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Itinerary Advice

Posted by on

We are visiting in June. We have booked a 7 day Douro River cruise but have 4-5 days either side of the cruise. We fly into Lisbon after a very long flight from New Zealand, arriving early afternoon. We were thinking of just catching some rest and sleep in an airport hotel and picking up a car the next morning. Here is where we have to decide on the best option.

OPTION 1
Drive to the Algarve for 3 full days and then on the 4th day drive up to Porto to start the cruise. We would drop the car off in Porto.
After the cruise we would stay in Porto for 4 days ( day trips) and train back to Lisbon.

OPTION 2
Take the 3-4 days to stay in places on the way to Porto. We would drop the car off in Porto. After the cruise we would stay in Porto for 4 days ( day trips) and train back to Lisbon.

Any advice would be appreciated. The cruise is booked so please don't advise me to omit that part.

Posted by
1826 posts

Don’t drive to the Algarve with your limited time. There are a number of day trips from Porto, or you could spend a couple of days in Coimbra on your way back to Lisbon. These areas are much more typically Portuguese than the Algarve.

Posted by
374 posts

Look at the detailed cruise itinerary, some include tours of the city of Porto on the first and last day of the cruise. If that's the case you won't need as much time visiting Porto ( unless if you want to).

You don't include Lisbon and surrounding areas in you itinerary, not interested or seen it before?
Are you going to the Algarve because you like the beaches or some other reason.?

We love the Algarve ( stayed for 2 months in the winter) but wouldn't want to drive for 6hours from the Algarve to Porto ( unless if we absolutely had to).

There are small beaches outside of Lisbon ( Estoril / Cascais), Caparica is a longer beach across the river from Lisbon and beaches all along the coast from Lisbon to Porto.
Unfortunately the water tends to be cold and rough the exception would be São Martinho do Porto.

If the Algarve is really important to you,stick with option 1 if it's not go with option 2.

A word about the cruise, unlike ocean cruises that go long distances the Douro river cruise is relatively short distance wise, suggest that you take the offered tours to have the best experience.

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