Portugal in a Week: From North to South [Part 1]

 Portugal, a land usually identified with historical world exploration, rich cultural heritage, great wine, spectacular beaches and football. But it has so much more to offer as we realized in the summer of 2020. It was the lull period after the first wave of coronavirus (COVID-19) swept the entire continent of Europe. Non-essential travel was prohibited by most members of the European Continent till July but as the restrictions eased up we started planning for a week-long trip to one of the most coveted European destinations. We needed to breathe the fresh ocean air and release our claustrophobic minds from the shackles of home-office, and studies.

Lagoa; Albufeira, Algarvae, Portugal

After much debate and discussion, revision and amendment we came up with the following plan:

Itinerary:

Day 0: Land in Porto (Late night flight)

Day 1: Porto sightseeing

Day 2: Porto - Lisbon; Sightseeing

Day 3: Lisbon - Sintra (Sightseeing) - Lisbon

Day 4: Lisbon - Algarvae (Lagos) - Sagres

Day 5: Sagres - Lagoa

Day 6: Lagoa - Albufeira

Day 7: Albufeira - Faro

Go Fish! (Albufeira, Algarvae)

The following map shows our entire journey across Portugal starting from the North (Porto) to the South-western most Point of the European Mainland (Sagres) and finally traversing along the spectacular coastline of Algarvae till Faro.

 

The map also shows suggested must-see places. Of course, we could not cover all of them in just 7 days but we tried to cover as much ground as possible. The day to day experience are coming soon but in this blog I am just providing general information.

Transport :

• Hands down for the most comfortable and flexible travelling you need a car. For most places, you would need an international license for hiring cars. 
• Public transport in Porto is good. The metro network covers the entire city and suburbs. It is possible to buy day tickets and cover most of the tourist attractions. The day tickets are only available at the tourist centres usually located at the metro stations (Big ones). Single journey tickets or multiple journey tickets are available at the kiosks in any station. Be careful about the validation, you must do it before each journey and whenever you change transport. We bought day tickets but ended up walking around mostly.
• In Lisbon public transport is also very good. You could buy single tickets or get a 50 cent Viva Viagem card and put money in that, it will get deducted as you swap it during validation. It works in the metro and bus. 
• One way to reach Sintra is to take S-trains from Lisbon. It takes around an hour and is very comfortable. But if you do not have a car, walking to the Pena Palace, Museum and Quinta de regaleira could be daunting. The local tuk-tuks charge 10-30 Euros for an individual journey. If you have time walking is a good option. Before getting on any vehicle, make sure that it reaches till the spot. Many vehicles cannot go till the end and would drop you halfway. there is a bus which covers the most famous tourist spots in Sintra and runs throughout the day. It is usually full and costs around 15 Euros per person for hop in hop out for a day.
• In the Algarvae usually, there are privately operated busses, EVA Transportes, RedeExpressos etc. But during COVID we suffered from a huge shortage and irregular service. We have got information from http://www.algarvebus.info/ but in some cases, it did not reflect the real situation. Again, rent a car for the best experience.
• Uber is available throughout Portugal and even in Algarvae. Since we did not have a driving license, we ended up booking an Uber many times just to save headache and time.

Suggested Itinerary :

After our travel, we realized that we made a mistake in trying to cover the most beautiful beaches in Portugal, especially in the Algarvae (See map). It is better to focus on one cluster of beaches and not all. The idea is to enjoy the beaches and not run around trying to see all of them.

Furthermore, we feel that Porto is so beautiful that it requires at least two days. The following itinerary shows, how we would have done it if we had prior experience. Nonetheless, covering more ground allowed us to have valuable experience and now we can share that with you.

Day 0: Land in Porto (Late night flight)

Day 1: Porto sightseeing

Day 2: Porto sightseeing

Day 3: Porto - Lisbon; Sightseeing

Day 4: Lisbon - Sintra (Sightseeing) - Lisbon

Day 5: Lisbon - Algarvae (Lagos) 

Day 6: Lagos

Day 7: Lagos- Albufeira - Faro

(Top) Panoramic view of Porto with the meandering Douro River from Vila Nova De Gaia
(Left) Ascent to the Pena Palace, Sintra
(Right) Belem Tower, Lisbon

We hope that you will follow our blog on the 7 day Portugal Tour and much more.

Day 7: Albufeira - Faro