Traveling on the Rick Steve's tour through Portugal and wondering how people are handling the days when there we get dinner on our own, in Lisbon, Porto and other cities.
Restaurant recommendations? Do we need to get reservations now, before we leave?
Other thoughts and suggestions for things to do in our free time.
Thanks in advance. Peter
Welcome to the forum!
It would help you get better ideas if you edit your title to reflect that you will be on a RS tour, something like:
Free time on Portugal tour
I did this tour last spring, and did not make any reservations. The guide always gave some suggestions, and the tour book is a good place to find suggestions.
Enjoy your tour!
Origens in Evora. It was amazing. We also did the Lisbon Eating Europe food tour on our free night in Lisbon and I highly recommend. As for restaurant reservations, it depends on whether it’s a restaurant you really want to go to and if it’s high tourist season. I know others in our group had made advanced reservations for a restaurant that’s famous for its roasted whole suckling pig (not something I wanted to see or try).
We have also done this tour. We do not tend to make reservations, just check with the guide and fellow travelers for ideas, and we also use Google maps to locate and look at reviews and websites. Lisbon is pretty multi-cultural - some of our better meals were Indian and Peruvian. For things to do - lots of things are not on the itinerary including Castelo de Sao Jorge, the tile museum, the aquarium, etc. Rick Steve's guidebooks also usually have recommendations. In Porto, be sure to get to a port lodge, inexplicably not included in the tour.
In Lisbon, I did a fantastic wine and charcuterie tasting at Lisbon winery. It was pricey, 85 euros, but well worth it to me! I did it the late afternoon after the Gulbenkian museum visit. An easy metro ride and 5 minute walk. It substituted for my dinner that night. I hope you get to stay at the Figueira by Beautique, our RS hotel in April. It was great. I also arrived early and thoroughly enjoyed a Culinary Backstreets food tour and an Eating Europe food tour-which I did the morning the tour started. I learned so much about Portugal and their food and wine on all of these tours. You're going to have a great time on this tour! The Tile Museum is really worth the bus ride out there - very easy to get to. Lisbon has great public transport. I also highly recommend the Taylor's port wine cellar tour when you get to Porto. It's worth the walk up the hill. I booked a ticket ahead of time online, but that was not really necessary. I went in April, so maybe that's a different story, but none of the places I ate at required a reservation ahead of time. I like being flexible depending on how big my lunch was! That often tended to be my biggest meal of the day, but others in the group going out for dinner never had a problem getting a table.
