Prep for Portugal trip

Our inspiration for the trip to Portugal was from a travel article in the New York Times in January 2015. The author spent the majority of his memorable time in the Alentejo region of Portugal. As you can see from the picture below (highlighted in red) it is a fairly large area and is known for its wine, agriculture and food.

With some more research it became evident that we could really enjoy everything that Portugal has to offer. In addition, it is cheaper and better value than other European countries. It worked out that August would be our travel time and we would give it slightly more than 14 days.

Start our holiday in the major capital of Lisbon (Lisboa) and then rent a car for travel north through the Costa Prata region and then into the Porto area and Douro Valley. After some days enjoying wine country, travel south to finish our trip in the Alentejo region.

We created an itinerary and booked our accommodations in advance. Much better deals on rates. We utilized our "Where Chefs Eat" book to assist in finding restaurants recommended by local chefs. Plus, we love Anthony Bourdain so used his experiences in Lisbon to further add to our list of restaurants.

We purchased a Lonely Planet Portugal guidebook. Spoke with friends who had visited or lived in Portugal with our priority of time to be spent enjoying good food and wine. Read other travel articles about Portugal and Lisbon/Porto. Researched recommended wineries and wines as we plan on purchasing up to 18 bottles of wine. We use 'wine skins' to transport our wine in our suitcases. We will take one extra suitcase to accommodate the weight and size of the wine.

One of our friends is loaning us their Garmin GPS so we minimize getting lost while driving. Plus, we have a Michelin map of Portugal that will come in handy.

Follow us on our travel blog.

Randy & Lana