Home page
Tours
Sample Day
Appreciations
Links
Contact us
Site Map

Portugal

We can meet you at your airport of arrival and begin your guided car tour immediately, or we take you to where you will be staying for your first night or two . . . get settled in to your new country, and start savouring the atmosphere! We will have agreed your itinerary with you in advance, though of course it can always be adjusted as we go along. Flexibility is our watchword!

Lisbon, the capital city, is a wonderful place to start a car tour of Portugal. Appreciate the ancient ALFAMA district. Learn how the 1755 earhquake enabled a dramatic new layout of the BAIXA district. There are abundant small pavement side cafes and pastelerias in this central area for a snack at any time of the day. The city is built on hills, with cliffs (both with wonderful views) overlooking the river, so walking can be an excellent way of sampling the city if you have the time, There is a splendid lift (elevador) and also a funicular railway to raise you from one level to another in the Baixa.
Balem is an imprtant area west of the centre; superb manueline monastic buildings are a highlight there. Taking a tram from the riverside at the Baixa to Balem can be fun -- again if you have the time! Your car and driver can always follow you and meet up at pre-agreed spots ahead.We can meet you at the airport and drive you to your pre-booked hotel in Lisbon.
If you are able to stay three or four days in Lisbon, one day might be spent driving out of town to visit Estoril, Cascais or Sintra.

After your time in Lisbon, you can then begin a circular tour of this tall, slim country! Of course, you do not have to begin in Lisbon -- you can make it the climax of your tour, by finishing your tour there. Flexibility is the key to the tours of Tours des Forges!

We are outlining here a tour that first heads north towards Oporto, but you can make any variations that you wish. Your first overnight stay can be in or near Batalha, which has one of the great masterpieces of Portugese gothic and Manueline art.

Near Batalha is the ancient Atlantic fishing village of Nazare, where for centuries the boats were hauled out of the ocean to sit, harbourless, on the beach. Batalha can be a good spot for lunch. Head east for a few miles and you come to the important Roman Catholic shrine at Fatima. On your way towards Oporto, spend time at the university city of Coimbra, a good place for lunch and an architectural stroll in the heart of the town.
The image to the left illustrates a very distinctive feature of the culture of Portugal : Tiles. Used to decorate the inside and the outside of buildings, their distinctive overall colouring is perhaps blue with yellow; they create sunny optimistic pictures which so characterise the country.

Oporto and the valley of the river Douro make up the Port-producing region of the country; here, grapes are harvested on the valley slopes near the Spanish border. The valley road makes a delightful drive before beginning your journey back south. It also makes an interesting variation to your route to do an occasional zig-zag into and out of each country.
It can, of course, be rewarding to to continue north from Opporto to the Spanish border: Santiago de Compostela is not far (about 70 miles) into Spain and very well worth the detour. At lunchtime, don't forget to sample the young wine of Vinho Verde region; a crisp dry cool white can be ideal in the middle of a warm day, when you stop for refreshment

As we turn south, it is interesting to drive through the Bucaco Forest, a National Park with many varieties of trees; the Serro Bucaco is a mountain range bristling with peaks. As you leave the forest you can travel through the Serra da Estrella, which has the highest climbable peak in Portugal.

Marvao, (a fortified town at the foot of a castle near the frontier with Spain) and Elvas, (also near the Spanish border) is a fine old town, complete with its ramparts.

A major highlight as you get nearer the Algarve is the ancient city of Evora. Walled since Roman times, it is attractively Moorish in character with brilliantly painted white houses and hanging gardens. After you have finished exploring, you can be on your way to the Algarve, with its cliffs and beaches, golf courses and sea-side hotels.

Linger a few days with or without your driver/guide before flying home, or going on to your next destination, which could easily be Spain . . .we can take you there. Please contact us to begin the planning of your tour.