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Advice for Last-minute Portugal Trip, 1 Week Lisbon, Coimbra, Porto

Posted by (Detroit) on

Hello!
We are looking for any advice on an upcoming (in less than 1 week) trip to Portugal. For a variety of reasons, this is last minute planning and we have only purchased the plane tickets at this point. I know we’ll overpay for things, and I’m okay with that. We are departing from the US Midwest (EST), and realize that it would be better to have a longer trip (always is!), but this is what our schedule allows.

We’ve been to Portugal once before for 2 weeks, but it has been almost 5 years. We spent time in Lisbon and then headed to the Algarve to visit a friend. We enjoyed Lisbon, and want time to explore and revisit some sites (loved the carriage museum), but can pass on the Lisbon day trips like Sintra.

Flights:
Arrive Lisbon Mar 24, 2024 8:50 AM
Depart Porto Mar 31, 2024 9:50 AM

Draft Itinerary:
Sun 24 March Lisbon
Mon 25 March Lisbon
Tues 25 March rent car in Lisbon Drive to Nazare for long stop and lunch, continue to Coimbra
Wed 26 March Night in Coimbra
Thur 27 March Night in Coimbra
Fri 28 March Porto
Sat 30 March Porto
Sun 31 March Porto (OPO) 0950

Specific questions:
Does the allocation of days to each city seem reasonable? RS recommends considering dropping the rental car in Coimbra and taking the train from Coimbra to Porto. Any recommendations for stops along the way to Coimbra? I was initially considering keeping the car and returning in Porto. Please share any advice on this.

We are a couple in our mid 30s, have traveled quite a bit in the past few years and have always appreciated the good advice from this forum. We enjoy exploring a place and its culture, wine, food, music, museums (art, history, quirky random museums), walking around a city (can walk 15 miles a day when we travel), and running (he likes to run, if anybody has advice about a run or two please share). We typically hire a private guide in each city for our first day for a few hours, and do most things on our own where it makes sense.

We appreciate any advice on how to allocate days, recommendations on neighborhoods or hotels to stay, etc. Like many on this forum, we don’t like to waste time or money, but also value spending a bit more for a better experience in hotels in particular. We have the Rick Steves Portugal book, but know that this forum is a wealth of wisdom and experience.

Thanks for sharing the advice!

Posted by
6541 posts

Easy stops between Nazaré and Coimbra include Alcobaca and Batalha monasteries. If you’ve never seen the ruins of a Roman city you might enjoy Conimbriga Ruins. The only place we stopped en route to Porto was Aveiro. It’s good for and hour our so. East of Porto in Lamego is Santuário de Nossa Senhora dos Remédios. It’s a small chapel on the top of a hill. To reach it you climb 600 steps. At each different level are murals made with those blue and white tiles.

In Coimbra we stayed at Hotel Mondego. It had a few free parking spots in front of the hotel, but was also a pay parking garage very close by. Free parking in Nazaré is by Fabulous Apartement Nazare, a 7 minutes walk from the beach. There are free parking lots near both monasteries (5 minutes walk). You just need to look them up on Google maps.

Posted by
89 posts

If you rather not drive (and not deal with parking etc), Fernando Batista of PortugueseChauffeur.com offers one way ride to Coimbra from Lisbon with your choice of stops (Obidos, Nazarre, Fatima, Alocobace, Batlha) in his WiFi enabled car. He speaks fluent English and quite knowledgeable about history and current affairs of Portugal (which makes ride very entertaining and educational)

Many of our friends have used him.

Hotel Oslo and Hotel Mondego are both very close to Coimbra A train station with great postcard views from top floors and roof terrace.

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