the Renault France page to dimensions-I would think similar to the models rented in Portugal:

https://www.renault.fr/vehicules/veh...imensions.html

You might want to ask if it comes with a built in navigation system-many of them do. Also, we have found on our trips, that with a open back of a station wagon, most of them have a sliding cover, so it is better to see if your luggage can fit low enough so that the cover will slide over and that the luggage isn't visible when you park the car for sightseeing, lunch etc. Because many years ago we did have a car broken into in Lisbon and luggage stolen. If the luggage can't be covered you might consider buying a cheap black blanket or cover to throw over it when you need to leave luggage in the car. And I would personally consider down-sizing luggage a bit rather than "up-sizing" vehicles, since I think you would be happier in some of the small roads driving a Megane than something larger. As far as comfort goes, the Megane should be great for 4 people-it is considered a pretty large car by French standards at least.

pgautam01

Jpie. Thanks a lot. Your feedback is very good and spot on. Puts my mind to rest. Thanks for taking the time to be so detailed. I agree we will downsize luggage than upsize the car.

pgautam01

Some changes in our plan.

21st Sept: Fly from Mumbai and arrive in Lisbon at 11.00 am. Check in and spend the day in Lisbon.
22nd Sept: Lisbon
23rd Sept: Lisbon
24th Sept: day trip to Sinatra by train and back.
25th Sept: drive to Lagos stopping at some of the western coastal towns or villages. Reach Lagos by evening. Recommendation welcomed for which villages to stop by for lunch or coffee or just to have a walk in and explore. Reach Lagos by evening for dinner. Sleep in Lagos.
26th Sept: Algarve Beaches, Sleep in Lagos.
27th Sept: Algarve Beaches, Sleep in Lagos.
28th Sept: Algarve Beaches. Sleep in Lagos.
29th Sept: Drive AM to Obidos. Explore. Sleep in Obidos.
30th Sept: drive AM to Coombes. Explore drive on to Pinhao. Dinner and sleep at pinhao.
Oct 1st: Douro valley.
Oct 2nd: Douro Valley and leave for Porto in the evening and return car at Campanha Station. Night at Porto.
Oct 3rd: Porto
Oct 4th: Porto
Oct 5th: Leave Portugal in the morning.

please let us know if this is good allocation of time or we are being ambitious.

jpie

We are leaving for Portugal on a driving trip on the 15th of April and will visit all of the same places you are interested in. I will try to comment-do a short trip report in early May from France once we are done with that portion. Given you are going in late September, I would maybe think about whether so much of your trip should be in Lagos. Most of what I have read so far about touring Portugal focuses on the central and north with the south mostly for summer beach activities. But since it is literally 30 years since I have been there, I will let others comment who have been there much more recently. I will say on the advice of a friend we are spending a night of our time in the south based in Monchique in the hills at a hotel with thermal baths: Villa Termal das Caldas de Monchique Spa Resort Caldas de Monchique

http://www.monchiquetermas.com

PalenQ

Tavira was one Algarve town with old-world looks as well as a nice beach area on a sandbar. Not many nice old towns on sea.

pgautam01

Thanks again PalenQ. Jpie enjoy your trip in April and I look forward to reading about it later. Will do some more research for the weather in September at Algarve.

dfourh

We go to Algarve every year and the spots we still enjoy between Lagos and Tavira (it is getting really built up) going west to east, are the small town and boarded nature walkways at Alvor, the cliff walks and beach cafe at Senora de Rocha, the gorgeous little neighboring beaches Praia de Arrifes & Praia de Sao Rafael, the picture perfect town of Alte up north in the hills, the little beach with lots of cafes at Olhos de Agua at low tide, and east of Tavira whitewashed Cacela Velha. Also the old fortress at Castro Marim.

jpie

dfourh-what time of year do you usually go? We will be there in mid-late April, so was wondering about crowds, etc.

thursdaysd

Agree that seems a lot of time for the Algarve, but I am not a beach person. It is also a lot of time for very touristy Obidos, which can easily be seen in a couple of hours. Better to keep going to Coimbra. (I assume that is where you meant?) Don't miss the Roman ruins at Conimbriga just outside.

jpie

I just wanted to add something about navigation for the car trip. I am not sure what your data plan is from India but we are Verizon customers in the US and their rate is quite high to use our data in Europe. So, even though we will have a built in navigation system for our car, we have also downloaded google maps for Spain and Portugal that we can use offline. We also installed HereWeGo maps and we are testing both with offline navigation around our town before we leave. Another popular one is Map.Me but I haven't tried that one. They both seem to work really well and since I have a micro SD card in my phone, the maps don't take too much precious phone storage.

Anyway, I just thought I would mention it because navigation both by car as well as by foot is primarily what we will be using our data for while we are abroad. We will have a SIM that works-but it is limited to 1G and 30 days, so we figured we will try to use offline maps to navigate as much as possible or at least as a backup to the navigation system in the car since we generally prefer google maps to that.

Here is a link to show on Android how to download and use maps offline on google:

https://support.google.com/maps/answ...DAndroid&hl=en

dfourh

If you don't want to be offline at all, you can rent a portable internet unit in Portugal. You charge it overnight and the battery keeps it going for most of the day unplugged. It works off phone towers, so keeps you connected in the car and on the go. We use Portugal Internet, https://www.portugalinternet.com/ and they can have it waiting at the airport or send it to your hotel. There's an envelope and you pop it in a mailbox at the end of your stay. We get the unlimited gigs, up to 10 devices can access it, it's smaller than a cigarette pack, and it works great.

jpie

That is very interesting dfourh. Their rates look pretty good especially for the portable hotspot. Can you use it when you were out walking around as well (like on foot looking for restaurants etc.), or only in a car driving or at other places with no wifi?

pgautam01

Thanks for the suggestions dfourh and thursdaysd. Will look in to them and get back for any more help. Jpie - we used the portable wifi device before in several countries and have found them to be very useful mainly to use google maps while driving and walking. Also once you put in a destination it will give you accurate public transport option on google. It can be used when walking and almost everywhere where you get a mobile signal. It uses the same SIM technology for 4G WiFi. I would highly recommend it. This way you do not need an active phone connection really unless you need to make local calls to book restaurant reservation or such. Since you can you WhatsApp calling or FaceTime calling as well on WiFi to call home and family.

Andrew

Why not just buy a SIM card and use your unlocked smart phone as a WiFi hotspot? That gives you exactly the same function as renting a WiFi hot spot without the extra cost but also gives you a phone to use.