travel services to help plan Portugal trip

Hi Greg

When are you traveling and where to in Portugal? Why do you need helo for this trip?

And I do not understand your sentence about "Julie dawn fox ....." could you clarify

traveling May 21-June 12 in and out of Lisbon Airport
First time to Portugal don't know what to expect
probably renting a car for 2 weeks
last 7 days in Lisbon
trying to figure three or four stops stops at 4-5 nights each.
I am trying to plan a slow paced trip not wanting to uproot too much.
Trying to figure my plan and stays which may include these options. not in any order as of yet. but the first stop
1st stop Cascais/Evora/Sintra/Tomar
2nd stop-Coimbra/Tomar
3 rd stop Porto/Duoro
4th stop combination of above beach area Alcobaca/Nazar/ Santa Crux
Lisbon last stop for 7 days before leaving.
train back to Lisbon

I am wondering if anyone used a travel service to organize a trip to Portugal?

I have planned most of my trips myself but this one has me stumped.

bostonphill7

Julie Dawn Fox provides custom itineraries, I haven't used her services but she's recommended by others that have used her services.
https://juliedawnfox.com/

Thank you aulopone

nice website.

Hi Greg

I spent four nights in Lisbon last October and loved Lisbon. Four nights was definitely not enough. I feel that a week in Lisbon sounds right.

I stayed at be poet baixa hotel, most decent 3 star hotel in the Baixa area of Lisbon

Sintra and Belem are musts. Allow a full day for each.

I felt no need to us any travel service for my very first visit to Lisbon and Portugal. There is a lot of information out there often free.

I think the problem you are having is because you want to stay in relatively few locations. I am going in October with less time than you but am moving around more. As I count it, you have 21 nights. You say you want to stay in Lisbon 7 nights. This is what I came up with that has reasonable travel distances for what you want to see.

7 Lisbon
5 Nazarene
4 Coimbra
5 Porto

Hi Greg,
We’ll be Portugal September 24 - October 7. Our itinerary is as follows:
Porto - 3 Nights @ Boeira Garden Hotel Porto Gaia by Hilton (points)
Tomar - 4 Nights @ Hotel Republica Boutique Hotel (has parking)
Lisbon - 6 Nights @ Hotel Avenida Palace

We plan on picking up the car as we leave Porto and dropping it off when we arrive in Lisbon. Most likely at the airport.
We will do day trips from Tomar to Obidos, Fatima, Batalha, Alcobaca. After much reading Obidos seems like the only place that warrants a Full day. The others we can combine. Fatima, a 30 minute drive, will be in the evening for services. We are trying to decide if we should stop in Coimbra on the drive Down from Porto or do a day trip from Tomar. Details will be finalized closer to September.

From Lisbon we will go to Belem and Sintra. The Lisbon Marathon will be the Sunday before we leave (Oct 6) so will take that into account. We also booked 2 cooking classes with LisbonCooks.com. Portuguese Bread and Pastel de Nata.

I don’t know if this helps you, but planning your own trip is definately doable. The important items to book first are your hotels, rental car, and plane tickets. Details can be filled in later. But if you are not comfortable or mentally unable (too many details) , by all means go through a tour guide.

I think it is the middle part of your trip that is challenging. You have Lisbon and Porto already. Evora is too far to make a base to see the other things on your list. It can be seen from Lisbon on a day trip I think.

So the question is where to stay in between. You have 8 days left. I think the best candidates are Coimbra, Tomar, and Nazare. If you think you will pick two, it isn’t as overwhelming.

Great input.
here is how I see things so far
4 nights Alcobaca/Tomar
5 nights Coimbra
drive through Douro Valley stay 1 or 2 nights before Porto? drop car in porto
5 nights Porto/Duoro Valley
take train back to Sintra/Lisbon
7 nights Lisbon/Sintra 2 nights

question 1. difference or benefit to stay at Tomar, Nazare or Alcobaca. Tomar seems bigger and nicer. but farther from the coast. Alcobaca doesn't seem to be as large as Tomar but closer to the coast. Nazare doesn't seem a bit more touristy.

question 2 : stay 1 or 2 nights in Sintra for more time to see sites?/ seems a little out of the way from Porto. seems like long day trips from Lisbon. hate to travel to Lisbon from Porto then backtrack to Sintra. thought about going there first after landing but the car complicates things. I guess a hotel may offer parking.

Thanks

We decided to stay in Tomar due to its proximity to Fatima. My cousin is very religious and wants to go to the rosary service every evening. It is only a 30 minute drive from Tomar. We are not beach people so the coast isn’t a draw for us.

When planning a trip, you have to decide what interests you, not what others tell you. I’m sure Nazare is beautiful but it doesn’t interest us. I read the posts here, then go to the websites and decide what we want to see. Posts here are great for giving information on places to see and things to do, but in the end it is my decision.

Where are you flying into and out of? How are you ending up in Tomar first? It seems a little disjointed.

Greg
Ideally, you should have flown open jaw to Porto and out of Lisbon. However, I will assume that you have already purchased your return ticket and are flying to and from Lisbon. Assuming that you are flying from Philadelphia, that is only about 7.5 hour flight. Compared to us, we had to fly 15.5 hours with two stops from Vancouver.

If I were you, I would consider the following:
1. Fly into Lisbon. Immediately catch a 1 hr flight to Porto, for about USD$50 pp.
2. Settle in Porto for X days.
3. Rent car, drive to Douro Valley for X days.
4. Drive south staying X days in each of those various towns on your list (sorry, i have never been to those, except Evora which is nice).
5. Drive to Sintra for 1-2 nights.
6. Drive to Lisbon, drop off car, stay X days.
7. Fly home from Lisbon

Options:
1. After doing your other towns, drop off car in Lisbon and just do day trip to Sintra, easy to do, suggest you use bolt or uber and take you right to Pena Palace for opening timed entry to avoid crowds.
2. You could also do Evora as day trip from Lisbon.

Suggestion:
You are going during the start of high season. You should settle your itinerary ASAP and start booking your accommodations.

Flying Philadelphia to Lisbon round trip. Enjoy direct flights….plus used airline miles this trip for first time…
Well this is what we booked
Lisbon airport rent car drive to Sintra
3 nights in Sintra includes parking 2 days to explore. I’m not as young as I used to be. Explore 4 places.
4 nights Cascais just because I wanted to see a nice beach town and explore the coast .. booked a nice Airbnb in town and need to park in a really expensive public parking lot. Oh well 30 euros day maybe a 80 euro monthly fee. Parking is a little confusing but the Airbnb saved us quite a bit than booking a hotel.
Day trip to obidos while in Cascais
Drive to Coimbra stop at tomar and one more town
3 nights in Coimbra hotel includes parking
Drive to Porto via duoro valley
Drop car Porto
5 nights Porto Airbnb
Day trip Braga
Train to Lisbon
7 nights Lisbon airbnb
Day trip Evora train I pretty much like anything Roman or Greek.
Explore the Lisbon at a slow pace.
Should be a blast. No idea what to expect from Portugal.

As with anything I am sure once I have visited Portugal once I will understand what I should know if I visit again. I have no expectations just enjoy our time traveling.

I’ve been living close to Tomar for the last 2 months. It’s a very interesting and historic town and is a great base for exploring the central part of Portugal. The Knights Templar palace and convento are a must see. There’s a great market every Fri and some beautiful churches and interesting museums.
Coimbra is a very vibrant and beautiful city. With the University there, the students add so much energy and character. Definitely walk the narrow streets around the university to see the republicas and have lunch at a tiny family run cafe that you’ll come across in those alleys.