9 days in Portugal
Hi, We are going to Portugal for nine days. Teh gudebooks indicate theat the north of the country is more interesting. But, we are weighing in the winter factor. Any thoughts?1. What would you see if you had nine days?
2. In late dec. would you focus on the north or south?
3. Are most sites closed on Sunday, what to do Sunday?
In advance thank you for your patience answering my questions.
Be well.
1
What do you want to do in Portugal? Cities,countryside,beach (i guess not if you are going now)?I wouldn't say ''the north is more interesting'' at all...depends on you and what you want to see and do...
AS for me..I would do the classic Lisbon-Porto trip (if I had never been to Portugal before,it was winter and I had only 9 days).
2
1 day central Lisbon and recovering from jet lag1 day Belem and Jeronimos Monastery and the rest of Lisbon
1 day Sintra
Then rent car.
Lisbon - Evora - Monsaraz - Elvas - Marvao - Castelo de Vide - Tomar - Fatima - Batalha - Alcobaca - Obidos - Lisbon. Loop takes about 700km and 4 days. I like this loop because depending on how long you take you can easily add/drop places. You can add towns like Monsanto, Coimbra, or Serra da Estrela.
8th day - drive to Cascais/Estoril, then take the long road to Cabo da Roca. If you're lucky you'll get stormy weather, it impressive then. Take the high road over Serra da Sintra back, visit anything you might have not done in 1 day in Sintra. Back to Lisbon. Fado in Alfama in the evening.
9th day - last day best spent in Lisbon before flight home.
3
You asked about Sundays. Shops won't be open (except supermarkets, 'Chinese' shops, which sell cheap imported goods of all kinds, and souvenir shops. Sunday morning is a good time to visit museums or art galleries as they are often free until lunchtime. Mondays, you'll be hard pushed to find any museums open so bear that in mind when you're scheduling to avoid disappointment.The weather will be unpredictable wherever you are at that time of year, although it tends to be warmer an slightly less rainy in the south so if that's an issue, stick with Lisbon as a base. It really depends on what you like doing though.
What do you consider to be interesting that attracts you to the north?
