Starting to plan our next trip but we need to make our airline reservations soon if we are going to be able to use our frequent flier miles. With three weeks we are thinking of going to Portugual but how much of that three weeks should we devote to that country. We just spent three weeks in Sicily and felt it was the right amount of time and we spent three weeks in Croatia last year, again the right amount of time. We usually rent a car to really see the countries. We are wondering if we should tag on northern Spain and finish in Barcelona or go down to Morroco. What are everyone's ideas?

We just spent 13 days in Portugal(May) and IMHO, could easily have spent three weeks.
We didn't even have the time for the Alentejo or the Algarve, were only able to stay three days in Lisbon and could not really go to some of the cities that would have been nice to visit without rushing more than we did.

If you enjoyed 3 weeks in Sicily, you'll have no trouble spending 3 weeks in Portugal. We just spent 12 days there and enjoyed every minute. Here's my web page about the trip:

http://www.travel.stv77.com/portugal/pt.htm

I agree---I love Portugal and could easily spend 3 weeks there. However, I did include Seville as a diversion for 3 days during one of my trips and then went to the Algarve from there. The Minho region in the north deserves several days. Good luck !

lisbon and its surrounds will take up a week on its own to see at a fast pace.when i went i overdid it a bit and ruined my feet.you have time to do portugal at a nice pace. enjoy.

Thanks for the info. everyone. I'm glad to here such enthusiasm because we spoke with a couple of people who weren't that excited about Portugal.

Shar- what does IMHO stand for?

ssteve- I enjoyed your web page. Was there more to it after Lisbon? I couldn't see where the rest was or how to get to it.

bobthenavigator- we visited Madrid and sounthern Spain including Seville on a previous vacation.(nice!) I had really bad food poisoning and missed the Alahambra (sp?). Haven't looked to see how far it is from where we might be.

ChevyChasen- regarding your feet... did you switch off between say tennis shoes and sandles? We walk miles everyday on our trips and have found this really helps. I finally convinced my husband to use sandles this last trip and he ended up using them more than the t.shoes. He said it was the best his feet had ever done, no problems at all.

Teresa. IMHO: In My Humble Opinion.

i had sandles. they are good cause your toes are kept fresh.

but their problem is that they dry out the heels of usually problem free feet.

i wouldnt compare portugal to sicily just on the basis of size. portugal is like a sicily with bits of rome, paris and even Rio de Janeiro in it,and the atlantic around it.the portuguese were once a mighty and lavish empire, whose monarchy was only overthrown in the last century so most of the architecture, castles and palaces are still in mint condition.Also Portugal had managed to navigate its way out of having any wars on its territory. Sicily's heyday as a prosperous kingdom was in the middle ages but since then was unfortunately the scene of many battles and revolts.

Thanks Sher, you can tell I'm not a big chat roomer. My husband just walked in and he knew. Now I do!
Chevy- you'll have to put the call out for a real good foot cream!

for TeresaJat -

I don't understand what the problem was with the web page. It's one integral page. No need to go anywhere else.

My email is listed on my pages. If you have a problem, or any questions, don't hesitate to write.

And, we definitely did more than Lisbon. We visited all the way up to the border with Spain, including Sintra, Fatima, Batalha, Oporto, Barga, Ponte de Lima, and more.

Hi Teresa JAT

You will have plenty to do in Portugal alone in the the three weeks you plan to be there. But it may be interesting to drive up North into Spain to Santiago de Compostella (it is about a 3 to 4 hours drive from Coimbra, I believe).