We enjoyed two incredible weeks in Portugal with kids aged 9, 7, 4, and 4 months in May 2025, visiting Porto, Coimbra, Lisbon, Sintra, Nazare, Fatima, Obidos and Torres Novas.
May 27 travel from Porto to Lisbon by train. This was a comfortable ride. I'm glad we took food for the journey. We took Bolt from the train station to our airbnb and ate at a nearby indian restaurant (sleep Lisbon)
May 28 took a Bolt to Pena Palace (4/5 - we liked exploring the grounds, but didn't need to do the interior, we were packed like sardines. I wish I had known about buying a ticket for the shuttle to the castle at the booth at the entrance before I had waited in line for 15 minutes), walked Pena Palace grounds, lunch at Taj Palace (4/5), Moorish Castle (4/5 - the kids loved it, but I was a bit nervous managing 3 kids on my own with steep falls possible from the high walls), leftovers at airbnb for dinner (sleep Lisbon)
May 29 Bolt to Jeronimos monastery (4.5/5, was surprised to see an hour-long lineup at 10 am. I'm glad we were able to skip the line because we have a baby under 2 years old. We love monasteries, but this one would probably not be worth waiting 1 hour in the hot sun - we might have skipped this if we hadn't been able to skip the line), Nepali restaurant, tried to do hippotrip and Quake, but babies not allowed, Papa to Sao Roque and Santa catarina, saint Anthony, cathedral of Lisbon, incarnation church, kerala for dinner (5/5 delicious indian food), mama and kids to local playground and grocery store (sleep Lisbon)
May 30 private van tour with short stop at Obidos, brunch at Terasse (5/5) in Nazare, nazare church, viewpoint, shrine, funicular, beach, Fatima souvenir shop, Fatima mass, Fatima basilica of the holy rosary, Torres Novas cafe, Torres Novas medieval festival (this was really off the beaten path and the kind of thing we normally enjoy, but we were a little under the weather), bifanas at the festival for dinner (sleep Lisbon)
May 31 kids and Papa to Quake museum (kids' favorite 5/5), mama and baby to Santa luzia viewpoint (2/5 - had construction mesh over a lot of it) and glove store (5/5), kerala for lunch, sao roque church, tile museum (5/5), leftovers for dinner (sleep Lisbon)
June 1 church at Santa catarina, lunch at time out market (4/5 good food, but a little overpriced and crowded, we had gelato, pizza, burger, salmon), kids played at playground while papa got espresso, sao jorge castle (4.5/5), trobadores medieval tavern (5/5 really unique dining experience) (sleep Lisbon)
June 2 Quinta da Regaleira (4.5/5 we really enjoyed exploring the grounds), lunch of duck rice at Quinta Cafe (3/5 not inspiring food options at the Quinta cafe), montserrate Palace (4.5/5 lovely palace off the beaten path), coffee at café, lunch at Taj Palace, leftovers at airbnb (sleep Lisbon)
June 3 fly home
Overall notes: the kids struggled a lot with the heat and seasonal allergies (I think the Jacaranda bloom and other flowers affected them). We all ended up with fevers at one point or another throughout the trip. Our favorites from this part of the trip were the Quake Museum and the sights at Sintra. Our 9 and 7 year old had so much fun doing the scavenger hunt book, Mission Lisbon (https://www.amazon.com/Mission-Lisbon-Sintra-Scavenger-Adventure/dp/0999013319).