Portugal - Lisbon or Porto or not Portugal?!

MrSmartprice

I have been to Lisbon several times and love the place. It is a beautiful city with plenty to see. It is easy to get around using metro and trams. And Belem is only a short tram ride away too. Lisbon has a great atmosphere and prices are very reasonable. The coffee & cake culture is better in Portugal than anywhere. It is easy to get to places like Sintra and Estoril too.

I have also been to Porto. It really is a superb city break destination. It's quite hilly but the metro gets you around - the system is modern, clean, cheap and safe. Across the bridge are all the port lodges, most doing tours with tastings. Eating out is great - most places do half portions, which is just as well as portions tend to be huge. The metro will take you to outlying towns and beaches too, like Matosinhos, as well as the airport.

I would thoroughly recommend either city and cannot see why one or two have been so negative. If you like football there is always a game at weekends, and entry is cheap. Lisbon has Benfica, Sporting or Belenenses. Porto has FC Porto and Boavista.

Having said all this, we have also been to Santiago de Compostela on a city break, in Galicia to the north of Portugal. Another fascinating place. I would willingly return to any of these destinations.

BubbleFrogette

I loved Lisbon when I visited! The wife having had her purse stolen there is the most ridiculous reason to discredit a place - it could happen anywhere, including at your local Tesco store !!!!!!!

Evora is a beautiful town and UNNESCO world heritage site not too far from Lisbon - certainly worth a visit.

brodev

All this talk about Lisbon has convinced me. I'm going there tomorrow. It is a lovely city and I have not been there this year so I am correcting that tomorrow. If the city does not live up to my expectations, I'll let you know. Between you and I, I don't think that will happen as my grandson lives there and he will have his first birthday on Tuesday.

lily_the_pink

I loved Lisbon and would definitely go back - we stayed just outside in Estoril which brought the costs down as the hotel was a rather sad 3 star place that had definitely seen better days. We loved Cascais too - lots of good food (though there was in Lisbon as well).

Plenty of shops, lots of culture - but nothing overly heavy (read boring) - Sintra and the Port Museum (as in Alcohol) were the 2 that stood out but there are various other things to fill your days with. I found Lisbon very unpretentious, and down to earth - lots of windy streets, lifts to the tops of hills but not full of tourist tat that you get in other major European cities.

Estoril and Cascais link to Lisbon by a regular commuter train that runs at all hours (not sure if into the early morning though). You can buy passes or carnets (cant remember which) really cheaply. We were nearly robbed on it coming back one night (well we think we were - we did not really hang around to ask) - but nothing that you would not expect in a large city (so keep your wits around you).

redhead69n

jmarko wrote: »

I know nothing about Portugal. Thinking of going there for a week next month. Not booked anything yet.

So, has anyone been to Lisbon or Porto? We're looking for somewhere with good food, wandering about, shops, things to look at, a bit of cultcha, that sort of thing!

All advice gratefully received!

lisbon is nice place better than porto shopping wise

dawn2dusk

aurora_borealis wrote: »

I'm desparately looig for ANY accommodation near Porto!

There are 6 adults - budget up to £3000 (17th Aug, 2 weeks) and I can't find a single thing. Every owner I email has not updated availability on the various websites.

Getting fed up now!!

Hi, AB, check out Travel Republic, there are 40 accommodations available at the moment in the Porto area.

http://www.travelrepublic.co.uk/

Hope you find something soon.:D

aurora_borealis_2

thanks dawn - I'm STILL looking!

Will check that later

Donnie

I enjoyed both Lisbon and Porto, but....that Bacalhau is so tedious. Sorry.

pcg2001

Donnie wrote: »

I enjoyed both Lisbon and Porto, but....that Bacalhau is so tedious. Sorry.

Bacalhau (dried cod fish) is a prime portuguese ingredient that can be cooked in more ways than there are cheeses in France. So if you go to Portugal, you need to eat at least on dish of cod fish (and some cod "cakes" for starters - "bolinhos de bacalhau").
Personally I love plain grilled cod fish served with garlic and olive oil (good quality) or cod fish "à lagareiro". And pataniscas de bacalhau (salted cod fritters) served with arroz de feijão (bean risotto). You won't regret it!!

PS: Sorry for the sizes, I just seached some photos on the internet and pasted the links here.

[Deleted User]

Your above post has made me hungry pcg2001. My favorite Portuguese meal using cod is 'Bacalhau com Natas'. It's codfish cooked with cream. Maybe not the best suggestion if you're on a diet. If you live in London I can recommend a good inexpensive Portuguese restaurant in Stockwell called 'O Cantinho de Portugal'. A big filling portion will set you back a tenner. Washed down with a couple of Superbock beers, you can do worse things in life I reckon.
Bon Appetit!
:beer: