“Saturday – Welcomed at the Airport by helpful Luis, and settled in with enthusiastic advice from Ralph. Delightfully comfortable!
Sunday – Beach day to unwind from the travel. We (Jon & Ivor) enjoyed getting soused by breakers in the pool at Azenhas do Mar! Recommended!
Monday – Magical day at Sintra! a marvel of the ‘romantic’ movement. Also the old palace is worth visiting, with moorish influences obvious. We enjoyed eating at Cafe de Paris on the main square. Ivor loved exploring the tunnels at Quinta da Regaleira. we couldn’t do everything in one day…
Tuesday – After our excursions in Sintra, a rest day which we spent by the pool at Hotel Aribas at Praia Grande. It’s both cheaper and quicker than the Lido complex here in Praia das Macas, and the hotel restaurant served a great octopus salad.
Wednesday – We travelled to Lisbon by bus & train – no problems and explored the old town around the castle, before enjoying a meal in the baixa area.
Thursday – Swimming in the pool at Praia das Macas and then leaping in the breakers at Praia Grande. We think the beach at Praia Grande is better than Praia das Macas – larger and less busy.
Friday – Another day in Sintra, this time to visit the Palace do Pena at the top of the hill and surrounding gardens. Well worth the visit. The interior is bizarre a real hotchpotch. Joe liked the fresco of naked nymphs frolicking with fauns, painted by King Carlos 1! We rode the first tram to Sintra even so there was only just room to get on but it was fun.

5*! – Ivor 🙂 10/10
I had a really good stay! 101% amazing! Make sure that you try all the local biscuits and the octopus. Go to the Aribus hotel for swimming and Praia Grande beach. Make sure you go in the waves, Guaranteed fun!”

“We have stayed here for 10 days from the 28th of July to the 8th of August and everything went perfectly well.
A very nice welcome, a very well equipped cottage, very good advices about visiting the area, Sintra, Lisbon etc… Thank you Ralph for everything.
Only one tiny negative detail: the temperature of the ocean for those who don’t like cold water (16 degrees only).
I imagine that Ralph cannot do anything about it? What is sure is that we will recommend this location/cottage on the website for the future tourists.”

“Dear Ralf, We had a great holiday in your two houses. Very comfortable and pleasant to stay. Thank you for all your good advice and care. The boys loved the surfing and their nightly parties at the surf lodge. We loved our dinners especially Buzio, where the shellfish was great. For our youngest son Jacp, he will not forget what ‘Portugal’ meant for him.”

“The wind in my hair has brought out the Gypsy in me!! Loved every moment from Regaleira to Don Quixote!!
Absolutely Magical Sintra is the most beautiful town. Love to Fatima and the local butcher! really enjoyed it!!
Baie Danbie vir als! We had a lovely time and Sintra is indeed a little gem. Loved it!
I agree but have to add the Azenhas do Mar is also very special. I enjoyed the visits from the local cat. We had more than one very nice BBQ outside. Really a pity about the tram.
Thank you for all your help Ralph. Hope to come back one day.”

“What a wonderful holiday don’t want it to end. When I saw the cottage with it’s beautiful terrace on the internet, I knew I wanted to stay here & the reality did not disappoint me. We had a wonderful lazy meals out here, so relaxing. Thanks for all the tip on where to go + where to eat. Quinta Regaleira was mind blowing!!
The ‘windmill’ bar at Caba da Roca had us returning again and again for lunch!
We will definitley return to this villa, I love this area, Sintra is the most charming town & the beaches here are stunning.”

“We have been here for a week and the weather has been cool & sunny – perfect for hiking & touring. We met Ralph & Ana in the jungle near Drake Bay in Costa Rica while they were honeymooning. They had just started renting these villas so we had them give us the email site and we dug it up after deciding to spend a week in the south of France – an unbelievably gorgeous ‘Geite’ ‘Glos du Pare’ – worth going to. We arrived after a grueling day of driving, flying,train & bus then on foot as we got off way too soon – hauling luggage though the street of Macas – Ralph found us & brought us here to this lovely, quiet perfect villa where we have had such fun. The welcome basket is perfect when you are hot tired & hungry. ‘Fatima’s’ store is great as is ‘Mario’s’ to buy meat. Sintra is amazing, we spent 2 full days there endless things to do & see. Try Lawrence’s restaurant on the way up to Quinta Regaleira – it’s wonderful and inexpensive. We ate in mostly but so far have tried Nautilus – Good + BarMacia – great view but expensive.
We are going to try again to get to Cabo da Roca after 3 failed attempts – we don’t have a car so walked to roundabout by road (once) – 1h – then twice by beach – 1st time couldn’t find the trail – take 45 minutes to begin, after 1 hour of trail hiking there is a road leading to a gorgeous beach where we wished we had a bathing suit but had great coffee & pastry then hiked back. We were still one hour away from Cabo da Roca – so return walking would take about 6 hours (4 if you take bus back and forth to trail head) buying a combine pass @sinta is much cheaper than individuals. We have really enjoyed this place, Thank you.”