After a recent visit to Portugal in November 2017, I had some tips for travelers considering Portugal:
- Auto rentals: Auto Europe is excellent - both price and customer service. You may have more flexibility in cancelling/changing reservations by making arrangements by phone. https://www.autoeurope.com
- Private driver in Lisbon/Sintra: We changed our initial plans to drive our rental car to Sintra from Lisbon after hearing about the difficulty parking (it looked challenging). Rather than take a train, we hired a delightful, smart, private driver named Bruno Silva. Hiring Bruno for the day allowed us to see all of the significant sights in one day, was a great tour guide, and allowed us to take a break midday and guide us to an excellent restaurant located about 10 minutes outside of Sintra. Burno can be reached at [email protected] or mobile 351 96 915 57 87
- Conimbriga: Consider visiting the Roman ruins in Conimbriga on your way to Coimbra if you have an interest in ancient history.
- Douro: The Six Senses is a beautiful spa/hotel in the Douro Valley.
- Uber: Uber is a great way to get around Porto and Lisbon. If you use Uber to get into town from the airport, do your research online to see what part of the airport you will need to go to pick up the car. It is not well defined and the info desk professes not to know. Not a big deal but it helps to plan.
Enjoy your visit to this beautiful country!