Portugal Family Vacation: City & Beach Exploration

There is life on the streets of Lisbon as musicians play on corners and along the promenade, whipping up songs for those who will give a tip. Local families hang out on the plazas with kids running around as parents sip on beer or coffee. Old-school trams often rumble past with people hanging from the back of the carriage. The city’s energy is infectious, and it will not take long to convince your kids that this is not going to be a slog around boring sights. Much of the Lisbon experience is all around you, especially during the summer months.

Arrive in Lisbon, and you will be greeted at the airport by your local guide. The airport is only five miles north of the city, and it is a short transfer to Baixa, Lisbon’s spacious central neighborhood. It was decimated by an earthquake in 1755 and then rebuilt with much of Portugal’s wealth. As if defying nature, it is a place of elegant boulevards, majestic statues, gleaming marble facades, and splendid plazas. Most of the boulevards have two lanes for traffic and very wide central reservations in between, so this a great city in which to walk safely without encountering traffic. Baixa is also flat, unlike everywhere else in the city. So it is a little easier to get your family to one of the many restaurants and terraces in the area.

Your guide will provide an orientation at your hotel and will fill you in on good places to dine that are within walking distance. One of these is Time Out Lisbon, a vast food market and first of its kind in the world. Time Out selected Lisbon’s finest restaurants and invited them to run a popup stall in the market, so there is an international section, stalls from four Michelin-starred chefs, and the full sweep of Portuguese cuisine. In short, there is something for everyone, and you still get to dine together.

Out in Sintra, you can imagine a fairytale. Surreal Moorish palaces stand on hills, their strange domes like something from the big screen. The streets of cobblestone and charm play on the words of Byron, still reminiscent of a time where the poet called this the most romantic place in Europe. Sintra is more a village than a town, small enough to walk around in two hours, big enough to inspire the wonders of history. Spend a morning here with your guide, enacting fairytales in the palaces before dining at a restaurant with sweeping views back towards Lisbon.

From here the road loops back to the city via Cascais, a beach resort town from the late 19thcentury. The beaches are along the Tagus River estuary and protected from ocean currents. A series of them stretch along the water, and there is always a quiet space of sand. Take a walk along the promenade and find a place to spend the afternoon to dig sandcastles and swim for the next few hours. Glamorous old cafes backdrop the beach and these are perfect for getting a snack before you return to Lisbon and the choice of restaurants in Baixa.

The trams are old-world in Lisbon and rugged memoirs to a time when trams were in vogue. They rumble up and down the hills with places to sit and broad spaces where you can stand and watch the neighborhoods roll by. Hanging out of the back is not recommended for younger children, but is often on the must-do list for teenagers. Trams allow you to be sightseeing while moving, as well as meaning you will not need to walk up so many hills. Tram 28 is the best line, and you will be accompanied on it by your local guide. Running north to south, the tram connects most of the city’s most enchanting neighborhoods and places, Belem aside, and you can hop on and off along the way.

Bairro Alto’s mazy streets can be enchanting for most ages, particularly with the graffiti murals and incredibly narrow houses. Lisbon’s grand castle evokes the days of warriors and holds plenty of gruesome tales. Alfama is then a winding neighborhood that is good for an afternoon coffee and cake break. Along the way, you will also pass through Baixa with easy access to your hotel if a stop is needed, as well as a number of city plazas. These plazas are great for giving your kids space to use up some energy, and they can safely run around, perhaps with the local kids, while you get a drink from the local kiosk and do some people watching.

After a day spent exploring, you will spend an evening with Fado music at a family-focused performance in Alfama. It will be the early show, and the food is international, so there should be something for even the pickiest of eaters. Different courses are served in between the show, the mix of music and eating helping to keep children entertained throughout the Fado. Haunting singing meets with old-world guitar music for a lively atmosphere that will pull on most of your emotional strings. Leaving the venue, you can stroll back along the promenade, gazing up at the illuminated castle, or take a transfer straight to the hotel after this night of traditional music.

Faro has a rather unwarranted reputation as it is the main airport city for the Algarve, and as southern Portugal has grown popular with British tourists, many believe this old city has lost its culture. Far from it, as Faro is as traditional as anywhere in Portugal and it is a delight to wander around the castle and old urban center. Travel here by train from Lisbon for a journey that is quicker and easier than flying. From city center to city center, it takes just over three hours. The carriages are modern and comfortable, plus you get an open view onto rural Portugal. Zoom through Alentejo and the cork forests before hitting the arid plains of the south, where villages appear like sentinels along the horizon.

After a short guided tour of Faro, you are transferred to Vilamoura, a charming little town along Portugal’s southern coast. The small town center has a range of local and international restaurants, plus plenty of cafe terraces if you seek an evening out. It is mostly pedestrianized, and there is just enough going on, without anywhere becoming raucous or crowded. Your beach villa is a just a short taxi ride from the town, and it is just a couple of minutes walk to the sand so that you can stroll down the steps to a stretch of golden beach and safe, shallow waters. This coastline is divided into small bays, and while a couple have large surf waves, most reflect Mediterranean promise with their serenity ideal for a family vacation.

Wake up in your private villa with its three bedrooms and two bathrooms upstairs, and then an open-plan living area on the ground floor. The house opens out onto a private garden and swimming pool, and then from here, you can open your private gate to reach the beach. A soft Mediterranean breeze usually drifts across the property, and there is real tranquility here as the ambiance has the privacy and space that makes it okay for children to make noise and splash around. Vilamoura and southern Portugal is a retreat from the every day, and the kids will enjoy all of the freedom after a few days spent in the city.

It is far from an ordinary coastline as ragged cliffs fill this slice of the Iberian Peninsula, and you can almost see them crumbling with soft dusty sand covering the cliffside trail. These cliffs divide the beaches, providing privacy even during the height of the summer season. Once upon the beach, you are back-dropped by cliffs and enclosed by the rugged cliff walls. The children cannot run off too far, and you can see everything in one glance. There will be plenty of time to check out the local sand this morning before you head into Vilamoura for a kayak or boat tour.

Many of the coves are inaccessible by land, and caves also litter this landscape, mysterious places of turquoise water and peculiar rock formation. There are two ways to explore. For younger children, you will want a motorboat tour for a fun-packed ride that bounces along the Mediterranean while older children can try kayaking. You can paddle in two-person kayaks, and no experience is necessary as your guide provides an orientation before you depart, and it is a relatively leisurely paddle along the coast away from the waves. Both tours visit a number of caves before ending on a beach that is cut off from land where you can bask in the solitude of southern Portugal.

Your final day will be left entirely free, so you can opt to relax around your villa with the kids splashing in the pool as you read a book or snooze beneath the sun. You can also pop into Vilamoura and take a look around, perhaps with lunch on a small restaurant terrace. You could take an afternoon tour along the coast, heading out to the southwestern tip of Europe for sunset. There are superb restaurants all around this area, including some with children’s play areas on the beach. After the busy days spent exploring around Lisbon, there is a good chance that you will not want to do anything today other than lounge around the villa and bask in all your private space. The sun shines, the waters await, and you will not need much more than to be with your family.

You can use the villa all day before your guide comes to transport you to the airport. There is no checkout time, and there is no need to rush around after the relaxing break. You will be transferred with plenty of time for your outbound flight, which leaves from Faro’s international airport.