Portugal

2,474 Views | 14 Replies | Last: 8 mo ago by neronero
Fis4Favorite
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We are looking at visiting Portugal next fall. I'm a planner so I'm looking into the areas of interest now. So far we have tossed around Porto, Duoro Valley, Lisbon, and Evora to visit the Alentejo wine region.

Has anyone been to any of these areas? Should we skip out on anything or is there anything we can't miss? Looking at maybe 8-10 days with travel from the US.
schmendeler
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AG
Portugal on my list
Apache
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AG
We went to the town of Tomar 2-3 hours north of Lisbon.
Has a world heritage site, the convent of Christ founded by Knights Templar. Very cool little town with lots of history. Worth a day or two if you want out of the big city & you have the time.
FancyKetchup14
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Porto and Lisbon are both great, with Porto being one of my favorite european cities. The Algarve down south is also really nice, too. I'll come back and post recs later.
eiggA2002
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Portugal is the best!

Definitely start in Porto. Amazing city. Then wander out to the Douro. There is a river cruise that you can take instead of the train. Check on availability though. I don't think it runs all year. Stay at a Quinta and enjoy the countryside and wineries. We took the train (it was December) and to Regua and stayed at Quinta da Pacheca. We'll go back there at some point. Then we went to Lisbon for 4-5 days. Big fan of Lisbon. Time Out Market is a can't miss for lunch, happy hour, dinner, etc. We thought about stopping in Coimbra on the way to Lisbon, but decided to skip.

Porto: 2 days
Douro: 2-4 days
Lisbon: 4 days with daytrips from there.

Note: We flew into Porto (via Madrid) and out of Lisbon so it saved a lot of travel time not having to get back to where we started. Flew from DFW.
Spore Ag
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Was in Portugal at the end of September. I really enjoyed it but found it really crowded with quite a few Americans accents heard on the street. If you are into the Port wine you need to book tours ahead of time . Drive north into Galicia which was a lot of fun with great food. Could have spent more time in Lisbon but had to catch a trip to the Azores. I would go back and spend more time.
90 bull
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I loved Porto and Sintra is an amazing day trip from Lisbon.
2wealfth Man
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Stop by Aviero on the coast between Porto and Lisbon. It is truly the Venice of Portugal. Many of the beautiful ceramics you see in Portugal come from there and the houses are predominately tiled.
Ragoo
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You really need to stay a night in Sintra. The town reverts to locals at night and bursts with life around 10am the next day with people day tripping from Lisbon. To see and experience the city during those quiet hours was really nice.
water turkey
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My brother liked it so much, he moved to Caiscais, south of Lisbon a year ago.

He has found several other Aggies living there since then.
amg405
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water turkey said:

My brother liked it so much, he moved to Caiscais, south of Lisbon a year ago.

He has found several other Aggies living there since then.


This. If doing a few days in/near Lisbon, make sure to do a beach day in Caiscais. It's about 30 minutes car ride outside of downtown Lisbon. We did the day on an amazing beach there, then dinner/shopping in the town of Caiscais. Would move there tomorrow if our business allowed it.
muleshoe
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Nazare…..


FancyKetchup14
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Porto
Eat at Zenith, Taberna Santo Antonio (go a day ahead and make a reservation), and/or Bacalhau.
Drink port wine somewhere (either up the Douro valley or in one of the many warehouses on the southside of the Duoro river). I went to Ferreira.
Lots of great walking tours. I recommend doing one.
Porto Cathedral is one on the Camino Santiago, it's beautiful inside. You'll likely see some Camino folks with their seashells on their backpacks.
If you're a Harry Potter nerd, JK Rowling wrote the first book in Porto and the stairs at Hogwarts were inspired by the stairs at Livaria Lello (a bookstore). I like Harry Potter, but it's not worth standing in line for.

Lisbon
Sintra is a must. It's a great getaway from Lisbon. Castle of the Moors is incredible.
Time Out Market is a great food hall if you want to taste a bunch of different things from local shops.
Santini makes great ice cream.
You need to try Pasteis de Nata (which are little custard tarts). Everyone will tell you to go to the place in Belem, but I'm gonna recommend you go to Manteigaria instead. I think it's better and less crowded.
Terrapao makes a great sandwich.
Go party on Pink Street at night. Lisbon has a great nightlife scene and Pink Street felt like the hub.
LX Factory. It's an art center located about halfway between Belem and Lisbon center. It's got great restaurants, a cool bookstore, and some awesome local craftwork you can buy.
lazuras_dc
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Portugal has made my short list. Any ideas for an itinerary that includes Spain ? Maybe fly into Madrid to spend a few days then to Porto to Lisbon/cascais ??

How hard to rent a car and drive yourself through Spain /to Portugal ?
neronero
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FancyKetchup14 said:

Porto and Lisbon are both great, with Porto being one of my favorite european cities. The Algarve down south is also really nice, too. I'll come back and post recs later.
Same here. Huge fan of Porto, would easily spend couple of weeks there.
Planning to go there in September -October this year and was just reading Gotogate USA reviews by link. Do you know of other companies/airlines which have some good offers on transatlantic flights? The prices are recidivous at the moment.
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