Past Portugal Trip Reports & Itinerary Summaries
Portugal Trip Reports:
In addition to our trip to Portugal in 2023, we visited Portugal in 2010, 2015, 2017 and 2022.
Itinerary Summaries:
2023 (73 nights March - May) - arrive Lisbon - 1 night Setubal - 15 nights Sao Marinho do Porto - 1 night Alcacer do Sal - 14 nights Lagos - 30 nights Olhos de Agua - 4 nights Seville, (Spain) - 2 nights Mertola - 3 nights Sesimbra - 3 nights Lisbon.
2022 (40 nights March - May) - arrive Lisbon - 1 night Setubal - 30 nights Albufeira - 1 night Beja - 2 nights Estemoz - 2 nights Nazare - 4 nights Lisbon.
2017 (14 nights Sept - Oct) arrive Lisbon stay 4 nights - 1 night Nazare - 1 night Coimbra - 2 nights Douro Valley - 3 nights Porto (train
Porto to Lisbon) - 3 nights Lisbon.
2015 (15 nights Sept - Oct)- arrive Lisbon stay 4 nights - 2 nights Evora - 1 night Mosaraz - 7 nights Albufeira - 1 night Lisbon before return.
2010 (15 nights April - May) arrive Lisbon stay 4 nights - 10 nights Albufeira (golf trip) - 1 night Lisbon before return.
Obviously we have done a mixture of places each time we have visited Portugal, but all starting and finishing in Lisbon. Many people just do the southern coastal Algarve Region of Portugal, flying into and out of Faro, which has an International Airport. This type of itinerary is perfectly fine and will also make for a great trip. There are lots of towns along the Algarve to visit, spectacular beaches, good golf courses and many other activities available. You can do it with renting a car or without. There are day tours available from the major town centres. If you have time and mix in Lisbon or Porto and/or some rural towns in Portugal into your trip you will probably get a richer cultural experience of Portugal. Another option is to fly in or out of Porto. It has a significant International Airport as well. If you are not sure of where to visit a great place to get a feel of the various cities or areas is to go on Youtube and search the videos by place and there are many videos, from amateur to professional, that highlight these places.
Below are some of the details of our 2022 and prior trips:
2022 Details:
Arrived in Lisbon on March 31, 2022. We rented a car in Lisbon upon arrival and left the city straight away. We stayed the night on arrival to rest up in a town about 40min south of Lisbon called Setubal. We drove to the Algarve and stayed from April 1-30th at the condo complex called Encosta Da Orada, booked through vrbo. We had stayed in this complex in 2010 and it is very modern, secure and away from the noisy parts of town, excepting it is up a steep hill if walking back from old town.
We did various day trips (ranked in order of preference) on the Algarve while staying in Albufeira. These included:
-Lagos (1)
-Armacao de Pera (5)
-Vilamoura & Quarteira (4)
-Silves (3)
-Loule (2)
-São Brás de Alportel (Easter Sunday)
If you look in the “Albufeira Tips” page you will see a description of these towns.
We left Albufeira on May 1 and drove to the town of Beja. It is inland, about 1.5 hours drive from Albufeira into the Alentejo Region of Portugal. We stayed at a Pestana Pousada Hotel that is a former monastery.
This hotel was very unique and a beautiful place to stay. In Beja we didn’t do a lot other than walk about the town on the afternoon we arrived. Unfortunately it was a country holiday and most things were closed the day we arrived. We did enjoy exploring the hotel, which had chapels and other unique spaces and we hung out at the very nice (but unheated) pool for a couple of hours. The next morning we walked about the town again and visited the castle and a very nice pedestrian street area lined with shops. There are other sites in Beja we did not get to such as a couple of local museums. After one night in Beja we drove on to Estremoz, where we stayed 2 nights at another Pestana Pousada Hotel. Estremoz is a little over 1.5 hours drive from Beja. A notable place along the way is the town of Evora, a beautiful and unique town, which is a World Unesco Heritage place and where we had stayed on a previous trip for 2 nights. In Estremoz we stayed at the Pousada Castelo de Estremoz Hotel Rainha Santa Isabel (links below).
Hotel info:
Link to Pousada Hotel in Estremoz
To book:
Link to book hotel in Estremoz
While staying in Estremoz we walked about the city and ate two very nice supper meals there at local restaurants. We also enjoyed two fabulous full buffet breakfasts at our hotel. The hotel in itself was also an adventure to explore - with amazing decor, a castle tower and a nice pool area. In the courtyard outside the hotel is a sizeable church and across the street is a local museum. The hotel is perched on a hilltop, with an amazing view of the town and countryside, so it is a downhill walk into the centro area of town and uphill going back to the hotel. If you want to avoid the walk (only about 10mins or less, I am sure a taxi is an option).
We also did a wine tasting at a winery nearby the hotel. The hotel booked this for us at no charge and called a taxi for us to get to the winery, which was only about 10mins drive from the hotel. We had a great wine tasting at this local winery, hosted by a lovely young Portuguese lady who worked at the winery and spoke perfect english.
We also did a day trip from Estremoz to the town of Elvas. Elvas is about 35mins drive from Estremoz. It is another historic town that is near the Spanish border and has two very unique fortifications and a massive roman aqueduct that runs into the town. We had lunch in Elvas.
Travelling on from Estremoz we drove to Nazare. Nazare is about a 2.5-3 hour drive from Estremoz. Along the way we stopped in the historic town of Obidos for lunch and a walkabout. We had visited on a previous trip as well.
In Nazare we stayed two nights at the Hotel Magic. We had stayed here also on a previous trip. While in Nazare we took in the town sites, the beach and the hilltop sister town of Sitio. This is where the famous lighthouse is located and is where people view the big wave surfers who attempt the biggest waves in the world on praia de norte beach.
From Nazare we drove about 1.5 hours to Lisbon and stayed 4 nights at a vrbo in the Baixa central area of Lisbon.
While in Lisbon on this trip we visited Belem, the Castelo George, the National Panthoen, the Alfama district, the Bairro Alto and the Principe Real areas. We ate a couple of meals in the Baixa area, one in the Bairro Alto and also had a meal at the Timeout market.
2022 costs:
Europcar rental from March 31 to May 6 (36 days) for € (Euros)1,160.05, included full insurance and extra driver. Rental was a standard shift Volkswagen Polo. It worked very well, with easy ability to drive on the highway up to 140km/hr and got an average of 50miles per imperial gallon for our entire trip. It had a decent sized trunk but we could only fit one modest sized suitcase, a backpack, a carry on sized suitcase and a few odds and ends in it. A second modest sized suitcase had to go in the backseat. We needed two modest sized suitcases due to the six week length of our trip.
Condo Albufeira - 2,230€ - discount because it was the first time renting. It was a spectacular penthouse with a massive wraparound balcony.
Hotel in Beja 103.50€ for 1 night, two people.
Hotel in Estremoz 251.28€ for 2 nights, 2 people.
VRBO in Lisbon - 2 bed, 2 bath for 4 people was 874€ for 4 nights.
From the prior trips in 2017, 2015 and 2010.
Note that much of the info in this is from our trips that were all pre-pandemic. So most things have changed in terms of pricing or availability.
Below are descriptions of places visited and various costs from each trip. There is a bit of repetition but each trip did include different accommodations and some different places we visited.
Portugal 2017:
For portugal in 2017 we arrived in Lisbon and took a taxi to the bed and breakfast called Casa do Barao. This b & b is in a great location on a side street that is near the barrio alto, an area with lots of nearby shops, restaurants, bars and about a 15min walk to the main centro area of Lisbon. A great location to stay, safe, with lots of things nearby.
The b & b had small bedrooms (with private washroom/shower) but had a very nice breakfast area, and they serve a great breakfast. It also has an outdoor courtyard for sitting with small dipping, yes dip you whole self, pool(!), a library room (with free port!), lots of old books and lots of travel books about portugal, big leather seats to sit, relax, read a book and sip port! The staff were similar to other great b & bs in portugal, very friendly and helpful, always available to answer questions, provide directions, give recommendations on restaurants and other tips about the area or the city. Breakfast was excellent, with lots of hot and cold items to select from.
This b & b was 552€ for 4 nights. It was pricey but based on the service and great location, we felt worth it. There are many hotels in Lisbon in different areas and wide range of prices.
There are also lots of spots on airbnb properties in Lisbon but we have not used any. Gale's sister and husband and three kids stayed in a couple of Airbnb locations in central Lisbon and had very good experiences. There is in recent years some controversy about airbnb takeovers and gentrification of some areas of Lisbon as it has become an increasingly popular travel destination.
We have favoured b and b's in main Portugal cities as they are very well run, clean, often in older buildings with beautiful decors and they are very safe, someone always there, no cleaners coming into your room, staff and/or owners that are extremely helpful and readily able to answer questions and provide any info on the area, city, etc. We have also stayed in b and b's in Ireland, Scotland, Greece and Italy, also very good but probably the Portugal ones were best. I am sure you can get not so good b and b's but we have not stayed in any we would not highly recommend......we use trip advisor to see what the reviews are like before booking.
While in Lisbon on this trip we went on three different walking tours. Two of these were "free" daytime walking tours, where students knowledgable about Lisbon walk you through interesting areas of central lisbon and describe history and sites. The tours take 2-3 hours (you can drop out at any time if you
dont find them interesting) and they are free but it is suggested that you tip the tour guide at the end if you enjoyed it. We felt they were great tours and tipped about 15-20€ total for 2 of us. We also did an evening food and wine walking tour that visited four sites and included food and wine at each site. They were very interesting local places that served great food and very good Portugese wine. The food and wine tour did have a set cost (dont recall exact cost but it was well worth it). We would highly recommend these walking tours. There are several companies that run these walking tours, we used "The Lisbon Free Walking Tour." If you go to Rossio Square, there are tour people in yellow shirts that have info about the tours. You can also go on trip advisor to see companies and reviews.
We (again, see below) visited the Belem area near Lisbon, great area to see.
After four days in Lisbon we rented a car at the airport and drove (NORTH) to the city of Nazare, which is about 125km. Along the way we stopped in the town of Obidos, for lunch and a nice walkabout. Obidos is a very quaint small but interesting place with a walled centro area, narrow cobblestone alleys and quaint shops with crafts and artifacts.
The world famous Roman Catholic pilgrimage town of Fatima is also in this area, but we did not visit.
We stopped at Nazare, a beautiful beach town, with an awesome beach right in the heart of the town. The sister town that sits on a hillside beside Nazare, is called Sitio. Sitio is on a clifftop and has a very scenic lighthouse that overlooks Nazare and the beaches to the south and north. The Nazare area is know to have spectacular surfing and some of the largest waves in the world. Type surfing and Nazare in to google or youtube and watch the videos! We stayed one night in Nazare at the Hotel Magic (76€/night). This hotel was very modern and unique. It was a great value, included a great breakfast and i would highly recommend it and also would stay longer in Nazare, if your time permits. We left Nazare and drove about 110km to the city of Coimbra. Coimbra is home to Europes oldest university. We Stayed one night in Coimbra at the Luggage Hostel and Suites in a junior suite (large bedroom with private washroom/shower) for 70€/night, included breakfast. This was about 20-25min walk to the university and another 10min to the centro shopping area. We toured the university, which includes a very old and interesting library. The centro shopping area has a pedestrian street with lots of shops, from small local to boutique, cafes, some restaurants, though some things are pricey along this street.
From Coimbra we drove to the Douro Valley (about 160km in two hours) to stay two nights at the Wine House Hotel (210€ for 2 nights, included a great breakfast each morning and one wine tasting session during your stay). The Wine House Hotel is located on the site/attached to the winery called Quinto da Pacheca on the bank of the Douro river, about 3km from the town of Peso da Pacheca. The winery is really nice, included use of free bikes if you want to ride around the property or nearby. It includes a restaurant, which is pricey but has great food. If you hit the right time of year in the fall you can do a grape crushing (with your bare feet) tour onsite. There are restaurants in peso da regua and an interesting museum that covers the history of the area and port wine (Museu do Douro). Lamego (about 7km away, is also very close) is nearby and very scenic town with interesting sites, a spectacular hilltop cathedral, Lamego Sanctuary Nossa Senhora, in front of which are 686 steps that lead up to it (take the walk and you will get your exercise for the month!). The town is home to about 26,000 people also has a very good museum and lots of local shops and restaurants. Worth a stop for half or a full day.
We had a car and did a day drive trip up along the Douro River, stopping at a couple of wineries for tastings. There are lots of wineries, that make red, white and port wine and quite a few also have accommodations and restaurants. The drive is quite spectacular with steep and rolling hills and vineyards on both sides of the river. (you can do week long river cruises up the Douro River) We ended our drive in the town of Pinhao. You can continue on much further and the hills get steeper and steeper.
If you do not have a car you do a Douro River cruise, for as little as a few hours to multiple days. The Douro area is very scenic and relaxing. You can also take a train trip of a few hours up the river and come back by train or ferry. This is a world famous wine region, more known for port wine but also making great red and white wines (though not as touristy or well known as Tuscany Italy but very comparable, but cheaper) with many very scenic areas and great opportunities for wine tastings and food in local wineries or farms.
We drove from Quinto da Pacheca to the city of Porto (to the airport where we dropped the car off), about 125km - 2 hours.
We were very impressed with Porto. It is a little less touristy and more working class and less busy (there are still lots of tourists though) than Lisbon and this makes it a nice contrast. It has awesome historic sites, fantastic port wine cellars, an awesome beach front promenade, lots of great restaurants. We took a hop on hop off tour the first day to get our bearings. We did the 48 hour ticket.
We stayed 3 nights (276€ total) in a bed and breakfast called Maison Nos B&B. This place only had about 6 or 7 rooms. The rooms were small but excellent, with a window and very small balcony that had room for 2 seats only but overlooked the street. Small but nice bathroom, also tea and coffee in room. The place was immaculately kept by the two french gentlemen that own and run it. No other staff. Breakfast each day was amazing with totally homemade items. From eggs to yogurt to breads and jams, juices, awesome coffee, each item placed on a new and special plate. Different place settings each day. The b&b was within walking distance of the center of town, the train station and most all the main sites.
We did a lot of walking in Porto. We had dropped the car off in Porto at the airport when we arrived and took a train from the airport into the center of Porto.
The main sites (all worth visiting) that we went to included:
-Palacio da Bolsa - very interesting and beautiful
-Cais da Ribeira (riverfront area on both sides of the Douro River). This area is great to walk along, hang out, people watch, eat at a restaurant or have a drink. It is really nice on both sides and on the ribeira side are the port wine cellars of porto. These are world famous cellars. All the major port wine makers of the world are here and they have tours. We did a port cellar tour and tasting, definitely a must do in porto. We also did a 90min river cruise from the riverfront, also worth it.
-the Ponte de Dom Luis bridge.....the big steel one.....make your way to the top and walk across as the subway trains occasionally wiz by. What a view! People walk across continuously and take pictures......but dont stand in the center without keeping an eye for a train! You are literally standing on the tracks.
-Livraria Lello bookshop. This is very touristy and pricey, but it is very unique and beautiful. It is where j k Rowling supposedly wrote the first Harry Potter book. Google it....we visited and you might enjoy but be warned there is a lineup and it will be blocked with people. Tourist alert!
-Rua das Flores - very nice walking street with shops, bars, restaurants and a couple of museums and cathedrals.
-Liberdade Square
-Clerigo Tower - great views, we did it, worth the wait and cost.
-Sao Bento train station for the wall murals, quick, nice free site.
-there are a lot of beautiful cathedrals (i think maybe 43, might be slightly off) in Porto, some quite impressive and worth visiting.
We took a train from Sao Bento station in Porto to Lisbon, about 3-3.5 hours. Nice train and enjoyable journey.
We then stayed 3 nights (357€ total) at Casa do Jasmim by Shiadu bed and breakfast. This is on a side street in the principle real area of Lisbon. This area has lots of fancy shops and restaurants, bars. It is a bit more upscale than the bairro alto area. It is a little farther from the centro area, but still only about 20 -30 min walk. This b&b was also really nice, with a great breakfast. The rooms were nice size. The building is older and retains some of the older features, such as hardwood on the floors. This b & b is not real close to the metro, so maybe one drawback. Could use taxi or Uber for very modest cost to get to the centro area.
On our return to Lisbon we did a train ride....about 1 hour, to the area of Cascais. This is a great area. It is a resort area, with beaches, five star hotels, golf courses, a great town center, lots of shops, restaurants, a large shopping mall, a famous casino in nearby Estoril (part of a James Bond movie was filmed here). We rented bikes here and rode around the town and along the beach. We spent a full day here. You could easily stay here for a night or multiple days.
Some other comments.....
......both Lisbon and Porto are very safe cities, we walked all over the place well into the evenings.
....learn a few portugese words....please, thank you, hello, fish, chicken, beer, wine, etc. The locals will love you! Download a translation app on your phone, this can help.
The local beer is great in portugal.....Sagres or Super Bock! Also pretty cheap in most bars and restaurants, especially ones that locals frequent.
The wine is great everywhere in portugal. Just order house wine in any restaurant and it will be good. We see very little of the good portugese wine in Canada.
In restaurants they will almost always place a plate of pickings....snacks like pickle, cheese, bread, etc on your table as soon as you sit down. This stuff is NOT free, though you wont find that out until you get the bill. We always waved to say no thank you and they would take it away and they were not offended. If you accept it and even if you don't even eat any there will be a 2-6€ charge added to your bill.
The Portugese people are very humble, quiet, reserved but friendly. Probably the best way to learn quickly about local customs is do a walking tour and ask lots of questions of the guide.
If you want to see some of our pictures from portugal hit on the link below and scroll down to see the folder names for various places.....there are folders from portugal in 2015 and a portugal 2017 folder. The link to the pictures is below....
https://www.flickr.com/photos/15546817@N04/albums/with/72157676424641095
The pictures of Portugal are in several different albums, from each of the trips we took.
2015 trip:
Flew to Lisbon. Taxi about 12€ from airport to Bed and Breakfast Casa do Patio. This B and B was booked on the Booking.com, but can also be booked directly on the owners website (below).
Link to Booking website for Casa do Patio
We stayed at Casa for 4 nights from Sept 16-19 for 396€. This was a really nice B and B. It is hard to describe - look up photos online. It had independent separate rooms/suites (bedroom and nice bathrooms) that open out onto an outdoor courtyard area. The rooms were modern, despite the older stye neighbourhood location and history of the area and they were kept immaculately clean. We eat breakfast every day outdoors in the courtyard area. They had tables set up in the courtyard. You could eat inside in a common room where the breakfast items were setup with tables for guests to eat at.
The breakfast was a great selection of various conventional and Portugese items. The hosts at this accommodation were extraordinarily friendly and helpful. When you arrive they sit with you and explain the accommodations, the breakfast, the neighbourhood, the city and will answer any questions you have. They gave us tips on local restaurants and told us the different types of food they served and what they were best known for. We ate at every place they recommended and each one was fabulous - from the fado supper bar to the octopus salad restaurant!
Lisbon is a great city, very safe, lots of great sites, unique neighbourhoods, good restaurants and bars. Great value. We have stayed here during three trips to Portugal for a total of about 17 nights. We have seen a lot of the city by walking and using various means of transport - metro, bus, trolley, taxi. All worked really well. The metro is particularly modern, clean and efficient, one of the best we have ever seen.
Some items we have seen in Lisbon:
-Lisbon castle, the Castelo de Sao Jorge, is on a hilltop and offers great views of central Lisbon.
-we have walked many of the neighbourhoods - Alfama, Chiado, Baixo, Barro Alto, all have unique and interesting characteristics.
The barro alto is a great area to eat. If you stay near here, you may end up here every night. It has small and medium sized restaurants and bars. When i say small - like a handful of tables in total for the restaurant. Many are very quaint and unique. The streets in barro alto are small, narrow cobble stones and there are people coming and going and walking all around this area in the evenings, until wee hours, for the bars and restaurants.
-The Avenida da Liberdade, is Lisbon’s main boulevard and the location for designer shops, expensive restaurants, cafes and trendy bars. This leads into the pedestrian street of Rua Augusta which then leads to Praça do Comércio, a large square at the harbour edge. You definitely want to walk along this street and area and enjoy the squares, shops, cafes, restaurants, sites and people. A great area. We have visited a museum and done a wine tasting in this area, as well as stop at cafes for a coffee, pastry or beer and sit and people watch. Lisbon has several big squares in the centro area that are great to sit at a side cafe and have a drink and people watch. There are a wide variety of shops along rua augusta, from large and boutique to small and local, as well as street performers and lots of people.
-Timeout Food Market Lisbon. This is a great spot to go for a beer or glass of wine and/or lunch. It is like a shopping mall for foodies. It has multiple food stops with different types and styles of food. Look it up.
-Miradouro Sao Pedro Alcantaro - great viewing spot near where we stayed. buy a beer or two in nearby corner store, sit here and admire the view and people watch. Take a ride on the nearby Funicular - walk down the funicular path (walkway along side the tracks) and drop in a small bar or restaurant along the streets and cubby holes. We stopped in a couple of bars and had a nightcap glass of port and we ate at a restaurant along here. Very unique area.
-Parque das Nações (Park of Nations) was originally the site of Expo 98 and since has been transformed into a modern area of Lisbon. You can get to this area by Metro from the center of the city, it is maybe about a 30min run. There is a modern shopping center, a cable car ride, modern Vasco de Gama cabled stayed bridge, modern stadium. The area also has a fantastic aquarium (Lisbon Oceanarium) that we visited.
-While in Lisbon we went to a Bar/restaurant that had a supper and Fado show - this was really good. Fado is local Portuguese style music.
-We went to A Ginjinha and had a famous Ginjinha drink. This is a famous Portugese drink (shot). Look it up and watch the Anthony Bourdain 's show "No Reservations" that was done in Lisbon (2012) - i think you can probably watch it on Youtube.
-The Calouste Gulbenkian Museum
-The Elevador de Santa Justa (Santa Justa Lift) - great views of downtown centro area.
-The medieval carmo convent. Igreja do Carmo. It was ruined during the occurrence of the 1755 Lisbon Earthquake
which destroyed the Gothic Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, which on the southern facade of the convent is the main trace of the great earthquake still visible in the old city.
-Two interesting sites that are prominent in Lisbon are the 25th of April bridge - this is like a copy of the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco. It was built by the same company. The other site is the Cristo Rei (Christ The King) statue - replica of the statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This statue can be seen from most everywhere in Lisbon.
Lisbon is a great city, with many sites and things to see and do. Check out the things to do link on Tripadvisor for Lisbon. There are over 400 items listed.
We also have visited the Belem area three times - It is 4 miles from the center of Lisbon and takes about 15mins by tram to get there. It has several very interesting sites.
-Belem Tower
-Monument of the Discoveries
-monastery jeronimos (the Pope stayed here in 2010).
-Museu Berardo in Centro Cultural de Belem (this museum has free entry and has lots of interesting pieces, including picasso, dali, warhol and others). This is really good art museum and great value for free!
-coach museum in Belem - very cool stage coaches that have been used by royals from various families around the world.
- there are a number of cafes all over Lisbon where you can buy a famous portugese pastry but it is highly recommended to try this at Pastel de Nata from “Pastéis de Belem”, they are famous for these Portugese tarts - they only cost 1€ and they are really good and just the operation of this place is entertaining and worth a visit. There will be a short (hopefully) lineup. It is worth the lineup. They have been serving these tarts for more than 100 yrs, it is basically the only thing they serve (you can get a coffee). You can see where they make the tarts, very efficient operation to make and serve these to the tons of people that visit.
2015:
Upon leaving Lisbon we took a taxi back to the airport and rented a car and drove SOUTH to the town of Evora.
We stayed at Albergaria Do Calvario.
It was 223€ for two nights - a bit pricey (you can get significantly cheaper in the area) but it was worth it. Check trip advisor reviews.
This was a beautiful spot, just inside the town wall, from which you could easily walk all over town. One of the nicest places we have ever stayed. It had underground parking. The room was quite large, with a bathroom made completely of marble and a side sitting room in addition to a fair size bedroom. The breakfast here was the best we have ever had at a hotel or B and B. It had an extraordinary number of conventional and Portugese items and you could ask for almost any breakfast item, eggs done anyway you wanted.....bacon etc. - i think we counted 35 different items laid out as part of the breakfast. They were super friendly at this b and b, will help with any questions or any tours or places you want to book or visit. They booked a wine tour for us at cartuxa winery on very short notice (about an hour).
Evora is about a 1.5 hour drive from Lisbon. It is a very interesting small town that is a World Unesco Heritage site as it has a walled (roman type wall) town center, an aqueduct that runs into the town with houses built into it, and the ruins of a very significantly sized roman temple in the center of town. It also has a very nice and impressive museum in the town center. As well, there is a church that has a museum of bones - thousands of supposedly human bones (including skulls) stacked in organized fashion - very strange, Gale was suspicious if they were human! It has a nice town square where there was an outdoor orchestra concert one of the nights we were there. There are multiple wineries nearby. We visited the Cartuxa Winery, which was about a 2min drive from the hotel (maybe 10min walk).
We also drove about 20 min and visited an area with cork trees and The Cromlech of the Almendres megalithic complex (or Almendres Cromlech) - these are the stonehenge of Portugal. Strange but interesting. Torpedo shaped boulders that stick straight up from the ground.
We would highly recommend Evora and it is worth the two nights stay. Evora is also in the Alentejo region of Portugal, which is a well known wine area of the country. It covers a large area and has a lot of wineries.
We then left Evora and drove to Monsaraz. This was only about a 35min drive if you don't stop along the way. We stopped at a winery called Ervideira along the way to Monsaraz. We had a tour and tasting session at the winery. Monsaraz is a small medieval town at the top of a hill. It is also a walled town with a population of about 700 people. It is close to the Spanish border, near a large lake. The hilltop setting is quite spectacular. The views of the surrounding area are an amazing 360 degree landscape view. There is a castle inside the town walls. The town only allows street traffic for part of the daytime, the streets are made of slate pieces. The town and location are very scenic and unique.
We stayed one night here at a bed and breakfast called Casa Pinto.
Casa Pinto was like staying in a museum. It was decorated in amazing fashion. Many antiques and art pieces throughout (the place only allows adult guests because of the delicate decor). We had a beautiful room that would be hard to describe. Only pictures do it justice. The b and b has a beautiful rooftop deck with a breathtaking view of the landscape that surrounds Monsaraz. Look up Trip Advisor reviews and pictures of Casa Pinto. It was awesome. We payed 79€ for one night.
From Monsaraz we drive to the Algarve and the town of Albufeira.
In Albufeira we rented a condo for 7 nights. We stayed at Cerro Mar
Atlantic view apartments, unit 314, a one bedroom apartment with full kitchen. It had a sizeable balcony that overlooked the pool area. We booked this through a UK company called Algarve Getaways (out of business since pandemic).
We had booked through algarvegetaways in 2010 when were in Portugal. It was a bit pricier booking this way. For future trips we will likely book through vrbo or Airbnb for a condo in the Algarve.
It was a couple of hour drive from Monsaraz to the Algarve, maybe less, we stopped at a small town for lunch along the way. It was not a touristy town and people did not speak as much english as the major centers, but it was no problem and the lunch was so cheap it felt like they charged the wrong price and you stole something.
The cerro mar in Albufueira was a very nice complex with a nice pool and you had use of the cerro mar hotel facilities across the street if you wanted it. They had a larger pool, fitness area, restaurant. The Cerro Mar was about a 5min (or less) walk down a hill to the center square of town. This square had many (probably 100 plus) restaurants and bars. Restaurants of all different types of food, from pubs, to portugese, to american, to indian, etc. There are no chain restaurants here. There are lots of good food choices at a variety of prices, from expensive to very good value.
There is a very nice beach just below the town square area - it has an elevator at one end to take you up to the surrounding hill of the town and it has an outdoor escalator at the other end. Albufeira is touristy, but it has lots to offer and is a fun place to stay.
From Albufeira we have visited many nearby interesting towns and beaches, including.......
Towns:
-Portimaio
-Lagos
-Armacao de Pera
-Quartiera (this is by Vilamoura, a golf destination, Bill Morrissey goes here for the winter).
-Tavira
All of these towns were interesting and worth a visit.
Beaches.....
-Falesia (long beach below spectacular cliffs)
-Barril (near Tavira - it is on a barrier island, isolated, long beautiful, wide, sand dunes along the landside)
-Gale (awesome, not just cause of the name) -long beach great for walking, it leads into Armacao de Pera. We have twice parked at one end of Gale Beach and walked to Armacao de Pera, had lunch there. Other beaches we visited....
-Sao Rafael
-Castelo
-Coelha ( rabbit beach)
There are beach guides online to see pictures of these beaches.
While in Albufeira we took a half day boat tour from the marina ( about 10 min drive from Albufeira center). There are various tours you can get. The one we went on was along the coast and gave you the scenic seaside view of the towns and beaches.
We left the Algarve and drove back to Lisbon for our last night. On the way we visited Sintra - a beautiful town about 30 mins drive north of Lisbon. It is a very scenic town in the hills with a hilltop moors castle and the very unique, disney like Sintra Palace.
This place is worth a visit if you have time.
The last night in Lisbon we wanted to stay somewhere easily accessible to the airport for an early flight. We stayed at Ibis Lisboa Parque das Naçoes. This was a business style hotel in the park das nacoes area but it was rally nice - clean, within two blocks of a shopping mall and the metro, which you could take right to the airport if you wanted to. A taxi from here to the airport was less than 10€. We paid $98 Canadian for this hotel. That did not include breakfast but we paid 10€ each for their buffet breakfast and that was good value also.
2010:
Flew to Lisbon. Taxi from airport to Bed and Breakfast Casa do Bairro.
We stayed here for 4 nights. We then rented a car and drove directly to the Algarve and stayed 10 nights at a condo called Encosta da Orada. It was located at Rua José Ramos Pinheiro, Cerro da Piedade in Albufeira. This was a beautiful complex, virtually brand new when we stayed there. It had two beautiful pools. It was about 15min walk to the center of town (down a hill, so it was up a steep hill walking home from the center area where the restaurants were located) farther from the center of town than cerro mar. But a taxi was only 5€ in 2010 back to the condo from the center of the restaurant area.
Costs 2015:
Lisbon 4 nights 396€ ~ 600ca (incl'd breakfast)
Car rental 10 days 556US$ (yes, us $) Auto Europe
High end hotel Evora 223€ ~ $335ca
(incl'd breakfast)
Bed and Breakfast Monsaraz 79€ ~ $120ca (incl'd breakfast)
7 nights condo Albufuiera (no breakfast) ~$890ca
Last night hotel Lisbon near airport 98ca plus 10€ each for breakfast.
Meals in Portugal are very good value. I went back and looked at our credit card bill and We paid mostly in the range of 35-45 ca$ for most supper meals, in these cases no alcohol with the meals (we often had wine after supper back at our room). That does include tip as well. We had a couple of meals in the 60-70 ca$ range with some alcohol and we had one meal that was 83ca in Lisbon that included wine, a couple of beer and a live Fado music performance at a place called the Music Box. We usually pay cash for lunch and credit card for supper. We did have a couple of lunches that were like supper - it is common for Portugese and Greeks to have a large meal in the middle of the day. These lunch meals were probably slightly less than supper cost but when we did that we did not have a large supper meal.
In 2017 we found the prices had increased a bit but not much. We had wine with almost every supper meal on that trip! We tended to seek out the restaurants that had locals and or good reviews. If you can find a restaurant with locals lined up, go for it! It is a guaranteed good value. Also anything with 4 to 5 star tripadvisor rating is usually very good, but watch the dollar sign ranking. If it is a restaurant with mainly local the staff might not be as good with english but they will still be very friendly and helpful with choosing menu items. A restaurant with an english language menu with meal pictures posted out front and only a few tourists should be avoided, no matter how good the pictures look.
A place for great information on Portugal ( and any travel location in Europe) is the Rick Steve's website. He has tours of Portugal but also detailed trip reports, videos, audio and info where his tours go that we have used for developing our itinerary on each trip.
On the 2010 trip we played five rounds of golf in the algarve. We booked a package of 4 rounds on the golf courses in the Vilamoura area. The four courses we played were called Pinhal, the Old Course, Laguna and Victoria. They have played the Portugal Masters European pro tournament on the Victoria course several times. These courses are now called the Dom Pedro courses (recently 2023 sold to another company so name may have changed). You can look them up at
Link to Dom Pedro Golf & Hotels
These were all great courses.
We also played a course called Salgados, which is near Albufeira. We payed a one round green fee at this course. It was very good condition and similar to a Florida course, with water sand and palm trees and near the coast but not as scenic as the other courses, though they were all inland. We walked and rented pull carts at each course. Golf power cart (buggy as they call them) rental is expensive at golf courses in Europe. We drove to each course. You can get golf packages that pick you up and return you to a location.
If you are going mainly for a golf trip then you might want to stay in Vilamoura/Quarteira area. It is a resort sort of area near the Dom Pedro golf courses but doesn’t have the charm of a regular Portuguese town. Albufeira is about 30min drive from Vilamoura.
I think if you are not going on a golf only trip we would highly recommend visiting Lisbon and renting a car when you leave the city to go elsewhere in Portugal. But one thing to be aware, if you are renting a vehicle and bringing golf clubs, the vehicle sizes in Europe are SMALL. On the Portugal trip we did in 2010 with 2 sets of golf clubs we had to rent a crossover type of vehicle to make sure we could fit 2 suitcases and 2 sets of golf clubs and that size of vehicle are not as readily available and are more expensive. Also, note that most rental cars in Europe are standard shift.
Below are a couple of maps of Portugal.
Comments
Post a Comment