Hello - my husband and I, and our 27 year old daughter will be traveling to Portugal this January. We will be there 9 days. We are flying in and out of Lisbon. Also plan on purchasing a flight to Canary Islands.

We went to Ireland and Italy this past summer and loved it. We love to go to the smaller towns and experience any local festivals they have. Our favorite was Siena and another very small town in Tuscany.

We are extremely active and like to go to cities that are walkable. We drink wine and love to experience local food and cultures. We like to mix things up, and typically don’t stay longer than 3 days in any one place. My husband is okay with renting a car as long as it’s safe. (We recently drove all over Italy, including to Cinque Terre - and survived). We also don’t mind taking the train, etc.

Any places that you loved? Any suggestions at all? We probably won’t be doing any sunbathing, but we love beautiful coastal views, and beautiful views in general, but also like to mix that up with experiencing restaurants that the locals love. (I don’t like anchovies). Might also like to see some native species, such as the white stork. Also might like to see whales if that is a pretty sure thing that we could see some.

I’m cold natured. I hate to be cold, but don’t mind bundling up if I can be prepared ahead of time.

We just purchased our tickets. 💗

I would recommend Evora, as very walkable and a foodie place with lots to see. When we traveled, we began our trip by rental car at the airport and drove straight to Evora for tw nghts and ended our trip in Lisbon, once we returned our rental car at the airport, taking public transpotation back to Lisbon for three nights. We did Sintra and Cascais as day trips from Lisbon on a tour but it was in June and as Sintra is in the mountains outside of Lisbon, you would need to check into weather and days of operation for the palace and the castle. It is definitely worth a visit.

You'll need to be in Lisbon for at least the night before your flight, and Lisbon has a lot to offer, so it would make sense to spend your last 3 days (4 nights) there. Porto is a delight, IMO, so as soon as you can after landing in Lisbon, take a train to Porto. Spend 3 or 4 nights there. If you are committed to going to the Canary Islands, that would fill the middle of your time.

I adored our stay--9 days, I think--on Lanzarote last May.
There are SO many "sights' for such a pretty small island and it is simple to get around with a car. Also inexpensive as compared to the mainland.

We found some wonderful restaurants; most of the good ones are not in the tourist-heavy coastal hubs such as Puerto del Carmen and Playa Blanca. But easy to get there by car or even a taxi.

If you are an architecure buff, Lanzarote is your island...native son Cesar Manrique designed his own home and other structures open to the public. There is one single high-rise on the entire island; located in the town nearest the airport.

I cannot recommend this island enough. I have never been to any other island in that chain so cannot compare, but for varied landscapes, gardens (cacti), great food, enchanting towns (inland) I think it would bee a great choice. This is what I wrote after our May 2024 visit:



LANZAROTE Nine Day Last-Minute Trip May 2024

Rather than the Canary Islands, consider Madeira. IMO it;s much nicer than the canaries, has all the food and wine that you'd love and Funchal is a very walkable small city. The island is green all year round and has some lovely gardens r3eached by a cable car from the old town area, next to the Hotel Porto Sant Maria where we usually stay. None of the Canaries are as nice as Madeira IME..

Thank you! Our daughter is trying to convince us to go to Madeira instead of the Canary Islands. I’ve been looking at some photos, and I think we may strongly consider it!

Listen to your daughter! On your other parallel thread you ask for the differences between the two. The Canaries in the main, host a much younger age group from Europe. Lots of rowdy Brits on Tenerife and Lanzarote, Fuerteventura is much better and more family orientated. Gran Canaria has a mixture if both. The other three Canary Islands are much smaller and while some people prefer them, I still don't think they compare to Madeira. We've been to them all over the years, from when we were a young family to old codgers now! During that time we kept revisiting Madeira and it suited all of those life stages.

We've always tried to stay near to the old town for its restaurants and great hotels and the walkability of the area. It also occurs to me that from Lisbon, the Azores are easily reachable and they are breathtakingly lovely in places.

I would echo comments in favour of evora and Porto - really great places to visit ! We toured Portugal last year by car and loved most of it, particularly guimares, viseu, belmonte and amarante. In terms of small seaside towns we loved odeceixe, Porto covo and burgos.
We also went to Madeira in november 23 and it was a brilliant place to visit .. I would definitely go again ! It has coastline, beautiful easily accessible mountains and lovely gardens to visit - I will hire a car next time rather than rely on a taxi as we will be able to explore more of the island !

Yes I will also recommend Guimares which we did as a day trip from Porto. I found Guimares very interesting and not crowded. The architecture seemed to me to be more like Rouen or Bruge or Antwerp. As part of our trip we also visited Batalha and Alboaca for the monasteries which we had practically to ourselves as compared to the monastery in Lisbon which had very long lines in the hot sun in mid-June. Coimbra was also a good stop but once again really hot to walk around after visiting the University, as it is super hilly.

We are an older couple that spent about 9-10 days on Lanzarote last May. I saw not one rowdy person!! There were a lot of older people from UK, but we drove to good restaurants every night (away from the coast, mainly) and had a wonderful time. For varying landscapes, flora, and architecture, Lanzarote cannot be beat. You just have to get away from the crowded resorts.

It's not so much crowded resorts. Each island and even each corner of the islands are different.

Next month I'll be in the south of Fuerteventura which tends to be very relaxed and quiet. Great beaches. Virtually every hotel room will be booked.

Further north some of the towns are more lively (I'll use that term) It's a big island . From the north to my destination it's a 90 minute drive.

I mentioned in the other thread the OP needs to define what sort of trip they want.

Last thing. If this is next month it's late to be booking. January is high season.

Thank you so much for your kind replies. We have decided not to visit Canary Islands or Madera Island.

We arrive in Lisbon on January 13 at around 8 AM. Here’s a rough sketch of an itinerary. Please let me know what you think.

Our daughter’s ideas:

5 nights in Lisbon January 13-17 (check out 18)
2 nights in Lagos January 18-19 check out 20
Last day January 20, stay in Lisbon but take a day trip to sintra. It’s 30 min drive from Lisbon.
January 21 we check out and be at airport by 8:30 AM
———-
I would like to incorporate Evora if it makes sense. We aren't sure if it would be worth the detour.

IMO, it is much better to spend at least one night, if not two, in Sintra.

Sorry, but I'm not seeing where you think you would have time for Evora.

Thank you. You are probably right. I guess we should leave Evora for a different day (if we are able to get back to Portugal). I haven't been able to do as much research as I wanted for this trip. Please tell me what you enjoyed in Sintra!

My favorite site in Sintra was Monserrate, but I suspect that I'm a bit unusual. The Pena Palace and Quinta de Regaleira are probably more to most people's liking. Then there's the National Palace in Sintra itself, and the Moorish Castle, and many other sites. I spent two full days in Sintra and would have easily filled a third. Note that you will need (or would benefit from) reservations for most of these places.

Okay - thank you. The Quinta da Regaleira looks impressive in photos. I will also look up Montserrate and the other places you mentioned! Thank you!!

Would you suggest staying in Sintra or Azhenas Do Mar? We are looking for lodging right now.
And would you recommend Lagos or Tavira in January?

It depends on what you want to see and do! I don't know Azhenas Do Mar. There are busses in Sintra that one can use to visit the main sites (you can't visit them by car), so if you actually want to see any of the highlights of Sintra in a limited time period, I would think that staying IN Sintra would be to your advantage. I could be wrong.

I didn't go to the south of Portugal and so can't comment on Lagos or Tavira.

We spent three nights in Lisbon and felt that was enough as it included a full day tour that went to Sintra, Cascais and the westernmost part of continental Europe. As it was the end of our trip and we had seen the monasteries in Batalha and Alcobaca, we didn't want to wait the hot sun for the extended visit to the monastery. It was also the start of the World Cup (2018) and so while very festive with people with painted faces and draped in country flags, it was also packed. The large Praca had giant screens set up so people could gather and watch the games. All of that affects your experiences in a place. We had seen many chuches/cathedrals in Porto, Evora and Coimbra as well as the historic palace in Guimares and Pena Palace in Sintra. Evora was the beginning of our trip and it was very interesting and charming, as well as compact as it isn't large. Lisbon is a city and so you do have to take buses or trams to get to certain places. We did a lot of walking and like Porto and Coimbra it is really hilly, so be prepared.

OR taxis are ubiquitous and, to my way of thinking, very inexpensive.