My husband & I are traveling to Portugal 9/5-9/16 & would appreciate any & all comments & recommendations from travelers who have been there recently...what absolutely not to miss, fabulous restaurants, hotels, historical sights, out of the way towns & places. We love to be spontaneous & are excited about tackling Portugal! Any suggestions about Madeira would be helpful as I'm thinking of spending two days there as part of this trip.

The don't misses IMO are Sintra, Lisbon, the Douro River area for Port wine. And, if you have time, the Algarve Coast in the south of Portugal.
In Maderia take the cable car up the mountian for great views. DW and I also took the toboggan ride down the mountain and loved it for a 1-time experience. We're going back the fall and will find another way to spend our 30 Euros, but it was worth it the first time. We also enjoyed the public market.

Portugal is great - we were there last October. Here's our trip report:
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...l-seacoast.cfm

if you can swing it on madeira, this place is unreal - http://www.choupanahills.com/pt/index.html

thanks to all who responded & basically confirming the places we are planning on visiting...so glad to hear that Madeira is so highly recommended...any additional information is always welcomed as we're not leaving until the beginning of September

You might be interested in the Portugal portion of my trip report from last summer:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...rip-report.cfm