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2 home bases with a 3 & 4 year old

Hello everyone,
My wife and I are taking the kids to Portugal for 12 days in late September/early October. As we are putting together the itinerary for our first trip to Portugal I was hoping to get your input. I think we would like to pick 2 home bases and do day trips. Important experiences for the kids are swimming, castles and just running around in the squares/parks. My initial thought is Evora and Lisbon. Evora and the surrounding region will give us some history, castles and the opportunity to get some nature in. Lisbon will give us a big city and we'll be able to do day trips to beaches and Sintra. We would rent a car after landing and head straight to Evora so that we can finish the trip in Lisbon prior to flying home. Not counting our travel days, that would give us 4 full days in Evora and 5 full days in Lisbon. A few questions to help us get started-

Would you recommend a second homebase other than Evora to see some of the interior of the country?
Would you change the amount of time in either place?
Will the weather be warm enough to swim at the beaches around Lisbon that time of year?

Posted by
1826 posts

The idea of two home bases is good but I’m not certain I would choose Evora as one of them. Especially for four nights. Yes, there are some smaller towns around Evora but someplace in the Silver Coast area might offer more, IMO. Day trips to Evora are quite easy from Lisbon.

São Martinho do Porto is really great for children. It’s on a large horseshoe bay making the water very calm for children. The water will be the warmest it ever gets that time of year. From there you could do day trips to Alcobaça, Batalha, Obidos and maybe Tomar. All with castle like structures. Most are really convents or monasteries but the children might really enjoy them.