Itinerary feedback and tour suggestions

Covering the Algarve all the way up to Porto is best suited to a 3 week trip. I would suggest that you drop the Algarve which will be heaving in June.

Day 1. No, no no! Please don’t get off a long transatlantic flight and try to drive for half a day to the Algarve. It’s just dangerous for you and other road users. You need your wits about you to drive around Lisbon. I would take the train to Porto on day 1 and start your trip there and hire a car on day 3 or 4.

If you have a car, then seeing some of the towns such as Alcobaca and Coimbra for a few days before heading to Evora for at least one night is a possibility. End in Lisbon, returning the car on arrival.

You won't find much love for the Algarve on this forum... And I am not a fan either. It has good beaches and lively resort towns, but you will find equivalent beaches with less overdevelopment without going all the way south. The coast between Cascais and Nazaré has several options; around Comporta just south of Lisbon is good too.

Also, driving all the way to the Algarve after landing from an overnight flight is a bit risky due to tiredness. If you do end up going to the Algarve consider taking the train and renting a car there. Or start with Evora, which you can also reach by train, or even reverse your trip and start with Porto - where you don't need a car.

I will echo what the other posters have written. Skip the Algarve and get your beach fix between Lisbon and Porto. Ericeira is quite nice. You might want to Google Silver Coast for a number of beach towns. They will be somewhat crowded at that time of the year but nothing compared to the Algarve.

Taking the train between Lisbon and Porto is easy and the train station is a close taxi/Uber/metro ride from the airport. At this point in time it will be significantly cheaper due to the price of gasoline, too!

Ok...so if we adjusted to something like this? thoughts? And places we should stop? Don't want too many hotel changes:

Day 0 - depart. Fly overnight.
Day 1 - Arrive Lisbon at 8am
Day 2 - Lisbon
Day 3 - Train to Porto
Day 4 - Porto
Day 5 - Porto
Day 6 - Rent Car drive to Coimbra (Aveiro for day)
Day 7 - Coimbra
Day 8 - ?
Day 9 - ?
Day 10 - Return car in Lisbon
Day 11 - Lisbon/Sintra (day trip - tour provider suggestion)
Day 12 - Lisbon/Cascais
Day 13 - travel day 12:45 flight

I love Algarve!

It's the Atlantic, but water is warmer, and waves are smaller. In there, there are not "marés vivas" or redflags that forbid you to go bath.

It's the Atlantic, but winds are different. In Algarve, mainly at the East, you don't have "nortada", the North wind that ruins many potencial beach days. There are windmills all along the western coast in Portugal - that means something.

Beach time for me it's there.

My husband and I are currently planning our first trip to Portugal and have also cut Algarve. We have added Tomar to the list and a few nights in Douro Valley. We do have 3 weeks and no car, so we have to weigh all of the options. Check out Tomar...close to a lot of the spots we want to see.

Disclaimer: we have not been to Portugal…yet. We had a 25 night trip planned in 2020 that we had to postpone. I am just now replanning that trip for 2023 but it will be shorter.

First I wonder if you have checked car rental rates yet, because they are super high this year. Your original plan has you with a car in places you simply do not need. Strategic use of a rental car will save you $$ and headaches.

It looks like you have dropped Algarve?
Since you have to RT Lisbon, put all your Lisbon nights at end so you don’t have that split stay/ extra hotel change. And please don’t drive after a overnight flight

Here is what I am thinking of doing but it will be 15-16 nights for us, so you’d have to reduce stays in some places since you only have 12 nights.

Fly to Lisbon
To Sintra 2 nights- seems like a nice place to get over jet lag and just as easy to get to from LIS
Pick up car at LIS, drive to Sao Martinhao- 4 nights. Visit Obidos, Caldas da Rainha, Alcobaca, Batalha, Tomar, Nazare…not all, we’ll decide later. Might add an overnight in Tomar and visit Batalha on the way.
Drive to Coimbra, drop car
Coimbra 2 nights
Train to Aveiro 1 night- or skip or day trip from Porto
Train to Porto 3 nights
Train to Lisbon 4 nights
Fly home from Lisbon

We’ll probably have to skip Evora unless we add more nights, but we’ve realized there is simply too much to see in Portugal and don’t like a lot of 1 and 2 night stays. If we love Portugal as much as we think we will, we will return.

Hope this gives you some ideas.

ETA
We always rent our cars in Europe thru AutoEurope, a US based consolidator with usually best rates and excellent customer service.
You might want to check rates there before deciding how many days you’ll need that car
www.AutoEurope.com

As I understand it, train travel is excellent and affordable in Portugal but there are a few places a car will be necessary.