Hi, Im planning to visit portugal in middle of november.
First do 2 days in madrid and fly to lisbon.My idea is stay 3 nights lisbon, train to evora 2 nights,
Hire a car and visit obidos Coimbra ,belmonte and porto.
We have in total 3 weeks and we never been there, so if we can have some ideas.
It is a good idea to have a car ?
How many days do you recommend in each place
thanks
A car is best for rural areas and small towns. A car is much more trouble than it is worth in the larger cities.
You are more likely to get helpful advice is you tell us about your interests.
With three weeks, I would rent the car for the middle portion of your trip - picking it up leaving Lisbon and drop it off when you get to Porto or before.
I would encourage you to consider more time in Lisbon unless you hate cities.. There are several places close to Lisbon that don't warrant a change of hotel/apartment. I stayed in Evora two nights on my first trip and wished for one more. There is a great megalith tour in Evora that is a must. And, with a third night you could visit a winery or two - with a car.
Óbidos is an easy day trip stop on your way to Coimbra. You might want to consider a few nights in the Silver Coast area so you can visit Alcobaça and Batalha.
I also agree with the other poster about telling us about your interests so we might be of more help.
A few years back, I rented a car in Madrid, visited south western Spain and the Algarve on my way to Evora. Previous posters have given you great ideas for destinations in Portugal. From Evora, I drove up the eastern side of the country stopping in the disused hilltop town of Castelo Rodrigo. There’s a wonderful B&B Casa de Cisterna. The owner offers a dusk visit to view the petroglyphs in the Coa National Park. From there it’s an easy drive entering the Duoro valley from the west and driving to Porto. Then it’s a great drive back to Lisbon on which you can easily visit Coimbra, Batahala, Alcobaça, Obidos, Fatima and Sintra. Here’s a Google Map that shows the route I took. (Open this in the Google Maps app. If you just use the link, that portion of the route from Porto to Lisbon is not the one I drove. )
I would recommend taking the train from Lisbon to Sintra rather than driving. I wouldn’t visit the Algarve at that time of year as most of the area has closed shop for the season. When you get a car, make sure you get a Via Verde transponder for electronic tolls. PM me with any questions you might have.
