Hi!
We are a couple planing a trip to Portugal from October 11-24. We are in our early thirties, are very active, love exploring/walking/hiking, don't like massive tourism and what it entails and also like enjoying local food and drinks. I've been working hard to come up with an itinerary that doesn't feel too rushed, but still allows us to see a bit of the country. Our main interests? Seeing and exploring Lisbon, visiting small quaint towns and getting in touch with nature.
We would both like to spend a couple of nights somewhere close to a rugged beach where we could surf and maybe take hikes (Western Algarve?). So... does this make sense? Anyway we can add some more nature/rugged scenery/hiking opportunities to the mix? Is it too much?Should we maybe skip something? Any pretty out of the beaten path town on our route?
Day 1 - Lisbon
Day 2 - Lisbon/Belem
Day 3 - Lisbon / day trip to Sintra
Day 4 - Train to Porto. Sleep in Porto
Day 5 - Porto
Day 6 - Rent car in Porto. Either a day trip to Douro or spending the night in the Douro Valley and sleeping in a town there or just forgetting about the Douro Valley and spending another day in Porto. What would you recommend?
Day 7 - Early morning. Drive to Coimbra for lunch and exploring a bit. Drive to Évora. Sleep in Évora.
Day 8 - Évora
Day 9 - Évora, maybe Megaliths or maybe day trip to Monsaraz?
Day 10 - Drive to Odeceixe. Anywhere we should stop on the way to explore? (Does making a lovely inn near Odeceixe our base camp for surfing and exploring rugged beaches? Should we go somewhere else? What do you think?)
Day 11 - Odeceixe. Spend day exploring the western coast and hopefully surfing?
Day 12 - Odeceixe morning at the beach and drive in the afternoon back to Lisbon (should we stop somewhere in particular for lunch?). Return car in Lisbon. Sleep in Lisbon.
Day 13 - Lisbon.
Day 14 - Fly back to Madrid and sadly to Peru afterwards.
Thanks in advance!!