I asked for advice and am so appreciative. I changed a few things, and have just a few questions. I am thankful for any advice!
Arrive in Lisbon: taking train to Porto and working our way back down.
3 nights in Porto
2 nights Douro Valley
3 nights Coimbra (day trip to Viseu)
2 nights Sintra
1 night Evora
4 nights Lisbon (day trip to Cascais, Obidos, Belem) We fly out of Lisbon.
Does this look like a good plan? Too many nights in Coimbra? What am I missing?
Maybe 1 night Sintra, 2 nights Evora.
Belem is a section of Lisbon, a favorite of mine. Book tickets to to the Jeronimos Monasterio ahead.
The plan looks good to me! I would keep 2 nights in Sintra if you want to stay there, because coming from Coimbra, you will not get there early, so you won't be able to visit much on that first day in Sintra, and you will need most of day 2 to see the various sights.
With 4 nights in Lisbon, Óbidos should probably be skipped, you will not miss that much - it is very touristy.
I would consider dropping a night in Coimbra and adding it to Evora. Otherwise I think with public transport you are cutting Evora a bit short. Otherwise , looks like a great trip.
Have you worked out the train schedules and how they fit into your plan?
I looked at trains from Sintra to Evora. There are very few trains from Lisbon (where you transfer) to Evora. I picked Monday, Sept 12 at random. There are trains from Lisbon at around 7 and 9 am, then at 1.30, 5 and 7 pm. The train website says to transfer at Lisboa-Sete Rios. If you book as a single trip, it's 5-8 minutes transfer time for a total of 2 hours travel time, but the transfer time is only 5-8 minutes. I'm unfamiliar with the station and that may be ample time (with luggage) but I'd be a bit leery of the urban train from Sintra being on time and the IC train from Lisbon waiting for it. So I'd book a slightly earlier train from Sintra and make a separate reservation for IC to Evora. That means either leaving Sintra pretty early (and maybe being in the rush hour crowd to Lisbon), going mid-day and not having enough time in either city, or arriving in Evora in the evening. That would determine how you split the nights between the two.
Depending on what time you arrive in Lisbon from Coimbra, it may be better to take uber or taxi to Sintra. When I visited in 2019, rates were very reasonable and the shortened travel time and ease would be well worth a few extra euros. From the Sintra train station, it's a 10-15 minute walk to the historic center - and it's mostly cobblestones so it may take longer and will likely be uncomfortable walking with wheeled luggage. And if you're going to take a taxi from the train, you might as well take it from Lisbon.
My other observation is that you don't seem to have left much time at all to see Lisbon, with only 3 full days there and 3 half-day trips. I think Coimbra needs one full day, which translates to 2 nights. I'm in the minority, but I was not overly impressed by Evora.
