I’m visiting Portugal for the first time in late May. I have 8 nights and want to decide how to split between Lisbon and Porto (I’ll use those as my home bases.)
I arrive in Lisbon on a Sunday and know many sites are closed on Mondays.
Should I stay in Lisbon 5 nights and Porto 3 or spend 4 nights in each?
Thanks so much!
Personally I'd do 4 + 4. 8 nights is only 7 days, depending on what time you arrive and what time you depart. With the time you will lose on your travel day between the two cities, you really have just 3 days in each city. You say you will use them as your home bases, but 3 days is just enough to explore the cities. You don't really have much time for day trips. Maybe Sintra or Cascais from Lisbon. But I'd want to have 3 full days for Porto and 3 full days for Lisbon.
Scott,
For our first time to Portugal, we flew RT to Lisbon from SFO and allocated 5 nights in Lisbon and 3 in Porto, with one of the Lisbon nights being the night before our flight. On our second trip, we flew RT, but went straight to Porto and then ended the trip in Lisbon. Something to think about given you have so few nights and you lose 1/2 day transferring locations.
If you want to visit the Douro Valley on your trip, then I would recommend allocating 4 nights to Porto. If you don't, then for the first time in Portugal, there is plenty to do in Lisbon, especially if you do a day trip to Sintra to occupy 5 nights.
