Hello all, spent 8 days in Lisbon and Porto in late 2018 and loved the cities and country, and am now heading back to do a 9 day road trip to see as much of the rest of the country as possible, in late March / early April.
Would love anyone's recommendations on suggested itineraries, cities or destinations outside those two cities that are must see, and of course any good restaurant or sightseeing recommendations are more than welcome.
Thanks for everyone in advance for your inputs.
Évora and Coimbra are mighty fine.
This will be the first recommendation I've made not based on personal experience, but Portugal's "schist villages" seem remarkable and very much visit-worthy. I'll certainly see some of them next time I'm in the country.
Take a cork safari and see Roman ruins in Èvora. There are also Neolithic sites in that area.
My first thought is that driving on highways after getting off a long-haul night flight is dangerous - to yourself and others. Either spend your first night in Lisbon or take the train and rent a car there. On return, be sure to allow enough time to get to the airport, rush hour traffic around Lisbon can be incredibly slow.
I drove to Evora 1N, then explored the eastern side of the country: Elvas 2N, Castelo Rodrigo 2N, Regua (Douro Valley) 2N, Tomar 3N. It was all wonderful. Evora was my least favorite, though I enjoyed visiting a nearby cork factory. I don't recommend Tomar so much as a destination, but it was a very good base to visit the wonderful monasteries at Alcobaca and Batalha, and Obidos (though if you visit some of the hill towns around Elvas, skip Obidos) and a seaside village (I went to Navare - wasted time). Tomar has an unusual restaurant, Taverna Antiqua where everything is pre-Columbian, the food and drink (very good), the furnishings, the utensils. Castelo Rodrigo was wonderful and I did a nighttime tour of the ancient rock art. Elvas is a pretty walled town with a couple good restaurants, a few interesting sights and it's convenient for day tripping. I spent my nights in Regua at a quinta/winery, they served excellent dinners and really good wines. It's another good place to day trip.
It's definitely possible to visit those places as 1-nighters if you like (I prefer a slower pace) and still see a lot of the villages and other sights. Then you could fit in Coimbra, also well worth a day. I used Carolyn's trip report as a starting point.
You might also look at the 12 Historic Villages of Portugal. It includes some of the towns other have mentioned.
But, if you haven’t seen Evora, Coimbra, Tomar, Guimarães and Braga, they are all worth your time. Closer to Lisbon are Ericeira and Mafra. The monasteries of Alcobaça and Batalha are also lovely.
