13 nights in Portugal. Should we drop Lagos?

Have you booked your flight to Faro? If not I would suggest you book to Lisbon instead and start your trip there. Then you could pick up your car after you see Lisbon. You could easily add on some time in your Obidos/Nazare, Tomar/Coimbra section as you are kind of racing through there.

If the flight is already booked, then I would see Lagos. It seems a shame to fly into the algarve and not see it at all. You are right you don't need a car in Lisbon, but you do for the rest of your current itinerary. I personally wouldn't want the hassle of a drop off and pick up 3 days later so would just keep it parked ( if your hotel has parking)

I agree with dropping the Algarve if you haven’t booked your plane tickets. There is more than enough to fill your time between Lisbon and Porto and places between. You could then see Lisbon, pick up the car for the central portion of the country, then turn it back in when you get to Porto.

Hello petey2428,

Good pick for your honeymoon trip ;)

If you want to enjoy the beaches for some time, then the ones in Algarve are the best or close to it. In addition, at the beginning of September I believe there aren't as many tourists as in August...

On the other hand, if you're like me then you're not a "beach" tourist... taking that into consideration, I agree with the previous comments and leave out the Algarve since it is the less authentic region in Portugal.

If you still can, book a flight to Lisbon and plan your itinerary from there to northern Portugal... as a suggestion for a day trip from Lisbon, you can consider a visit to the beautiful city of Évora - it's +/- a 1h30m drive from the capital and you won't regret it ;)

Nazaré hasn't that much to see and you can explore Óbidos in a morning; Tomar is a very beautiful town with a beautiful historic centre and the amazing castle and Convent of Christ (you should consider spending the night here since you'll definitely won't be able to explore Tomar and Coimbra in just one day).
Coimbra deserves at least a day just for itself :)

The Douro Valley is also a great choice, especially if you like river/vineyard landscapes ;)

I hope you have a great time ;)

Thank you everyone for the response! We have not booked our Dublin -> Faro (or Lisbon) segment yet.

Is it just me or is Algarve is not as high on a lot of people's list despite Rick's glowing recommendation? In the beginning, Lagos was one of my must-dos in Portugal, but now I"m starting to reconsider it mostly because I can't find a hotel in my price range (around $100-130/night) that looks like it would be worth staying at. The rock formations do look cool and unique though, and I don't know if I'll make a trip to Portugal JUST to the Algarve. I am still torn on this.

Regarding Evora, we're probably going to pass it this round since we don't want to backtrack. We just did a week and a half in Castille this past November (Segovia/Salamanca/Avila/El Escorial), and I assume that Evora would have a similar vibe.

We do want atleast a night near the beach, whether that's Lagos or Nazare. If we do Lagos, should we just completely skip Nazare to have more time in Tomar/Coimbra?

Thanks again for your help!

I would not skip Lagos.
I prefer natural beauty to a city/historical site/museum in most all cases though so different interests for different folks.

I think if you spend nights in Lagos it is reasonable to skip Nazare.

There are beaches close to both Lisbon and Porto that you might like better than Nazaré. It’s another one of those places RS really likes, but I don’t see it. Yes, it’s a beach but there are many, many others that would fit into your itinerary better and leave you more time for Coimbra or Tomar - or Lisbon or Porto,