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Please help me with my 15-night Portugal itinerary.

Posted by on

After reading the countless suggestions on this forum, I have come up with a rough plan for our trip in May. We are flying into Lisbon, flying out of Porto, and plan to travel by train, bus, and taxi. We have firmly decided against driving on our vacation, so we're willing to live without seeing some of the remote places. We enjoy lots of walking/sightseeing, eating, and drinking wine! The Algarve doesn't appeal to us. So our rough itinerary is as follows:

Days 1-5: Stay in Lisbon, with day trips to Cascais and Evora
Days 6-7: Sintra
Days 8-9: Coimbra, with day trips to
Days 10-15: Porto, with a 1-nighter in Pinhao/Douro Valley

We like to take our time and minimize packing/unpacking, so our itinerary looks sparse. With that being said, is there anything that I should add? Will I regret not visiting the Algarve?

Thanks for any input.

Posted by
1826 posts

IMO you will not regret skipping the Algarve. The itinerary you have will give you a good overview of the country without rushing around too much.
If you can manage to fit in a Megalith tour while in Evora, you won’t regret it. But, it will mean a very long day.
In Coimbra, GoWalks does a very good walking tour that will give you the highlights of the town, including the university library.

Both Evora and Coimbra have very good food and they are a good break from the bigger cities.
And, I don’t think your itinerary looks sparse. On my first trip to Portugal of about the same length, I stayed only three places. Slowing down makes for a much more enjoyable holiday IMO.

Posted by
6113 posts

Your itinerary is by no means sparse - it’s sensible pace compared to many itineraries on this forum! I agree that excluding the Algarve makes sense.

Personally, I would take a day from Porto and add it to Lisbon if your first day or 2 will be lost to jet lag, particularly with 2 full day trips from Lisbon. Porto is compact and doesn’t take as long to see.

Posted by
2 posts

Thanks for the suggestions! I was debating whether 5 nights in Lisbon was enough, and I think I will add a night to Lisbon and take away a night from Porto. Or should I take one of those nights away from Sintra/Coimbra? Thanks again!

Posted by
8322 posts

I like your plan. Skip the Algarve, the beaches in Europe are not that great. Also, why go to Europe for beaches, stick with history, art and culture.

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