We are traveling to Florence in early December and TAP has a free stopover in Portugal! Looking for whether we should pick Porto or Lisbon. We’ve never been to Portugal and this would give us a little tiny introduction. Probably 2 or 3 days.
Posted by
WA USA
1083 posts
I'm going to say Lisbon if it's December. We did the same thing in December 2019 and really enjoyed ourselves. I found the area festive and the weather rather pleasant for winter. Very easy and quick to get from the airport to the historic area of Lisbon by their metro system (subway).
Posted by
Irving
2956 posts
I’ve been to PT twice and both times I went to Lisbon but never to Porto. I love Lisbon because their old town has five neighborhoods that are unique from each other and all you want to do is linger. You need a minimum of three nights to explore the best of Lisbon and you need to be organized. If you can only stay for two nights, make it Porto.
Posted by
Portland, Oregon
5687 posts
Lisbon for sure.
Posted by
Lubbock, TX
401 posts
Lisbon, absolutely. It should have slightly better weather in December and you can easily fill 2-3 days there.
Posted by
Wyckoff, NJ, USA
7312 posts
I also think that in today's air travel environment, you want to be in a location with more than one or two connecting flights a day. Portugal is simply less well-connected to the rest of Europe. You can't just walk across the airport and find another flight to your international return, for example. I suppose since it's all TAP (? code-share?), there's less to worry about. But I wonder if you can look up the on-time/cancellation reports? Do you care if your return is delayed a day or two?
Posted by
Irving
2956 posts
Tim,
I worked in the air industry for 25 years and if there was one problem airline it was TAP. I have flown TAP but it was from Barcelona to Lisbon but a long-haul flight would make me nervous.
Posted by
OP
20 posts
Thanks all of you for your input. We were very interested in Lisbon and had hoped to stop there on our way home. But changed our minds when we learned that our flight to Florence would include a 21 hour layover in Lisbon!
We will leave Portugal for another trip. Just going to spend a week in Florence- with maybe a day trip to Siena. Going on Lufthansa with ample layovers in Frankfurt and Munich. Wanted to stay away from Paris, London, Amsterdam, and 55 minutes in Zurich.
Any advice for Florence would be appreciated and belong on another forum!
Posted by
7668 posts
Lisbon,
Save Porto for when you can also do the Douro River Valley.