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Itinerary for November/December. Suggestions?

Posted by (Washington, D.C.) on

We're planning a last-minute Portugal trip for late November-early December. Been there before with Rick Steves, so we've seen most of the basics for first timers. No car, train/bus. Main interests: food, wine, history, people watching. So, here's my planning so far ...

Land in Lisbon Tuesday, Nov. 29
Lisbon Wednesday, Nov. 30
Lisbon Thursday, Dec. 1
Train to Lagos Friday, Dec. 2
Lagos Saturday, Dec. 3
Lagos Sunday, Dec. 4
Train to Coimbra Monday, Dec. 5
Coimbra Tuesday, Dec. 6
Train to Porto Wednesday, Dec. 7
Porto Thursday, Dec. 8
Porto Friday, Dec. 9
Train to Regua Saturday, Dec. 10
Regua Sunday, Dec. 11
Train to Lisbon Monday, Dec. 12
Depart Lisbon Tuesday, Dec. 13.

Sound like a reasonable plan? Day-tripping a bit from each location, of course. Suggestions appreciated.

Posted by
127 posts

Gail, we're locked into Lisbon at this point.

Posted by
3280 posts

Skip the Algarve (Lagos). Late fall is not the time to go. Go to Évora instead.

Posted by
3293 posts

I definitely agree with skipping Lagos at that time of year, adding days to Lisbon and taking the train and starting in Porto. Evora is definitely worth a visit. I visited the town of Salema (about 12 miles west of Lagos) in early November and it was dead. I think I was the only tourist in town.

Posted by
6113 posts

The boat trips to the caves from Lagos aren’t likely to be running in December. Lagos in September is lovely but Lagos in December could be cool and wet.

Food and wine you can find anywhere in Portugal. There’s not as much history in the Algarve as further north.

Posted by
127 posts

Good points, folks. We're deleting Lagos for this trip and revising/finetuning our itinerary a bit. Maybe spreading "base" over three locations - Lisbon, Porto, Coimbra - and planning daytrips from each.

One aside, I notice that the Portuguese train line offers a 50 percent discount for seniors. Who can say no to that bargain?

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