Special places or things to do in Portugal

[JGaetjens]

Once again my wife and I are building our vacation around a soccer tournament and this time Euro 2004 is our excuse to visit Portugal. We've read the guide books and browsed the web and know we'll be experiencing a wonderful country and have an enjoyable time. But those who live or who have travelled in Portugal probably have their favorite or special places, sights, and restaurants.

So do any of you have suggestions on things we just shouldn't miss during our three weeks in Portugal?

Our intinerary (and it wasn't easy finding places to stay!):
Evora - Marvao - Coimbra (Switzerland v France) - Guimaraes (Netherlands v Latvia in Braga) - Porto (Q-final match) - Sintra - Lisbon

[JoniP]

There are so many things.. It's so difficult to name..

Evora is a small city in the Alentejo with old monuments like the Templo Diana.. Coimbra is famous by for having the oldest University in Portugal..

In Porto I strongly recomend if you're there on the night 23 to 24 of June the S João popular celebration. It has like 500000 people on the streets celebrating with plastic hammers and more.. It's very fun.. In Braga they celebrate it too but in a minor scale..

Sintra is beautiful.. The castels visit them..

Any doubts for something more concrete ask.. Cause there are so many places..

[Offside2]

Going to Algarve but just gotten in another relatioship so I can't *PIEP* any Portugese women there :( hahaha Game on

[Antonio Driver-Guide]

If you need transportation ( transfers to the stadiums and return to the hotel ),during the EURO 2004 contact-me :
http://7mares.terravista.pt/euro2004pt/driver-guide_antonio.html

[jonny]

Braga is an awesome place to go at night...waterfountains , ect. Go to Bom Jesus in Braga...it is a beautiful place: there is huge beautiful yard....there is a trolly that goes up a mountain , there is canoeing , ect.


Porto: EAT COD FISH and Porto whine...A MUST! I tell u more later , I must go!

[musicl]

There are lots of English bars and restaurents where i was in the south.

The beaches are nice but the sea is cold.

There is some jipsey market in some town i went to for a laugh and it was pretty good.

I went to some water park as well, which was pretty descent.

And the hotels have Sky News (TV channel) so you can watch it to see the football updates every hour.

[freis]

There are a lot of special places in Portugal that are well worth a look. There are two very good non-official sites in english about travel in Portugal. The adresses are:
www.geocities.com/Paris/4118/
home.online.no/~nancys/portugal/

The people that made the sites seem to know more about Portugal than i do :) but i have few suggestions:
- Algarve, the tourist resort of Portugal where millions of portuguese and foreigners go during vactions period. Great beachs, great golf courses, and good nightlife. In some places like Alfufeira, Portimão and Vale do Lobo there are easilly more british people than portuguese and others tourists combined. I don´t like Portimão, but Albufeira is really nice with a lot of bars and nightlife. Vale do Lobo is also nice but it´s a lot smaller than the other two. Then you have other places wich are less known by foreign tourist but are worth a visit. Vilamoura is beautifull and if you go there you must obligatory go the Marina. Lots of restaurants, bars, yachts and expensive cars. Sagres in western Algarve (where prince Henry the Navigator had his school) is a small village with great beachs and full of surfers and young people.
- Alentejo, very beatifull and less spoiled by tourism. The coast is extremelly beautifull with lots of deserted beachs. Probably the most unspoilled beachs in Europe. I won´t recomend any specific places since everything is amazing. If you go to the interior, Évora is obligatory. Évora is a small interior town with lots of places to visit. The roman temple of Diana at the center of town and the chapel of bones (capela dos ossos, a chapel in wich the interior is made of skulls and bones is really impressive).
- Lisbon dosen´t really need intruduction. the best is to consult a travel guide.
- Sintra. Never been there but from what people say and pictures is well worth a visit, specially since is close to Lisbon.
- Cascais. A elitist area with nice beachs. Never been there.
- Coimbra is a university city full of students and young people. A very nice city worth a visit. I don´t know about nightlife, but since it´s a city full of students, it is probably very good.
- Porto, home of Porto wine, my city. It´s the second largest in Portugal and has many interesting historical places to visit. Those sites are described in any travel guide so i won´t waste time describing them. I will recomend only the "Docas" in Gaia. Gaia is a satellite city of Porto on the southern bank of the river Douro. The Docas are a new leisure site, full of restaurants and bars by the river and is really nice. At night, the view of Porto fully lighted is great.
- Braga the third largest city in Portugal. It´s a very religious city with lots of historical places to visit. It has the youngest population in Europe and the nightlife is great.
- Guimarães, the first capital of Portugal. A very nice historical city. It is not very large compared to Lisbon, Porto or Braga but has a lot too see.
If you want see quieter places and more nature i recomend the Gerês in northern Portugal with it´s mountains, rivers, and dense forests. Very beautifull. You also have Serra da Estrela, the highest mountain chain in Portugal. It is full of snow during most of the year, but in June there won´t be any. But is indeed a very beatifull place.