Three couples are visiting Portugal for the first time in the beginning of October. Some of us are more active than others, we all like history, nature, good food and wine. We have a total of 10 nights, and haven't booked our flights yet, thinking in and out of Lisbon.
Lisbon 3 nights, 1 day to Sintra, Salema 2 nights (recommended by RS), 2 nights in Evora or Coimbra or 1 night in each, Douro Valley 1 night, would love to stay in a Quinta, and Porto 2 nights.
Is this doable, any area we are missing?
Posted by
Cascais, Portugal
1896 posts
Don’t go all the way to the Algarve with only ten nights. I would suggest splitting the time between Lisbon and Porto. You can easily spend a night or two in the Douro. There are many, many Quinta’s to choose from. The bigger towns are Pinhao and Régua. They are both easy on the train.
Posted by
Wallace, NC
2 posts
My wife and I traveled to Portugal in the second half of September. We spent five days in Lisbon and then two-night stays at several different towns. My suggestion would be to include two nights in Coimbra and use one day to take a tour (Go! Walk Portugal Tour-Batalha, Tomar, Alcobaca). We also stayed at a Quinta (https://www.casaldoscapelinhos.pt/?lang=2) near Peso da Régua for two nights and took a tour to a couple of smaller wineries (one stop included a really nice lunch-Best of the Douro Valley Private Tour with Bruno Cardoso. https://boro7.com). The train from Regua to Porto was a nice ride.
We did visit the Jeronimos monastery in Belem, but found the World Heritage sites in Batalha, Tomar and Alcobaca had a lot more to offer (and the crowds were much smaller). You could probably cut 1 day in Porto and add it to Douro Valley (Peso de Regua). I also think 1-night stays are too short when you factor in travel time. We did not rent a car and traveled only by bus and train. Hope this helps!