iahphx

Looks like I may take my family to Portugal in June. This is the only country in Western Europe that I've never been to, and folks "in the know" always tell me "you should go to Portugal." I'm kind of expecting it to be like Spain, but I've had folks tell me it's actually quite different.

We'll be starting in LIS, and probably leaving from there, too. In general, we prefer the rural to the urban on vacation, but we do appreciate European cities (in limited doses). Can anyone help point me in the right direction? And if there are any special flyertalk tips -- like great hotel award redemptions -- I'd appreciate those, too. Thanks!

linglingfool

I'll wait for the experts to chime in, but I'll be following this thread with interest as well, as I'll be there for a week in late May. Have a rough itinerary sketched out, but would love to get additional input.

ETA: This thread may be of some help: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/spain...nt-i-miss.html

IAN-UK

June's a delightful time to be in Portugal. (So is just about any month except July/August).

A lot depends on budget and your willingness to keep moving. You could think in regional themes, renting a house and touring from there. The regions are relatively small so day-trips from a central base are fine.

Or if you pockets are reasonably deep, take the Pousadas de Portugal chain of historical hotels as your theme (http://www.pousadas.pt).

For a region, the Alentejo has a lovely coastline (largely neglected by tourists from overseas) and some splendid historical towns/cities such a Evora (the capital), Elvas (on the frontier across from Badajoz) and Marvao in the north of the region. There are many more charming towns to visit.

Just travelling around Lisbon/Estremadura gives you historical towns (Sintra, Santarem, Obidos) as well as surfing (Baleal) seaside towns (Ericeira), fishing ports (Peniche) and wild islands (Berlengas).

The north, north of Porto, is superb touring country centering on cities such as Braga (countryside) and Viana (seaside).

Then there's Porto and the Douro valley as a theme.

I'd forget the Algarve. It has its gems, but they are harder to unearth.

iahphx

Thanks, Ian. Your post seems like a great place to start. I've bought my tickets (only 38 CHF each from GVA to LIS on Swiss) so we're definitely going.

Is the Algarve just too much of a mass-market sun-and-fun destination? If so, I could see why I would want to avoid it. Otherwise, as we have only a week, I guess I'll have to make some tough choices as to where to go. Since we're arriving in Lisbon, we'll obviously start there. If we're not really "city folks" (although, like most folks, we enjoy Barcelona, Madrid, London, Paris, Vienna, etc) would one-day be enough before heading to smaller towns and the countryside? As you've mentioned, I understand the area around Lisbon is quite pleasant: better than more remote destinations, or not? Thanks.

IAN-UK

38 CHF !! IS THAT THE CO-PAYMENT ON AN AWARD?

The Algarve is really only a beach destination. The west coast and Sagres peninsula are interesting, and the south coast beaches are fine too - but it is generally more expensive than the rest of Portugal, and large parts of it form an expat hot-spot. Nothing wrong with that, and it can be a comfort to hear so much English spoken ..

There's a lot to see in Lisbon and its immediate vicinity - many places can be reached easily and cheaply on the commuter trains.

But if you were to rent a place outside Lisbon, you could consider picking up a car at LIS and heading straight out there. The motorways (tolls) are good.

Perhaps save the big city for a weekend visit some other time.

there are loads of holiday rentals sites - but this one specialises in portugal:

http://rentals.pt/en-GB/Listings/?En...Location=Évora

iahphx

Thanks, Ian, I'll look into that when I get a chance.

No, 38 CHF is actually the entire fare on Swiss from GVA to LIS. They have this program call "Geneva Light Fares" (there's a modest flyertalk thread on the topic). I find it quite bizarre, but I'm not complaining.

linglingfool

Ian, what are your thoughts on the beaches south of Porto? We were considering a few lazy beach days in the Algarve, but decided that our time could be better spent exploring instead of riding trains to and fro, so were considering a day in Miramar or Espinho as an alternative.

IAN-UK

I regret to say that the coast between Peniche, about 40 miles N of Lisbon, and Porto, is to me an unknown. Not by design!

But, in general, the west coast beaches can be quite "bracing" in terms of their exposure to the Altantic - that's compared with the softer offering of the Algarve coastline.

If you want to stay central, just south of Lisbon is the rather busy resort of Caparica. It's a bit honky-tonk in the main section, but with a beach running kilometres there are more peaceful sections easily reached by car - and i think the beach train is still running. Not much further south is Sesimbra, a well established resort town and fading fishing port. A bit further is the city city of Setubal, with ferry access to the sandy Troia peninsula where there are many accommodation options.

North from Lisbon there are many beaches, some secluded, others resort style, within reach of the city. The beaches between Estoril and Cascais, and Caparica are the high volume destinations for sun-seeking day-trippers from Lisbon.

JamesEaston

Depending on how many kids you have, and their ages, the Algarve might be better. Ian is right that it's only a beach destination but down there you'll find a fantastic water park, one of the best in Europe, and other kid friendly things to do along with beaches, water sports and lots of good golf courses.

Obviously if your goal is not a beach/golf holiday with the kids, you can ignore everything that I just wrote

iahphx

Thanks. While I'm going with our teenage children, we don't go to Europe to visit water parks (plenty of those in the USA), so no Algarve for us.

BTW, I remembered that Melia likes to throw "temporary" points into members' loyalty accounts (there are a couple threads on this on flyertalk), and we have a few Melia accounts that each had 12,000 free points. There are about a dozen Melias in Portugal, so I booked some very inexpensive rooms (averaging about 5 euro) for my family. Not necessarily the hotels I would have chosen at full price, but certainly decent 4-star properties. Portugal is turning out to be a very inexpensive family vacation for me.

JBord

I'll add a couple points to the good info in this thread.

First, spend a couple days in Lisbon. I found it to be quite different than most European cities. Very cool and laid back in my opinion, and I really loved the unique neighborhoods.

Second, it's been mentioned, but I'd vote for at least a day in Sintra. Google it if you need more information, but if you or your family like castles and history, this has to be the greatest concentration of different castles anywhere, along with gorgeous views as you go up and down the mountains. IIRC, it was about a 5 Euro train ride from Lisbon, and a few more Euros for the hop on/off bus that takes you to several of the castles.