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Portugal mid- April to end of May/16

Bom dia, We are considering a 5-6 week vacation (first time) in Portugal and would like opinions and suggestions, pro or con for this season in Portugal. We will probably fly into Lisboa and not sure departure city yet, it could even be a city in southern Spain. We will have a the use of our local friends car as well as their guidance and companionship for part of our journey and plan to use the trains/busses and maybe a budget airline for part of our travels. If anyone of you have been to Portugal during this season I would appreciate your comments re: weather, locations, festivals etc. Obrigada, Sherry

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Hi Sherry,
We spent the last 2 weeks of April, very early May in Portugal last year,and felt the weather was perfect for travel. Mostly about 20 degrees ( celsius), a couple of days as high as 26 and a couple in the teens. Was perfect for the cities, and towns, with all the hills and walking. We did do 2-3 days at the beach, and it was pleasant, but too cool to go in the water.

Both April 25 ( I think) and May day are celebrated, although it didn't seem to impact our plans much, maybe a bit harder to book hotel in popular town, but we still did at fairly last minute with no troubles. At least for April it was not overly crowded with tourists, and we booked in a couple of towns just by walking in, during the midweek, so allowed us the flexibility to stay where we were enjoying longer.

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Thanks Lisa, Your comments re: weather, temps etc. sound perfect for us. As you live in Alberta and we live on Vancouver Island we're used to a lot colder weather andI'm sure that we'll enjoy Portugals'' weather during this time. Looking at flights now, what /airline routing did you use and do you recommend the same or different? Cheers, Sherry

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Sherry (and Lisa) We too are going to Portugal at this time. We are from northern Ontario and are searching for best flight deals from Winnipeg. KLM seems to be our best bet. Do you think it is too early to book?

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We booked quite a ways ahead in end of August, just because we felt the price was good, and it was good times. About $1030 each. I didn't see the price change by much maybe 10 or 15 dollars, but our flight time unfortunately was changed and we ended up with a bit of a long stopover. Still it was nice to have the flights booked early, and start planning. It seems to me prices are pretty good right now, maybe because of west jet coming on the overseas scene.

Sherry we flew British Airways, both in and out of Lisbon, stopover at Heathrow. I had not been able to find anything sticking with the big airlines out of any other city in Portugal, and we didn't have extra time to land and switch to a smaller airline. I would definitely consider flying into Lisbon and out of Madrid or Barcelona with how much time you have.

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Hi all, We are ready to book our flights anytime in the next few weeks as the fares available right now are lower than we paid in 2012 and 2007. I have created an Alert on Skyscanner for our tentative dates. Lisa, I'm also finding great fares and schedules on BA. Any comments on a 1 hour 25 min. connection time in LHR to LIS? Re: Lufthansa, there is one connection that I'm nervous about, 55 min. in FRA on the return trip. The econ. fare is also over $100. pp higher than BA as well and the total hours in transit are slightly longer. We've been very pleased with both of our trips to Milano via BA so will probably book with them again. Just waiting to hear advice from our Portuguese friends as to convenient dates. Thanks for your suggestions so far and would welcome any further suggestions re: visiting other cities in Spain (on a budget) as well . Obrigada, Sherry