Hi, my husband and I are planning on going to Portugal for two months as he is newly retired. we hope to see as much as the country as possible. And enjoy hiking, restaurants, wineries, museums, and exploring small towns. We are not big beach people, but we do plan on visiting the Algarves as we have a place to stay for 9 days. We are planning on renting a car when needed. My initial itinerary is to start in Lisbon and spend a couple weeks there And do day trips to the local surrounding areas, then travel north towards Porto And then go to the Duoro Valley (valli)and then travel south to the Algarves and eventually back up to Lisbon. I am just wondering how much time I should spend in Lisbon and then should I use Porto as my second base and the Algarves as my third base ? So in essence spend 3 wks in Lisbon, 2.5 weeks in the north then take 1/2 week to drive down to Algarve and spend 2 weeks exploring the southern Algarve area? Does this make sense cause I’m trying to figure out if we rent Airbnb rather than packing unpacking every week or are there better central places to be should I spend more time in Lisbon because I know we could go to Centra but I was not planning on having a car till we left Lisbon to go north. Sorry for so many questions but I am overwhelmed with how to plan this trip.
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If you want a set itinerary service Julie has good reviews ( I haven't used her services)
https://juliedawnfox.com/
We were in Portugal for 3 months, 2 in the Algarve ( were beach people), wrote a trip report that has some info/photos about the Metro in Lisbon and train that might be useful to you if you want to check it out.
https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/extended-trip-to-portugal-1711933/
I would design a loop itenirary starting in Lisbon going north along the coast to Porto, from Porto visit the nearby towns , afterwards go east and south in the interior visiting/ staying in the town's along the way to the Algarve.
After the Algarve return to Lisbon along the coast.
With 2 months you'll have time enough to do such an itinerary.
Inside Lisbon and Porto I would use public transit and a car everywhere else.
If the car rental is too expensive, you have the option of public transit between the bigger cities/towns but not for the smaller places.