Hello!! After Spain, I headed to Portugal for three weeks. I spent four days solo in Porto, then met up with my boyfriend Nick in Lisbon for the rest of the trip. Here are our tip-top recommendations from our trip. 💖
Nick’s prelude: Portugal is a unique spot to visit out of all that Europe has to offer. While we didn’t find as many monuments or world-class museums as your typical Italy or France trip might’ve offered, we loved the food and the nature and the general laid back vibe of the people. Beer is €1 and an espresso will run you €0.70; the orange juice is fresh and the green wine is delicious. And try the (MASSIVE) sardines – they do it right in Portugal!
Porto
I stayed at the Gallery Hostel, and it was incredibly beautiful. The bathrooms in each room felt like an Equinox spa, and the huge, comfy beds made me feel like a baby in a crib. I loved the free breakfasts too.
My highlights:
- This tour to Geres National Park: We took a Land Rover to Portugal’s only national park to do some beautiful off-road hiking to empty lagoons. I loved our stop in the wolf village Fafião for wine served out of bowls and lunch, with a special surprise afterward.
- This wine tasting class by Rafa de Lima: I’ve done several wine classes and many tastings, but this was the first class where I could finally see a system in my head emerging of how to pick each kind of wine (red, white, etc) for different purposes. Rafa was so patient with our group’s questions, and it’s nice because the group size is always capped to six people, so it is intimate, and Rafa encourages you to ask questions that you may be scared to ask. Also, Rafa responds to emails lightning fast.
- This cozy wine bar/restaurant Genuino, in the art gallery district of Porto
- This fresh pastel de nata from Manteigaria (they also have locations in Lisbon): Be sure to douse it in powdered sugar in cinnamon. I loved it so much that I immediately got up and bought a second one.
- The most beautiful McDonald’s in the world (source): It felt like stepping back in time.
My strong anti-recommendation, is this a hot take?:
- Livraria Lello: super over-crowded and sparse book selection, plus you have to pay 5 Euros for a ticket and wait in a long line.
Lisbon
On our last night, we stayed at a phenomenal hostel, Sant Jordi, in a private room. There were two huge gardens with beautiful blue tiles (and pigeons), a modern kitchen, and a big airy space with lots of natural light to do remote work. The interior is lovely and cozy as well. We liked the location because it was in a hip, less touristy part of town. It was a good change of pace from our first Airbnb in the center of the city.
Our favorite activities:
- Amor Records: groovy red lighting and sexy rare records with wine. The space is designed for acoustics, and has a DJ stand spinning records at all times as well as private listening decks.
- Grabbing a hot chocolate from Bettina and Niccolo Corallo, then taking a garden walk. We started in Principe Real Garden (where we held our first pigeons) to Praca da Alegria (where we hung out with a kid swimming in the fountain collecting money) to Jardim do Torel for a beautiful view of the entire city and peaceful vibes.
- This Sintra tour, where we got to taste the healing waters from many fountains, explore the infinite hidden details of the Regaleira Palace and its Initiation Well, and try a mouthwatering Sintra pastry, travesseiro. There were like 7 different stops, including a delicious local lunch. Our guide Marta was the best!!!
- Visiting the “Notable Trees” highlighted in Google Maps, such as this one.
Our favorite meals:
- Daily juices and smoothies at Liquid, from delightful staff in green Hawaiian shirts.
- Lunch at Pastaria: affordable handmade pasta, great lunch spot
- Brunch at Seagull Method: beautiful bird-themed art and delicious syrniki (cottage cheese pancakes). It felt like we were in a Wes Anderson movie!
- Dinner at Rose Stupa: Kama Sutra beer, gulab jamun, momos, and more.
- Dinner at Taberna Anti Dantas: intricate wall decorations and cool vibe, life-changing mushroom risotto
- Dinner at the Food Temple: romantic outdoor seating in a tiered plaza, vegan delicacies (a Savi rec!!)
- A bit out of the Lisbon city center, you can find incredible Bangladeshi street food and chai at Martim Moniz plaza. From there, look for hanging Chinese lanterns to find clandestine Chinese restaurants operating in apartment buildings (thanks Savi for the tip).
Algarve
We stayed in this beautiful yurt, a fifteen minute drive from Lagos proper. I recommend basing yourself in Lagos if you’re visiting the Algarve because everything is around 30-45 minutes away by car, from Faro to Sagres and everything in between. In the yurt, we got to cook outside and ponder life’s greatest questions underneath the stars. It was super restorative. One big caveat: there was no WiFi. But we were able to work at a café in town.
Our highlights:
- Coastal drive from Praia do Amado to Praia da Bordeira: when we went, this packed dirt route was almost empty. We saw giant waves that looked like they were in a painting. We took many little wooden pathways to cliff view points. I wish we could have stayed longer!
- Volunteer dog walking in Aljezur, with the AZEA dog shelter: beautiful walk, heartwarming dogs of all kinds, and cool people to meet. The west coast of the Algarve is more temperate, especially in the late summer heat that parches the south, so it was a beautiful pastoral walk with the dogs.
- Ferragudo: the sexiest village in the Algarve, all these stones decorating the steps.
- Ponta da Piedade Hike: We started in Lagos, walked to Ponta da Piedade, then followed the coast to Praia do Canavial, ending with lunch at Sunrays Kitchen. Praia do Canavial is a nudist beach that you can only access via a semi-hidden staircase, and it came highly recommended by a Romanian woman who looked a lot like Drew Barrymore.
- Sagres: the fort is really massive once you get inside, with walking trails all over, a patch of solar panels, and a neat labyrinth that amplifies the sound of the waves in a natural pit reaching hundreds of feet below. You can see cliff fishermen all over the place. Then, we grabbed gelato afterwards at Gelateria Alice Art & Heart (Nick’s rec for the best gelato in all of Portugal and maybe the world!) which has a cute garden in the back.
- Self-service juice-making station at the Continente Modelo Lagos supermarket. You can get a whole liter of fresh orange juice for like 3 Euros!!! A free sample lady also made us non alcoholic gin and tonics, which we shared with an old gentleman.
- Seven Hanging Valleys Hike+: We started at Praia da Marinha and made it to Praia do Vale de Centeanes, which is technically the end of the hike. But you can do a quick extension to see Algar Seco and the Carvoeiro Boardwalk, which were super pretty. It felt like being on a moon designed by a mad clay artist. Then, we took the bus back to our parked car.
- Sunrise Paddleboarding tour: Our guide took amazing pictures, and it was so cool to see the caves as the sun rose when barely anyone was out on the water. Plus, we saw dolphins!!
- Massage at Thai Thai massage: screamingly good massage, much needed after lugging around our heavy backpacks for days.
Our favorite meals:
- Dinner at Outro Lado (vegan) in Faro: delicious vegan take on the Portuguese Francesinha dish, which I’m too chicken to try the non-vegan version of.
- Dinner at Shiraz in Faro: orgasmic Mirza Ghasemi (eggplant and tomato dip) with cheesy bread
Évora
Our highlights from this UNESCO world HERITAGE site:
- Chapel of Bones: built out of 5,000 corpses. Mesmerizing. Try not to look at pictures before you go! And try to resist the alluring urge to yield your own bones to the monument…
- Dinner at Taberna Tipica Quarta-feira: we were full for 24 hours. Amazing value for what you get, feels like a Michelin star dining experience. Many mystery meats, and a quartet of desserts. A Rick Steves rec.
- Dinner at Taska Fina: we gorged ourselves on Iberian pig with migas (soaked bread with heavy garlic). And the Aunt’s Mushrooms dish was insane. ANOTHER Rick Steves rec. I’m starting to trust this guy’s opinions.
Places We Wish We Had Gone
- Madeira: Nick and I met so many people who raved about their time in Madeira, which is an autonomous region of Portugal, an archipelago made up of four islands. Flights are cheap and relatively quick from Porto, Lisbon, and Faro.
- Monsanto: When I was looking up Portugal’s sexiest towns, this village in central Portugal came up. The houses are built on, under, and between massive granite boulders. It’s a 3 hour drive from Lisbon, or 4 hours from Porto.
tielqueen 