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Portugal self-catering villas

Posted by (Seattle, WA, USA) on

Am planning a 2-3 three week trip to Portugal this fall (Sept/Oct) and am interested in renting villas by the week. I've been studying the usual internet rental sites (VRBO, HomeAway, Rentalo) as well as some Portugal-specific sites (Portugalvilla.com, Algarvevilla.net) but am wondering if anyone can suggest either a specific property or a lesser known but great rental website.

We will be two couples sharing accommodations. Will likely spend one week in the Algarve and one week near or north of Lisbon (perhaps near Porto). Weekly budget (for the rental) is up to $2000/week or thereabouts, preferably less. View of something interesting (ocean, river, hills, etc) would be nice.

Suggestions appreciated.

Posted by
74 posts

We're going in August so my information is based on websurfing, not personal experience. But--I really liked the TravelinginLisbon website for apartments in Lisbon (they have a few in Porto). For the Algarve, we used salema4u.com and got a 3 bedroom apartment. Alwaysonvacation.co.uk is good, but chooseportugal is even better. Good luck!

Posted by
842 posts

Mike, when we were in Portugal in Dec a couple of years ago, we rented from VRBO and Homelidays.com. We use either one for our rentals in the EU.

The four of us rented a small apt in downtown Tavira, an apt in downtown Lisbon, and then just did a hotel in Porto. We went cheap, and our places were nothing special.

Our apt in downtown Taviara was cramped, but in a great location. I saw lots of great places near the beach on Homelidays, and should have picked one of those instead.

Our apt in Lisbon was so-so, but was huge, close to city transportation, stores, and had a fantastic landlord.

By all means spend a week in the Algarve, but also set aside some time for the Lisbon area. We only had 3 nites in Porto, and wish we would have more time to explore the valley.

Driving in Portugal is really easy...the freeways are all new, and traffic was very light. We could not find a good price on a rental car until someone suggested using Guerin, which turned out to be a good choice.

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