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Smaller town for a base to explore (with 6 year old) - open to central Portgual or the Silver Coast

Posted by (North Carolina) on

Hello- we will have 10/11 nights in Portugal next July - we will be flying into Lisbon and out of either Porto or Lisbon. We don't want to move hotels/apartments a lot- so trying to just have two bases. One will obviously be Lisbon, the second we were thinking a town along the Silver Coast- Nazare? or maybe a Coimbra if central Portugal?

We want to start with the city then have some down time in smaller towns were we can just lay back and relax and enjoy the scenery/food/people. So something like 6/7 nights in Lisbon and 4 in another town. We love the beach, but have the beach back home, so I would not plan a trip all the way to Europe for the beach, but I do love a fun cool beach town, especially if it has a little history/old buildings to enjoy. Connections to other close by towns would be nice - we are not against renting a car, but a good public transport system would be best - but will rent a car if we need to.

I know Porto is on the list, but I think we might be all "city'd out" by then. We just got back from Germany and ended in Munich, and honestly, I loved it, but I was ready for something a little more chill by the end of the trip. Also since we have our little one, sometimes something with less hustle and bustle fits us best.

Any and all advice welcomed!

Posted by
1883 posts

If you are interested in the Silver Coast area, you might check out Sao Martinho do Porto. It’s a smallish town with fewer tourists than Nazare and I, personally like it better. It also has a lovely horseshoe beach that is very calm and ideal for children. There are a number of nice restaurants and a charming small market at least once a week. I spent a week there on my scouting trip before moving and really enjoyed it.

The downside is you would need a car. But the driving in that area is very easy and calm. During the week I was there, we I visited Nazare, Obidos, Alcobaça and Batalha.

Posted by
120 posts

figured I would give this a bump as I am starting to look a bit more and actually ready to make a booking if I find what I want

to add, I don;t need to be on the coast- so really anything outside of Lisbon - we have 12 nights - so thinking 7 in Lisbon (with a day trip or two - Sintra and Cascais?) - preferably someplace with in 2 hours of the Lisbon airport as we likely will head there after landing - we have round trip in and out of Lisbon

thanks!

Posted by
704 posts

Scotty, I'm planning to spend some time in Caldas da Rainha and Leiria on my next visit to Portugal. Both are cities, but not as big as Lisbon or Porto. Both are accessible to Lisbon in 2 hours or less by bus and both seem to have pretty good access to other, smaller towns via train/bus/Bolt/Uber. I'm not sure if they're too big for what you want, but you can at least take a look. The other place you might consider, although not on the Silver Coast, is Setubal. It's easily accessed from Lisbon and is a cute little town with access to beaches. I didn't visit Troia when I was there, but from what I read, it's a nice beach area accessible by ferry, so I'll probably check it out on my next visit.

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