We are making our first trip to Portugal and are very excited! We will have 12 full days there arriving and departing Lisbon. I know we want to spend some time in Lisbon and do a day trip to Sintra. Then I'm not sure how to structure the rest of the trip. I read the RS suggested 2 week itinerary but we are considering skipping the Algarve based on many reviews on this forum. We are also not interested in sitting on the beach. I'm sure the views are beautiful but think our time is better in other areas? We also don't want to switch lodging every couple days as suggested in that itinerary. So from Lisbon, I know we want to see Evora, Coimbra, Obidos (and possibly Nazare, Batalha), Porto and Douro Valley (wine tasting). We plan on getting a car after spending a few days in Lisbon. I'm not sure if we should try to day trip from Lisbon to Evora and the Obidos area? Or, should we leave Lisbon and home base somewhere else? We do enjoy smaller towns and trying to limit moving around too much (my husband hates having to move hotels too often). Was hoping to home base in Coimbra but not sure that is the best home base for the destinations we are looking at.
Posted by
Portland
3635 posts
If I’m remembering correctly, we saw Obidos as a day trip from Lisbon. We stayed a couple of nights in Coimbra. I strongly recommend that you include a visit to the nearby ancient Roman site of Conimbriga when in Coimbra.
The trade off for having just one base is lots of car time. I would do two bases.
Posted by
Mid-Atlantic area
7024 posts
If getting the rental when leaving Lisbon you could stop in Óbidos and Nazaré on the way to Coimbra, but wouldn’t drive all the way to Coimbra just to backtrack south to visit Batalha. If your trip is during the summer when it doesn’t get dark until late, you could visit as three places en route to Coimbra. If you’re only interested in saying you were there, Óbidos and Batalha (monastery) can each be seen in a couple hours while Nazaré can be as few as two and as many a full day. It really depends on what you want to see in each place.
I sure you could visit Óbidos as a day trip from Lisbon, but that doesn’t seem like a good use of your limited time for a place that can be seen in a couple hours. An alternative to Batalha monastery is Alcobaca monastery. It’s between Óbidos and Nazaré.
On our trip we spent 3 nights in each Porto and Coimbra, and 4 nights in Tomar. As we had more time for the trip we also spent a night in Óbidos and 2 in Nazaré.
There are free parking lots in Óbidos, Nazaré, Alcobaca and Batalha. Look them up before going over so you can drive right to them. In Porto we stayed at NH Porto Jardim because it has its own parking garage. It was easy to get to. From it, we walked everywhere.
Posted by
Twin Cities of MN
6285 posts
I travel at quite a clip in comparison to others on the forum, and while I typically think RS is an excellent resource, IMO, his suggested itineraries are not realistic, especially for a beginning traveler which are the folks that tend to use them the most. The itineraries assume everything goes perfect, no one gets lost or has trouble finding parking spots and never stands in any lines.
I would do Evora with public transportation from Lisbon and as a day trip or a stay of a night or two. We stayed in Batalha a couple nights and saw Obidos on the way and then did Alcobaca, Tomar, Nazare on day trips.
We stayed one night in Coimbra (arrived there early in the day) We stayed two nights in the Douro River at a quinta which I highly recommend. Then after Douro, I'd suggest turning in the car, visit Porto and then take a train back to Lisbon.