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Portugal itinerary .

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Hello , everyone! We are going to Portugal only for 6 days and it’s a very impromptu trip. Can you share your suggestions of what I can cover in 6 days( Lisbon, Sintra, Porto), May be I can add something or it’s already to ambitious for such a short trip.
The plan is:
Day1
Arrive to Lisbon, rent a car and go straight to Porto. Use Porto as a base for 2 or 3 nights .
Day 2:
Douro Valley day trip from Porto ,
Question: which trip to the Valley it better: train or river ? Is it possible to do a half day trip to a valley from Porto?
Can you recommend a tour guide or tour company?
Day 3 : spend a day in Porto and leave at night for Lisbon or leave Porto early next morning.
Day 4
Leave Porto ( or Douro) early in the morning , dropping off the car at Lisbon airport and spend the rest of the time in Lisbon.
Day5 Sintra.
Day6 Lisbon.
Day7 flight Home
Does it all make sense logistically?

Considering that we are driving to Porto and back from Lisbon May be you can suggest any stops which are on the way. I understand, that my questions are very sporadic but we booked tickets very spontaneously and I feel a little overwhelmed .
Thanks in advance . All suggestions will be greatly appreciated. I did not book anything but tickets yet so very open to any changes in the plan. The only place that I am not ready to drop is Sintra everything else is an open subject

Posted by
6113 posts

Are you getting off a long transatlantic flight then hiring a car for a 3.5/4 hour drive? Not recommended and extremely dangerous.

If you must head to Porto, take the train. You can easily spend 4-5 days in Lisbon itself, plus a day trip to Sintra, another to Cascais and another to Evora (although the latter is better with an overnight stay). If you fly out day 6, then I would drop Porto, otherwise you are going to be spending too much time in transit versus time spent enjoying the country. If Sintra is a must, have an overnight here, an overnight in Evora and spend the rest of the time in Lisbon.

Posted by
8322 posts

I love Porto, perhaps more than Lisbon, but you only have 6 days.
I suggest you stick with either the Lisbon area OR the Porto area.

Lisbon- you need 3 days to do justice to that city. You can do much of it on your own. Rick Steves guide has a three day plan with walking tours.

Day trips to Evora and Sintra (if you have time add Obidos and Bathila Cathedral)

Porto-
Two full days and you can do that smaller city. It is walkable to do on your own.
The Douro River valley is wonderful and best done on a 7 day cruise. You can take the train, which runs down the north side of the river. The day cruises from Porto don't go upriver far enough to see the really great areas.
You can do a day trip to Salamanca, Spain or to Santiago de Compostela. Both are great.

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