Lisbon, Sintra, Cascais, Estoril and more tour info requested

Your itinerary is unreasonable and I cannot see why you include Cascais at all when you have so much else you want to see, and one hour in Sintra is just plain silly. Why are you doing this to yourselves?

If a professional, local tour guide says your itinerary won't work, I'd suggest taking their word for it. They know the area (and potential problems) better than we do. You'd be wise to listen to their opinion rather than risk a disappointing experience because you ran out of time for something you feel important to see.

Thanks to the individuals who were kind enough to reply to my inquiry to let me know my proposed itinerary was either unreasonable or just plain silly- or both. Perhaps I didn't phrase my original question correctly or perhaps I am "just plain silly"
(whatever happened to "there's no such thing as a stupid question?). In any case, my dilemma is that I've been on tours in other international cities that were frustrating because they spent more, and in some cases less, time at some of the venues than I would have liked. For example, in S. Africa, we were given an hour and a half to lunch at the Cape of Good Hope and another hour and a half at the Botanic Gardens. All of us in the tour agreed that we needed only 45 minutes at the very most for the lunch (it was raining and no one could go to the top of the mountain for the view) and 45 minutues for the gardens. To have had less time at these two sights would have allowed us time to enjoy some of the other sights we would have preferred to have seen and photographed rather than just driven past. That said, I was hoping when I asked my question, that a former Lisbon traveler might have suggested that less time might be spent at one venue or the other on the list to allow more time elsewhere that might be deserved.

In the end, I realize the entire question is virtually impossible to answer, given that individual's interests are so varued and subjective. But I do appreciate and want to thank those who took the time to reply. Thank you very much

If you want flexibility, a private tour guide would be the way to go, rather than a larger group tour. In your case, though, you say that even a private guide thought this itinerary was too much. In that case, you have to be a bit more hands-on in determining what you really, really want to see and what you could give up, or the "too much or too little time" issue could still be a problem. As you say, only you can make that decision. And even if you have the perfect, workable itinerary, weather and other events can turn everything upside down at the last minute. Perhaps you could consult the tour guide again and get his/her suggestions about what would fit into your time frame.

A few thoughts (I was in Lisbon about 1 year ago today).

First, there are other things in Lisbon that you should not miss. I would include: ride a trolley up to the Castelo St. George overlooking the city, with a walk down the hill to the old city center through the Alfama neighborhood. Allow a couple hours. A walk through the old city center, the plaza at the foot of the old center, Rossi square, ride up the weird old Eiffel Elevator. Another hour or two. Belem district, with monastery, monument to the discoverers, and that crazy pastry joint - takes about 1/2 day, take a trolly there and back. That uses up most of a day, and that doesn't get you to any museums or include any down time for meals.

You say "We have only one day in Lisbon and of course, want to see it all" but in fact your itinerary actually doesn't include ANY of Lisbon! It's all "day trip FROM Lisbon" stuff and nothing in Lisbon itself.

Honestly, Sintra is not a half-day side trip. There are enough 5-star attractions there to fill the better part of a day, even if you're relentless: two palaces plus the Moorish castle, which requires some time and rambling. Also, I can't think of any good reason to drive to/from Sintra from Lisbon. The train is about as convenient as you could imagine.

We did not go to Cascais or Cape of Roca and Boca do Inferno, so I can't offer any opinions on those.

But I do agree with others, and think your plans are quite unrealistic. You need to either find a way to spend one more day there (which would still be a v-e-r-y full day) or cut out things.

Good luck, and I hope that helps.

I have to agree with what others here have posted. I'm glad the private guides you inquired were honest with you. I was in Lisbon for five days. We took one day to do Sintra and Cascais. I am kind of an impatient person who always is on the move and I found this day to be a very doable one. Most of the day in Sintra, starting pretty early, then a public bus to Cascais where we wandered around and had dinner and took the train back to Lisbon. You're completely ignoring Lisbon itself, which I find hard to believe. Frankly, I don't understand the point of stopping somewhere just to take a photo but that's me. I just can't get past the skipping Lisbon, though. As the previous poster said, there is so much there that is just as wonderful as in Sintra. Cascais is nice, but frankly it's not a lot different from the beaches right on your OC doorstep. I'm just not sure what the point of "trying to see it all" is if really, you will see nothing at all.

This looks more like a nightmare hten a tour.

Why do you want to "see it all"? Is there some type of award for checking off "been there, but just drove by"?

Do some research, pick one place and explore it! This schedule is just not realistic. Traffic in the area pretty much assures that you are behind by the first stop. Plus, the "drive" by aspect means that you miss the best parts of older cities that aren't driveable! And the Pena Palace in a hour??? Hmm. it's pretty big. You will have to trot! Plus driving up there is not easy and there is limited parking!. So your 1 hour in Sintra needs to be "drive by" to get to Pena Palace. (Parking in Sintra is not fun either!)

I was just in Lisbon this summer and took a day trip to Sintra, Cascais, Cabo da Roca and Belem through the hostel (Hostal Oasis) I was staying in. It was fantastic, cheap (20 Euros) and we had plenty of time to see all we wanted to see.

Thanks to all who have taken the time to reply. There are 18 of us in our group and since my inquiry, have arranged a day tour with a private guide who will pick us up at the port when we disembark, include all that we want to see on the tour and drop us off at our hotel that evening. The only reason we wanted to see it all is because all of us agreed we wanted to finish off our 12 day tour + cruise as together as a group before half of us depart for home the very next day. Others of us in the group will be staying 3 days or more in Lisbon and therefore will be able to enjoy seeing much more of what Lisbon and its surrounds have to offer in more depth, at a more sensible pace and with the added benefit of already having had a preview of some of it. Again, thanks to all who took the time to kindly reply.

Ah, cruise ship...