Last week we already posted the first part of the highlights of our trip to Portugal. This week we will share the second half of the highlights. We hope these tips will help you plan your own trip.
Alcobaça
We visited Alcobaça after Óbidos and noticed that there was far less tourism. The vibe is more authentic than in Óbidos and we saw a lot of flowers and happy colours on buildings when we entered the town. We recommend visiting the church as it’s beautiful and the entrance is free. There’s a monastery inside for which you do have to buy a ticket if you want to enter. We didn’t visit the monastery, but from what we’ve heard it could be worth a visit. In Alcobaca it’s also possible to park for free in a big parking spot close to the town’s centre.
Leiria
We loved this town, the centre looks really nice and there is a castle on the hill that you can visit. There is an elevator leading to the castle, but you can also walk there. The castle was not crowded at all when we visited, we could see everything at our own pace. The view at the top over Leiria is really nice! The entrance fee of the castle is really low, about 2 euros for an adult above 25 years old and 1 euro beneath 25. The use of the elevator is free. When we visited we saw mostly locals instead of tourists in the centre of Leiria.
Coimbra
When visiting Coimbra we recommend taking a walk through the centre. The university and the botanical garden are worth a visit in our opinion. Some parts of the botanical garden weren’t maintained all that well, but we still think it’s worth your time. You can escape from the noise of the city and have a nice walk, also there is no entrance fee. When you drive to Coimbra you will have an amazing outlook of the city. If you enter through the bridge the more authentic Portuguese restaurants are on the left side, we recommend finding a place to eat there. Most of the restaurants in the other parts of the city are aimed at tourism and are therefore more expensive and less authentic.
Porto
If you like city trips Porto is a great place to visit. There’s a lot to see, for example, the well-known bookstore Livraria Lello (there is a long line and the entrance fee is 5 euros, you can decide for yourself if you think that is worth it), churches and lots of stores. There’re a lot of good restaurants to eat at, we will share our favourite restaurant in Porto through one of the upcoming articles. We recommend crossing the bridge to the other side of the city where all the Port houses are. You can do a tour, a Port tasting and chill at the waterside looking over Porto.
These were the highlights of our trip to Portugal!
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