We are two seniors who love beautiful scenery, buildings and flowers. We have a fixed travel time in late October-early November, which is a bit late for most European places. One of the ideas is a 14-day Portugal trip. Since the north (Porto) would be cold and rainy, we'll save it for another time, which leaves the two best areas (per Rick) -- Lisbon and Algarve. We will not be renting a car. We found short and cheap trips from LIS to Madeira (FNC) and came up with this schedule:
Arrive to LIS at 10:45 AM, wait in the airport, take a 2-hr PM flight to EasyJet to Funchal, Madeira (FNC)
Sleep in Funchal for 5 nights (4 full days), take bus tours or buses to various areas
Fly from FNC-LIS (2 hrs), arrive at 11:20 AM, take a same-day PM train or bus (4+ hrs) to Faro/Lagos/Albufeira
Sleep in Faro/Lagos/Albufeira for 3 nights (2 full days), take bus tours or self tour to caves, etc.
Take a bus/train to Lisbon (4+ hrs).
Stay in Lisbon for 4 nights (4 full days). See Lisbon (2 days), 2 day trips to Sintra and Nazare (?)
Flying home LIS-BOS.
One area of concern: What to do if a hurricane or just heavy rain forecast for Madeira? I presume we'd have to scrap the trip there and spend 7 days in Lisbon and 7 in Algarve . . . would be messy.
Questions, please:
1. But is reasonable? (Lots of travel, sure.)
2. Is it worth going to Algarve after seeing Madeira?
3. If we go to Algarve, where is best to stay (Faro/Lagos/Albufeira) without a car?
4. Is it better to do a trip like this in the spring?
Thanks to everyone who could help.