The country that produces over 70% of the global cork, it has the longest bridge and the oldest university in Europe, wonderful beaches in the south and the best wines in the north. You can find below, my itinerary of 10 days in Portugal, definitely one of my favorite countries :d
In order not to make this article a loong one, more details about each place can be found in the next posts:
Part 1: Paradise In The Algarve
Part 2: Porto and Braga. Wine not?
Part 3: Sintra and Lisbon – castles and colors
Itinerary:
details pre-trip:
Covid Test / PLC Document :
Even if we are vaccinated, unfortunately Portugal still requires a covid test done 72 hours before (at least that was the rule in June). If your flight has a layover, you must also be informed of the rules in that country. Moreover, we were not able to do the online check-in completely from home. An online PLC – Passenger Locator Card form + the covid test will be checked at the airport, after that, you will receive tickets boarding. Always check the restrictions for returning to your country.
Tickets:
Skyscanner is all time my fav app. There were direct tickets with a low cost and also tickets with 2h layover in Frankfurt. The prices being approximately similar, I decided to take the one with layover, for 2 reasons: 1) you have a decent cabin suitcase (8 kg) anyhow I had 12kg, but no one controlled me :)) and 2) better organization, you don’t have too many surprises .. you know.
Cost: 700 lei / 145 €. Ohh and one more thing; if you had the impression that the airport is empty, because there is still a pandemic period, it’s not really like that, so you really have to be 2 hours before at the airport.
Car rental:
It was not easy to choose one, but I will tell you what we rented and especially why. We made the reservation on centauro.net for a Citroen C4 Cactus, a fairly spacious car for 4 people. We would have liked an automatic car, but the cost is a bit high.
We made this choice because: we did not have to pay online in advance, you can use the DEBIT card and the only deposit they ask for is € 100. (thumps up for this 👍). As you know, most of their highways are tolled and they will offer you an electronic toll, which is really recommended to take, you get rid of any worries with their payment and the cost will be recorded automatically.
Cost: 330 € car rental+ ~14 € electronic toll + 40 € (budget for toll) + 100 € deposit. If you exceed the 40€ allocated for roads, then they will deduct the difference from your deposit. As a minus, it would be the fact that we waited 40 minutes in front of the airport for their van to take us to the rental place, but let’s say we forgot about it😊)
Well, it was a good experience with them and I forgot to mention, we received a brand new car with only 10 km on board. Btw, a very good simulator for the cost of oil & tolls, can be found here.
Travel insurance:
Just a kind reminder, to have one. You can take it from anywhere, but good to have it:)
trip and costs:
1. Algarve, Evora, Coimbra
After a pandemic year, with many uncertainties, well … they still exist; we have been waiting for a long time, a vacation, a real one. In which your main concern is to try as many traditional dishes as possible and to visit lots of places.
Days 1 / 2 – Lagos, Algarve beaches
It makes no sense to add that the south of Portugal is AWESOME. The beaches, the rocks, I liked everything. Here is a top list with them:
- Marinha Beach
- Camilo beach
- Praia do Vou
- Students beach
- Port beach mos
At Ponta de Piedad are so beautiful rocks, you have a few stairs to go down, but it’s worth it. And Lagos is the town where we stayed, with small streets and chic houses, where the ocean breeze is very strong. So put a sweatshirt in your luggage & thank me later: D
Day 3 – Benagil Cave, Albufeira
ALGARVE FUN are the ones from where I bought online tickets for this trip. The price is 40 euros, a little bit higher than others, but considering that it lasted 3h; Worth it! 1h will be with the catamaran, enjoying the beautiful coast, in the next hour, the adventure starts with the kayak to Benagil Cave and around 30 minutes are reserved for exploring caves (Benagil & Esmeralde). I warmly recommend them. I really like this kayak activity, it’s super fun and if you haven’t done it before, believe me it’s nothing dangerous, not to mention that you don’t even have to know to swim, if in case you thought that.
Day 4 – Evora, Cuevas Mira de Aire, Coimbra
Evora:
- Chapel of Bones (6 € /ticket)
- Templo Romano
- Placa do Giraldo
- Apeducto Da Agua de Prata
Cuevas Mira de Aire (7 € /ticket)
Coimbra:
- Universitatea & city center
- Se Velha
- Igleja de Santa Cruz
2. Porto, Braga
Days 5 / 6 – Porto, Braga
For the first time I tried a Free Tour Guide in Porto. The day before we arrived, we booked a 3-hour tour with Poro Walkers and visited:
- São Bento railway station,
- Santa Catarina,
- Batalha,
- Bridge Luis I,
- Cathedral (Sé),
- Barredo neighborhood,
- Ribeira quarter
Then we did:
- A tour with 22 tram (3.5 € /ticket)
- Cafe Santiago for Francesinha
- Clerigos Tower (6 € /ticket)
The plan for the 6th day looked like this:
- Braga: Arco de Porto Nova, Braga Cathedral, Placa da Republica, Jardin de Santa Barbara
- Bom Jesus do Monte
- Guimaraes Castel (2 € /ticket)
- Porto: Rua de Santa Catarina (Majestic Cafe, Menteigaria, Mercato)
- Porto: Paju restaurant – Bacalhau cremoso and the famous Tripas
- Porto: Luis I Bridge & Gaia walk
There are a lot of nice spots in Porto, so always check to see what you have nearby. If you are lucky and it is a nice weather 
) (a bit hard in Porto) there are some very good sunsets spots: Passeio das Virtudes, Jardim do Morro, both are from Gaia, thus having a view to Porto.
Day 7 – Bathalha, Convent of Christ, Cascais
- Batalha Monestery (6 € /ticket)
- Convent of Christ (6 € /ticket)
- Boca do Inferno
- Cascais & Estoril
3. Sintra, Lisbon
Day 8 – Sintra
Some details about each castle:
- Quinta da Regaleira (10 € ticket)
Besides the palace and the chapel, here is a large park, with fountains, caves and lakes. A ticket is 10 euros and if you want a map with directions and an audio guide, the price is 3 euros extra. For the site map, you can find a good reference here.
- Castelo dos Mouros (8 € ticket)
During the muslim iberian period, between the 8th and 9th centuries, this castle was built by the Moors and later conquered by the Christians in the 12th century. It is located on a hill, and once you go to the top, you will be able to see, on the other side Pena Palace.
- Pena Palace (14 € ticket)
History says that a chapel was built here after the appearance of the Virgin Mary in the Middle Ages. For years it was a small place housing monks. After the earthquake of 1755, only ruins remained, but King Ferdinand II decided to turn the ruins of the chapel into a palace. In 1910 it was declared a national monument, in 1995 it enters the UNESCO patrimony and we find it in the 7 wonders of Portugal.
To visit them, you can only take bus 434 (you can find the map of the route here ) as access by car is forbidden.
Days 9 / 10 – Lisbon
What a city! With beautiful buildings and colorful trams, which make you feel like in an open air museum. On the first day, the plan looked something like this:
- Placa Dom Pedro IV,
- Santa Justa Elevator,
- Carmo Convent,
- Arco da Rua Augusta,
- Placa do Comercio,
- Lisbon Cathedral (Se),
- Sao Jorge Castle,
- Miradouro de Santa Luzia, Miradouro des Portas do sol;
- Jeronimos Monastery
- Belem Tower
If you want to take the tram, the best method is to buy from the subway, a ticket with 7 €, valid for 24 hours, for bus, tram & metro.
For local restaurants & more; here is a beautifully organized map.
- Sao Roque Church,
- Pink Street,
- Time out Market
- Ocenario do Lisbon,
- Tram 28
- for sunset: Miradouro da Senhora do Monte
If you have several days in Lisbon: go to a restaurant with Fado music or visit their famous bookstores: Bertrand, Ler Devagar.
What to eat in Portugal?
- Seafood – Algarve and Cascais are recognized places for the best seafood (especially Bacalhau fish, cooked in various ways)
- Porco preto / pata negra – a black pig that can be found only in the central-southern part of Portugal
- Portuguese paella
- Caldo Verde – is one of their traditional soups (with cabbage, chickpeas and carrots, don’t panic because it’s terribly good). It cooks differently depending on the area, I liked the one in the north more than the one in the south.
- Francisinha – a well-known dish from Porto, with meat and cheese
- Tripas à Moda do Porto – a kind of plate with animal intestines. It is their traditional food, that’s why the people of Porto are called: Tripeiros
- Pasteis de Nata – their typical cake, extremely good. You can find it everywhere.
- Shots – Aguardiente, Pasteis de Nata, Ginjinha
- White Sangria
- Vinho Moscatel – fruity from Moscatel vineyards located near the beach in sandy soils
- Vinho Verde – it really has a slightly greenish color, but it is also made from white grapes, not very ripe
- Vinho do Porto – there are 2 types Tawny and Ruby. As differences, the Tawny one stays in small oak barrels and measures the number of years it has been in the barrel (wood-aged), while the Ruby one, it stays in large barrels and counts the number of years in the bottle (bottle-aged). Both wines have about 20% alcohol and they are usually served by the glass.
Tips & Tricks
- When renting a car, choose a company that accepts debit cards, requires a relatively small deposit and offers you full insurance. This way you reduce the risks. And buy an electronic toll, so you can go on via verde easily.
- Highways are tolled, so you can always check how much you do on a toll road and a toll-free one. If the time difference is relatively small, you can save money and even have a pleasant experience in the villages, on local roads.
- VELOCIDADE CONTROLADA –if you exceed the legal speed, you will find a red traffic light in the midle of nothing, just to make you slow down.
- Benagil Cave – it’s a great experience to have a kayak trip here. The guys from ALGARVE FUN have a super 3h trip – you spend time on both, catamaran and kayak and they are very professional.
- Porto: Try a free tour guide (Porto Walkers), eat their traditional food and from time to time, stop and buy a Pasteis de Nata.
- The castles in Sintra are located on private property and because of this you can NOT get there by car. As variants are obviously the walk (~ 1h30) or at the train station you will find BUS 434 (7 euro ticket all day), it has a circular route and you can get off at which castle you want to visit.
- Lisbon: It is a city with many hills and for not wasting time, even the locals use various shortcuts to get faster. For example at Sao Jorge Castle, you can take 2 elevators: the first is Elevator do Baixa, for 3 floors, then if you walk 2 minutes, you will find “Lift Castelo” – you can enter through the Pingo Doce Chão do Loureiro store, for 7 floors. If you want, you can go up the stairs only a few floors, where there is a parking place with graffiti on each floor.
- Lisbon: Another very good shortcut is the Baixa-Chiado metro station. This subway station is well known as a shortcut used by locals. It has many escalators and if you want to be close to Placa Dom Petro IV or Chiado, you have to take the exit: Rua do Crucifixo, Largo do Chiado. You can find some extra information here.
Info about Portugal
- Vasco da Gama is the longest bridge in Europe
- Portugal produces 70% of global cork
- In Coimbra is the oldest university in the world
- In 1755 Lisbon was one of the strongest earthquakes in Europe
- With a coastline of over 800 km, it is the perfect place for surfing
- Benagil Cave is one of the most beautiful caves in the world
- Communism is still present in Evora, but in a different form: the mayor being part of the CDU coalition (between the Portuguese Communist Party and the Ecological Party)
Porto:
- the name of Portugal comes from the city of “Porto” + “Gaia” the city located after crossing the Luis I Bridge, on the other side of the river Duoro.
- their famous bridge was named after King “Don Luis I”, but he did not come to the inauguration and the people kept the name, but took that “Don”, as a sign of losing respect for him.
- Guimaraes Castle– The place where Portugal was born. Alfonso I. was born here, the one who faced his mother in the battle of Sao Mamede and established the independent kingdom of Portugal.
Lisbon:
- In Placa do Comercio, King Manuel I arranges a fight between a rhino (considered a mythical beast at the time) received from India and an elephant, to test their limits. It is one of their largest squares and in the center is the statue of Joseph I of Portugal.
- Most of the buildings and squares were demolished during the earthquake and later rebuilt, but Convento do Carmo is a monastery, where only the walls survived, while the roof fell completely; and the Lisboners never tried to rebuild it, keeping it in ruins, as a sign of the 1755 disaster.
7 wonders of Portugal:
- Castle of Guimarães, 10th century
- Castle of Óbidos, 1195
- Batalha Monastery, 1385
- Alcobaça Monastery, 1153
- Jerónimos Monastery, 1502
- Pena Palace, 1854
- Belém Tower, 1521
Obrigada, Cristiana 🙂
