Portugal Road Trip in 7 days

During the summer of 2020 after changing our holidays around 4 times due to COVID and quarantines, we ended up doing a road trip around Portugal and it was the best decision ever! It was of course sunny and beautiful every day, the food was just fantastic and the wine even better! It is especially easy to get around the country by car, the motorways are in perfect condition and we didn’t come across a lot of traffic. If I am honest, I cannot wait to go back!

We visited Porto, Aveiro, Sintra and Lisbon. If you want to spend more time, I would suggest to extend the trip to Cascais for a relaxing time on the beach. We flew directly to Lisbon and there is where our trip started. In general, it is cheaper to fly to Lisbon than Porto as there are more flight options.

Best time to go: End of June or beginning of September are great times to visit Portugal. Lisbon gets really really hot during the months of July and August, and the weather in Porto can be very chilly during spring or autumn. Take into account that the temperature during the nights drops substantially so a jacket will be handy!

General advice: For some reason it was quite challenging to pay with credit card so make sure you take some cash with you. Pick up the car directly at the airport so you can start the road trip straight away. In Portugal, you have to pay on every motorway. The rental car company will probably offer you a Vía verde device so you don’t have to stop constantly at the tolls and you will just pay the full amount of the motorways when you return the car.

Day 1: Arrival at Porto

After landing in Lisbon, drive 2 hours and 45 minutes to Porto. The recommended hotel for the next 2 nights is “Descobertas Boutique Hotel Porto”, amazing location and a beautiful and well decorated hotel. After check-in, have a walk around the Ribeira if you have time so you can see the lights of the city during the night.

Recommended dinner to taste Portuguese food at “Voltaria”, make sure that you try the cod! The place is quite small with only few tables so you will have to book in advance.

Day 2: Porto

The centre of Porto is small and therefore very easy to get around, however take into account that the city is very steep. The best thing to do in Porto is to get lost on the beautiful streets filled with blue tiled buildings, however there are also few things to see.

• Livraria Lello: First thing in the morning is the best time to visit the famous book shop. The queues to get into it are absolutely insane so make sure you get there early. You will have to get a ticket to get in but the price of the ticket will be deduced if you buy a book.

• Church do Carmo: A beautiful church built in the 18th century with a magnificent panel of blue and white tiles representing the Brown Scapular imposition on Mount Carmel. It is in my opinion one of the most beautiful buildings in Porto.

• Clerigos Tower: This eighteenth century complex was commissioned by the Brotherhood of the Clérigos in the old town, on the “hill of the hanged men”, where the executed prisoners were buried. You can walk to the Clerigos Tower which is just 3 minutes from the bookshop.

• Rua das flores: Have a walk around this pedestrian street that is surrounded by very nice buildings. At the end of the street there is a square with a few nice terraces and a very nice atmosphere to have a quick drink or to come back in the evening after dinner.

• São Bento Station: the station holds 20,000 magnificent azulejo tin-glazed ceramic tiles depicting Portugal’s past, its royalty, its wars, and its transportation history.

• Porto Cathedral: On the top of a quite steep hill, you can find Porto Cathedral. On the way up to the cathedral there are few points where you can see a nice view over the city. The Cathedral is in Batalha, very close to the walls that once protected the city. The building looks a bit like a fortress with crenels from the outside. I found other churches around the city more impressive than the cathedral to be honest...

• Bolsa Palace: The next stop is at the Bolsa Palace. It’s an impressive building, particularly inside in the neoclassical style, which is currently the headquarters of Porto’s Commercial Association.

• Ribeira: After visiting the Bolsa Palace you are almost at the Ribeira which is an absolutely great place to have a walk and a drink.

• Luis I bridge: Cross the most famous Porto bridge to get to the Porto Cellars side of the city. The view of the city from this side as absolutely stunning! The double-decker Dom Luis I bridge is an icon of the city of Porto. It spans the River Douro linking the Port wine houses of Vila Nova de Gaia with the bustling downtown Ribeira district of Porto. Construction took place between 1881 and 1886 with the bridge being built adjacent to an existing bridge which it replaced.

I would recommend stopping here for lunch at the market (Mercado Beira-Rio) where you will have the opportunity of trying some Porto wine as well as delicious Portuguese dishes.

After lunch there are 2 main activities that you can try:

• Porto wine cellars tours: this is a bit different than a normal wine tour given that the vineyards are not actually there in the city. It is more similar to a museum guide tour where they explain you how Porto is done.

• Taking the funicular to one of the highest points to see the spectacular views of the city.

It sounds crazy to recommend this restaurant given how good the Portuguese food is but... “Belos Aires” is a fantastic Argentinian restaurant to have an amazing steak for a great price! Try as well their empanadas with the best chimichuri sauce ever!

Day 3: Aveiro

Just 50 min drive from Porto you will find Aveiro. Aveiro is like a mini-Venice in the north of Portugal, famous for its canals, sandy beaches and colourful buildings. The recommended hotel for the next 2 nights is “Aveiro Rossio Bed & Breakfast”, great location in the city centre, very modern and nice décor.

In Aveiro the most typical thing to do is to walk around the canals or to take a tour boat. It is very nice to walk around the colourful houses and neighbourhoods surrounding the canal. One great place to try good local wines and beer with a very nice terrace is “Trás os Montes”.

The recommended place for dinner is “O Bairro” Portuguese food with a modern twist. Make sure you book in advance!

Day 4: Aveiro - Costa Nova

If you are lucky and the weather allows you, the next day you can go to the beaches of Costa Nova or Barra Beach. To get there you would need the car and these are just 15 min drive from Aveiro. There are super long beaches with amazing white sand!

For dinner go to “Tasquinha da Ria” that serves very very generous dishes that are really tasty.

Day 5: Sintra

Early morning drive from Aveiro to Sintra. The drive takes 2.5 hours. There is a lot to explore in Sintra so if you want to visit it in just one day you will have to choose which

palaces you really want to visit inside. Some ideas are:

• Sintra National Palace - we decided on just visiting the outside as we didn’t have enough time to visit all of them. This is the best-preserved medieval royal palace in Portugal with a minimalistic gothic exterior and decorative rooms. The palace’s long history has been intertwined with Portugal’s ruling nobility, who resided here from the early 15th through to the late 19th century.

• Quinta da Regaleira - at the Quinta we decided to visit directly the gardens as it is the most impressive part. This is a 20th-century villa ornate with a gothic style in the outside surrounded by amazing gardens.

• Park and National Palace of Pena - in this case we also decided to visit the outside and surrounding area. This palace exemplifies the 19th century Romanticism style of architecture. The palace is a mix of painted terraces, decorative battlements and mythological statues. The interior of the palace has been restored to reflect the decor in 1910, when the Portuguese nobility fled to Brazil to escape the revolution.

• Park and Palace of Monserrate - we visited the palace and the park, and it was absolutely beautiful and highly recommended! The villa is of an Arabian design, surrounded by classical English gardens, and set in the jagged hills of the Serra da Sintra.

Afterwards you can drive to Lisbon which is the last stop of the trip. The drive takes just 35 to 45 minutes depending on traffic. The recommended hotel at Lisbon is "The Vintage Hotel & Spa”, very well located at Avenida da Liberdade which features a rooftop bar with panoramic views over the city.

After arrival I recommend you go for dinner at "Versículo d'o faia” at Bairro Alto and enjoy the famous Portuguese fish. Another good option depending on the location of your hotel is “Taberna Moderna” at Alfama, a restaurant serving Portuguese dishes with a modern twist.

Day 6: Baixa and Barrio Alto

Spend your first day in Lisbon walking around the city centre, the suggested itinerary is as follows:

• Praça do Comércio - Situated near the Tagus river, the square is still commonly known as Terreiro do Paço. At the end of the Rua Augusta is the huge and imposing Arco Triunfal that leads right into the Praca do Commercio, which is the heart of Lisbon.

• Rua Augusta - near the Praca do Comercio. The architecture is old and many of the structures are original. This is a very beautiful street. The area is a wide, mosaic tiled walkway and it is closed to traffic.

• Rossio - the popular name of the King Pedro IV Square located in the Pombaline Downtown of Lisbon has been one of its main squares since the Middle Ages.

• Santa Justa Lift - a lift situated at the end of Rua de Santa Justa that connects the lower streets of the Baixa with the higher Largo do Carmo.

• Carmo Convent - highly recommended to visit the inside. A former Catholic convent ruined during the sequence of the 1755 Lisbon earthquake; the destroyed Gothic Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, on the southern facade of the convent, is the main trace of the great earthquake still visible in the old city.

• On the back of Carmo Convent there is a fantastic terrace to have drink from where you can enjoy wonderful views of the city “Topo Chiado”.

• Bairro Alto - visit lavish São Roque Church and take in the views from Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcântara. Many of the centuries-old houses in the neighbourhood are decorated with vivid street art.

• A good stop to have lunch is the Mercado da Ribeira Time Out where you can find many bars and restaurants to have a very tasty lunch.

• The Pink Street in the same neighbourhood is worth going for a walk down, as the Mercado Da Ribeira is the hipster area.

Suggested dinner at “Ramiro”, the most famous seafood restaurant in Lisbon usually with a long queue to wait before you get seated. Another option is to go to "Peixaria da Esquina” but for sure while you are in Portugal you have to try the seafood with a glass of vino verde.

Day 7: Belem and Alfama

On your last day I would suggest visiting Alfama and Belem, the suggested itinerary for this day is:

• Belém Tower - built between 1514 and 1520. This tower was used to defend the city and years later it was transformed into a lighthouse and customs house. This 16th-century fortification served as a point of embarkation and disembarkation for Portuguese explorers and as a ceremonial gateway to Lisbon.

• Padrão dos Descobrimentos - a monument on the northern bank of the Tagus River estuary that celebrates the 15 and 16th-century Portuguese explorers and visionaries. On the eastern side of the monument are statues of Portugal’s great explorers, while on the western side are the key supporters who empowered the 15th century “Age of Discovery”.

• Jerónimos Monastery - the monastery was populated by monks of the Order of Saint Jerome, whose spiritual job was to give guidance to sailors and pray for the king's soul. It's one of the great triumphs of European Gothic.

• It is time for a stop at the most popular bakery to try the fantastic Pasteis de Nata at “Pateis de Belem”.

• Alfama - the steep streets of Alfama, one of Lisbon’s oldest areas, are lined with shops selling traditional crafts and cafes. Passengers pack the historic no. 28 tram, which winds through Alfama on its way up to 11th-century São Jorge Castle.

• Miradouro das Portas do Sol Viewpoint - the most photographed viewpoint of Lisbon, popular due to its location on the main tram route through Alfama and close to the Se Cathedral and castle.

• São Jorge Castle - built in the mid-11th century, during the Moorish period, this fortification is situated at the top of the hill. The purpose of the castle was to house military troops and in case of siege, the elite who lived in the alcáçova. Unlike most European castles it was not meant as a residence.

Suggested dinner at “Lugar Marcado”, a very nice restaurant that offers meat and fish dishes made with local products accompanied by a glass of wine from their own cellar.

After dinner have a nice cocktail next door at “Union Portugal”!

If you have more days, I would recommend you visit Cascais to spend some time relaxing at the beach.