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First Trip to Portugal--Review of Itinerary

Posted by (San Franciso Bay Area, USA) on

My husband and I are taking our first trip to Portugal in mid October. I have reviewed RS guide and the trip reports on the Forum. I would like to get your feedback on the proposed itinerary. Are we spending the right amount of time in each town, is there anything that we are missing that we should either add or things that we should subtract.

Some information about us and the specific dates. My husband and I are active (72 and 61 respectively), enjoy the history and culture of the places we travel. We love good food and wine, often taking food and wine tours on our vacations along with cooking classes. We prefer cities to beach towns. Given the fact we are traveling in October, we are planning to skip the Algarve and Nazare this visit.

We are not going to drive on this trip, so we will be relying on trains and buses for transportation.

  • October 11: Fly from SFO to Lisbon, arriving late afternoon October 12
  • October 12-18: Lisbon with day trips to Evora and Sintra
  • October 18-20: Coimbra
  • October 20-24: Porto with day trip to Douro Valley
  • October 24-25: Lisbon, fly out in the morning 25th

Thank you all in advance for your help.

Posted by
11616 posts

Nazaré is a touristy beach town, so it’s good that you are skipping it. We couldn’t wait to get out of there.
Look at including visits to Alcobaça, the 12th century monastery. You can also visit the historic town of Batalha nearby.

Posted by
1826 posts

I like your itinerary. You aren’t trying to rush around and see everything in such a finite amount of time.

Posted by
1035 posts

Thank you Kathryn and Suki for your help. Greatly appreciate it.

Posted by
353 posts

Hey, we're arriving a week earlier and although our itinerary are not too similar, we have similar number of days in Lisbon and Porto :) Your post gave me an idea to post and see if I receive any suggestions too!

Posted by
175 posts

I was in Portugal in April and this looks like a great itinerary! I cannot stress how hilly EVERYWHERE you go is in Portugal, meaning you will get tired after all the walking. Even my high school aged kids who are athletes after awhile tired of the hills so good to not rush things as you may want to take some breaks from all the sightseeing.

Posted by
1035 posts

Thank you for the insights on taking the time on the hills.

Posted by
1638 posts

While in Porto, take a day trip to Braga to see Bom Jesus. The architecture and view are stunning.

Posted by
26 posts

We’re flying in from the Bay Area on Oct 3rd, leaving Oct 22nd and love food tours and cooking classes as well. Still working out our itinerary.

Love to hear what you have found for your trip.

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