Portugal Scouting Trip
What is a Portugal Scouting Trip you ask? Portugal has been on our radar for a few years as a retirement destination. This trip was to visit many areas we had been looking at (online) for about 4 years. My main goal was to rule out some areas and add others to the list of possible locations. We were there in 2018 and enjoyed the country, food, and people.
The Azores made us very interested in Portugal as a retirement location. Unfortunately, the Azores are not on mainland Europe and we would add another flight if we wanted to travel anywhere. However, it is only a 2-hour flight roughly to Lisbon or Porto and similar flights to the UK and 4-5 hours to the US.
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I only visited the mainland on this trip to Portugal. My trip covered from the Algarve to Braga and Lisbon to Nisa and pretty much everything in between. After the rental car was done, I had driven 3742km (2525 miles) in 16 days. That is a lot of driving, especially considering 2 of the days I didn’t drive at all in Porto. It felt like I had covered a lot of Portugal to get a better lay of the land. Below is my itinerary of where I visited. A lot of the days were spent driving around where I was staying. Please check out my videos on YouTube for this trip. Don’t forget to like and subscribe.
Flights
My flight was from Atlanta to Istanbul to Lisbon and back on the same route. I flew with my sister-in-law to Istanbul on the way over as she was going to South Africa. We met again in Istanbul for the trip home. Check out her blog for DIY ideas.
Although the airfare would have been cheaper going a more direct route to Portugal, I couldn’t resist a long layover in Istanbul with enough time to enjoy the delicious cuisine. The uber ride into Istanbul from the airport and back accounted for about $60 of my expenses. There are cheaper options than Uber for that trip, but my sister-in-law had a shorter layover. We didn’t want to risk her missing the flight to South Africa. We had a layover in both directions, so we took advantage of the time to enjoy some cuisine and the vibe.
My Itinerary (actual points along the road trip)
This isn’t the most efficient path by far. Unfortunately, my plans changed at the last minute. Therefore, I decided to go to Lagos in the Algarve for a few days.
Turkey – Istabul *
Lisbon
Tavira *
Monte Gordo
Vila Real de Santo António
Castro Marim
Alcoutim
São Brás de Alportel
Loule
Silves
Lagoa
Estombar
Albufeira *
Aljustrel
Portel
Beja
Evora
Coimbra *
Penacova
Miranda do Corvo
Penela
Figuera da Foz
Quiaios
Lousa
Ilhavo
Aveiro *
Porto *
Braga
Vila Real
Viseu *
Guarda
Covilha
Castelo Branco
Nisa
Caldas da Rainha *
Nazare
Leira
Fatima
Obidos
Peniche
Lagos *
Praia da Luz
Cabo Sardao
Sines
Setubal *
Praia de Galapinhos
Sintra
Lisbon *
Turkey – Istanbul *
* = places I stayed at least one night
Budget (estimated) 1 person
Expenses Portugal | |
Gas/Fuel | $398 |
Car Rental (inc tolls) | $837 |
Accommodation | $1157 |
Food | $235 |
Parking | $20 |
Uber/Taxi | $9 |
COVID Test | $27 |
Travel Insurance | $93 |
SIM Card | $16 |
Airfare ATL – IST – LIS – IST -ATL | $951 |
Total | $3742 |
Budget (estimated) 2 people
Expenses Turkey | |
Gas/Fuel | $15 |
Accommodation | $58 |
Food | $54 |
Visa (6-month) | $52 |
Uber/Taxi | $80 |
Car Rental | $30 |
Total | $289 |
Grand Total for Turkey and Portugal $4171
Click here to see all posts related to this trip.
Click here to see all the videos on YouTube from this trip.
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