We are planning a trip to Portugal at the end of September with a 3 year old and 10 month old. We are trying to plan a pretty relaxed itinerary since we’ll have the kids. Our plan is to stay in Lisbon for several days (probably 3 plus a 4th for a Sintra day trip). We wanted to stay a few more days in a second home base. We were thinking Lagos. Is the Algarve a good choice for a few days with kids? And is Lagos the best spot? Or would you suggest another area in Portugal? Thanks so much!
Posted by
Calgary, AB, Canada
567 posts
Hi Brittany,
It sounds like you have about a week? If so, I have 2 suggestions. My first would be to simply stay the entire time in Lisbon. This saves you changing apartments or hotels, can get into routine etc. if you want to beach you can easily catch the train to Cascais, which I'm sure your 3 year old would enjoy, and that way you can pick the sunny days to beach as well. Lisbon has some lovely parks, the Jardim d'Estrela is away from the tourist areas a bit and has a very kid friendly area.
If you do want 2 spots, my other suggestion would be Evora. It is a nice size town, very walkable and with quite a few sites. If you have a car, driving to some of the other towns in the Alentejo is a nice day trip too. Again, I remember some lovely parks. One with red benches is my screen saver at work!
Posted by
Tunbridge Wells
6113 posts
You don’t have to travel as far as the Algarve for the beach. If you don’t want to stay in Lisbon the whole time, I would suggest Foz do Arelho which has a shallow lagoon good for youngsters or Sao Martinho nearby.
If it must be the Algarve, Lagos is as good a base as any, although public transport links aren’t great.
Posted by
127 posts
For a relaxing place to stay with kids, Cascais is a good choice. It is easy to get into central Lisbon on a commuter train. I suggest that you read up on Cascais.
Posted by
OP
7 posts
Thank you! Yes, Lisa we are staying for one week. We aren’t beholden to the beach as we have beaches at home. We were just thinking after a few days of sightseeing it might be nice for the kids to have a little more relaxed pace at the beach. And the Rick Steves book for Portugal had suggested the Algarve as a highlight of Portugal and his second location in the itinerary section, if you have X days add... so we thought it could be a good home base for the second half of our trip. I’ll look into Cascais.
Second part to my question, any suggestions on a good neighborhood to stay in Portugal? We are going to try to rent an apartment. And is it so hilly that we should leave the stroller at home or is a stroller doable? Thanks again everyone!
Posted by
Calgary, AB, Canada
567 posts
I would try not to bring a stroller. Not only is it hilly, there are a lot of steps. And the marble /cobble streets are uneven. You'd be carrying the stroller and the kids! If you can manage I'd think backpacks/slings etc for the kids would be the best.
We stayed in an apartment near the Castle. I don't have little kids anymore though, so wasn't really looking at it through those eyes. The advantage there is that there is an elevator at the back of a grocery store that cuts off a lot of the climb. We used it a lot. The neighbourhood was safe and quite quiet at night. There were plenty of restaurants very close as well.