wife and husband 65+ thinking of exploring Portugal on their own

My parents are your age and I’d have absolutely no problem with them going on such a trip. Train connections are good, but the ease would partly depend on exactly where you want to go. You may want to consider bus as well.

I have not been to Setubal but have heard good things. However if you want to go to other places a lot it might be easier to move to a new Airbnb a time or two. The trains are good but do take a while. Setubal to Lisbon is 1.5 hours, then further to get to exactly where you want within Lisbon. Consider travel time. If you mainly want a base with occasional side trips, this works fine but if you imagine going to a new town almost every day, all the train time would get tedious

Most people you will encounter who deal with tourists will speak English. Of course it is helpful and polite to learn a bit of Portuguese, basic words and phrases, but it is not strictly necessary. I only learned a few Portuguese words and did just fine. I was honestly surprised at how much English was spoken. I have spent a lot of time over the border in southern Spain and there is much less English there than in Portugal.

I am 70 years old and take summer-long, independent trips to Europe. It is not going to be a problem for you to travel in Portugal by yourselves.

I do agree, though, that plunking yourself down for two weeks in one town is not what I would do on a first trip to Portugal--or to any European country larger than a postage stamp. Don't you have several places you want to go? Do you not want to see Lisbon? Lisbon has many days' worth of sights. To see them, you'd have to travel back and forth from Setubal over and over again. It looks like at least a 2-hour round-trip; it could be quite a bit longer if your Airbnb isn't near the Setubal train station or bus station.

The second most popular destination in Portugal is probably Porto. You cannot day trip from Setubal to Porto. Even staying in Lisbon would make Porto too far for a day trip.

I'd recommend rethinking your stay-put philosophy so you can see more of Portugal without so much time sitting on trains and buses.

I am 73 (how did that happen?)
My wife (64) and i are going for our 3rd visit to Portugal in June. She will be returning before me and i will be staying on my own for 10 days. That alone should tell you a lot about Portugal for seniors.
I would recommend you go to Lisbon and day trip from there. There is more than enough to keep you fascinated for 2 weeks.
I have not driven on my previous 3 trips to Portugal. I know my stress level and feel that such an undertaking would impair my enjoyment.

Enjoy and feel free to ask more quetions

Dennis

BTW, a little bit of Portuguese goes a long way with these warm and welcoming people.

Thanks for all of the help. You all have made me almost as brave and adventurous as my wife. Portugal here we come!

I spent 3 nights in Porto & 2 nights in Estoril in January of 2020 just before Covid. There were loads of Senior discounts and almost everyone spoke English due to British tourists.

65 is the new “40”.
Seriously, you will do great. There isn’t any reason that age should hold you back.

I’ve lived here on my own since 2015. I’m now 72. There are many seniors who travel and live here with zero difficulty.
However, without a car, I would not base myself in Setubal for two weeks. Actually 3 nights a few years ago was too many for me. But, many people love the area.
There are commuter trains in under an hour to Cascais and Sintra. There are many beaches closer to Lisbon than Setubal. ( And my memory is the beaches in that area are a bit out of town anyway.) Travel between the two is easy. Getting back into Lisbon from either is easy and quick. You could easily fill two weeks between these three places. Or, just stay in Lisbon and day trip to the other places i mentioned plus others like Evora.

Don’t worry at all about your lack of Portuguese. So many people speak English, it makes it hard for me to learn the language!

Portugal is absolutely safe. In many ways much safer than the US. Portugal has one of the best road networks of Europe, although it can be a bit expensive due to toll fees.

There are many walking video's online which give a good impression on how Portugal feels like. Here is a walking video on Viana do Castelo, which is in Northern Portugal:

https://youtu.be/dZvS2aK7EJ0

Hi
I would NOT recommend staying in Setubal but if you really want to stay there make sure your accommodation is no where near the Bela Vista neighborhood ( Bairro da Bela Vista), it's considered one of the worst if not the worst in the entire country.
I suggest Cascais instead, good restaurants, nearby attractions, beaches and good public transit.
Happy travels

My husband and are 69 and 72. We have traveled to Portugal twice on our own. I do the research, plan the itinerary, and book the hotels ahead of time. On our first trip, we had each hotel hire a driver to take us to our next destination. Every driver was professional and in a very comfortable car. On our second trip, we hired one driver for the entire trip. We stayed in Lisbon, Tomar, Coimbra, and Porto. The driver picked us up at each hotel as planned and took us to every site that we wanted to see in between hotels, and even suggesting sites/restaurants. Granted, this is much more expensive than public transportation. But we felt it was worth it for the convenience, and being able to see every sight that was on my wishlist and more.

Don't worry about not speaking Portuguese. In most situations, English is understood. When taking a taxi, I always wrote down the name and address of where we were going and showed that to the driver so there was no misunderstanding. Just don't revert to Spanish.