We are planning to spend the month of May in Portugal starting in Algarve and traveling up to the Douro valley with stops in Lisbon and Evora and a few other places. We expected to be in Lisbon at the same time that the Pope is in Fatima and we are concerned that we will encounter too much traffic, tourists, and inflated costs. Has anyone had any experience with this type of thing?
Fatima and Lisbon are almost 150km from each other. There will be tourists in Lisbon but not because of the Pope.
No. There is a good distance between the two cities. Inflated costs? Either way I would book lodging now.
There may be an increase in tourists around that time - if nothing else, people traveling through Lisbon on their way to Fatima. But, Lisbon is large enough that you should have no problem. Just don't decide to travel anywhere close to Fatima during that time...
Thank you all. I've been booking places without too much trouble, so I guess we'll be fine. We'll probably just wing it in Douro Valley, since we don't know much about it and where we'd want to stay. That usually works out fine for us.