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3 week itinerary with gastronomy week

Posted by (Seattle) on

I am in the beginning stages of planning a 3 week trip to Portugal for May 2019 for my husband and I. We are active seniors, interested in food, wine, wandering towns, meeting people, visiting an occasional museum, and seeing historical sites. This is my very preliminary itinerary:

Fly Seattle to Porto

4 nights in Porto

7 nights on gastronomy week in Solares in Douro area= 2 nights Sabrosa, 2 nights Chaves, 3
nights Ponte de Lima (see http://www.solaresdeportugal.pt/EN/gastronomia.php for details)

7 nights in Coimbra with day trips to Tomar, Fatima, Obidos, Nazare, ??

4 nights in Lisbon with day trip to Sintra

Fly home

We usually like to change hotels as little as possible, and have more of a home base. So we are changing hotels more than usual and definitely don't want any more than this. We will rent a car leaving Porto, and return it when we arrive in Lisbon.

My questions are:
Does this make sense?
Am I missing anything that I will really regret?
Does the gastronomy week sound like a good plan? The price is 760 Euros for 2 of us, including rooms, 7 breakfasts and 3 dinners.
Other suggestions, ideas?

Thanks in advance for your help.
Donna

Posted by
1663 posts

The only thing that jumps out at me is the 7 nights in Coimbra. Coimbra is lovely but it would be difficult to day trip to Obidos from there and I’m not certain the other places you mention would fill a week. You might want to research Alcobaca and Batalha. Both are lovely sites in the central Portugal area but I’m not certain how far they are from Coimbra. I visited the places you mention (except Fatima) from São Martinho do Porto a few years ago but it seems Coimbra might be a bit far away. If you are driving, yu can easily stop by Obidos on your way to Lisbon. 2-3 hours is likely enough time.
In this length of a trip, Lisbon deserves more than four nights, especially with a day trip to Sintra. And, you might want to day trip to Evora from Lisbon. But would definitely need more time to do that.
I’m not familiar with the gastronomy week, but am going to check it out.

Posted by
6113 posts

I covered Tomar, Fatima etc from near Caldas da Rainha when I stayed in this area. There was enough to keep me occupied for a week, although I did have a day in Lisbon too. Personally, I wouldn’t bother with Nazare, but there is some lovely coastline here. Coimbra to Obidos is a long drive.

It was fun to visit Caldas’s market and have a coffee, which filled a few hours. You don’t need to hurtle round at speed to enjoy a place. You may want at least another night in Lisbon and take it off the Coimbra or somewhere stay. Or stay for longer!

Posted by
107 posts

Thank you both for your replies. I will definitely add a day or two to Lisbon.

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