Jes-Even though you are not old enough for a golden age passport-the Pousadas have different passports. We got 4 nights & 5 days car rentals for 480E. We are staying at all the places Stu reccomended. We are going to Portugal in Sept & even though we could qualify for the Golden Age passport it was not available that month. We are also spending a week in Madeira-We leave September 12th Can't wait-Chris
I have a daughter named Jessica

These suggestions are fantastic! Chewy, your friends places look really great and how nice to have an endorsement with it following your posting from Patti.

Any thoughts on Madiera? Is it worth the extra trip or should we just stay with the mainland this time around? Thanks again for all of the wonderful advice.

Didn't plan it that way of course, but I've rented on VRBO many times and Jord and Deb's places are as nice or nicer than many I've stayed in, and being American expats its nice to ask questions, etc.....another thing we got a huge kick out of in Lisbon, was when we went up to the Moorish Castle, we went down a little side street just off the backside of the entrance at the top, and hit this alley bistro for lunch, where this guy (Augusto Pinho) who sings Fadu (Portugese music)and his staff, sang out of the windows and at your table....He was like the Portugese Perry Como..CD's and everything. My kids thought it was a hoot so we bought a CD, got an autograph, and donated it to the CD collection in Jord and Deb's Casa Santana that we stayed in...

We loved Nazare too - we stayed in a B&B in Sitio. The seafood is lovely and incredibly cheap. It's a good base for daytrips to Alcobaca, Tomar and Fatima.

Lisbon is a beautiful city - Cascais is a good base for visiting Lisbon and Sintra. Public transport is excellent. It's more upmarket than Nazare/Sitio but we didn't find it as charming.

Great suggestions above. But I also loved Porto, which is almost the antithesis of many of the other places. We sat and had lunch at a gritty little place under some arches down by the river. Laundry was hanging out over our heads. One woman brought her bucket of mop water out and dumped it practically at our feet. They were cleaning fish at the fish market next to us and dumping out the "remains" in the river. Ethereal? No. Colorful? Very!

Do consider spending some time in the north. Porto, definitely (don't miss the port caves!), also as a base for Braga, and Coimbra, maybe my favorite place in Portugal (visit the Roman ruins at Conimbriga). I enjoyed a couple of days up the Duoro valley, riding some scenic mountain railways, although I heard the railways might have closed. Further south I enjoyed Alcobaca and Batalha in addition to Obidos.

Some more tips here (for Portugal as well as Andalucia, an easy drive across the border from the Algarve)...

http://www.easyjetinflight.com/featu...r/iberian.html

for info on towns and villages in central Portugal try
http://www.gekkoportugal.com/central%20portugal.htm

peppermintpatti writes: "Hi Jes, My family and I stayed at the Bussaco Palace, in the Bussaco forest, which is just north of Coimbra. We really loved this old hotel, it had magnificent architecture, and wished we could have stayed another day ... "
I am surprised and disappointed that so few people have mentioned Coimbra as one of the best spots in Portugal (other than a geographical reference point).
I rate Coimbra in the same class as Santiago (in Spain) with its 16th Century University and its History.

How many of us know that the song 'April in Portugal' used to be entitled 'Coimbra?'

bookmarking for our upcoming trip.