This summer we decided to escape from the beaches of Alentejo and Algarve and explore the central and northern regions of Portugal a little more.

We spent 9 days exploring the main cities with my mother-in-law and our 1 and 4-year-old children, and although it wasn't a relaxing trip, we found the results to be very positive. We visited several historical sites, ate delicious meals and stayed in very rural farmhouses that gave us all a good boost of energy.

The car journeys were designed to not be boring for the children – or for us – but we eventually had more difficult moments, with everyone tired, hungry, bored, etc. Roadtrip That's how it is with children, right? Even so, I still insist on traveling with my beloved little brats. <3

Now let's get to the important part: the itinerary and the details!

Summary itinerary

In our initial planning, we had thought of exploring the Center and the North of Portugal and also include the Galicia, a region of Spain that is right above Portugal, as we had read several interesting posts about it. Cíes Islands. However, after we started writing the distances on the schedule, we realized that it would be too busy with the kids and we decided to just travel around Portugal.

As we already knew the city of Harbor (read about our tour here), we decided not to repeat it and focused on the other more important ones, such as Braga, Guimarães, Barcelos, Ponte de Lima, Leiria, Aveiro and Viana do Castelo, among other minor ones. In the end, the script looked like this:

Map of visited cities and hotels

Detailed itinerary

Since we visited a lot of places and I like to detail everything, I'll break it down into smaller posts, OK? Here's the list with all of them:

• An afternoon in Leiria
• 1 day in Costa Nova and Aveiro
• 1 day between Aveiro and Barcelos
• Getting to know Ponte de Lima and Viana do Castelo in 1 day
• Our 1-day itinerary in Braga
• 1 day in Guimarães, the birthplace of Portugal
• 1 day in the Entre-os-Rios region, in the Douro
• Getting to know Águeda and the famous Bairrada roast suckling pig
• Stopping in Nazaré on the way to Cascais

Accommodations

We always try to change hotels as little as possible with the kids, but since the distances were so great, we ended up choosing 4 different places to sleep for the 8 nights. They are the red dots on the map above. We were a bit lazy and booked our accommodations with little notice, so we didn't find many good options on Booking with reasonable prices. We found the ones that met our criteria of a rating above 8, free cancellation and a pool, and off we went!

In short: We chose the Ilhavo Plaza Hotel & Spa for the first 2 nights in the Aveiro/Ílhavo region, then House of Santa Comba to be our base for 3 nights to explore the various towns of Minho, then Farm of Abol from Below in the Douro for another 2 nights, and finally, the Alzira's House on the outskirts of Águeda for the last night, already on the way back to Cascais.

Ilhavo Plaza Hotel & Spa

I was shocked by the very expensive prices of hotels in the Aveiro, Costa Nova and Ílhavo region for our dates. We chose this one because it was close to the Vista Alegre Museum – I really wanted to visit but didn’t have time –, besides having a heated pool and restaurant, 2 facilities Excellent for those with small children. It is a hotel with a few floors and no charm, with a U-shape and a pool in the center, offering massages, fixed-price dinners in a charming restaurant, a full breakfast in a room overlooking the pool and comfortable rooms.

Unfortunately, we were unlucky with the air conditioning in both rooms, which stopped working in the early hours of the morning, and we were left without a baby seat during breakfast due to an employee's mistake when washing/drying. At least we were able to enjoy the heated indoor pool on the second night and it was great to see the little one playing around! I found the daily rate to be 170 euros. too much for what it offers, but since we left it to the last minute, we had no way out. Another option we considered was Montebelo Vista Alegre Ilhavo Hotel.

House of Santa Comba

This farmhouse with a sizable plot of land and a beautiful main house has been in the same family for generations and boasts some of its 15th century buildings, which is impressive. It has a swimming pool that gets all-day sun, a huge lawn that’s great for kids to run around on, an area for horses, chickens, geese and dogs (they have a hotel and training center there), lots of crops and even a cute chapel.

The rooms did not have air conditioning and one of them was poorly ventilated, which was a bit unpleasant since we had very hot days in the region. Breakfast was the same and very simple on the 3 mornings we were there, the service left a little to be desired, as did the kitchen that we were allowed to use, but we loved the view at the end of the day and the peace of the place. If this place is better managed, it will be an absolute success and they will be able to charge a fortune, I have no doubt! We paid 95 euros per night.

Farm of Abol from Below

This farmhouse is located on a huge plot of land and its owner is a very friendly and talkative gentleman…lol. The rooms are relatively new and very spacious, and are quite far from the main house, where breakfast is served. The grounds are quite wooded and the pool area has a really nice view of the river that I thought was the Douro, but is actually the Tâmega.

Breakfast was pretty much the same as the previous Thursday, with the same fruits included, so we didn't think it was anything special. They didn't have a baby seat, which made our lives a little difficult, but we got by with Juju's stroller. On the day of the checkout, the cleaning ladies were outside our rooms waiting for us to leave, but when we said we were going to the pool and would come back later to take a shower, they weren't very happy. Since we were respecting Booking's checkout times, it wasn't our fault, right... patience. Oh, and we also paid 95 euros for the night.

Alzira's House

This last stay was a pleasant surprise for us. We were already tired from 8 days of traveling and arrived at a completely renovated house, with a large and impeccable garden, swimming pool, jacuzzi and a very friendly lady who spoke more Spanish than Portuguese. We were very well looked after, we liked the comfortable rooms (the shower could be bigger to make it easier for the children to bathe), and we loved the jacuzzi with warm water.

Breakfast was served at a huge table with a few other guests and was also similar to the previous two breakfasts, but I thought the presentation was more careful, you know? And the best part is that it cost 70 euros a day, maybe because the area wasn't that great, right?

The trip in photos

As always, some photos that summarize this delightful trip with the family:

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