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Lisbon and Porto area for 7 days

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I am working on a plan for 7 days (of a 22-day adventure) in the Lisbon and Porto area (my wife and I as the travelers). We are to arrive late afternoon on Monday September 9th and currently plan to be in Lisbon for 4 nights, including a day trip to Sintra.

After leaving Lisbon, my initial plan was to get a car and head to Nazare (and area for a couple days). However, after reading RS and Forum, I was having some difficulty getting excited about Nazare (NOTE: We will be in the Algarve area later in the trip for some beach time). So, I currently have currently scrapped that idea (as well as the thought of getting a car for this portion of the trip), and rather taking the train to Coimbra upon leaving Lisbon (skipping Nazare and sites nearby).

We’d take the train to Coimbra, spend part of a day in Coimbra, overnight, and part of the next, before taking the train on to Porto. Then looking at 3 nights in Porto, including a day trip (tour/recommendation?) in Douro Valley.

At end of our Porto time (Tuesday the 17th), we are looking at taking the morning train (2.5 hours) to LIS to get our rental car for the remainder of our trip (we end at LIS to return the car).

So, questions for those with experience with this area of Portugal (NOTE: my wife and I like "active" travelling and look forward to this part of the trip being "busy"):

What would you change, add, delete?

Am I being foolish leaving off time in the Nazare area (something would need to “give” if I add back in as we are fixed to these 7 days)?

Would hiring a driver to pick us up at Coimbra, tour Douro area (via Pinhao?), with a drop-off at Porto hotel be possible or make any sense? That might allow us to reduce our Porto time by a day (and add to Nazare area?).

Would it make any sense to reduce our time in Lisbon to 3 nights, get car on the 4th day to travel to Sintra (and spend the night)? Then we could use the car to explore Nazare/area along way to Coimbra. The down side may be that we really don’t need/want a car in Coimbra and Porto.

Any and all thoughts/recommendations are welcome as I received awesome advice from this forum of seasoned travelers in our previous European adventures.

Thank you for your time and thoughts. Mike

Posted by
11156 posts

Keep the car for Coimbra. We went off exploring in that area. We loved where we stayed, Wuinta de las Lagrimas. We had a car and spent two weeks plus in Portugal, picking car up as we left Lisbon and dropping it off when we arrived in Porto
No skipping Nazare is OK. Why not drive tour the Douro?. What about adding Evora?You could stop there en route to Algarve.
It is an easy train ride from Lisbon to Sintra and I would not stay there overnight. Lisbon is so wonderful that I would not give up spending the night there.

Posted by
6113 posts

I’m not enamoured with Nazaré as I don’t care for resorts with regimented row after row of beach umbrellas. However, I did enjoy exploring some of the places between Lisbon and Porto, such as Tomar and Santarem, which is easier with a car.

Posted by
5687 posts

I enjoyed my brief visit to Nazare, though I didn't get to the Algarve. It is touristy, almost tacky touristy, but I still loved it and wished I had spent a night instead of just half a day. Somehow I liked it better than the more "hip and trendy" Cascais, which was otherwise really nice too.

I spent two nights in Coimbra - one too many (I day tripped to Nazare by bus from there). It's a nice town but small (on the upside: not touristy at all vs. Porto and especially Lisbon!). Honestly, I would have done fine with half a day in Coimbra, enough to see the university and wander around the town a little, though the break from the tourists was pleasant.

Why not train from Lisbon directly to Porto and pick up the car as you leave Porto instead of picking one up in Lisbon? Then you can stop as you drive south in Coimbra, etc.

Posted by
30 posts

Thank you very much for the helpful advice. So, just to wrap this up, based on your feedback, I will keep the 4 nights in Lisbon (including day trip to Sintra). We will pick up car on way out of Lisbon heading to Coimbra (with stops at Santarem and Tomar). Rest of that afternoon / evening in Coimbra with an overnight. In morning head to Douro for self guided/drive tour. 2 nights in Porto and then drive to Evora for next stop and overnight on way south.

Thanks again for the replies.

Mike

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