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15 night Portugal itinerary - help needed!

Posted by on

I've spent a lot of time reading various posts and trip reports here and am trying to figure out an itinerary for a first time trip to Portugal for my wife and myself. We are both very active and in very good shape. I'll be 61 and my wife 59.

While I've done some looking at hotels, at this point I'm just trying to figure out an itinerary that makes sense. We won't be able to do everything, but we travel to Europe at least once a year, so if we like it we'll be back. I'd love feedback on the following:

Day
1 - arrive Lisbon at noon from Canada - sleep Lisbon
2 - sleep Lisbon
3 - sleep Lisbon
4 - sleep Lisbon
During out time in Lisbon, we'll spend a day in Sintra

5 - pick up rental car - sleep Coimbra (or does somewhere else make more sense?) En route to Coimbra, visit Obidos and some other towns
6 - drive to Douro Valley - sleep Douro Valley
7 - sleep Douro Valley
8 - sleep Porto
9 - sleep Porto
10 - sleep Porto
11 - sleep Evora
12 - sleep Algarve (likely Lagos for all 3 nights in Algarve)
13 - sleep Algarve
14 - sleep Algarve
15 - sleep Lisbon, likely airport hotel for our 8am departure the following morning

I welcome any and all suggestions! Thanks in advance.

Posted by
1097 posts

A good portion of your trip does not require a rental car (Lisbon, Porto, Coimbra a car would not be convenient).

You could consider taking a high speed train on arrival day directly to Coimbra then onto Porto. Pick up a car when leaving Porto to see the Douro valley then continue driving to the Algarve, returning the car in Lisbon. Or, you could consider taking the train that goes along the Douro river which would remove the need for the car. Many take the train to Pinhão and then take a river cruise from there. The train will allow the driver to also enjoy the scenery and I understand the views are rather nice from the train.

Anyways, just thoughts.

Posted by
1097 posts

Just to add a bit more, you seem to have left out the Minho region which, in my opinion, is a wonderful area of Portugal where a car would actually come in handy. I don't know how much you have your heart set on the Algarve, but if you are willing to visit other beaches that are closer to Lisbon and Porto, the time you save in traveling across the country could be spend north of Porto. Take a look at Braga, Guimarães, Pointe de Lima, Viana do Castelo etc. Or you could take that saved time and spend more days on the Silver Coast.

Posted by
2 posts

Gail, thanks very much for your feedback. You've given us quite a bit to think about. The reason we were going to drive from Lisbon to Coimbra and then Porto rather than train was so that we could visit some of the towns and sites along the way (Obidos, Batalha, Fatima, etc.). I realize that we won't use the car at all within Porto or Coimbra itself. We'll just park it while in those cities.

I'm going to take closer look at the Minho region and your other suggestions.

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