It’s hard to believe that a place like Sintra exists less than 30 kilometers from Portugal’s capital, Lisbon. Sintra has long been a favorite with royals and romantics alike, and is well worth visiting if you’re staying in Lisbon. Even better, get away from the hustle of bustle of Lisbon by staying in Sintra, so you can lap up its beauty and peace first hand.
Sintra is located on the craggy northern slops of the Serra de Sintra, and is surrounded by lush vegetation and stunning mountain top views. Poets and mystics have sung Sintra’s praises for many centuries, and even Lord Byron overcame his general dislike of Portugal to praise Sintra’s natural beauties. Sintra is within the bounds of the Parque Natural de Sintra-Cascais, so there are plenty of walks and day trips you can take in the general area.
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An interesting place to start your explorations of Portugal is in the northern city of Porto (aka Oporto). The city’s airport is well served by many major connections to the rest of Europe and indeed the world. Porto is probably best known to sports fans for its soccer team who have won the Champions League twice. Perhaps a visit to the Dragão Stadium might be of interest! It’s also well worth visiting Ribeira, which is part of the inner city and is filled with historic buildings.
Portugal Car Hire Tip – When in Portugal, you should drive on the right. Be aware unlike in the UK or Ireland for example, where flashing your headlights means “Thank you” or “You first”, in Portugal it means “Get out of my way”.
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Portugal luxury vacations come in many forms, but if you are flying to Portugal with most of your travel then being by road and rail, you will want to travel as comfortably as possible. That involves business class flights, first class train tickets and your own private limousine with chauffeur. Whether you can find that or not is immaterial – it is what you will want, and there are travel companies that can provide you with level of comfort in addition to top class hotels and fine cuisine.
Portugal is the most westerly country on the European mainland, so the nearest to the USA after Ireland and the UK. Your flight destination will be the capital, Lisbon, sitting on the River Tagus. Portugal is historically the closest country to Britain with regard to political alliances (their 1373 alliance is the oldest standing in the world). It supported Britain during the Peninsular and Napoleonic wars, and they still regard themselves as being closer to Britain than to Spain.
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