6 days in Portugal please help!

Portugal’s rail is www.cp.pt. From Lisbon it’s over 4 hrs to Lagos so that day is basically gone. You may want to check if you can fly directly to Faro & train to Lagos from there or rent a car. Your itinerary is short changing Lisbon. Assuming it’s 3 nights which only gives you 2 full days.

I agree you are shortchanging Lisbon. We spent 5 nights in Lisbon last April, and this included a day trip to Sintra. I think you need 4 full days at least to properly see Lisbon and Sintra. Lisbon is a great city for just wandering around and enjoying the miradouros (viewpoints), in addition to its many wonderful sights. If we had the extra nights, I would have preferred staying in Sintra for a night or two instead of seeing it as a day trip.

I haven't been to the Algarve so can't comment there. When is your trip? Are you planning on beach time in the Algarve? And how many NIGHTS will you be in Portgual? Thinking in terms of nights rather than days is a better way to plan a trip. For example, 5 nights gives you 4 full days, and maybe bits of a day when you arrive or when you depart.

In theory, you can land in Faro at noon and take the 4pm train to Lagos, which takes over 2 hours. Portuguese local trains on this line are not reliable and often prone to cancellations. Long distance trains are good.

The Algarve is best served with a car. Public transport is sketchy.

Lagos to Lisbon is 5+ hours door to door. You have little time in Portugal and a fair proportion as planned will be spent in transit.

I would head straight to Lisbon and take day trips to Cascais, Sintra or Evora.

Hi im sorry i wrote this while at a red light not the smartest but this is what i was planning on doing
Departing from miami October 10 landing in barcelona october 11 at 9 am taking a vueling to lisbon landing at 1:15 pm then maybe take train to Lagos/algarve staying there from October 12-leaving the 15th back (bright and Early) to Lisbon/Sintra staying in Lisbon from October 15th until the 18th. im not sure if this makes sense typically when we go abroad we do about 2-3 things in a day with time to unwind and relax but again i have not been here before so would like to know from you all. if you feel like this is alot of back and fourth or a waste please let me know so then i may look into the options you all wrote. Thank you :)

Do you fly back to Miami on October 18? If so, that only gives you 3 days in Lisbon and Sintra, which is not a lot in my opinion. I would feel like I was rushing around, and I would be frustrated.

Why are you flying to Barcelona to get to Lisbon? Couldn't you fly from Miami direct to Lisbon? And do you have to return to Barcelona to fly back to Miami? If so, that is wasting a lot of time.

Regarding whether or not this is a rushed trip, that depends on what you want to see and do, and probably your age as well. My husband and I are older (69 and 72), so we prefer to stay in a place longer and see everything we want to see, and to also savor the place, such as walking around neighborhoods, doing a bit of shopping, relaxing at cafes. It seems to me that you will be spending a lot of time on trains and planes, and not spending a lot of time at your destination. Also, I assume that October is not beach time on the Algarve.

What are your interests? I suggest buying a guidebook for Lisbon and the Algarve to learn about the place and the sites, and to determine what you want to see and how long you think you need. For me, your trip is too rushed. You could, for example, spend all the time in Lisbon and take day trips to Sintra and Cascais. Or spend 4 nights in Lisbon, with perhaps 1 or 2 nights in Sintra. Sintra has lots of castles and palaces to see. We had time to see only one palace, and then a quick drive through Cascais, which I thought looked very pretty and nice. But if you are younger than me, you might have the energy to see both Algarve and Lisbon/Sintra. But you won't have time to see everything in Lisbon and Sintra, and maybe that is ok with you.

Also wanted to add that if you want to see coastal scenery (hence the Algarve), you can see beautiful coastal scenery in Cascais and Estoril.

Yes, we have family in Barcelona so on the 18th we fly back to spend 3 days seeing everyone. I mean I’m not sure I did do Rome, amalfi coast, Capri, priano, positano, sorrento, and Barcelona in a total of 9 days we didn’t feel rushed but also everything was a quick car ride of about an hour or two and I see that from Lisbon to Lagos is about 4 hours by train, so I feel like that is completely different. We also did go to almalfi in October it was about 74 during the day even went on a boat and swam for a little at night it was cool but never freezing I’m not sure if Portugal works the same as I hear that in Lagos/Algarve area it is very windy. The reason for trying to go to Lagos was for the famous beaches, caves, and rock formations but if it’s not doable then I would probably change the route to something closer