My (soon to be) husband and I are planning our honeymoon in Portugal. End of July/early August. We are planning just under 2 weeks; 12 or 13 days. We are thinking we will start our trip in Porto & work out way south. We are both very travel savvy & love exploring new countries- but want to be sure we include a lot of relaxation & romance. Any suggestions on romantic places we should visit for a couple days? Drink wine, relax and visit with locals- away from the touristy place. Thanks in advance!!!!
Posted by
Massachusetts
398 posts
My wife and I honeymooned in Portugal a few years ago. It was incredible, you will love it.
We only had a week, so we focused on Lisbon and points south. Our favorite spot was in Palmela, where there is a former castle on the top of a hill that is now a really nice hotel. http://www.pousadas.pt/historic-hotels-portugal/en/pousadas/lisbon-hotels/pousada-de-palmela/castelo-de-palmela/pages/home.aspx. Palmela is a small village a little bit southeast of Lisbon. The town had a few very small and delicious restaurants, a neat town square, and an awesome wine bar (with glasses for less than two euros). It's short on touristy or famous things to do, but it was beautiful and convenient to Lisbon and Setubal (where we went on a catamaran and watched dolphins in the Sado River).
We also went all the way to the south, to Sagres. That was beautiful too and very relaxing. Nice beaches. Will probably be packed with a lot of Brits at the time you are going (we went in October, so it was much quieter).
Lisbon was, of course, also great, and Rick's book has that covered.
Posted by
Massachusetts
398 posts
I've heard nothing but great things about Porto and the north though. If we had had more time, we would definitely have worked that in. So not disparaging that in any way by my previous comment. I would love to go there someday.