BootsnAll Travel Community

My wife and I are taking our 1 year old son on his first trip to Europe. On trips to Spain (my wife lived there for a few years) we always said that we should go over to Portugal. The birth of our son slowed our travels a bit, but he is old enough for the flight over the Atlantic. Going for a week in July. Any suggestions? - North, South, best cultural spots, where to see the "real" Portugal? I heard the South is really touristy - we don't want that? We actually rented a car for the week for transport - to carry the diapers and such... Thanks!

Michelin is one of the well known European travel guides and sure there might be less traffic about up north, but bet a lot comes through from France too.
Other than heading inland a bit which will take you away from cooling coastal effects (and not good for the bub and does he travel well - heat makes them grumpy) I'd just be hunting around for some nice little villages and make use of whatever touring sites likethis one to do additional research.

Hey Cook,
I was in South Portugal a few days ago. Not true. Some places do have a lot of tourists. Most small town you find do not. I drove on the N-10 and N-120 roads (non toll) that leads to many smaller towns. I hope you know Portugese. But if you don't like me; you will be fine. Bring a phrase book. People are friendly and are alway willing to help. They have supermarket that has everything you need. The streets (in town) are made of stones so rolling a baby carrage around is not a good idea. Also, bring a GPS unit. The road signs are hard to read; I am so used to the large and abundant road signs in the US.
Email me if you have specific questions (pham.vinh@gmail.com). Have fun. I love the cliff and city in Sagres. It's along N-10 and N-120 road. You can see a few pictures of southern Portugal on this site: http://www.cs.utah.edu/~vpham.

Thanks for the information. Perhaps we will head south. GPS sounds good, but getting lost can be fun as well.

I heard Sagres is fantastic. Did you by any change go to Evora?