Portugal 🇵🇹

One Week in Portugal: Lisbon, Sintra & Porto

LISBON

Hotel (3 nights): Hyatt Regency Lisbon 14,000 points per night with a rooftop bar and lounge, impressive gym and on-site spa. Located in the Belém neighborhood with a beautiful view of the April 25 Bridge, resembling San Francisco's Golden Gate.

Day 1: Walking Tour

• Belém District: We started out the day with breakfast at Pastēis de Belēm established in 1837 and the birthplace of the pastel de nata, a delicious custard tart. From there, we walked next door to Jerónimos Monastery where the dessert was first developed by a Catholic monk as egg yolks were in abundance with egg whites being used for laundry starching. Across the street is the Monument to the Discoveries and a short walk along the Tagus River takes you to the Belém Tower.

• Baixa District: I loaded the Bolt app and we hitched a ride to Commerce Square (photo above) and walked through the Rua Augusta Arch.

• Alfama District: From there, it's a 13 minute "mostly" flat walk to the Se Cathedral in the Alfama district, the only neighborhood not to get devastated in the 1755 earthquake. Another 13 minute walk up hills and steep stairways will bring you to the Gothic São Jorge Castle. There is no view from the outside of the castle, so it's not necessary to make the trek up the hill unless you plan to purchase a ticket at the gate or on their website.

• Bairro Alto y Chiado District: After the castle, it's a 14 minute walk down the hill to Rossio Square with its gorgeous black and white mosaic tiles and head down the block to the Santa Justa Lift on your way to Sol e Pesca for some of Lisbon's tinned fish. This area is known for restaurants and cafes.

• Food & Drink: We lunched on excellent octopus at O Gaiteiro (featured in the Epic Lisbon Food Tour), and returned to this district later in the evening for dinner and some of Lisbon's famous cherry liqueur at Ginjinha Sem Rival. Other recommendations in the area are the Java Rooftop and Time Out Market.

SINTRA

Day 2: Day Trip to Sintra

Located only a 30 minute drive from Lisbon, Sintra is an easy day trip. Although we did the trip independently, Viator has a variety of comprehensive packages, including transportation.

• Getting There: An Uber (or Bolt, more commonly used in Portugal) from Lisbon to the Pena Palace costs around $23. Our Bolt driver was able to drop us off at the palace ticket booth instead of at the bottom of the hill, saving us the cost of a tuk-tuk ride up the winding hill. You can also take the train from Lisbon to Sintra.

• Our Pena Palace entrance tickets cost $15 each and enabled us to skip the line and walk around the palace. There are tickets for an additional cost that allow further entry into the palace interior.

• Another worthwhile UNESCO World Heritage site visit is the Quinta da Regaleira, a Gothic palace with an impressive 27-meter spiral staircase with 23 small niches and an inland stone compass and Templar cross at the bottom.

• To escape the March wind and intermittent rain, we stepped into Dona Maria for an excellent lunch and gorgeous views.

On our way back to Lisbon, our Bolt driver dropped us off at Campo Ourique where we hopped on the Historic Tram 28 and rode it all the way to the last stop at Martim Moniz. From there, we walked 7 minutes to Cervejaria Ramiro, one of Anthony Bourdain's stops on No Reservations.

PORTO

Hotel (2 nights): Torel Palace Porto Superior Suite $130 per night, including breakfast, a welcome drink, and a bottle of champagne (for being an Expedia Silver Member). This was an absolutely incredible value and a gorgeous property!

Day 3: Train to Porto (see Seat61 for train travel details)

We headed to Santa Apolónia Station, located along the Tagus River in Lisbon's Alfama District, and purchased two round-trip tickets for $50 each on the 9:30 am train to Porto, Lisbon's second largest city and the birthplace of port wine. After enjoying a pastry and cappuccino in the station's cafe, we relaxed comfortably in our second class cabin and spent the next 3.5 hours gazing out the window at the beautiful landscape until arriving at Campanha Station, on the outskirts of Porto.

A quick transfer to the local commuter train (included in all train ticket purchases) brought us to São Bento Station, located in the middle of all the action and often called the most beautiful train station in the world. We were immediately taken aback by the beauty of Porto, a city that gives an architectural WOW impression the moment you step off the train! We hiked up the hill to our hotel and were more than pleased at the huge room and the gorgeous interior.

Day 4: Exploring Porto

The previous night, we wandered aimlessly which is very easy to do in Porto and ended up on the banks of the Douro River (photo above) where we ate our favorite meal of the trip at Muro do Bacalhau, roasted pumpkin soup with fried cheese pastry, tuna with pickled onions and shredded beef with onions, carrots, mashed potatoes and gravy. The flavors of every dish were incredible!

Today, we hit the hot spots of Porto, as noted by our hotel receptionist: Church of Saint Ildefonso, Majestic Cafe, Chapel of Santa Catarina with its stunning azulejos tiled exterior, Santa Catarina shopping street, Bolhao Market, Carmo and Carmelitas Church, Livraria Lello bookstore of Harry Potter fame, Clérigos Tower and Porto Cathedral.

Porto is much more compact than Lisbon and easy to traverse on foot, if you're not afraid of hills (tuk-tuks tours are also popular in both Lisbon and Porto). From the Porto Cathedral, we walked down the steps toward the Douro River and continued down a series of stairs all the way to Ribeira Square with views of the Dom Luis I Bridge. We enjoyed a Sagres beer and listened to live music, then walked across the bridge to Gaia to do a port tasting at Cálem Winery (check out Taylor's Port, if you can).

LISBON

Hotel (1 night): Memmo Alfama $150 per night (booked on the Chase Portal to receive Chase Sapphire Preferred's annual $50 hotel credit) and includes breakfast. Located in the historic Alfama district with stunning views of the River Tagus (photo above).

Day 5: Train to Lisbon

We enjoyed one last breakfast with mimosa bar at our hotel in Porto and headed back to São Bento Station to make the trip back to Lisbon. Upon arrival at Santa Apolónia Station, we hiked up several steep staircases to our boutique hotel with an absolutely incredible view in the Alfama district. We enjoyed a glass of wine in our room and headed out to explore the historic neighborhood, finding an excellent spot for dinner at Maria Catita, only a 7 minute walk back to our hotel. We returned to our hotel to find a live Fado music performance which was a perfect way to end the evening.

Day 6: Departure Day

We both wished we had another day (or two) when we woke up on our last day and enjoyed breakfast with a view at the hotel. Especially because our first day of the trip was supposed to be a day trip in Amsterdam, but it was pouring rain when we arrived (and our flight was delayed out of MSP 3 hours), so we spent the 6 hour layover in Schiphol airport.

After breakfast and a few more pictures of the incredible view, we packed our things, checked out and hopped in our last Bolt to the airport. We had a short layover in Amsterdam and landed in Minneapolis where we flew through customs with our newly obtained Global Entry.

Portugal is a gorgeous country and comes highly recommended!

PACKING SUGGESTIONS

• Travel light: use a Samsonite Underseat Carry-On or backpack and packing cubes or vacuum sealed bags

• Bring a crossbody bag, travel wallet, portable charger, toiletry bag and European travel adapter (and this small travel adapter)

• For weather-related tips, see What to Wear in Portugal

GETTING THERE

We transferred Chase points to Virgin Atlantic during a 30% transfer bonus and bought a round trip ticket from Minneapolis to Lisbon (stopover in Amsterdam) for only 23,000 points + $86 taxes per person. That's the cash equivalent of a $316 round trip.

BUDGET (2 people)

Flight: $321 + 46,000 points

Hotels: $430 + 42,000 points

Transport: $225 (Uber/Bolt & train)

Restaurants: $495 (exc value!)

TOTAL: $1471

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