Which itinerary do you all think is better? Will travel in late spring/early summer. I’m also open to other places and nothing has been booked yet. I am not renting a car
I am planning Days 1-3 to be in Lisbon
-Option 1:
Day 4. ->Porto
Day 5. Porto
Day 6. Porto-> Lisbon
Leave on Day 7
-Option 2:
Day 4. ->Coimbra
Day 5. Day trip to Porto from Coimbra
Day 6. Coimbra-> Lisbon
Leave on Day 7
With 6 nights I’d suggest going to Sintra (on day arrival) for 1-2 nights then spending the rest of your time in Lisbon. Take a day trip to Cascais and/or Evora.
Enjoy your time in beautiful Portugal!
With 6 nights I’d suggest going to Sintra (on day arrival) for 1-2 nights then spending the rest of your time in Lisbon. Take a day trip to Cascais and/or Evora.
Enjoy your time in beautiful Portugal!
That sounds like a great idea. How do you get from Lisbon airport to Sintra, and would you recommend doing 3 nights in Sintra with a day trip to Cascais instead?
Six nights is not a lot and you will waste precious sightseeing time traveling all the way to Porto. I would spend all 6 nights in Lisbon, and take a day trip to Sintra if you don't want/need to see all the monuments, and then take a day trip to Cascais. This would be a more relaxing trip. Lisbon is a wonderful city with lots to see and do. We spent 5 nights in Lisbon with a daytrip to Sintra, and I always wished we had an extra night.
OR another option, if you don't mind changing hotels, would be to spend 4 nights in Lisbon and 2 nights in Sintra if you are interested in seeing all the monuments (castles, palaces, etc) in Sintra.
My husband and I visited Portugal in mid-October this year. We were fortunate to have 13 nights and visited Lisbon, Porto, and Coimbra. With only 6 nights, you have plenty to do in Lisbon with a few day trips: Sintra, Evora, and Coimbra can all be done in a day trip. Lisbon is best enjoyed slowly. The neighborhoods are so charming and our best memories were exploring the neighborhoods. You could easily spend 6 nights in Lisbon without a day trip and never be bored.
When we visited, it rained most days, so Sintra was a huge disappointment. It was so rainy and foggy, the colorful Pena Palace was muted. The wind was so bad, it wasn't really safe to visit the Moorish Castle. I wish we would have skipped Sintra and while I would go back to visit, it would only be in better (sunnier weather). We enjoyed Evora. We are big wine lovers so took a private tour to taste wine, visit Evora, and Monsaraz (a medieval village). It was one of the highlights of our trip exploring the Alentejo and an area that we would go back to.
If you don't mind being on the go and want to see a different side of Portugal, then your Option 1 is an easy transport option. We really liked Porto (spent 4 days there with a day trip to the Douro Valley). Porto is small, but packed with fun things to do. It is a bit more gritty than Lisbon, but has a charm of its own. If you like Port, then taking a food/port tour is a great way to explore the food and wine of the region.
Whatever you choose, if you are like my husband and I, you will want to return to this lovely country.
How do you get from Lisbon airport to Sintra, and would you recommend doing 3 nights in Sintra with a day trip to Cascais instead?
It’s fairly easy to get from the Lisbon airport to Sintra.
I’ll share my trip report where you’ll find detailed information about this.
You can read the beginning (Sintra) and the end of our trip (Lisbon)
I think it may be easier to get to Cascais from Lisbon than from Sintra, but I may be wrong.
Edited to add…
I just re-read the beginning of my trip report and realized that I didn’t write about getting to Sintra from the airport. We took the metro to Oriente Station then the train to Sintra & taxi to our hotel.
I just found this website which explains it well: Portugal.com
