Portugal Sintra, Lisbon, Estoril
A three day guide tour around the sunny cities of Portugal Day One Sintra Portugal is the current trend, the country’s history and culture, gastronomy and wines, the beaches, surfing, music festivals, golf, the varied landscapes and, above all, the Portuguese people, who are seen as affable and open.
To experience all of this, you should start with Sintra. This city is in a green mountainscape of palaces, there you’ll be able to find Palacio da Pena, a Romanticist castle that stands on the top of a hill in the Sintra Mountains. The palace is one of the Seven Wonders of Portugal.
Before heading out to visit the palace, be sure to stop by one of Sintra’s pastry shop “Piriquita” and have for breakfast our specialty, “Queijada de Sintra”, a candy born during the colonial period in the farms, or “Travesseiros”, famed worldwide.
After visiting the Palace and enjoying the beautiful sights of Sintra, you must be hungry, but lucky for you, this city has a lot of good food places like Nau Palatina, which will take you on a gastronomy journey through the flavors of Portugal, there you can try famous plates like “Ovas de Bacalhau” or “Cozido à Portuguesa”
Since you already had lunch, you must be ready for the next stop “Quinta da Regaleira”. It is the true wonder of, not only Sintra, but Portugal itself. Before that, make sure to enjoy it fully by walking, that way you’ll be able to see the beautiful landscapes Sintra holds. However, if you are too tired or lazy because you ate too much of the delicious food, you can catch a Tuk tuk. These are very easy to find since they are all over the city and will show you the streets of Sintra while you head to the next destination.
Quinta da Regaleira is a 4-hectare estate with palace, gardens and caves and had many owners over the years. It belonged to the Viscountess of Regaleira, a family of wealthy merchants from Porto.
After you visit Quinta da Regaleira, you can enjoy some delicious local food in the restaurant “Taberna Criativa”.
Day Two Lisbon The best way to start the second day in this wonderful country is eating a Pastel de nata in a wonderful coffee bar “Pasteis de belém”.
After you have treated yourself with this delicious dish, you are ready to start exploring the wonder of the city. Your first stop would be the unique Coches museum. There you can see the rich collection of various carriages which were used throughout the history.
A great way to experience both sun and landscapes and also learn about local history, is to visit the Discovery padron; a monument that tells the story about portuguese discoveries by sea. The best way to fully enjoy the scenery is to go on the top of the monument itself.
The next step for the perfect sensation would be to go for a walk by the river and through the park, until you arrive to Belém’s Tower; this monument used to be a surveillance point for incoming enemies.
Another stunning construction from the 16th century is Jerónimos Monastery. It replaced the church formerly existing in the same place, which was dedicated to Santa Maria de Belém and where the monks of the militaryreligious Order of Christ provided assistance to seafarers in transit.
After all of that you will probably be exhausted and hungry so we recommend you to delight yourself with a plate of traditional food in the restaurant “Adega de Belém”. The best desert you can have is to proceed your journey, and the best way to do it is by renting a Tuk-Tuk. While heading to your next stop you will pass by a lot fascinating buildings such as the romanesque cathedral “Sé de Lisboa”. After a 30 minute drive you will arrive to St Jorge’s castle; The strongly fortified citadel dates from medieval period of Portuguese history, and is one of the main tourist sites of Lisbon. When you finish exploring the Castle you can go to Santa Luzia Viewpoint and take some pictures of the beautiful city panorama. Then you can proceed to the Santa Justa Elevator which will take to “Bairro Alto” where you can have a nice dinner in a fantastic themed restaurant, in which you can enjoy some traditional Portuguese music (Fado). If you still have energy, you can grab a drink in one of the many bars or nightclubs the city offers.
Day three Estoril Estoril is a town in the Municipality of Cascais, Portugal, on the Portuguese Riviera. Estoril is one of the most expensive places to live in Portugal and the Iberian Peninsula. It is home to a sizable foreign community and known for its luxury restaurants, hotels, and entertainment. Estoril is consistently ranked for its high quality of living, making it one of the most livable places in Portugal.
After you wake up, you can go for a walk on the wet sands of Tamariz beach and breathe the fresh air. Tamariz Beach is a pleasant family oriented beach and is overlooked by a medieval styled castle. Tamariz is is the largest beach within walking distance of Estoril and is a good choice during the busy summer weekends for visitors who don’t want to get too far from their resorts.
You can go and have breakfast at Praia Tamariz Restaurant near the beach. There you can have a variety of local foods, great for the ones who like to taste new things.
Then you can go to “Autódromo do Estoril” , officially known as Autódromo Fernanda Pires da Silva, is a motorsport race track. With a length of 4.182 km, it was once the home of the Formula One Portuguese Grand Prix from 1984 to 1996. The capacity of the motorsport stadium is 45,000.
The tour will take you some time and you will be really hungry. We recommend you going to ”Lab by Sergi Arola”, a unique, authentic and intimate restaurant. Highlights here include the beautiful dining room, with its stunning view of the golf course, and the creative fare on offer, which has its roots in the Mediterranean, but with a nod to superb Portuguese ingredients.
Late in the night you can go at the ”Casino Estoril” one of the most popular casinos in the world. If you are feeling lucky and want to do some bets and win money then you have to go to this casino, here you will have a lot of fun with the other people while spinning the wheel.
But if you choose to party with friends or make some new ones on c the last day in the sunniest country, you can go to the Tamariz Summer Club, drink any kind of drinks, eat some good snacks and dance to really catchy and great portuguese music.