Hi All,
I'm traveling in May to Lisbon for a cruise, but I'm arriving a week early to check the country for potential places to move to. I don't plan on renting a car, so I'm looking for tips on how to see the most that I can before I arrive back in Lisbon to take the cruise. My progress so far is that I arrive in Lisbon, stay a night, then take a train or bus to Porto. Then want to travel to Figueira da Foz, then Nazare', then down to the Algarve and check out a few towns like Loule, Faro, Tavira, and Vila Real de Santo Antonio.
I'm trying to stay budget friendly prior to the cruise, so I already have a hostel in Lisbon when I arrive. Beyond that, I've been checking out routes from Lisbon to Porto, Porto down the Silver Coast, going directly to Lagos or thereabouts and traveling eastward using buses and or trams, then heading back up to Lisbon a day before the cruise starts.
I've heard conflicting opinions as to whether to use trains and/or buses since there are strikes occurring and I'm not arriving until Mid-May so don't know how to plan specific segments not knowing when strikes might happen.
Am I on the right track with this tentative plan? All suggestions and tips are very much appreciated!
Thank you for reading.
Posted by
Cascais, Portugal
1677 posts
I hate to sound pessimistic but I’m not certain how you will see all the places you mention without a car, especially if you are trying to do it in a week. If you manage it, you will be spending an enormous amount of time traveling instead of seeing the actual towns.
The trains from Lisbon to Porto then from Lisbon to the Algarve are good. And, you can likely use trains to most of the places in the Algarve but the silver coast area is not good for public transportation.
Regarding the train strikes. They are, currently, just for the month of April so, hopefully, will be over by May. But, you can wait until a day or two ahead of time to buy either bus or train tickets. So, you can wait to see what’s happening by that time.
Btw - driving outside of the big cities is very easy if renting a car for, at least the silver coast area is a remote possibility.
Posted by
11169 posts
Skip Nazarre.
Posted by
7683 posts
Porto and the Douro River Valley are awesome and in my opinion much better than the Algarve.
Posted by
stevens point, wi, usa
1189 posts
Hello from Wisconsin,
I will second the "skip Nazarre". Unless you like incessant wind. And not much going on.
Porto and Lisbon are the big cities if that is what you are after. Let me suggest a funky place, Viseu. It seemed compact, which was nice. It had some nice restaurants. I even had my haircut there, third professional cut in 50 years.
Also keep in mind that Portugal is over 400 miles top to bottom, not counting Madeira. And once you get off the main four lane roads it is a slow go. The big four laners, much like our interstate highways, are magnificent for getting from point A to point B without seeing anything in between.
wayne iNWI