Porto to Lisbon

Aveiro is worthy of 1-2 hours, Óbidos 2-3 hours, and Nazaré can be seen in a half day or slightly longer. We spent one night in Óbidos and two nights in Nazaré. We had a rental car.

We have done this trip in reverse this year.

We stopped at Obidos (1 hour), Nazarre (Sitio only - big waves museum and take in beautiful view - 1 hour), Fatima (just to get idea -1 hour), Coimbra (library, university and walk down through this beautiful town - 4 hours)
Also stopped briefly by canals at Averio.

Wish we had skipped stop at Averio and spend more time at Coimbra.

We originally booked services of private car+driver company that we found on this forum but ended up using local Uber driver who also provided same service.

We were so happy with professionalism, knowledge, convenience and flexibility that we have recommended them to MANY friends and neighbours and they seem to have been happy too. We all got some discount too.

TravelJunkie,
Can you please share the name and contact info of the driver that you use? Thanks!

We stayed in both Nazare and Obidos. We found Nazare a bit underwhelming, but we didn't have great weather and the waves were not at all big! It was interesting to wander the fishing village and go up the funicular to the other town though. We enjoyed our one night stay in Obidos, partly I think because we arrived as most of the day trippers were leaving, and we had the town very much to ourselves. It is very pretty. The day we were there a chocolate festival was just ending, and we were glad to have not arrived earlier, so it might be worth checking your dates.
You don't mention Coimbra, but it is an interesting town to explore, and to my mind would be my first choice for overnight .

I , too am looking at this route in October.

TravelJunkie, would love info !

Suzuc224,

Portugal's main motorways are straightforward.

Driving within cities is not recommended

If you are fine with driving within small towns and parking situations then car rental would be just fine.

We were not and hence we used private car+driver cum guide.

We used the one often recommended on this forum but guess there are others too.

We used Fernando Batista of
Portuguese Chauffeur

What we liked the most was WiFi in the car and his old-style professionalism.

Contacts:
[email protected]
Phone: +351 929 288 786
(Contactable by WhatsApp too)

Regarding October travel, we will have 5 days to drive from Porto to Lisbon:
1. Is it too much driving to to visit Coimbra, go east to mountainous Monsanto, and then southwest to Obidos?
2. Is it worth visiting the coast south of Obidos, or should we linger longer in Obidos and then drive straight to Lisbon?
3. Is the coast worth visiting in October, or too cold and windy?

thanks

@jenny.pearson2 - I sent you a private message.

Honestly I would skip both Aveiro and Nazare. Both are underwhelming. I would consider Coimbra instead. Obidos is very interesting but is overwhelmed by tour buses during the day. You could consider spending the night there to tour early or late in the day. I would rent a car for the flexibility and convenience.