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Day Tours from Lisbon

Hello!

My wife and I will be staying five nights in Lisbon in mid June. So...We'll have two to three full days to explore Lisbon with the possibility of one or two day tours outside of the city. Looking at the day tour options that are offered, I definitely want to go to Sintra. As far as the rest are concerned, Which ones would you folks also recommend?

Steve (in Cincinnati)

Tours are below...
Sintra Tour -
- Pena Palace
- Monserrate Palace
- Sintra Center (Lunch)
- Colares (winery)
- Cabo da Roca (most Western point of Europe)
- Boca do Inferno
- Cascais
- Estoril
- Return to Lisbon beside the sea/river

Arrábida Tour -
- Bacalhôa Palace
- Bacalhôa Winery and Museum
- Setúbal (Lunch)
- Portinho da Arrábida
- José Maria da Fonseca Winery
- Azeitão Village
- Azeitão Cookies (tasting)
- King Christ Sanctuary (view to Lisbon)
- Return to Lisbon

West Coast Tour -
- Fátima: Sanctuary and little Sheppard' s homes (optional - can change for Alcobaça Monastery)
- Batalha Monastery
- Nazaré: O Sítio, St Michael fortress, Praia do Norte (North Beach),
​Church of the ​Holly Lady of Nazaré, Hermitage of Memory
- Óbidos (medieval village)

Évora Tour -
- Diana Temple
- Old Catedral
- Giraldo Square (Lunch)
- Grace Convent
- St. Francis Church
- Bones Chapel
- Castel ​Ruins of King Dom Manuel
- Cartuxa Winery

Posted by
1826 posts

My first thought when reading these lists is - there is no way to visit all these places in one day and do any of them justice! When I first moved here, I did a tour to Sintra that was a very long day. We didn’t visit Colares, Boca do Inferno or Estoril. And, the stop in Cascais was only about 15 minutes. And, the tour listed doesn’t include Quinta da Reguleira - my favorite place in Sintra..

I’ve also done a day tour to Evora in which we didn’t see several of the things you list.
So, I would suggest you ask questions of the tour companies regarding how long you spend at each site before making a decision.

All that said, I think I would choose Evora in addition to Sintra for the second trip. While Obidos, Batalha and Alcobaça are quite nice, if you visit the monastery in Belem and Obidos, you will get a flavor of what you would see on the other trip - and I just like Evora better...
I still haven’t been to the other areas so can’t speak to them.