29 days in Portugal in April

When I was in Lisbon, a friend from Lagos, Portugal came up to visit me. Lagos and the surrounding area might meed your desires and needs.

https://wetravelportugal.com/lagos-portugal/

She came and went by train. I had searched train travel fron Lisbon to Lagos and believe that I came across unlimited train travel in Portugal. Again maybe the link above will help.

It’s been my experience that off the beaten path places are not always serviced by public transportation. Many are in the middle of nowhere and not close to anything. For those, a rental car is necessary. A couple examples are Dolman Cunha Baixa and Almourol Castle. The dolman is in the middle of a farmers field. The castle is on an island and isn’t near a town. While Knights Templar tours go there, I don’t think busses service it. There’s also Conimbriga Roman ruins. While you could probably get to nearby Condeixa-a-Velha, you’d still need a taxi to get to the ruins.

Once you know the main places you want to stay, look at nearby towns to see if there is anything in them that’s interests you.

You want either a Eurail Portugal Pass or a Portugal Rail Pass (a CP product).

But both only give you a certain number of days travel in a set period- not travel on each day.

I think you need to set an itinerary first, then check the fares for each journey you plan to take, do the maths and see whether either of the passes actually pays for itself, or if point to point tickets are the better value, given how reasonably priced trains are in Portugal.

And don't forget long distance coach (bus) travel which is good quality, frequent and very good value.- Rede Expressos and Flixbus are the bigger players (Rede Expressos are the equivalent of National Express in the UK)

Portugal isn't a large country, and train tickets there are not particularly costly per mile. Buying individual tickets won't break the bank, and as already noted, you may need buses to get to some of your out-of-the-way destinations.

You can read about trains in Portugal here: https://www.seat61.com/trains-and-routes/lisbon-to-porto-by-train.htm

You might want to check out Julie Dawn Fox’s blog. She has great info on lesser known places in Portugal.

I’ve never seen Tuk tuks outside of Lisbon and maybe Porto. They are a good way to see a lot in a short amount of time in Lisbon without killing yourself with the hills. But, they are not a good general transport vehicle due to the cost.

As stated earlier, there is no need for a train pass in Portugal because the trains are so inexpensive. But, most of the out of the way places are likely not accessible by train. Driving in Portugal outside of Lisbon and Porto is quite easy, but be aware the cost will be more the first week of April due to Easter.

There are many beach areas without going to the Algarve. The Silver Coast area between Lisbon and Porto is quite nice. And, it would be less crowded.

My idea of a beach person is someone who likes hot weather and warm water. That's not really Portugal in April. I'd expect the Atlantic waters to be icy cold. I looked at the daily temps for Lagos and Lisbon for the last 3 years. You can look for yourself here. Last April was warm-ish. Toward the end of the April 2023 in Lagos highs reached 80 but for much of the month they were low-middle 70s. In 2021 and 2022 the highs were mostly low 70s. Lisbon was definitely cooler.