Hi,
My daughter (23 years old) and I will be flying in and out of Lisbon in late November. Not counting our travel days, we have 8 full days although part of the last day will be getting back to Lisbon for our flight the next day. I am just starting to research this, but wondered whether we should stay in and near Lisbon doing day trips from there the whole time or plan a trip starting in Lisbon with day trips, maybe Coimbra, and then ending in Porto. Although I would love to see the Douro Valley is that spreading ourselves too thin? Especially with the former option, what towns and cities would you recommend (I already had targeted Sintra and an Obidos/Batalha/Fatima day trip). By the way, I prefer to use public transportation although we may do a day tour with a tour operator. Is it better to stay in Lisbon or could Sintra (or somewhere else) be our base? Our interests are charming towns and sites and absorbing the culture of an area. I am always partial to smaller towns in Europe. We are not adverse to staying in a many different places if we work out way up the coast.
Thanks for any advice you can give.