Visiting Lisbon

Costa del Sol? Hmmm....

Estoril - is that where the cruise ships dock?

I am not sure.....is it? I envisioned a lovely little spot outside the city. Do you know?

The "Costa del Sol" is in Spain, not Portugal. It's the most over-developed, paved-over, un-Spanish place in all of Spain. Rick refers to it as "the costa del tourism" and describes it as "grotesque." Still, many foreigners seem to love going there - it's a great place to get drunk and sunburn, where you never have to speak or even hear Spanish spoken. It's about as close to Portugal as St. Louis is to Chicago.

I don't know anything about Estoril, except that it's not in Spain.

Lisbon is a lovely, charming city, with much to enjoy. If, as you say, you "want to experience as much as possible of Lisbon" then why are you trying to stay someplace else - do you have some reason to avoid staying in Lisbon?

Suzanne, Estoril is a possible place to stay and still enjoy Lisbon, as it is only a half-hour away on the train. We stayed in Cascais one year, and went into Lisbon by train. We also had a car so we toured around to Sintra, etc, before leaving for Albufeira. I think Cascais is more interesting than Estoril, though the latter has a glamourous looking casino for the rich and famous.

Stay in Lisbon. Its a lovely city with lots of contrasts. We stayed in the Britannia Hotel and the highlight for me was the Gulbenkian Museum where there is a fabulous display of Lalique jewellery.

Consider staying at least one night in LIS if you can.

Steve has his geography mixed up. Lisbon is a long distance from Costa Del Sol which is centered around Malaga. I think the area you may be interested in experiencing is the Algarve You might consider Lagos but that is 150 km from Lisbon.

Actually, there is an area outside of Lisbon that is called the Costa do Sol. Thanks for all of the replies.......very helpful! We are going to stay in the city.