1 wk in Portugal in mid March

I haven't been, but it's my understanding that the main draw of the Algarve is the beaches. Since you're not beach people, why are you considering going there?

We were just in the Algarve. The beaches are pretty small. The real attraction in my view is the rock formations. We did a hike there and visited a couple towns and the castle at Silves which was my favorite in Portugal. We also visited a winery. We would have liked to have taken a boat ride but weren't organized enough to buy tickets on time.

We enjoyed ourselves a lot but not sure it would fit your interests as well. You might think about Porto as a second location, although we had four nights in Lisbon and didn't see everything we would have liked to have seen. Another option might be to spend 2 nights in Sintra and five in Lisbon

Hi Lane,
Thank you so much for your reply. As Algarve was noted “must see“ attraction in Rick Steves book, we were wondering if there might be other things to do in Algarve than beaches.
Thank you, BethFL for your insight. We are hesitant to add Porto as we really want to enjoy a place without trying to do too much. Your idea to stay in Lisbon for five nights and two in Sintra sounds great or perhaps we will just stay in Lisbon for a week and do day trips to nearby places.

I think you have time for more than just Lisbon.
Sintra is an easy trip from Lisbon. It takes 40 min by train from Lisboa Rossio. From the Sintra station there are buses that can take you to the various sights (Palacio da Pena, Castelo dos Mouros, etc.). You can spend a couple of nights there too if you wish, but being so close, I wouldn't bother to change hotels and I'd choose a base in Lisbon.

From Lisbon you can also take a bus to Obidos, a nice town about one hour north by bus. You take the Rodoviario do Oeste bus at Campo Grande bus terminal, near the Sporting stadium. You can easily see Obidos in a day trip.
Evora is also not far by bus or by train by Sete Rios station (about 90 min)
Porto is also nice, but it's farther, and is worth at least a couple of nights (it's not doable by day trip). The train from Lisboa Santa Apolonia station takes about 3 hours and there is a train every hour or so.

Don’t try to do the Algarve with just one week. The Algarve is all about beaches and rock formations. There is much more than a week’s worth of things to do in Lisbon and day tripping from there. But, I’m not one to move around if I don’t have to.

Best day trips, IMO would be Sintra, if you don’t mind crushing crowds, and Evora. Both are done easily on the train and are well worth seeing. Cascais is lovely but it’s a more low key town to just wander. Setubal is also easy on the train and will now have trains every 20 minutes, much like Sintra and Cascais. From Setúbal, they have great dolphin watching tours.

Thank you, Roberto and KathrynJ,
Will plan on staying in Lisbon for the week and do day trips for the surrounding areas. Was looking at places to stay, preferably with kitchen/washer. There are plenty of places available, however, the third-party fees seems to be higher than what they used to be. Any other suggestions? Thank you.

I've stayed at The Lisbonaire Apartments for a week. They are an aparthotel in a good location.
Sintra - Park and Palace of Monserrate is not crowded. And the gardens around Pena are not bad either, just around the palace gets crazy.

Thank you, Lynn for your recommendation.
Checked out the Lisbonaire. Looks really good but their two bedroom apartment is not available for our dates unfortunately.

Try looking at Booking.com, if you haven’t already. I use them a fair amount as the fees aren’t like Airbnb. You can filter your search for apartments.