Douro River Cruise

[travelover99]

Assuming that we will be able to take the Douro river cruise in May 2021.  I'm trying to figure out what we should do before/after the cruise.  Going from the Washington DC area. We have not been to Portugal so am thinking about take some extra days to explore.  What should we do?  Fly to or from Lisbon or just spend extra days in Porto?   If we fly to/from Lisbon, how should we get to/from Porto?  Thanks in advance!

[Host Jazzbeau]

I have research these questions a lot, since my first trip in September was postponed and had to be replanned for April [which may have to be ...]

From New York, there are many more flights to Lisbon than Porto – especially if you want non-stop.  Ultimately I decided to fly Delta to Lisbon then book a separate flight on TAP to Porto later that day.  We will then rent a car in Porto and drive back to Lisbon – taking in all the interesting sights along the way.  But it depends how many extra days you have available – if only a few, I would stay in Porto and do a day trip to Braga and Guimares.

[Squawkman]

This is a nice thing about cruising the Douro with Viking. The cruise includes 2 nights at a hotel in Lisbon before we’re bussed to Porto to board the ship. 

[jpalbny]

Portugal is easy to DIY. You just have to make sure that your rental car is set up for electronic tolls (or if it isn't, you can do it yourself, but it's a pain).

 

Chris and I did a week there on our own just last year, with an itinerary loosely based on a Douro cruise. We decided that there was way too much to do between Lisbon and Porto, so we spent 4d/3n just slowly driving that route, with many stops along the way. We visited Evora, Elvas, Marvao, Tomar, Conimbringa, Penela, Bucaco, and Coimbra before arriving in Porto.

 

There were so many other places that got left off the list - Lisbon deserves time if you've never been there (but we'd already been so we skipped it). Sintra, Cascais, Obidos, etc... Just too many places, too little time. 

 

We did two nights in Porto with side trips to Guimaraes and Citania de Britieros. Then we drove the Douro valley, with stops in Lamego and a Quinta for lunch and wine tasting, before making a beeline to Salamanca for a night. Then we finished with two nights in Madrid.

 

It was a great trip. If you want more details, I did a blog (https://notadourocruise.blogspot.com/) that should give you some idea of what there is to see in Portugal. There should also be a link in my signature if that doesn't work. 

 

You could easily spend a week exploring the area between Lisbon and Porto. I know that we would very much like to go back and see what we missed.

[Host Jazzbeau]

What did the bi-country drop-off do to your car rental rate?

[jpalbny]

5 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

What did the bi-country drop-off do to your car rental rate?

 

Doubled it. The two-country rentals are painfully expensive, but there was no other way to do it, and make all of the stops that we wanted.

 

But after the debacle with the electronic tolls, and an "upgrade" to a larger car that I didn't want, Hertz refunded enough to make up for that charge. So it ended up being pretty reasonable.

Edited November 16, 2020 by jpalbny