Portugal itinerary questions - car rental and must do's

Welcome to the Forum. Your inquiries are quite general so I will respond as such. I do not have experience with car rental in Europe so cannot help you there. What made you interested in Portugal? Perhaps start there - your interests, activities, food/restaurant preferences and style.

Have you looked at any travel guidebooks or videos for Portugal to get a sense of what the country has to offer? Rick Steves has a very good guidebook and also has quite good videos for the country. Explore this site a bit to get a feel for what interests you and plan from there. If you’ve never traveled to Europe, Rick’s Europe Through the Back Door book will really give you an understanding of the logistics of travel all over Europe. Of course, there are other resources for planning a European trip, Rough Guides, Lonely Planet, etc. your public library will have a selection if you didn’t want to buy a book. Also, many guidebooks have electronic versions. So, worth checking out.

This will get you started exploring

https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/portugal

Just to add a bit for your perusal. I’ve traveled to Portugal twice now and absolutely love the country. Here are some ideas for some of the places you plan to visit.

Lisbon
Sao Jorge Castle
Explore districts: Alfama, Baixa, Bairro Alto, Chiado
Gulbenkian Museum
Fado Museum
Tile Museum

Belem
Monastery of Jeronimos
National Coach Museum
Monument to the Discoveries
Belem Tower
MAAT (Museum of Art and Architecture)

Porto
Beautiful tile display at train station
Visit wine/porto lodges
Vila Nova de Gaia
Dom Luis 1 Bridge
Stock Exchange Palace
Vintage trolley tour and ride some funiculars and elevators

AutoEurope gets many many recommendations--I would start there. The different drop-off location should be no problem at all.
You do not need an International Drivers Permit for Portugal, but if you think you might venture into Spain, you do need one there (Just FYI).

Thanks for all the advice! It's super helpful, and I appreciate it. I checked out EuroCar, and it looks great. We have to decide when to pick up and drop off the car. From what I've read, having it in Lisbon and Porto might be a hassle. So I think we'll spend a few days in Lisbon and pick up the car when we are ready to head to the Algarve. We'll then drop the car off when we arrive in Porto and take public transportation there. Does this make sense?

That makes sense, and is how I would plan it (have not been to Portugal yet but always researching!). The caveat would be if you are planning to do any day trips in the Porto region.

Thanks for the validation!! I guess I'll check with the hotel we are staying at—Maison Albar—Le Monumental Palace—and find out the parking scoop. If it is not expensive (the hotel is a real treat for us!), maybe it makes sense to keep the car.

Sounds lovely--it'll cost you a pretty penny to park, but it would be worth it if you have day trips in mind that you could not do easily otherwise. I would not have special concern about driving in Porto. You'll be pretty used to driving in old towns by that point.

We just got back yesterday from a very similar trip as to what you described. FYI, this is what we did:

Flew into Lisbon, spending 3 full days including a day trip to Sintra. We purchased the Lisboa card which was convenient for using public transportation and getting admission to attractions. Also did a food tour here which was fantastic.

Rented a car through Avis (worked very smoothly) and drove to Lagos for 3 nights. We really enjoyed hiking the Seven Hanging Valleys trail - spectacular scenery along the coast. Also did a boat tour of the Benagil cave that included dolphin watching.

Drove to Evora, spending 1 night, which we felt was enough to see the old town.

Drove to Obidos (fun medieval town), then spent 2 nights in Nazare - nice beach/fishing town.

Drove to Porto by way of Alcobaca and Batahla to see very impressive monasteries. Turned the car in at Porto - really don’t need a car in Porto, it’s very walkable (or use Uber). Did a wine tasting/boat tour in the Douro Valley one day which was very nice. 3 full days here, then flew home from Porto. Fantastic trip, hope you enjoy it as well.

Hi!!
Thanks so much for sharing your experience. Your trip sounds fabulous. We are interested in the wine, boat/cave, and food tour (I'm a vegetarian, but my husband is not, so this might be a challenge). Can we book these trips while we are in Portugal, or do they book up? This clinches it for me. We will rent the car when we leave Lisbon and drop it off in Porto when we arrive!
Also, are regular sneakers okay to wear for hikes in the Algarve?

We had booked all of our tours ahead of time, and some of them do fill up - but I know there are quite a few options out there. So if you're flexible on the tour company and/or day and time, you may be able to book it when you get there. For reference we did the "Oh! My Cod" food tour in Lisbon, Benagil cave tour with Bom Dia in Lagos, and the Douro Valley tour with AirBnb. We were quite happy with all of these, but there's lots of highly rated tours to choose from. If you do a food tour, you should mention you're a vegetarian and they should be able to accommodate you - our tour was fairly meat heavy.

We just hiked in our walking shoes. For space, I didn't want to bring hiking boots along, and while it was a bit rocky at times, sneakers worked fine for us.

If you are interested in Sintra and Pena Palace we did this as a day trip from Lisbon with Lisbon Riders. Excellent day trip.

I am in the process of planning a trip to Portugal in early December. I found a car rental through Expedia, the rental company is RecordGo, and I have reserved a car for 10 days for just under $100. TOTAL! And that includes pick up (Faro) and drop off (Lisbon) in different cities.

For Portugal, zestcarrental.com is highly recommended. We used Zest last September and found that they had the best rates and features compared to other rental options.