My husband and I have booked our flights going into Porto and out of Lisbon in April. Plan is to land on a Wednesday morning and visit Porto for the day and hopefully get in a food tour that afternoon/evening. Next day would like to take one of the tours out to the Duoro Valley for the day and then back to Porto overnight . Our plan for the remaining days is where we have questions. Trying to decide if best to go to Algarve from Porto either by rental car or high speed train and spend a few nights there and then move on to Lisbon and do the rest of our nights there with a day trip to Sintra area, /OR go to Lisbon by train and go in and out with day trip to Sintra and then to Algarve for a night or two and back to Lisbon to fly home. We've read that no need for rental car once we get to Lisbon and would just do hired cars or tours except if go to Algarve. Once plan decided we can start booking the hotels and tours. I just wondered if anyone has done the train from Porto to Algarve or is it better to drive so have car when there and if this a reasonable route to take with Porto/algarve/Lisbon. Was trying to avoid in and out of hotels so much in Lisbon in that have to return there regardless at end for a night because of a morning flight. Sorry so long but always appreciate input on this site from travel experts and fellow travelers. Thanks in advance.
Posted by
Big Island of Hawaii
682 posts
How many days total will you be there? Hard for us to advise where to go and how long to stay unless we know your flight plans.
Posted by
OP
15 posts
Sorry about that..... 9 nights total.
Posted by
2510 posts
My son and his fiancé have about the same amount of time. They are going to Porto and the Algarve, flying between them. They are renting a car there.
I don’t think you have time for three destination in 9 days considering the distance between them. I would pick Porto and Lisbon since that is where you are flying in and out. They are actually flying out of Faro airport.
Posted by
271 posts
We have flown ( about 1hr 15mins plus boarding and security), taken the train and driven ( about 6hrs for either) between Lisbon and Porto.
If you're going to the Algarve for a specific reason, go for it, if you're going just for the beaches you may want to consider the beaches outside of Lisbon.
The beaches are off the train line between Lisbon and Cascais, Carcavelos is the biggest.
In Lisbon a car can be an hinderance, parking, traffic, etc, but in the Algarve is a plus unless you're staying in one spot.
If you decide to go to the Algarve, fly there from Porto to save time and go to Lisbon afterwards.