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First Time in Portugal - Feedback on itinerary?

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My husband and I are traveling to Portugal for the first time for 10 nights in early May, primarily as a vacation but also to scope it out as a potential place to retire. (We are experienced travelers and love Europe, France in particular.) After reading other posts on this Forum and checking out all the wonderful resources on the Americans Friends PT Facebook group and juliedawnfox.com, I've put together what I think is a good itinerary without cramming too much into a week in a half. We anticipate future trips to Portugal to explore other areas before we decide on a place to live, so we're limiting the regions to Lisbon and the Algarve on this trip.

I'd welcome any feedback on this itinerary, particularly with regard to the car rental in Sintra, dropping off in Lisbon. Is it feasible to drop the car near Lisbon or would dropping off at the LIS airport and taking metro to centre/hotel make more sense?

Our itinerary:

  • Nights 1-2: Arrive at LIS airport in the morning; take taxi or Uber to Sintra; stay in Sintra 2 nights (Chalet Saudade)
  • Nights 3-6: Rent car from Sintra and drive to and explore the Algarve; use Tavira as home base for 4 nights (Tavira House)
  • Nights 7-10: Drive back to Lisbon via Evora (stop); return car in Lisbon on arrival; stay 4 nights in Lisbon (Chiado 44); fly back home in the morning

Thanks!

Posted by
1826 posts

You are way ahead of the game of moving here since you have discovered AFIP and Julie Fox. Especially AFIP will be your best resource of obtaining residency.

That said, I agree with turning the car in in Evora so you don’t have to drive into Lisbon. The train is quite easy and cheap from there.
I’m not a big Algarve fan, but your itinerary (if that is even a remote possible place to live), looks doable for a short trip.

From what you write, you have already done a good amount of research, but, just in case - the Silver Coast area is also quite popular as an American immigrant destination. It’s closer to Lisbon and isn’t so overrun with tourists in the summer.

Posted by
568 posts

I would persoanally tweak it slightly and take at least one night from Tavira and stay the night in Evora. We enjoyed the drive from Tavira to Evora and it was worth it to take our time to stop on the way, which will get you in later to Evora. As well, Evora is a lovely town, and very pretty at night too.

Posted by
4 posts

Thanks, Kathryn. I hadn't thought of Silver Coast but will definitely start researching it. We don't want to end up anywhere too touristy.

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