Itinerary advice for October?

We love Portugal. I have been there twice and fond of the friendly people.

You appear to have about 10 days.

I suggest staying in Lisbon to see the city for 3 days, then take day trips from Lisbon to Evora (take the train or a tour). Also, go to Sintra for a day trip. That adds two more nights there. You could do five nights in Lisbon.

Obidos and Coimbra are good. You can see Obidos in an afternoon on your way to Coimbra. If you like 2 nights there, you still have three more nights to do Porto. You can see Porto in one full day, but take the train up the river, the scenery is wonderful.

Based on your interests, don't short Lisbon. There are plenty of historical sites and museums, but you might reduce your enjoyment of them if you tried to see several in one day; I would suggest maybe two a day to provide time to enjoy as well as time just enjoying the city.
Some places that are in your RS guidebook that I recommend are: Gulbenkian Museum, Museum of Ancient Art, National Tile Museum (famous for blue artwork/pictures on tiles), and next door in Belém (worth a day), the Monument to the Discoveries and the Monastery of Jerónimos, which has a small museum/shop above the cloisters, with a large display of the royal family tree.
There are many other places to see and things to do in the city, including (a travel favorite of mine) eating.

I think your proposed six days in Lisbon and as a base for side trips would be good for a relaxing, enjoyable, unhurried visit.
Have fun! I did.

I've found two/day is about the max that we care to tackle and I've found 4 days min in a new City and add another if they have significant modern art. We will definitely head out to the EXPO site for the architecture and to see how redevelopment has fared there. Thanks.

And I'm trying to decide exactly how many nights/days to spend there. In the planning phase, I'm still flexible.

Hello carolyn,

I live in Porto area and I can tell you that this city is much more than wine - I'm not being biased.
To get an idea, its historic centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (the streets, monuments, the bridge and Serra do Pilar viewpoint are just wonderful); there are two museums worth seeing if you're into art: Soares dos Reis National Museum and Serralves Contemporary Art Museum; people are always helpful; wonderful gastronomy and great nightlife... the Ribeira area is also beautiful...

Enjoy Portugal ;)

Thanks! I much appreciate hearing about the Serralves Museum and the UNESCO designation - I always try to get to those.

OK - I went back and reviewed Rick's Guide and am now booked for:
Lisbon 6 nights
Porto 2 nights
Coimbra 2 nights
Evora 2 nights

I didn't see the mention of the UNESCO designation in Rick's guide, maybe I missed it. In any case I appreciate the input and am excited to be heading to the Contemporary Art Museum and Park in Porto!

Hello carolyn,

It's great you're coming to Porto, you won't regret it ;) (sometimes guides don't talk about all the wonderful places a city has and that's unfortunate)

Of the places you've chosen, all are listed by UNESCO as World Heritage (Lisbon with "just" two monuments in the Belém quarter and Sintra with its wonderful cultural landscape; Porto and Évora with their amazing historic centres and Coimbra with its beautiful university and surrounding area).

Enjoy Portugal ;)

Hi, we are 4 adults spending 2 weeks touring Portugal & two weeks touring Spain with 5 nights in Lisbon; we've traveled all over Europe but found it very difficult to find places that will take a station wagon type vehicle in these two countries; so if you do have a car, make sure there is parking for the size of your car.
Jean

I am also going in October. I have 2.5 weeks and was planning 1 week Barcelona, 1 week Lisbon, 4 days somewhere else. But there is so much to do in Portugal, maybe we should do Spain another time. We're not into museums but like to walk around cool cities, old towns, walled cities, looking forward to doing a lot of biking. I understand there's a lot of great biking along the coast and the rivers. I'm thinking now Lisbon 5-6 days including day trips to Sintra and Obidos, Porto 4-5 days including day trips; maybe 3-4 days there and another 1-2 days up the Duoro depending on bike paths.

We normally love to take trains around Europe but it seems more difficult to do in Spain/Portugal. The distances are far, and buses are often recommended over trains, and even planes over either. But we don't want to do a ton of flying from city to city. So maybe we should stick to the cities mentioned and not try to cover a lot of the countryside We do like to kind of get settled and stay put for a while, as opposed to a different hotel every couple nights.

When we travel we don't get hung up on seeing any particular thing. There's many amazing things in the world and for us it's just about the experience of being somewhere, seeing a few sights and being out in a different culture.

Then we fly home out of Madrid and i'm not sure if that warrants a couple days, including a day trip to Toledo... or just do an overnight and focus elsewhere.

Any thoughts?

I was originally planning to do a week in Barcelona and a week in Lisbon; but in grazing through the Rick Steves book and then checking back after using this Forum, I ditched the Barcelona portion to focus on Portugal (I have been to Spain a few times already, and never to Portugal). The RS book definitely recommends trains in Portugal where the distances are much closer than in Spain. I'll leave it to others who have been there to comment on the specifics, but in thinking about my planning, it's look pretty good if it aligns with the kinds of things you want to see/do. I do like museums and plan to get back to Barcelona another trip.

And as for Madrid: Big City with lots to see and do. Two days is not enough to do it justice, but enough to know if you'd like to come back. Toledo - worth a trip; but then lots of places in Spain are: Bilbao, San Sebastian, Sevilla, Cordoba, Malaga, Gibralter...and yes, Barcelona and areas around there. So much time, so much to do!

Cindy,
Madrid is great, the Prado is super. Go see Toledo and Segovia on day trips.