"Wonderful Portugal" Top 5 Page for this destination Portugal by Bwana_Brown
Portugal Travel Guide: 19,499 reviews and 54,801 photos
During the last two weeks of May, 2004, my wife and I had the most wonderful vacation in Portugal as we rented a car and tried to take-in as much of the country as we could. In the end, two weeks is not nearly enough time to do justice to this amazing country! It may look small on a map, but it is so packed full of history and amazing sights that you could keep coming back forever and still miss some great stuff!
Normally, I'm not that keen on big cities but Lisbon is one of the few (London, San Francisco and Montreal) that I could spend some time in very easily. We had allowed some settling-in time to adapt to the time zone and cultural differences, but our 3-4 days in the city did not allow us to even scratch it's surface!
After that, we picked up our rental car and hit the road for the next 10-days to see what else this great country had to offer. We were not disappointed! Check out my General tips for a map of our route, but we initially headed south and drove counter-clockwise around the country. Our route took us from Lisbon (also nearby Sintra and Belem) to Algarve, Evora, Monsaraz, Marvao, Monsanto, Covilha, Guarda, Lamego, Geraz do Minho, Pinhao, Praia de Mira, Obidos, Ilha da Berlenga and finally Distrito de Lisboa as we completed the 1550-mile (2500-km loop).
We saw beaches, mountaintop castles, rugged mountains and not-so-rugged mountains as well as some amazing architecture. The Portugese people were so friendly, the scenery was wonderful and the road system is fantastic! I've arranged my 'Things to Do' Tips generally in the order of our trip as we went from one location to the next.
This is a vacation that we will always cherish!
- Pros:People, culture, scenery and historic sites
- Cons:The food is a bit bland, but so what?
- In a nutshell:One of the Best Places I have ever visited
Reviews (80)
Meal 'Starters'
Local Customs
(11)
One of the dining customs that we had not experienced before dealt with small tidbits placed on your table to tide you... more travel advice
Fresh Seafood
Restaurants
(9)
By this late stage of our trip, we were less than 2 hours from Lisbon, in the very nice seaside town of Peniche, from... more travel advice
Map of Our Road Trip
Favorites
(4)
We had planned our trip from Canada by reading the tips of various VT members (especially 'Canadienne' and 'Micas_pt')... more travel advice
Get Yourself a Good Road Map!
Favorites
(4)
We bought (E10 or US$12) this now battered road map at a tourist information shop in Sintra, during our first full day... more travel advice
-
Transportation (9)
See All Speed Boat to Berlenga Islands -
Warnings and Dangers (5)
See All Minho Guardrails -
Off The Beaten Path (6)
See All Highest Peak in the Algarve
-
Things to Do (28)
See All Sintra Forest -
Hotels (8)
See All A Nice Find -
Been to Portugal?
Share your travels with the world!
Portugal Travel Guide
Member Travel Pages
- "Portugal in my heart"
- "Portugal my lovely country"
- "Portugal"
- "Wonderful Portugal"
- "portugal"
- "Portugal by Car"
- "Portugal - Country of Batles"
- See All...
Explore the World
- Member Rank:
- 0 0 0 1 1
- Forum Rank:
- 0 3 1 2 8
- 3,530 Reviews
- 6,064 Photos
- Add Friend
- Follow
- Send Message
Badges & Stats in Portugal
- 360 Reviews
- 383 Photos
- 1 Forum posts
- 16,618PageViews
- 15 Cities
- See All Stats
- See All Badges (102)
Have you been to Portugal?
Share Your TravelsLatest Activity in Portugal
- Posted in Technical Help Forum "Re: St. Martins, New Brunswick,..."
- Commented on one of hopang's Portugal travel pages
- updated a Portugal Travel Page "Wonderful Portugal"
- Uploaded a Photo to "Wonderful Portugal"
- Wrote a Review Meal 'Starters' in Portugal Local Customs
Top 10 Pages
-
Top 5 Page for this destination
Andalucía
Intro, 60 reviews, 186 photos
-
Top 5 Page for this destination
Province of New Brunswick
Intro, 70 reviews, 138 photos
-
Top 5 Page for this destination
Gaspé
Intro, 51 reviews, 157 photos
-
Top 5 Page for this destination
Belize
Intro, 66 reviews, 140 photos
-
Top 5 Page for this destination
Province of Ontario
Intro, 46 reviews, 144 photos
-
Top 5 Page for this destination
Yellowstone National Park
Intro, 42 reviews, 120 photos
-
Top 5 Page for this destination
Portugal
Intro, 80 reviews, 81 photos
-
Top 5 Page for this destination
Glacier National Park
Intro, 43 reviews, 115 photos
-
Top 5 Page for this destination
Canada
Intro, 45 reviews, 100 photos
-
Buenos Aires
Intro, 68 reviews, 71 photos
Friends
See All Friends (64)Top Portugal hotels
- Albufeira Hotels
- 360 Reviews - 664 Photos
- Lisbon Hotels
- 5119 Reviews - 12617 Photos
- Funchal Hotels
- 500 Reviews - 1020 Photos
- Porto Hotels
- 991 Reviews - 2484 Photos
- Alvor Hotels
- 126 Reviews - 363 Photos
- Cascais Hotels
- 449 Reviews - 2294 Photos
- Faro Hotels
- 230 Reviews - 766 Photos
- Lagos Hotels
- 244 Reviews - 621 Photos
- Tavira Hotels
- 194 Reviews - 385 Photos
- Estoril Hotels
- 61 Reviews - 351 Photos
- Ponta Delgada Hotels
- 117 Reviews - 310 Photos
- Quarteira Hotels
- 24 Reviews - 62 Photos
- Portimão Hotels
- 66 Reviews - 241 Photos
- Pinhão Hotels
- 56 Reviews - 190 Photos
- Praia da Rocha Hotels
- 31 Reviews - 70 Photos

Whale Watching
Road Trip
Beaches
Comments (38)
This place has many nice looking castles and forts, both my favorites on trips. Your detail explanations are great.
I have long wanted to see more of Portugal. You have whet my appetite even more with your comprehensive account of this great tour - certainly took me far from the snowy wastes of Wales!Will be back for more.
Oh wow, you really did tour through Portugal!! I love these little villages, especially Monsanto, and the mountains and Alentejo with the cork oaks! And could have a Portugese coffee right now :-))
We plan to see this Monument of Discoveries when we visit Lisbon this September --- but I don't think we'll see the other wonderful places you have in your tips (sigh)! Thanks for sharing, Norman
Sintra is indeed a top destination Greetz
Marvao is where I went on my very 1st visit to Portugal racing from Albequerque to M then down thru Evora to Seville's April Fair for all nt photos of crazy Spanish revellers!been back since.exactly how I feel about the xlnt DK guides to go with the LP!
Glenn, fabulous overview with brilliant photos of this fantastic country. It mus be a great feeling to drive over the magnificent Vasco da Gama bridge.
Thanks for the comment! :) -You have such beautiful pictures/tips on Portugal, which is great since it is so unknown to North Americans! I was very impressed by the depth of each tip. Best Regards, Happy Travels!!!! E
What a great trip, I'm thinking of going to Portugal next year.You paint a wonderful picture.
Another great page of yours. Last year planning my trip to Ireland I came across your Irish pages, and this time it's Portugal. Interesting, well-written, accompanied by great pics and packed with useful tips.