We are avid travelers and love to explore with our kids. We are leaving Dec 21-Jan 2 from US to Lisbon? We are traveling with our 9yr and 7 year old and they are used to walking and exploring as they have walked 18 miles with no issues in Italy. How would you arrange a itinerary for this trip as this is our first time to Portugal and need all the help we can get.
Posted by
Los Angeles
1140 posts
You can start right here with the RS itinerary for Portugal:
https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/portugal/itinerary
You can also use the itinerary for the RS tour as a basic template, and then adjust based on your time an interests:
https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/portugal/best-portugal-tour
And then there is the Rick Steves guidebook...
[Edited to correct the first link]
Posted by
24 posts
Julie Dawn Fox has a good blog about travel in Portugal, julidawnfox.com. We used her recommended hotels and apartments last spring and were happy with them all. She has a lot of info, not necessarily about traveling with kids but you can work around that. We loved the Oceanarium in Lisbon, that would go high on my list for kids.
Posted by
Calgary, AB, Canada
559 posts
There are a few options. If you don't want to rent a car, then Lisbon, Coimbra and Porto are all on the train line. Evora is as well, but going a different way. There are lots of possible options but I would consider this:
Lisbon is probably worth more time than Porto. Can daytrip out to Cascais if the weather is good, walk along the ocean. Can either daytrip or train to Sintra. We spent two nights in Sintra and liked that as we saw it when it was quieter. Sintra has a number of interesting sites for younger kids. I remember thinking the Quinta de Regulera would be great for young kids. If you are ogod walkers you can walk to other towns close by.
We really liked Evora, it has the temple of Diana, and is a world heritage site.
I don't know what might be closed over the holidays, perhaps someone with more experience can chime in. I would probably skip the Algarve at that time of year, as I have heard that not much would be open, and it is out of the way from the other sites
Posted by
USA
33 posts
Lisa made some great suggestions. Evora, Cascais, and Sintra are all great day trips from Lisbon. From Porto, you can take easy day trips to Guimarães, Aveiro, and Braga.
Since you'll be there during Christmas, staying in Lisbon on the actual holiday is a good idea. Many things will be closed on December 25th, but Lisbon will have the most spots open compared to the rest of Portugal.
If the timing is right, a couple nights in Coimbra work well when traveling between Lisbon and Porto. I've been in the summer when the university students were away, and the old town was still fun and active.
Posted by
State of Washington, USA
270 posts
My wife and I stayed 10 nights in Portugal in Aug 2023, staying in Lisbon, Coimbra, and Porto; this was our first trip. Our trip report might be useful reference: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/trip-report-portugal-aug-sep-porto-coimbra-lisbon-then-to-spain
Posted by
11551 posts
We spent about two weeks in Portugal, rented a car when departing from Lisbon and stayed in Lisbon, Evora, Obidos, Coimbra and Porto. We turned the car in when we got to Porto. Driving wasn’t difficult.