Camper roadtrip Portugal

The campingspot, Situated adjacent to the community soccer field, which also includes a charming little playground, this location offers more than just a spot for your camper. The neighboring public pool requires an entrance fee. Although I can't remember the exact cost for this parking spot, I can assure you that Portugal tends to be very budget-friendly.

Sao Joao da Pesqueira may be a small town, yet it's nestled within a beautiful landscape.

Fundao was a planned stop on our journey, but an extensive wildfire in the area necessitated a detour, causing us to diverge by an hour and a half from our intended path. Consequently, we redirected our route toward Castelo Branco, which was roughly an hour's drive away.

Reflecting on the wildfire, the response was overwhelming: six air tankers, 120 fire trucks, and over 500 dedicated fire personnel were mobilized to combat the flames. At that time, we came across an app that displayed detailed information about ongoing wildfires in Portugal. The evening news presented striking visuals that were almost beyond belief.

With that, our journey continued towards Castelo Branco...

After a delicious midday meal of "Backelau" - Portuguese dried cod and eggs - we went for a walk in Castelo Branco. But, to be honest, we quickly grew tired of it. we are really not city people, we love nature so, we drove a few kilometers further until we found a spot that appealed to us. A 5-kilometer walk was a good start after the long journey.

The village, Oleiros, was about a 30-minute walk. It had all the necessary facilities, including supermarkets, a pharmacy, restaurants, etc.

"A walk... again," the children groaned from the backseat. They were getting tired of the exhausting hikes that Portugal offers

Due to the child.ren's protests, it turned into a modest walk through the city center. The church service had just ended when we arrived at the typical Portuguese church. Easily a hundred people were coming out of the building. Faith is still very present in Portugal. We continued our vacation towards Tomar.

Our expectations for Tomar were of an old medieval village with many Roman influences. The reality, however, is a modern CITY. Prices around the Convent of Christ were similar to those back home. In the preceding days, we remarked at least four times a day how incredibly cheap everything is in Portugal. We quickly decided to skip the center of Tomar.

The large swing and the walk around the Convent of Christ were more enjoyable for us than the center of Tomar. Perhaps we were a bit too tired to appreciate the beauty of Tomar; that could be the case as well.

Nazaré, a beautifull fishing village on the Portugese coast, is known for its beautiful beaches and excellent surfing conditions, making it a paradise for beach lovers. Here, too, we found free parking just a 10-minute walk from the coast. As I write this, I realize that we never had to pay a cent for parking anywhere. Portugal is cheap, have I mentioned that? It can't be said enough. We rarely cooked, as we dined out at prices where you can barely get a Big Mac here. Even on the coast, I believe we paid around €70 for a meal with a sea view for the four of us.

A definite recommendation is the famous Nazaré funicular. In just 2 minutes, you're at the highest point of Nazaré, suddenly amidst the clouds. The walk back down led us to the surfing area of Nazaré. The highest wave ever recorded here was 26.21 meters, surfed by Sebastian Steudtner, a German surfer. But the sea was too cold for us—not that we had any ambition to surf. Even in what the local surfers called calm seas, it was far too dangerous to get me on such a board.

Everyone was physically exhausted from the mountain hikes, so we decided to take it easy. The ladies went to the sea by bike, and the men walked to the coast. The three days in Mira were a welcome break. Besides lying on the beach and wading in the water, we didn't do much. The local hotdog vendor put chips on his sandwiches, which our daughter wanted to try. A very bizarre combination if you ask me. I chose a sandwich with fresh fish. After that, we went back to the beach to continue enjoying our rest, the sun, the sea, and the sand. The sea was quite wild compared to what we were used to, and there was a lot of wind, but everyone was happy to be there.

The campsite was quite outdated; I suspect its heyday was in the 1980s, but that wasn't a problem. Our goal was to get some rest.

In Coimbra, we spent one night in a parking lot. (see photo below) It was next to the main road and a 5-minute walk from the city center. Attention! This is illegal, and for this reason, we do not recommend it to anyone! We arrived too late to get into a campsite. But it was FUN! The police were very present in Coimbra. To us, Coimbra seemed like the Monaco of Portugal. A Ferrari, a Mercedes GT3, a Porsche... a whole lot of supercars passed by, something we hadn't seen anywhere else in Portugal. Maybe there was a meeting for this kind of car, that could be it too. Coimbra is a very beautiful city, and nowhere did you feel unsafe (but that applies to the entire trip through Portugal).

We didn’t want to leave Coimbra. Wild camping seemed fine for one night, but we didn’t want to provoke the Portuguese police. So we moved on to the Coimbra campsite. A nice campsite, almost in the center of Coimbra. The covered shopping mall was a 10-minute walk away. The people in Coimbra are very friendly. Friendlier than in my own village. That is also a great quality of Portugal... people are very helpful and assist you wherever possible. Whether it’s in English or with Google Translate, it doesn’t matter to them; as soon as they understood you, a smile appeared.