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Southern Portugal & Lisbon

VictoriaJZ

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We arrive in late September in Lisbon early morning and leave 12 days later at 1pm -- We have already been to Lisbon [and enjoyed it greatly] but it it worth a second 2 day trip or should we leave and journey around = Is there a train we can catch to a different city and use that as a base and then maybe use the last 1-2 days to enjoy Lisbon before flying out? I've done similar things [flying into Paris or Rome and then training elsewhere - and relaxing] - any suggestions? And then, where in the south should we go? We've seen Porto, Coimbra, Nazare, and generally enjoy historical/cultural/archaelogical types of things - not sure where else to visit....
 
You might want to look at Evora and other smaller places in the Alentejo. It’s a very easy train ride from Lisbon to Evora and the town is lovely. There is a Megalith tour done by an archeologist from Evora, that is wonderful. You would need a car if you wanted to explore outside of Evora, but driving in that area is easy.
I’m not certain you could spend 10 days in that area. But closer to Lisbon is Setubal and the Arrábida area. These areas would really need a car, also.
Not south, but quite nice is Tomar. There is a castle ruin outside of town and the convent above the town is very nice.
If you aren’t familiar with Julie Dawn Fox, she has a very good blog about Portugal and details a lot of the smaller places to visit.
 
Thank you - this gives me something to aim for and to focus my planning...We will be renting a car so that won't be an issue= again, many thanks.
 
I can only second all of Kathryn's suggestions. However, I'm putting an extra star beside Tomar. The Convent there is spectacular. It houses a Templar chapel and commands the view of the town. Nearby, if you are so inclined, is Fatima.

If by the South you mean the Algarve, we found Cap St Vincent and Sagres Fort nearby interesting. Most of the southern coast is given over to beach resort development but there are still some pleasant coves. Two towns that have mostly escaped the ravages of overbuilding, are Salema and Tavira. In Tavira, when we were there, the city offered a tour of historical buildings some of which were closed to the general public. Check at City Hall to see if it is still available.

We've not attended it, but relatives enjoyed the bustle and colours of the Loule Saturday market in the hills north of Faro.

Like the church in Evora, the Egreja do Carmo in Faro has a chapel with bones decorating (?) the walls of the chapel.
 
I'll look into Tomar == thanks for the other ideas ref the south.....appreciate the help!
 
Thanks so much == I was looking at striking out going east but this looks interesting as well...appreciate the link/araticle.
 
I'm back...trying to firm up plans...tentatively, given early arrival time I think we should catch a train to some locale and rent a car there to drive around wherever and return by train [or drop off?] to Lisbon and have a few days there before we leave. Tomar sounds interesting as does Evora to start from -- it doesn't seem that the distances are so great that one can't get around to a variety of places. Is there a train station at or reachable easily from the airport? This 730am arrival time will, I know, stretch out but it is early after coming from overseas! TIA
 
Train times are frequent (but less so to Evora) to both places. Oriente station to Evora about 1.5 hours; Oriente station to Tomar about 2 hours. Both are locals with a few stops along the way. This is the Portuguese RR site: https://www.cp.pt/passageiros/en
I'm only guessing but I think car rental selection/availability will be greater in Evora.
Dennis
 
Thanks much == I'll check out the site == I did do a little bit of checking and the train to Evora leaves in AM a bit too close to our arrival for comfort but then later in the day, not much mid day = I gather I could take the train to Faro and rent a car and start far south and drive along moving north == Looks like I need to see what else there is to see in the south...so we can ramble around a bit == which is a good Q - is it better to have 1-2 places to stay and wander from or just wander and hope to find lodging as we move along??
 
You can check www.rome2rio.com for different modes of transportation; both there and from when I researched a trip to Evora, which I never took, it looks like Lisbon-Evora is more often done by bus: it runs hourly.
 

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