What places do you recommend to visit in Portugal ?

If you interested in sightseeing, here's some ideas:

1) Cross the Douro river upstream (the landscape is beautiful).

2) Visit Oporto.

3) Visit Aveiro (we call it the Portuguese Veneza).

4) Visit Coimbra.

5) The Alcobaça and Batalha Monasteries (centre).

6) Take a photograph of the Óbidos Lagoon (near Caldas da Rainha).

7) Visit the town of Óbidos (castle and old town).

8) Visit the mysteries of Sintra (probably the most beautiful Portuguese place, with a strange and melancholic forest, a medieval castle, Pena Palace etc > here's more info: http://www.portugalvirtual.pt/_tourism/costadelisb...

9) Of course, visit Lisbon (Torre de Belém, Mosteiro dos Jerónimos, the Stadium of Light - lol sorry ;) - take a walk on the Parque das Nações, is great, visit the castle, with an incredible view of the XVIIth century Lisbon´ downtown, rebuilted after the tragic earthquake of 1755, by the Marques de Pombal, whose statue is placed in the town center, etc).

10) Travel around the Alentejo's atlantic coast :)

11) Visit the town of Évora, an important Portuguese place (lots of History, and it is very beautiful too).

12) Visit the Algarve (not so many people around there in this time of the year) - but not only the beaches, of course, there is a lot to see in the countryside as well.

13) Castelo Branco, a town near Spain (centre).

14) Or visit the Minho ("the green area").

15) Take a trip to the islands of Azores (Probably the only Portuguese place not yet destroyed by mass tourism - thanks to you know who for that ).

16) The Madeira\Porto Santo islands (beautiful as well, but with more tourism).

17) In the end, visit all the country. It is a country to die for (ups, sorry, here i go again...), but sometimes it is not very well preserved and esteemed by our people :(

Of course in one week it is impossible to see it all; depends where you staying. If it is in Lisbon, first visit the town, patiently (forget all the traffic confusion... it's a problem, i know), use the metro and buses. You should better buy a map of the city first, there's a lot to visit. There are also many bars in Lisbon as well...

Then, visit places around Lisbon; i forgot to tell you, the Mafra Convent, you cannot miss it. It was built in the XVIII century. It has a spectacular view to the ocean and is near Lisbon. Then Sintra. And so on. It depends on your tastes.

Oh, I also recommend it, if you like fish, take a trip to Setubal, near Lisbon, or to the Peniche town :))

I'm pretty sure that i forgot a lot, but i think i gave you some thoughts.

Good choice- I LOVE Portugal! To me it seems different than the rest of Western Europe, it is more Latino and cheaper. I spent a week there and visited Porto and Lisbon. Oporto is very pretty and as you head towards the water you have some very interesting neighbourhoods to walk through. Wear comfortable shoes though, the hills are steep! There are some beautiful churches and tiles displays to see there. Between Porto and Lisbon, (about 4 hours on the train) there wasn't too much to see. Lisbon is more multi-cultural, with a lot of immigrants from the former colonies. There is lots to see there, like Belem, and an interesting museum and a map of the world made out of tiles very close to it. I suggest getting a day pass for the buses where you can taked different tours to check things out, and ride the trams. You must try nata's which are delicious custard tarts- very addictive! There are beautifully decorated foothpaths (sidewalks) in Lisbon too. Barrio Alto is good for bars if you are interested in that. Have a great time!!

All depends on how much money you're willing to spend but more the time you have available and even more the thirst of exploration. You have Ger~es, a natural park that is beautiful, you have the whole of Alentejo, Porto is lovely by night and day, Figueira, and Foz lovely beaches (well, all the 800km of coast line we enjoy have great beaches by that count ;)), Coimbra alive and ecstatic in school season, as well as the "beiras" (Beira Alta e Baixa) with its hills and mountains and streams and wildlife. Could not leave the all so famous Algarve out of the equation as it is one of the biggest summer places visited from all around the world. Again, depends on what you want to do see and feel. Also we have 2 provinces called Madeira and Açores (the latter the most beautiful place you can go in my opinion). Nothing like doing a quick visit to a tourism office to get the names of the places, and then see for yourself without the shackles of tourist groups and organized visits ;P

Hi - we have been to Portugal but not travelled around a lot but this year we have booked to go to Montegordo which is really near the border of portugal/spain and is suppose to be lovely ........ it maybe worth looking into - apparently it is very traditional portuguese not full of tourists !