James_P

Hi
We are leaving tomorrow. We booked 2 nights in Lagos to start the trip and 3 nights in Lisbon at the end of the trip. We are picking up a car in Lisbon and driving to Lagos where we will spend the 1st 2 nights in lagos. We have Friday through Wednesday and were going to drive north, What might be a few good stops?

lreynold1

If you want more coast, head east to Tavira, a pretty town near the mouth of a river. The Praia da Rocha is a great beach for walking and shouldn't be too jam packed at this time of year. East of Lagos there is a beautiful part of coastline, and the walk between Burgau and Salema is very nice.

Working your way north, are you intending to stay south of Lisbon? If so, I would make a combination between the western coast of south of Lisbon (check out the Rota Vicentina for destinations and walks -- a quick Google will bring it up) and the Alentejo, which has some nice places like Serpa, Beja, Marvao. Many like Evora.

So many places to visit, what are your interests?

mnag

We enjoyed Evora (check out the convent which is 10min outside town and ideal with a car). Marvao was spectacular and worthy of a one night stay. We didn't visit Monsaraz but it is also considered a worthy stop by many.

James_P

Hi
We will probably head north of Lisbon. We missed our connection on our flight yesterday, so we are flying out today. We lost $180 on our first night lodging. Thanks for all your suggestions. We will probably take them all. We like the beach and just wandering around. A little hiking is also on our list.

frencharmoire

What a pity! If you like beaches and hiking you probably want to skirt Lisbon and spend more time hugging the coast.

tower

Stop and see Cabo da Rocha..nice walking path paralleling the rugged Atlantic coast below. Marvao is a great destination but a very long way from where you'll be. Sintra is a good stop, too, as is Obidos(O-bee-doosh).

Below are my pics from Portugal a few years ago...might get an idea or two from them. Friendly people, good food, scenic countryside, good roads and signage. We did a lot of miles but all worth a month as you'll see. Enjoy Portugal

tower

Jim..here are the photos of a goodly chunk of Portugal....we did 2000 miles in a month's time...didn't do the Algarve..being snobbish Californians, we get all the beach and surf we want..we live in Ojai just 12 miles from great beaches. https://goo.gl/photos/wBsF4V98V8iJgjhX8

tower

I now notice you have already left for Portugal...sorry Jim...unless you have access, which you seem to have.

James_P

Hi
We stayed a night in Lagos and then drove to Altura. We are staying at the Eurotel hotel which is great. It has a large poo and has a boardwalk to the beach. We went to the beach and when we came back to the pool area they were serving free hor derves (sp) and sangria and they had a guitar player. We would have stayed here another night,but they were all booked up and we are moving a short distance to the next town. We probably should have moved on, but decided to stay one more day.
Tomorrow we booked 1 night in Evora. My wife wants to visit Fatima. From there we will go north. We have Monday and Tuesday night. We also have Wednesday night, but we have to be fairly close since we have to return the car on Thursday morning at 11AM at the airport.

James_P

We are in Coimbra. We stopped in Obidos for several hours and then Fatima on the way to Coimbra. We are going to stay in Coimbra for 2 nights and I was surprised how much there was to see in Coimbra. We will then spend 1 night in Sintra and return the car Thursday morning and spend 3 nights in Lisbon.
The weather cooled off this morning and the temps are in the 60's instead of the 80's and 90's and it is raining lightly this morning. The rain is not good for us but is good for the Portaguese since there were a number of forest fires going on.
WE should have done more planning and we should have gotten flights with longer layovers, but booking the hotels the night before you arrive has worked out pretty well.