17 days in Portugal - April and May 2026

My wife has wanted to go to Portugal for over 25 years and we finally pulled the trigger. We have not travelled to Europe since 2019 but it didn’t take long to get back in the swing of things. I was a little worried how a couple of 70 year olds (one early and one late) would do but we had a great time.

We flew in and out of a totally crazy Lisbon airport. A not working newly implemented automated passport system caused long lines at understaffed stations where agents did it the old fashioned way.

We stayed in Lisbon, Lagos, Nazare, the Douro Valley and Porto. We rented a car when we left Lisbon and turned it back in when we arrived in Porto. Driving was easy except when our GPS took us over a scary one lane mountain road for several miles in the Douro Valley - the scariest driving of my life. Took a train from Porto to Lisbon and spent the last night near the airport.

We had good weather and did a LOT of walking - surprisingly pain free. My wife did a fantastic job of making reservations and buying tickets in advance to places we wanted to visit.

We were on the go every single day. Some of the highlights were a walking food tour, Tuk Tuk tour, Fado show plus lots more in Lisbon. Day trip to Sintra and Cascais.

In the Algarve we hiked the 7 Hanging Valleys Trail to the Benagil cave and back. Took a boat tour in to some of the caves and out to sea for a dolphin watch. The ocean was quite rough and several people on the boat got seasick. Had a nice dinner and sadly a mostly cloudy sunset at Nagres.

Stopped for some short visits in Tomar, Óbidos and Alcobaça.

Saw some big but not huge waves at Nazare.

Two winery tours and lots of wine in the Douro Valley. Took a boat ride on the Douro River. Enjoyed our stay at the Quinta do Pego. The winding road up to the Quinta was challenging but not nearly as scary as the mountain road our GPS took us on.

Walked over the upper and lower bridge in Porto to a couple of port tastings. Had an interesting dinner at Chama in Porto.

We were pleasantly exhausted when we got home knowing we didn’t just survive but we thrived on this vacation.

Sounds great- you did a lot! I’m heading to Portugal in a week for the first time. Looking forward to the pastel de nata.

SeaF - Hope you have as much fun as we did. I started every day with a pastel de nata or two or three from the incredible breakfast buffets in the restaurants at our hotels. They were great.

How was your EES experience? I’m due in at Lisbon at 9:20 am next Monday flying AirCanada from Pittsburgh thru Montreal.

The EES system was not working when we arrived nor when we departed. Had to wait in long lines to get checked in by agents. It took longer when we arrived in Lisbon at about 10:45 AM than when we departed at about 12:45 PM. About 2 and a half hours in line when we arrived and about an hour and a half in line when we left. We flew Delta from Atlanta through Boston. Surprisingly Delta has no direct flights to Portugal from Atlanta.

That sounds like an amazing trip with tremendous variety. I am officially jealous.

Do you have a favorite moment that you were especially glad you didn't miss out on?

"The winding road up to the Quinta was challenging ..."

Ah, memories. Was the light working? Looking forward to hearing more about the trip.

SeaF - I can’t believe I did not mention this before and my only defense is it happened early on our first day in Lisbon when we were a little sleep deprived and a little overwhelmed on our Tuk Tuk tour. I was just looking at pictures from that day and it all came back to me. Our guide took us to the absolutely incredible Pastéis de Belém where we had a coffee and a pastel de nata that was fantastic. You need to go there!


shelemm - Thanks. Like I said, my wife did a fantastic job of planning this trip. There are lots of moments that stand out. I will try to come up with a top ten list.


maitai - we never saw the light be green or red - it was always just dark. We did a lot of praying (and nervous squirming) as we went up and down.

My wife, our guide and a pastel de nata.

Wow!!

shelemm - it’s not really a moment but the event we were especially glad we were able to do is the hike on the Seven Hanging Valleys Trail. It was not difficult but it was challenging for a 79 and 72 year old couple. It was beautiful.

Reminds me of Etretat.

Not sure how I missed this but of course it should be Sagres and not Nagres in my original post. Sorry about that.