Our 3rd and last full day in Lisbon, I was thinking of going to Mafra National Palace since we didn’t get a chance to visit it the last time and the admission is included with the Lisboa Card, but I found out it was closed on Tuesdays! Instead, we went to Queluz National Palace, it… Read More Summer 2025 Family Trip – Queluz and Cascais: Queluz National Palace is still a gem
2nd day in Lisbon, we did a day trip to Sintra to see the colorful Pena Palace. Like many popular attractions nowadays, to better manage the crowds, the palace implemented timed entry. I booked the entrance at 10:30 AM instead of right when it opens just in case of delay of the train or bus.… Read More Summer 2025 Family Trip – Sintra: Pena Palace and Quinta da Regaleira
With two little kids, picking vacation destinations became trickier and less flexible. As much as we love to explore less touristy towns and villages, we also try to avoid having to carry the car seats. We chose Lisbon and Madrid based on their low airfare (via TAP Portugal’s stopover), easy access to public transportation, and… Read More Summer 2025 Family Trip – Lisbon: Ajuda National Palace, a hidden gem
Sorry to derail a little bit; got “distracted” by Iceland! One of my friends said I shouldn’t be allowed to go on the next trip without finishing the trip reports of the previous trip haha! Back to Porto…our last half day of Porto since our flight was at 4:20 pm, what have we not see… Read More How Much We Can See in the Last Half Day of Porto?
We were having a hard time choosing between the day trip to either Guimaraes (known as where Portugal is born) or Braga (the famous Bom Jesus de Monte). We started early at 8 am as the train journey took 1 hr and 15 min to Guimaraes directly from Sao Bento Train Station and only cost €3,10… Read More Porto Day Trip to Guimaraes and Braga
Can you imagine what kind of bookstore it is with a long line of people lined up an hour before it even opens? We arrived half an hour before it opens and we were like the 15th in line. Ohh and they charge an admission fee to go into the bookstore! Well it’s famous not only… Read More The Magical Porto
Early in the morning, we took the AP train at 7:45 to Coimbra which took around one hour. Coimbra….why I picked Coimbra? All because of the famous University of Coimbra library, one of the oldest and most beautiful library in the world. The long distance high-speed train actually terminated at Coimbra-B station which located a… Read More Porto Day Trip to Coimbra and Aveiro
After three wonderful days in Sintra, we headed to Porto which became our favorite Portuguese city! I booked train ticket from Lisboa Oriente to Porto Campanha in exactly 60 days in advanced which saved me 40% at Portugal’s rail website: https://www.cp.pt/passageiros/en/ With the 40% discount, it was not a significant difference between first class and 2nd class train so… Read More Arriving to the Charming Porto
The palaces and castles in Sintra were a shocking surprise architecturally but lacked one thing – the grand, huge palaces with hundreds of rooms. How could we visited all those palaces and castles in Sintra and not make a trip to THE national palace – Palace of Queluz? Palace of Queluz is just a short train ride… Read More Sintra to Queluz and Cascais Day Trip
Living in the real life fairy tale town of Sintra started with a royal healthy breakfast in the grand ballroom of Seteais Palace Hotel. Not to mention that there were only 4 guests having breakfast in such a big room, a couple in the table next to us and us. Not surprised since we were the first ones… Read More Sintra – The Fairy Tale Town Part 2
