We are planning our Portugal adventure, starting with a self guided hiking trip for 7 days starting in Sintra, ending in Cascais. We'd like to stay and explore more of the country for another week or two..
Normally, we'd just train it, but is a car the best way to get around? Not big city people. Lisbon will be our last couple of days in country before we fly home.
A car is not essential, it depends on where you want to go and how long you actually want to stay. If it's just a week, then no need. If closer to 2, it can be helpful to visit more rural areas.
I will add this link to my friend Priscilla’s Trip Report. Hope this brings added resources for your planning. https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/portugal-our-trip-in-progress
The trains are good if you want to move between cities and larger towns. If you want to get into the countryside, then a car is essential. I have been to Portugal about 20 times over the years and have always hired a car. Driving outside the cities is easy and car hire is cheaper than much of Europe.
I agree with the others that a car will enable you to see some of the smaller towns easily.
If you are ending your hike in Cascais, there Is a Europcar office very close to the train station. I’ve used them a number of times and have been pleased. I usually go through Auto Europe.
You can easily head out of Cascais north to explore the Silver Coast area, Alcobaça, Tomar and Batalha. Then possibly up to Coimbra. All of these areas are easy driving with great toll and smaller roads.
With 2 weeks, I'd suggest from Cascais:
Start in Evora (cork factory, megaliths, cathedral), then east and north to the hill towns: Elvas, Monsaraz, Vila Vicosa, Castelo de Vide, Marvao, Belmonte, Guarda, Castelo Rodrigo (don't miss the rock art, best on a night tour), then west into the Douro valley, small towns around Porto, Guimaraes, Braga, Aveiro (though Porto is lovely and it'd be a shame not to spend a day or two there), then south Coimbra, Viseu, Tomar, Alcobaca, Batalha, a coastal fishing village and drop the car in Lisbon.
Some of the places I list are just stops along the way from place to place. The Douro valley has some picturesque hiking and lovely quintas to stay in.
The RS guide is good for the western part of Portugal. Lonely Planet was very useful for the whole country. One caveat - driving times are often as much as 50% more than GPS/Google estimates when you're not on the main roads in the west.
