We are a group of 4 friends in our 40s meeting for a 1-week trip in Portugal in early March. A couple of us have already seen the main sites in Porto and Lisbon, and so we’d like an itinerary that doesn’t feature those and goes to less busy places (though not too remote either). We want a more relaxing trip with some natural beauty, history, good food and wine, and hanging out. We’d like to have one base - two at most - where we can easily have meals and walk around to some things, but also maybe have easy day trips or walks from there. In short, this is less about seeing as many sights as possible, and more about enjoying the country slowly with friends.
Any advice about where to go? We are flying in and out of Lisbon. Also, from what we’ve read, we ruled out the Algarve due to weather and perhaps wanting something less resort-oriented. Would Sintra be too busy to feel relaxing as one base? What about spending the week in the Douro valley - is there more to do there than wine tours? Other ideas? Thank you!