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Need your coaching on our 11 day itinerary for visiting Portugal in August

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We are two 60-something yo retirees with much travel experience that will be visiting Portugal for the first time in August. We'll have already spent a month in Europe before finally arriving in Porto on August 11 to start the 11-day leg of our Portugal visit.

Thanks in advance for your advise and coaching regarding our possible itinerary. Here's our first draft of our itinerary:

Day 1–3: Porto (August 11–13) - Three nights in Porto and stay in the Ribeira district. Then pickup rental car and travel to Douro Valley.

Day 4–5: Douro Valley (August 14–15) - Two nights and stay at a vineyard estate such as Quinta do Crasto or Quinta da Pacheca.

Day 6–7: Fátima & Nazaré (August 16–17) - Prefer two nights at one of these towns or maybe Batalha? We would like to spend one day at the Nazare beaches and one day visiting Farima.

Day 8–11: Lisbon (August 18–21) - Four nights visiting Lisbon. We would return rental car upon arriving at Lisbon from Fatima/Nazare on Day 8.

Day 12: Depart Lisbon for home in am.

We are a bit concerned that our visit to Portugal is during the hottest weather month, so we're trying to craft our visit to keep somewhat cool. We would not have a rental car in Porto or Lisbon but would have a car on our travel between those two cities.

Thanks again for your recommendations!

Posted by
3069 posts

It looks pretty good to me.

I do think Fatima is not an all day excursion. We went to Batalha and then to Fatima. The area around Fatima is incredibly commercialized and not particularly pleasant. In Batalha, we parked near the church and only visited a coffee shop across from it so don’t have much of an opinion about the town. We stayed in Tomar which we really enjoyed but probably isn’t particularly convenient for going to the beach.

We also rented a car leaving Porto and returned it before going into Lisbon at the airport.

We stayed one night in the Duoro valley which was a mistake. I think two nights is much better or even an organized bus trip.

Posted by
1185 posts

We are a bit concerned that our visit to Portugal is during the hottest weather month, so we're trying to craft our visit to keep somewhat cool.

Why this destination in August, then? If you are retired, use the calendar to your advantage...move this itinerary to October, maybe?

Posted by
329 posts

I can see from the OP why they are travelling then.
We (70's) spent a week in August a couple of years ago, and it was fine.
Hot places are geared up for hot weather - and it was easy to find shade and a cold drink.
I have not been to Fatima and Nazare, but you itnerary looks great otherwise.
Have a great time.

Posted by
7686 posts

We visited both Batalha and Fátima as a day trip from Tomar. In August, either would be less crowded and congested than Nazaré. It’s about an hour drive or less between Nazaré and Fátima depending on the route you take, so day tripping between them would be easy.

If only going to the sanctuary at Fátima, you can visit that area in a couple hours if you’ve never been there before. If you want to visit the children’s’ houses and the places where Mary and the Angel of Peace appeared then you can add a few more hours. The latter is a couple miles from the sanctuary and there is some fairly level walking involved from the small parking lot..

There are free parking lots in Fátima and Batalha that are close to the main sites. The free lots in Nazaré are a fair walk from the beach area. Our hotel in Nazaré had its own parking garage.

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