Portugal Recommendations

[MMH]

Hello fellow travelers!

DH and I are heading to Lisbon in September for 10 days. My best friend lives in Lisbon so we will be spending the majority of our time in Cascais where she currently lives. My question is this:

Where should we travel for a four day mini-vacation?

I am currently researching options but thought someone might have a suggestion for me!

Thanks in advance...

[meatpie]

Ahhh...Portugal. We actually stayed in Cascais on our honeymoon and loved the town. How lucky you are!!

My family is from the Algarves and even though I have never been always hear wonderul things about it. My cousin just returned last spring and they loved it as well. I'm sure you would have to fly from Lisbon, but the weather should still be good enough for a 4-day trip.

Where else are you considering? I love to talk Portugal!!

[tlew12778]

The NY Times had this article (http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/07/08/travel/08pousadas.html) today on Portugal.

[lauren f s]

I went to Portugal 6 years ago. Actually, I went to Spain, then drove to Albufeira, then to Lisbon. Albufeira was beautiful! It's been so long I can't remember the name of the resort I stayed, but it was on the beach with beautiful little villas. I went with a cousin & grandma; I'll ask my grandma the name of the place we stayed.

[MMH]

Thank you so much ladies!

tlew - Great article, thanks for passing that along. Actually I have been scoping out Pousadas already. Found this great site:
http://www.pousadas.pt/historicalhotels/EN/pousadas/

I think we'll take a drive for four days and stop at Pousadas along the way. They look fabulous!

Lauren - I would appreciate any recommendations!

My friend is driving to Spain for work this week so she was going to let me know if it's worth it or not. DH and I don't get much time alone so it might be fun just to stay in Portugal and vegetate!

[lauren f s]

I just asked for the info :)

Also, we went to Spain, then drove over to Portugal. I loved Spain! I wasn't expecting to care for it much, but it was a trip to Europe so I wasn't about to say no, lol. Spain exceeded all my expectations. It was amazing. We went to Seville, Granada, Cordoba, and Marbella. Then we drove to Albufeira, then to Lisbon.

[nyclaura]

I would highly recommend the eSPA in the Four Seasons Lisbon. Also the restaurant Olivier in the Barrio Alto - if you walk around the Barrio beforehand you'll hear the most beautiful Fado singing and pass by exceptional wine shops. You'll need reservations and even with them they lock the door. Knock loudly and they'll warmly welcome you in - this is a chi chi place and if you love food then you won't have any complaints here.

http://www.restaurante-olivier.com/fotosing.htm

If you want to walk around neighborhoods I suggest the Alfama district - large and really easy to find on a map of Lisbon. Also, the views from Castle St. George overlooking the river Tagus are beautiful. From there you can see the Christ statue in the distance on the far bank of the Tagus (a twin to more famous Brazilian Christ).

You'll find gorgeous churches on every corner and distinctive buildings throughout the city. If you walk around in the afternoon you'll get to see the laundry hanging outside to dry. The natives walk far slower than Americans - and if you slow to their pace I think you'll have a better trip. The elderly ladies climbing the hills will amaze you.

Lisbon is very inexpensive for a European city even with the weak dollar. It is also very easy to explore - if not straight up hill. Bring your walking shoes and your camera. You're going to have a great time.

[lauren f s]

Hi! I got that info for you, I hope it helps :)

We stayed at the
Sheraton Algarve Residences (http://www.pinecliffs.com/en/residences/) Praia da Falesia P.O. Box 644 8200 Albufeira, Algarve Portugal Tel: (351)(289) 500100
Hotel plus houses etc around the grounds. We had a 2br2ba suite $115 (28 km from Faro airport)

Here is the other info from the trip (where we stayed, what we did, etc)

Lisbon
Stay: Loios Pousada ph 266 70 40 51 fx 7248 ( http://www.pousadas.pt/contents.html) like Spanish paradors. – huge ancient castle-type historic building updated to high hotel standards, great food.
Walking tour, Roman Temple, Cathedral, Ossuary Chapel (skulls, bones).
Can take a bus from Lisbon to Evora – 75 miles about an hour or so – nice drive through cork forests.

Stay: Albergaria Senhora de la Monte phone 886 6002

Food – Baixa - Gambrinus, 25 Rua des Portes de Santa Antao grest shellfish
Fado – (Barrio Alto) – Arcades do Faia, 54 Rua da Barroca,

Sights: Museo Nacional de Arte Antiga (most significant. Portugese museum, esp French silverware)
The Palace – see modern Portugese art.
Coach Museum – amazing old ornate coaches
Hieronymite Monastery w/Vasco da Gama’s tomb,
Tower of Belem on Tagus Rivers
Fado dinner show.

Shop: San Anna, 95 Rua do Alecrim. (Bairro Alto) Rua Academia das Ciencias.
Visa Alegre, fine porcelain 2 outlets Bairro Alto, 54 Rua Ivens, 18 Largo do Chiado

I hope some of this helps :)

[MMH]

lauren and ncylaura - Thank you, thank you, thank you! I will research all your suggestions and pass them on to our friends who live there as well as many of our friends going to visit!

I'm getting excited for our trip.

I think we are going to drive to Seville, I hear it's lovely and I've only been to Barcelona!

[emmjay]

MMH - if you drive to Sevilla and want to break up the trip and see more of Portugal, you can go from Lisbon to Evora in about an hour and a half. It is a UNESCO world heritage site, and has a cool Roman temple and other sights. Also there are tons of vineyards around there (the region is Alentejo) and Evora has an office where you can get a map of the vineyards and they will call to make appts if you want to stop by any of them. I would recommend stopping at the Herdade do Esporao Winery if you stop at any. The grounds are beautiful and the wine is really great.

You could do that in one day - drive from Cascais in the afternoon, spend the night in Evora, see the wineries in the early day and leave for Sevilla in the afternoon. Evora is approx. 3 hrs from Sevilla.

[lauren f s]

I think we are going to drive to Seville, I hear it's lovely and I've only been to Barcelona!
Seville was my favorite! If you can you really must go, you'll love it!

[Purple]

I second (or third!) Sevilla. We stayed at an aparthotel in Albufeira, Portugal and then took a trip over. It is lovely. Make sure to have tapas and a large pitcher of sangria :).

I much prefer the South to Lisbon- even though it is nice there too. Hopefully you can make the trek down.

[kmack]

*bump*

i know this is an old thread but i am hoping someone can help me. we are going to portugal this weekend with our 2 kids (3 years and 6 mos.). we are staying in the algarve, albufeira (sp?) at a resort, i think its praia da oura. a shuttle bus is supposed to be bringing us from the airport to the resort and i have asked and was told there are no seatbelts on the bus. we were planning on bringing our carseats but now it looks like we won't need them. however, i am nervous not having the kids strapped into anything. i was thinking we could just take a taxi but was told they might not have seatbelts either.


does anyone know the seatbelt situation, and how far it would be from faro airport to where we are going? for some reason i am totally stressing about this, God forbid the bus gets in an accident and our kids are not secure.

[meatpie]

Can you contact your resort? They should answer you