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14 days - Portugal and other??

We just learned that we need to be in Lisbon May 16-19, and fly out on the 20 or 21st. We are from east coast USA and have 10 days available before our time in Lisbon and are trying to decide whether to stay in Portugal, having never visited before, or add Amsterdam or Edinborough (lived in Netherlands in the past and relatives in Scotland). We spent 2 weeks in Italy last year, visiting Rome, Parma and Lucca, and loved it. Handled our dislike of crowds in Rome by doing small neighborhood tours rather than hitting big tourist sites. Any thoughts/advice for itinerary would be welcome.

Will travel with 20 year old daughter, if that changes things...

Thank you!

Posted by
568 posts

My first thought is to just stay in Portugal. 14 days gives you enough time to see Porto, Coimbra, Evora, Sintra, and maybe go down to the Algarve as well. Lisbon, Sintra will most likely be crowded, but I think if you approach it the way you did Rome you will be ok. We stayed overnight for 2 nights in Sintra to enjoy it a bit without crowds too.
However, one thought for Amsterdam is that this would still be Tulip season I think. If that appeals then maybe consider that too.
To throw a spanner in the works, TAP ( Portugal's airline) was offering flights with a stopover in Madeira. I was wishing we lived in the east to take advantage of this. If you haven't booked your flight yet, it could be an interesting trip.