It’s been a while since I’ve gotten to write a travel post! I was itching to get somewhere after getting vaccinated and countries started to open up. I felt like Europe would be the safest/easiest to navigate with covid restrictions, so set a few flight alerts for countries on my bucket list and ending up scoring a deal on a flight to Lisbon, Portugal. I was able to swing 10 days in Portugal and feel like I was able to see a good bit of the country! Dave wasn’t able to take that much time off work, so I took this trip solo. I flew into Lisbon and did two nights there, took a train to Porto and did two nights there, and then flew down to Lagos and did three nights before taking a bus back to Lisbon for one more night before my flight home the next morning. I actually ended up missing my flight because of a strike at the airport so I got an extra day in Lisbon, ha 😉 If you’re able I would recommend flying into Lisbon and out of Porto so you don’t have to circle back, but my flight deal was so good it was worth the extra travel!
10 Days in Portugal – Lisbon
I started my journey in Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. I stayed at The Moxy Lisbon City (around $80/night), which was perfect for my needs, but I chose it because I wanted a Marriott property for the points. If it weren’t for my Marriott loyalty, I probably would have looked for something a bit closer into the main part of town on Hotels.com. It was about a 20 minute walk from the Moxy to the city centre, or 5-10 minutes on the metro. On my first day I walked all over and checked out most of the historical landmarks/acquainted myself with the city. I have a Google map saved with all the spots, but the main ones were: Av. da Liberdale, Praca dos Restauradores, Gloria Funicular, Santa Justa Lift, Arco da Rua Augusta, Praca do Comercio, St Anthony’s Church, Lisbon Cathedral, Miradouro de Santa Luzia, and Miradouro das Portas do Sol. I ate brunch at Dear Breakfast and then went to the Museu Nacional do Azulejo, or the museum of tile. Portugal is known for its glazed blue ceramic tiles or azulejos. They are all over the streets, train stations, fountains, churches, restaurants.. literally every corner you turn! I have way too many photos of tile on my camera roll. I ended my first day with dinner at Mini Bar Theater José Avillez, which was SO good and great for a solo traveler or just if you like to try a lot of different dishes. They offer fancy cocktails, small plates and a tasting menu, and the food was amazing. Every bite was well thought out with elevated flavors.
My second day in Lisbon I took a train to Sintra (just under an hour) to see the Pena Palace (a colorful palace inhabited by Portuguese nobility until 1910), the Moorish Castle (ancient ruins of a Moorish Castle) and the National Palace of Sintra (the medieval palace of Sintra). I get a bit mesmerized by the history of European nobility, so I really enjoyed the two palaces. The Moorish Castle had great views and was cool to see. I wouldn’t go out of my way to see it, but it’s right next to the Pena Palace so it makes sense to do both. You can take a tourist bus from the Sintra train station to get to all these locations. There is also a cute little town with restaurants and shops. I bought a lot of pottery and had lunch at Raiz Sintra, which was delicious, cheap and had a cute patio. I took the train back to Lisbon and got a Pasteis de Nata (kind of like a custard tart that you will find all over Portugal) from Manteigaria. I tried nata everywhere I could in Portugal and I think this one was my favorite! Then I wandered around the Bairro Alto neighborhood and did a bit of window shopping. I had dinner at the Time Out Market, which is a food hall with a bunch of local vendors. I walked to a lookout point, Miradouro de Sao Pedro de Alcantara, to catch the sunset and managed to save room for one more nata at Fabrica da Nata.
On my third day in Lisbon I headed out to Belum, an area right outside of Lisbon. I had breakfast at Pasteis de Belem, which is probably the most talked about pasteis de nata. I had a bad feeling it would be touristy and overrated and I was right. I’m giving you the permission to skip this one! Then I went to Jeronimos Monastery, which was beautiful. I then went to LxFactory, which was a cool warehouse block with art galleries, shops and restaurants. I could have spent a lot of time here. I had the most amazing piece of flourless chocolate cake at Landeau Chocolate, but there were a lot of cool looking restaurants I wanted to try. I grabbed a ‘Bifana’ (beef sandwich) from O Trevo to take on the train to Porto.
10 Days in Portugal – Porto
The train to Porto was direct and took about three hours. You arrive to Camphana Station and then can take a local transfer to Sao Bento Station in the city center. I stayed at Zero Box Lodge, which was a modern “box” hotel around $50/night. I acquainted it to a hostel for adults. Your room is literally a box, but you have your own bathroom, the bed was comfy, everything was very clean and it was modern and cool. I walked around town a bit and grabbed a nata from Castro, which was probably my second favorite overall. I walked down to the Ribeira by the water and had dinner at Terra Nova. This area is more touristy, but the ambiance is still there. Terra Nova was pretty good seafood, a little overpriced for Portugal, but it seemed like the best option on the water. I also read good things about Restaurante Casario, but they were closed the night I was there. After dinner I walked on the Luis I Bridge a bit before hiking back up to town.. those hills in Portugal will really get ya!
My second day in Porto I took a day trip to the Douro Valley where Port is made. I booked the trip through Viator tours, but the tour company is called Portugal Excellence Tours and you can book with them directly. The tour guide picked me up from my hotel and we took an air conditioned van to the Douro Valley. The guide was friendly and knowledgeable and I was in a small group with just one other couple so it felt intimate. The Douro Valley is a gorgeous area.. I don’t even like port and it was one of the top experiences of my trip. We started at Croft Winery for a tour and port tasting, then took a cruise down the Douro River. We had lunch at a quaint hotel with a great view. Our last stop was to a table winery, Quinta dos Castelares, It didn’t have as pretty views, but our tasting was led by the owner who grew up on the property and was much more intimate. They had tasty rosé, plus honey and olive oil produced on property. After I got back to Porto I did a little shopping on Rua Santa Catarina and then ended the night at Elemento for their tasting menu at the open kitchen bar. It was such a cool experience to watch the chefs working up close, and the food was very thoughtfully done. Some of the ingredients were a little out there, but I like weird food! The dessert was one of my favorite things I ate all trip, a smoked cantaloupe crumble.
My last day in Porto started at the Bolhao Market, which has lots of local vendors selling fruit, vegetables, fresh fish, pastries etc. I got some strawberries and pastry for breakfast then walked to do a little sightseeing at the Porto Cathedral, Bolsa Palace and Clerigos Tower. I had lunch at Casa Guedes for the most amazing pork sandwich. Then I went to Livraria Lello, a bookstore that apparently JK Rowling used to hang out in. It was the only attraction I had to wait in line for of my entire trip in Portugal, but it was very beautiful and worth the wait! After that I walked to the Crystal Palace Gardens and from there down Rua de Miguel Bombarda, which has a ton of art galleries and cool stores. I stopped for a “special hot dog” snack from Cervejaria Gazela made famous by Anthony Bourdain and it lived up to the hype. I then wandered around the area by the Ribereira and grabbed some tapas before heading to the airport.
10 Days in Portugal – Lagos
I took a Ryanair flight from Porto to Faro (about an hour flight) to head south to the the Algarve region. After a little research I decided to split my stay into two nights in Lagos and one night in Carvoeiro. I couldn’t decide between the two and had credit card points to use and a Hotels.com free night, so it made sense to stay at two different hotels. I would advise just doing three nights at one of the locations though. I ended up liking the city of Lagos better, but LOVED my hotel in Carvoeiro. So I would say if you want a beach vacation and to explore the city/hop around a bit, stay in Lagos. If you want a resort atmosphere and to really relax, stay at the Tivoli. The Faro airport was just under an hour drive to Lagos. You can rent a car or use a shuttle, but I took a taxi via MyTaxi (like Uber). I actually used MyTaxi a lot during my trip and it was so affordable, cheaper than local taxis and way cheaper than Uber in the states. I stayed at the Lagos Hotel Avenida, which was beautiful, had great service, a rooftop pool, and delicious included breakfast. I booked using my Chase Sapphire Reserve points. They are actually offering a 100,000 point bonus sign up right now, which is the highest bonus they offer. I love the Chase Sapphire for travel because you can transfer points to major airline and hotel chains or book via their travel portal for more boutique and a wide variety of hotels/flights etc. Disclaimer – if you sign up via my link I will receive bonus points as well, at no cost to you.
I woke up and headed to Coffee & Waves for a matcha latte and fresh papaya with yogurt. It was a cute spot and the food was delicious. I grabbed a panini to-go from La Focaccia down the street and headed to the beach. It was about a 20 minute walk to Praia Dona Ana, one of the top rated beaches that had beach chairs you could rent for the day. I spent most of the day lounging at the beach before heading back to hotel to clean up for dinner. I got pizza from Scartuccio Pucceria and gelato in town.
For my second day in Lagos I had breakfast at the hotel and walked along the promenade. I booked a kayaking trip through the hotel concierge, but if you walk across the bridge to the marina, there are a ton of tour groups you can book through. I went with Discover Tours and had a great time! We were on the water for about an hour and a half and kayaked through some caves and grottos. We swam around the boat at the end of the trip, which felt great, but man the water is cold! After the trip I took a MyTaxi down to Praia do Camilo because one of our kayak guides said it was his favorite beach. It was very pretty, but they didn’t have any chairs to rent for the day just fyi. I would have picked Dona Ana over Camilo to stay for a full day. Then it was time to head to the Tivoli!
The Tivoli Carvoeiro is a beautiful resort on a cliff overlooking the water. I definitely could have spent a few days here lounging at the pool. That night I walked into town to Mar d’Fora for dinner for fresh seafood overlooking the water.
I had breakfast at the Tivoli, which is included and a huge buffet. I spent all of the day by the pool, then hiked down to the beach by the resort. Just a note, you have to kinda scale some rocks to get back up which was a bit of a challenge 😉 That evening I took a bus via Rede Expressos to get back to Lisbon. It was clean and a newer bus with wifi and outlets, but no major frills. I made it back in time to get dinner from Boa-Bao, an Asian fusion restaurant and wander a bit more around Lisbon and soak up all the tiled-covered walls for what I thought was one last time. Long story, but due to an airport strike, I ended up missing my flight the next morning and getting stuck in Lisbon for one more day. I decided to make lemonade, and headed to Cascais, a cute village outside of Lisbon. I’m so glad I did, it was picturesque with cute little streets and shops and restaurants. If I had had more time I would have loved to stay a night or two on the beach here. There’s a train you can take right into Cascais from Lisbon. I spent maybe four hours wandering around town, sitting at the beach, wandering a park and having lunch at 5 Sentidos. Just a note, if you have to decide between doing Belum or Cascais, I would have chosen Cascais.
And that was my Portugal trip! If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments below. If you’re curious about solo travel I have a blog post about it here. I also have a guide to Budapest, Hungary here, and Dublin, Ireland here.
Biscuits & blessings,
Leels
