8 Days in Portugal

I spent four days in Lisbon and it was not enough. You could easily spend the whole 8 days there taking some day trips to outside of Lisbon.

I would suggest.a day excursion to Sintra as well as to Belem.

I never went to the beach but there are beautiful beaches around and outside of Lisbon.

There is no shortage of food or wine in Lisbon.

However there are other persons on forum who have visited the beaches in Portugal and I hope that they will jump in to the discussion.

Thank you for the advice.

Any restaurants in the Lisbon area you would recommend?

Stephen

With only eight days, I agree with the previous poster to stay in Lisbon, especially if you want a relaxing trip. You can easily do several day trips from there, including Evora, Setúbal or Cascais to those already mentioned.

Regarding restaurants, there are too many to narrow it down. I use the Google restaurant reviews when I travel and am rarely disappointed. At least once, try one of the small ‘typical’ Portuguese restaurants. They will have a Prato do Dia, or plate of the day for €10-12. Have Pastel da Nata at Manteigaria, maybe throw in seafood at Ramiro, and be certain to have Rabalo or Dorada (typical fish). You can also find Michellin star restaurants, if you want to splurge.

We spent four nights in Lisbon and four nights in Porto. We did a day trip from both cities. We flew into Porto and out of Lisbon.

We had a total of two weeks in Portugal but your eight nights corresponds to the time we spent in Porto and Lisbon.

We have stayed twice in Lisbon, both times up near the Castle in the Castelo district, it is just about the Alfama. Our favourite restaurants look like they are still there. Clara Em Castelo and Le Petit cafe. I know the second doesn't sound very Portuguese, but we had some wonderful dinners there.

Also if you enjoy wine, look for the wine tasting rooms, where you can try out Portuguese wines. There is one if Lisbon and Porto, and I remember one in Evora as well, although I don't see if listed on this website. They are very reasonable, and we also enjoyed chatting with other tourists there and the staff at one.

https://winesofportugal.com/en/discover/tasting-rooms/

We had what was one of the best dining experiences at a restaurant called Clube de Journalistas! Excellent food, sublime atmosphere.

@whitfieldbrase I appreciate your suggestion and just made a reservation for the end of March. ** They are not seating outdoors they said, which means I may need to rethink my footwear ! (was packing sandals)

2nd vote for Clube de Journalistas. The nicest people!! We were in Portugal to celebrate my parents 60th wedding anniversary with a multi generational group of 12. My son booked us a few weeks ahead of the trip a room with a table for 12 and did a preset menu with 3 courses. They even made my parents a whole chocolate cake to celebrate the occasion. It was wonderful!!

Hi Stephen,

If you are considering taking tours in the city of Porto or around the northern region of Portugal I recommend Portugal Excellence Tours.

https://www.excellence-tours.com

With only 8 days, keeping to no more than two cities makes sense. Since you love food and wine, I would recommend splitting time between Lisbon and Porto. If you are going in warmer weather, you might consider splitting time between Lisbon and the Algarve (for the beaches).

Lisbon
It is a bustling city with plenty to see and do, including day trips to Sintra and Evora. In October last year, we stayed in Lisbon for 5 nights and frankly, we could have stayed there longer. Lisbon is also surprisingly relaxing. They have the most amazing viewpoints (miradouros). We stayed in an aparthotel in Chiado and had one about a 5 minute walk with a lovely bar/coffee place, rose garden, and majestic views. When it wasn't raining spent a lot of time their just relaxing. These miradouros are all over the city, so find one close to your hotel and enjoy amazing views.

As for restaurants, Lisbon has so many choices depending upon your tastes and budget. Our favorite is Oficio in the Chiado. It is a local Portuguese tapas restaurant with really inventive food at a reasonable price. You will see lots of young professionals and families at the restaurant. I still remember the tomato salad with a basil granita and the oxtail rice dish. A great selection of Portuguese wines. We went back there twice on our trip the food was so good.

Also, would highly recommend a dinner with a Fado performance. There are two places that we enjoyed. One is a bit more casual, a small place with an artistic bent on classic Portuguese food, in fact, the restaurant, Tasquinha Canto do Fado is in Mouraria, hosts some of the most inventive street art. The Fado performances typically start between 7:30 and 8:00 p.m. depending upon season.

The other Fado recommendation is O Secredo in the Alfama. This is a much more upscale experience with outstanding food, the cod is their speciality, but if they have the pork cheeks on the menu, you must try that. This Fado performance may feature men as well as women.

Finally, taking a food tour is. a great way to learn more about the city. Eating Europe and Devour both have excellent tours.

Porto

This is a great place to visit, especially if you like Port and good food. There is a great variety of restaurants. Our favorite was a low-key restaurant featuring beef sandwiches and amazing value on wines and a very Special Sangria. Of all the restaurants we ate in Porto (including some high-end ones), this is the one that my husband still talks about as his favorite.

I would also recommend that you take a day tour to the Douro Valley. We did and it was amazing to visit two small wineries, have lunch, and explore the country side. While the tour included port tastings, one of the wineries we visited had Sparkling Wine (which was surprisingly good).

I would also recommend that you take a food tour, we did the one by Eating Europe and were able to visit one of the few Portuguese owned Port houses. The cellar tour including bottles of wines over a hundred years old.