Portugal Road Trip: Lisbon, the Alentejo and the Algarve

Portugal is a country that has so much to offer and so despite having visited several times before, we decided to go once again in November 2024. It truly is a wonderful destination, offering amazing scenery, excellent food and even better wine, a climate that offers warm weather even in mid-November, genuinely friendly people and all at a price that is almost impossible to beat in Western Europe.

The excellent value kicked into overdrive because we were travelling outside of peak season and away from any UK school holidays. But more of that later: first, the plan. Loving the simple life, we opted to fly to Faro, the entrance point to the Algarve and an airport with loads of regional connectivity. That meant we could fly from Leeds Bradford, just 10 minutes from where we live and grab direct flights at reasonably short notice for less than £200 each with one hold bag between two.

The Plan

After much discussion, research and investigation, we managed to formulate a plan which turned out to be cunning – by which I mean nothing more than we had a great holiday. We would pick up a car and have ourselves a Portuguese road trip, taking in Monchique, and a week at a cut-price spa hotel, the glorious Alentejo capital Evora, and the national capital Faro. We would also squeeze in a day trip to Nazare in search of big waves and have a night in Faro pre-flight, largely to avoid any last-minute car-hire stress.

Great hiking near Monchique

Car Hire

Our first stop was just an hour or so north of Faro airport but first we had to collect our car. And what a bargain that was! The basic charge was £54. Not per day, or per week, but for two weeks! Clearly there are so many cars at Faro to service the busy summer that bringing in any cash is deemed worth their while.

Everything went smoothly with the car, with an easy collection and drop-off, no surprise charges and a clean, perfectly functioning vehicle. One thing to note, however, is that there are a lot of road tolls in Portugal and, moreover, in the Algarve these cannot be paid on the road. Instead you have to pay for the use of an electronic device which means you simply sail through and get billed later. It’s an additional cost, as are the tolls themselves, but it makes things really easy and when you’re paying £4 a day for the car it’s hard to begrudge.

Monchique Spa Hotel

We stayed for a week in the Algarve municipality of Monchique, just outside the town of the same name at a spa hotel, imaginatively called Monchique Resort and Spa. Not that I want to give the impression that bargain-hunting was the main driver of our holiday choices but again, this was a real bargain.

Sunset drink in Monchique
Sunset drink in Monchique

We paid less than £55 per night for a patio balcony suite and that included an excellent buffet breakfast. It is an all-suite hotel, so our room had a generous living area, complete with a fridge, dishwasher, microwave and hob. Our plan was to take things really easy and have a week of real relaxation and the suite meant that we were comfy enough to do that without having to leave.

We ate in several nights, enjoying simple meals of fresh bread with local cheeses and charcuterie, taking pre- and indeed post-dinner wine and beers on the balcony, which enjoyed the evening sun. That is not to say we stayed in and got drunk all the time. During the day there are excellent walks and some good running trails, with brilliant views out as far as the sea.

The hotel had a spa, of course, though this was charged extra. However, €25 per person for two-hour usage was excellent value. We did not have any treatments but the staff were excellent and there was a good range of facilities. Best of all, it was never too busy and at times we had it virtually to ourselves.

The hotel certainly has a lot to recommend it, with plenty of free activities, such as guided walks, cocktail-making classes and, for the more energetic, HIIT sessions. There was something for everyone though, with yoga and natural cosmetics (learning to make your own) more sedate options.

It is a five-star hotel but as the price would indicate, it isn’t a super-luxury experience. However, even at double the price we paid I would say it was good value, especially with a superb breakfast thrown in that catered to healthy tastes and full holiday-mode diets alike (pastel de nata and a glass of fizz anyone?). We could have stayed longer but we had places to go!

Into the Alentejo

The Alentejo region has been highlighted as a bit of an undiscovered gem for many years. There is a lot of truth in the fact that most visitors to Portugal focus on the two major cities, Porto and Lisbon, and the resorts of the south. However, the Alentejo actually covers a huge swathe of Portugal, accounting for around a third of the nation. We knew we wanted to go <em>somewhere</em> in the region, which despite its size in terms of area, is home to just over 5% of the population. But where?

Evora’s beautiful main square

In the end we settled for Evora, the capital, which was a leisurely three hours north of our hotel. The Portuguese would probably get there in two – they don’t do leisurely on the roads. Evora itself is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is as enchanting as you would expect, with a Roman temple, a wall-enclosed old town and some fascinating architecture. Set to the European Capital of Culture in 2027 it is well worth a visit now, before the crowds, although of course 2027 will also see a fascinating program of artistic and cultural events if you’d rather wait.

There are bars and restaurants aplenty but like most places we visited beyond our point of arrival and departure, there were few English tourists. We perhaps had a little too much fun in Evora, €5 glasses, well, flagons really, of decent red wine, plus an excellent live covers band keeping us in one particular bar for at least three hours more than was advisable. Oh well, fun was had, and it rained most of the next day so we didn’t need to feel guilty about staying in bed for most of the day!

Lisbon Calling

Charming as Evora is, two nights was enough for us, though you could certainly stay longer if you intended to use it as a base from which to explore the many vineyards in the region. So, with hangovers cleared we set off for Lisbon, a beautiful city I had visited 20 years earlier under rather different circumstances (with five friends in a mobile home following England around the country at Euro 2004).

Balcony with a view – Lisbon

This time around we did things in a little more style but then, in truth, using a glass to drink out of and showering more frequently that once a week would have ticked that box. Lisbon is a truly stunning city and comes highly recommended. Like everywhere we went in Portugal, people were warm, helpful and very friendly. This was somewhat surprising in the capital because it is somewhere that has suffered through over-tourism and gentrification.

It is very popular with digital nomads and the Airbnb hoards and, of course, this has not helped house prices for locals. Given that large capital cities often tend to be somewhat less friendly than smaller ones as well, we were pleasantly surprised to find the locals, the Lisboetas (or informally Alfacinhas, meaning little lettuce!), to be incredibly warm and welcoming. I’m putting it down to my attempts at Portuguese, which may have just been bad Spanish with a bit of an accent, but seemed to go down well nonetheless.

Lisbon is fairly spread out, so we certainly got plenty of steps in, taking in the various districts and sites. For those wishing to spare the leather on their shoes, a ubiquitous tuk-tuk tour would be a good option but we got round fine on foot and using the fairly limited but efficient underground network.

Pasteis de nata in beautiful Belem
Pasteis de nata in beautiful Belem

We ate more than our weight in pasteis de nata, of course, including at its home in beautiful Belem. We mingled with locals whilst queuing for restaurants – locals and tourists may have been very well lubricated by Super Bok at this stage. We ate great seafood, drank delicious wine and visited a number of excellent craft-brewery taps.

Lisbon really does have a little of something for everyone but the call of the waves lured us up the coast to Nazare. This small town lies around 75 miles north of the Portuguese capital and with our trusty, and did we mention incredibly good value, steed, otherwise known as a Citroen, it was about a 90-minute drive. Nazare is famed as the home, certainly the major European destination, of big-wave surfing.

Hawaii, California, Tahiti and Australia are just some of the places that will be on the bucket list for surfers, but for the best big-wave riders around, Nazare is number one. In 2020 German ace Sebastian Steudner rode an 86ft (26m) wave, and that remains the Guinness World Record. Footage and pictures of the waves at Nazare are hard to comprehend and present a stunning picture. The season for monster waves runs from October to March so it seemed silly to miss out on a day trip as we were there in November.

Surf museum at Nazare fort
Surf museum at Nazare fort

Sadly, nobody really told the waves all this. There is a glorious beach, the iconic fort lighthouse and some breath-taking scenery, as well as a charming little town. But on the day we visited there were no waves. The sea was flat and whilst one highly optimistic surfer was being towed around by jet-ski, giving us a little hope we might see some action, it wasn’t to be. We did, however, have some incredibly fresh sardines for lunch, so it wasn’t a wasted trip.

After the excursion to see the flattest sea ever, we returned to Lisbon for our final night, before driving back to Faro the following morning. Faro (the city, rather than the district) is one of those places that most tourists fly into and then are coached straight out to their resort. We had heard it had more to offer and so spent the night in a small, fairly basic hotel before flying home the next day.

Faro is the largest city in the Algarve, though with a population of around 40,000 it is more like a small town really. Dating back to the 4th century, it sits on the edge of the Ria Formosa lagoon, which makes for some spectacular and rather unusual sunsets. There isn’t a huge amount to see or do but we spent a pleasant evening strolling around the medieval centre, taking in the architecture and stopping for the occasional glass of local wine.

It was a nice, gentle end to what had been a hugely enjoyable, very relaxing break. We enjoyed the mix of a road trip, some spa luxury, a city break in a truly spectacular European capital and a day trip to the seaside. We’ll be back, and hopefully next time we might see some surfing too!