My brother moved to Portugal recently and we will be visiting in June. They are about 2 hours NE of Lisbon. We are thinking about staying in Lisbon a couple of nights then stopping in to see family before heading down to The Algarve for a week of sun and sand. We would fly into Lisbon and then back to Dublin form Faro.
Anyone familiar with Lisbon/The Algarve? We usually Airbnb but our son (13) might prefer a resort with activities.
All advice appreciated.
Lisbon is great fun. Lots to do, great food and perfect for a couple of days. The underground is good and the trams are fun so getting around is ok.
My favourite bit of the Algarve is Lagos. It’s a lovely town well located. Good to wlak around at night with plenty of places to eat and drink at. A bit resorty but in a nice way. Lots of beaches nearby but a car is probably a good idea.
The sea is a bit cold but other than that, it’s great.
The Aquashow Waterpark near Quarteira would be a great day out in the Algarve for your son. Best seafood I’ve had in Portugal was in Olhao. It’s not much of a town but the food was great. Mmmm! Cataplana. Tavira nearby was a nicer spot for tourists. In Alvor they have wooden walkways that go out into the estuary that were lovely for a stroll. In Faro itself I remember being impressed by a small church where everything was covered in gold.
I appreciate this doesn’t help much, but we were planning on going to Lisbon last year and were advised to try Porto instead. Glad we did, it was ace. Also, Portuguese is a devil of a language, but we got by.
I had a lovely day in Porto in 2018, as we couldn’t fly direct to Vigo on our preferred travel day.
We also visited Porto for a few days a couple of years ago. I’d highly recommend the city. The people were very friendly and the city has lots to see. I would get a travel pass and use the trams as it’s very hilly and we could have done much more by cutting back on walking quite so much and used public transport which found out much too late was great. Portugal is very much still on my go to list. Good luck on your travels.
We had a lovely 5 days in Lisbon last year – there’s a thread here about it somewhere. Donkey’s years ago we had a couple of holidays in the Algarve which were great but all we did was lie by the pool really.
Friendliest country in Europe and these days virtually everybody in the service industry talks English. I’d stay in Cascais, great beaches ( as everywhere in Portugal bloody cold sea) and from there it’s a short train ride to Lisbon (which is fab) and a short bus ride to Sintra (which is like Disneyland on stilts without the cartoon characters).
We liked the Palace of Monserrate in Sintra. Definitely worth a visit.