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6 night itinerary - need your help!

Posted by on

Hi! I am traveling with my 19 year old son to Portugal in early July for 6 nights. Our ideal itinerary would include: a couple days of beaches and water fun; a hike; a bit of history/sites; a cooking class (rice and fish dish?).

My original idea was to fly to the Algarve, spend three nights there (not sure which hotel for a base - we'd like to treat ourselves but don't want to be far away from town), hike the 7 valleys, kayak to Benagil, see a cute town and eat. Thinking we should stay in one hotel rather than two nights and move (but totally willing to do it if it makes more sense).

Then drive to Lisbon (get rid of the car) and tour around there. I'm wondering if we should scrap the Algarve and, instead, find a home base along the Silver Coast?

We're from Northern CA and don't want to see wine areas (we don't drink) so I didn't consider Porto. My son likely will not be interested in more than one "interesting walled city." He enjoys thrift store shopping for clothes and stuff; outdoor art; walking/cycling tours. We will have already been to Copenhagen and Berlin (bigger cities). We're not interested in "laying on the beach" for hours - more interested in swimming, body surfing, eating. Thank you!!!

Posted by
650 posts

I've only been to Portugal twice, so my answer may not be the best, but if it were me and I only had 6 days, I'd probably just find a nice place to stay in Lisbon and do day trips from there. It's easy to get a train to Cascais, which is a lovely little water front town, and from there you could take a Bolt or Uber up the coast to one of the beaches. I did that in January and actually hiked back along the coast, but it might be too hot to do that in July. From Lisbon, it's also easy to catch a train to Sintra and from there you can take a Bolt or Uber to the coast as well if you'd like. You can do day trips to Evora or Obidos from Lisbon too.

I think the biggest issue you'll find is the crowd. I've heard it's hectic in the summer, but the great thing about Portugal is that it's pretty easy to get outside the city to the less crowded areas via train, bus or Bolt, or at least that's been my impression.

If you do go to the Algarve, the 7 valleys hike is lovely, although I actually thought the hike along the coast in Lagos was prettier. I kayaked in Lagos rather than to the Benagil cave, but I suspect Benagil would have been a better choice.

Posted by
2 posts

Hi - thank you for your help! This is great advice - we'll stay in Lisbon and take a day trip to Cascais for some beach relaxation.

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