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Portugal for 7 days in November

Posted by on

My wife and I are planning to fly to Lisbon and stay in Portugal for 7 days in early November or mid October. Couple of questions for those who have been. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

1) Before I did a lot of research on Portugal, I just assumed it being such a small country that we'd see the whole country in 7 days. Now that I know that's not true, for this time of year, what would everyone recommend are the best cities/areas to see over 7 days? We of course want to spend a little time in Lisbon, and are looking for a good cultural experience, good restaurants, etc.

2) We are thinking of spending the first 2 days or so in Lisbon and from reading other posts it sounds like we wouldn't need a car at that point. For the rest of the trip, we are thinking about renting a car but would like to hear if that's an easy thing to do or just easier to take a bus from city to city?

3) I'm sure mid October is better weather typically than early November, but it's only 3 weeks apart so I don't think it would be a big difference. Is that true or is there a strong case to go in mid October rather than November?

Thanks everyone.

Posted by
5687 posts

Seven days including travel days? How many nights actually in Portugal - six?

Before you decide whether you need a car or not, you need to decide where you want to go.

If you go to just say Lisbon and Porto, no need for a car at all. Take the train from Lisbon to Porto - very easy.

If you do that, try to book your trip as an "open jaw" (multi-city) ticket into Lisbon out of Porto or vice-versa. If you can't get decent flights or cheap fares vs. round-trip into Lisbon, I recommend (if you want to do Porto) to take the train immediately to Porto when you land in Lisbon and train back to Lisbon at the end so you won't split up all your days there.

Some would suggest just staying in Lisbon the entire time, and if you can't get an open jaw flight that might not be a bad idea. There are lots of day trips you can do from Lisbon: Sintra, Cascais, etc.

Can't help you with time of year; I've been to Portugal only in May. But I'd guess, like you, that mid-October might offer a better chance of good weather. But Lisbon was so touristy in May that I wouldn't mind being as far away from tourist season as possible, so even November might offer fewer tourists even if a chance of poorer weather.

Posted by
11606 posts

We stayed in Lisbon ten days before leaving to explore the rest of the country. It is a wonderful city with so much to explore. From Lisbon, possible day trips are Evora, Obidos, Sintra, CaisCais and Estoril. Porto is wonderful too and different from Lisbon, day trips to Guimares and up the Douro River.
With hour limited time, wither all Lisbon or split it four and three nights.

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