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HELP ! Advice Requested - Car Journey within Southern Portugal using Lisbon as Start and Finish

Posted by on

My wife and I will have 10 nights in Portugal.

Using Lisbon as a starting and ending point ( we will be arriving in and departing from Lisbon by plane - 10 days in Portugal, 10 days in Morocco )

After some research, I came up with the following itinerary:

We enjoy the less "commercial" / tourist oriented sights with an emphasis on the outdoors / culture / people.

Lisbon for 5 - 6 nights (including day trip to Sintra) - then the following "loop" by car - >>>> Salema / Cape Sagres (1 or 2 nights) >>> Tavira ( 1 night ) >>>>Evora ( 1 nights ).

Any advice / recommendations are greatly appreciated... Be brutally candid - if you feel that other options are better, let me know. The # of days are flexible ( by 3 days).

I will also be posting a similar subject for the Morocco portion of the trip ..

Many Thanks in Advance !!

Posted by
1824 posts

With only ten nights, you might want to rethink your loop to the Algarve. And, if you are set on seeing the Algarve, Salema and Sagres are not the places I would go. IMO, the best part of the Algarve is the Lagos area. The rock formations are amazing. If you aren't going for the rock formations, there are beaches much closer to Lisbon to give you a 'beach fix'.
Evora is worth more than one night. I've been twice - for two nights then a day trip. I would like to go back and stay three nights. There is a megalith tour that is a must see, and wineries outside of town give you a lot to do in that area.
If I only had ten nights, I would add time to Lisbon and do more day trips. Then add three nights to Evora with likely renting a car while there. I would likely skip the Algarve and go to beaches closer to Lisbon.

Posted by
6113 posts

If you want less commercial and culture, then forget the Algarve, which is overly developed and a mecca for beach worshippers and golfers. Salema in particular has been ruined by too much development in the past 5 years.

I too would suggest more time in Evora. I also liked Tomar, Obidos (very touristy) and the area around Setubal and Comporta.

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