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Portugal

Lisbon

Thriving city with good food and cobblestone streets, spend 2-3 days here.

Restaurants:

  • Manteigaria (dessert shop) - Best Pastel de Nata in the COUNTRY. This is a delicious dessert you don't want to mis​s.

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Skip:

  • Restaurante Cabacas (casual) -

    • In Short: A long wait for average steak in a crowded room

    • At Length: There's better steak on a stone to be had in Portugal. We had to wait over an hour to get a table and when we did it was a VERY crowded small restaurant, with people hovering over our table trying to get in. Not worth it.

Porto

CHARMING riverside town in northern Portugal with decent food and quaint shopping everywhere; spend 3-5 days or more - it is also a good base from which to visit wineries, and taste port.

Restaurants:

  • Flor dos Congregados (casual) -

    • In Short: Home-style Portuguese food - best we ate in Porto

    • This restaurant certainly wins for ambiance, but it also served the best food we ate in Porto. It's home-style cuisine, very hearty and warm with good portion sizes. The interior is all stone, and it transports you back to a different time. It's a convenient location but easy to miss since it's in an alley, but worth looking for.

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Hotels:

  • InterContinental Porto - Palacio das Cardosas (5 stars) - 

    • In Short: Worth the extra money​

    • At Length: We started out in an AirBnB nearby that we quickly discovered lacked air-conditioning (a necessity in August!). We used points to switch to this hotel and it was so worth it. The InterContinental is right in the center of town - a great jumping off point for anywhere you want to go. The hotel is 5 stars through and through. We did a ton of walking in this town and it was nice to come home to an extremely comfortable bed in an air-conditioned room.

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Activities:

  • Taste of Porto Food Tour -

    • In Short: Excellent introduction into Portuguese food, and Porto

    • We are so glad we took this tour! Our guide was excellent - very knowledgeable about food, culture, and Porto history. We did the downtown tour. It lasts a few hours and there is a lot of walking - which is good because there is a lot of eating too. We sampled all different kinds of Portuguese food - sweet and savory. One of the best elements of the tour is the visit to the Bolhão food market, which is great to see with a guide. The walk is nice too because it covers different parts of Porto, which we may not have found on our own. Highly recommend this one!

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Skip:

  • Francesinha - A type of food unique to Portugal. It is a heart-attack on a plate, and not tasty enough to merit one.

Arraiolos

Middle of the country, cork trees, and pretty landscape.

Monte Velho Equo Resort - We visited this resort to horseback ride for a couple days. It is known for dressage, but you can "hack out" too. It is a small boutique hotel that is good for singles, couples, families. The food is family-style and is the best we had in Portugal (except the Michelin restaurants below).​ If you don't ride but your partner does, this is still a good place to come, there are plenty of activities to do like hiking, canoeing, etc. though you are on a private estate so those activities are within that parameter. If you enjoy riding, and especially if you enjoy dressage, this is a worthwhile destination off the beaten path.

Portimao

Seaside city in southern Portugal. VERY touristy and crowded - choose your season carefully, if at all.

Restaurants:

  • Vila Joya (fine dining, 2 Michelin stars; in Albufeira) - 

    • In Short: Superb!

    • At Length: We reserved seats in the kitchen, and happened to be the only two guests there that night. We missed out on the two-star table service, but boy was it worth it! We met the chef, and witnessed all the magic of the kitchen, including a squabble between the head waiter and one of the chefs that was very entertaining (though in two different foreign languages). The food was outstanding and the presentation exquisite - as you would expect. The wine was also delicious. Also the setting of the restaurant was gorgeous, go at sunset.

  • Vista Restaurante (fine dining, Michelin star) -

    • In Short: Superb!​

    • At Length: We stayed at the hotel where this restaurant is, and didn't realize how highly rated it was. Lucky us! The food, presentation, and service are wonderful here, as is the view (especially sunset). We tasted three different types of butter (yum), and different types of oils. It wasn't just a meal but an education, and we loved every minute.

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Skip:

  • Bela Vista Hotel and Spa - 

    • In Short: Not as nice as you want it to be, overlooks beach with hoards of people, backs to busy/not nice boardwalk.

    • At Length: This five-star hotel only deserves its stars for the restaurant, which is fabulous (see above). The town it resides in is not very nice, and was very very busy when we were visiting. It sits on a boardwalk that is crowded on one side, and overlooks a beach on the other that is even more crowded. The hotel is eccentric in one part, but has another guest house that is average - not five stars. When you walk from one to the other, you have to look through the fence at all the tourists on the busy boardwalk, which is awkward and not very luxurious. The views are nice at sunset over the water, and the spa is decent. The pool is nice enough. Overall though it is not nearly as nice as you want or expect it to be for the price you are paying.

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