Van-Lifing through Portugal

Hello!

I am here to tell you about the time I recently spent discovering the beauties of Portugal with our camper van. The trip was a total of 12 days, and it was some of the most amazing traveling I have ever had the pleasure of embarking on.

The trip started like most do, as an idea between my girlfriend and me. We were brainstorming on how to kick off our summer of traveling, and decided on a new-to-us way of adventuring: van-life! We booked our van rental, flights, and a taxi to get to our new home on wheels, and crossed our fingers for a successful journey.

I happen to have a close family friend who was born and raised in Portugal, so I reached out to him to hear his insight on where we should go and how we should go about it all. He gave me loads of ideas: where to stop, what roads to take, how to avoid expensive tolls, how to have the prettiest drives, what to eat, what we should budget for food, and more. It was priceless information, and we created a very detailed Google Map with pins of his suggestions, as well as things we had found on our own. The idea was to create a rough route based on my friend's road suggestions and the cumulative ideas of where to stop. Other than that, we didn't follow a strict schedule or plan at any point. We left our travels up in the air and decided each night where we wanted to end up the next day. The freedom was amazing! We could set up our van almost anywhere we wanted, cook and eat anywhere we wanted, and travel to and see anything we wanted at any point during the week.

Views from a campsite of ours.

We were there from June 3rd until June 15th, and the weather was about as perfect as it can get. 70-80°F (21-27°C) every day, with slightly cooler nights. It was sunny and breezy, and our times at the beach and atop seaside cliffs were perfect.

We watched the sunset over the ocean every night, cooked delicious and affordable meals in our van for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and slept to the sound of crashing waves and salty winds. I would do it all again in a heartbeat.

My biggest takeaway was how little we needed to have such an amazing trip. With a small budget, a small bag of clothes, and a pair of sandals, we had one of the best trips of our lives! The food was delicious (shout out to Pastel de Natas!!!), the groceries were inexpensive, the camp sites were almost all free, and the views were breathtaking around every corner. We might be saving up for a camper van now.👀

Dinner date on the cliff, feat. our van!

I can't say enough how much I recommend Portugal! I'm eager to return, even though I've only been away for a few months.

After 10 days of van-lifing from North to South, and back North again, we finished off in the amazing city of Porto, where we spent two days before flying off to our next destinations. I could write a whole separate blog about Porto, and maybe I will!

Admiring the view from our rooftop bed!

To sum it all up, take the big leap and do that trip you've always wanted to do. Rent a camper van, drive along the coast of Portugal, or through the mountains of Switzerland, or across the United States, and down the PCH. Save up and spend a summer exploring a new continent, or spend a weekend in a city you've always been curious about. See the world from another culture's point of view, eat new foods, (try to) learn new languages, and don't take anything for granted ever again.