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Proposed 3 week itinerary

Posted by (Mountain View, CA) on

My boyfriend and I will be in Portugal from June 1 - June 23. This is our proposed itinerary, using trains, and renting a car for the trip to Pereda-Geres, please give us feedback and suggestions.

Although we are both avid hikers in our late 50's/early 60's, we like to take things at a more-leisurely pace. We would enjoy a mix of historic, cultural and natural sites, with a few days of down time. And with the COVID numbers that we see, we want to minimize time with crowds and indoors.

Lisbon: 1 Full Day to rest after long trip, maybe light walks

Algarve: 4 full days + 1 evening (arrival) + 1 morning/early afternoon(departure)

Coimbra: 2 Full Days with Tomar Day trip option + 1 partial day (departure)

Porto partial day (arrival) + Overnight

Pereda-Geres: Car Rental from Porto 2 Full Days + 2 drive days. Which entrance do you recommend?

Porto: 3 Full Days with Douro River day trip option + partial day (departure)

Lisbon: 4 full days with Sintra and Evora day trip options + partial day (arrival)

Posted by
7998 posts

Sinatra and Evora were both key places on our Portugal trip. Hopefully you’ll make it to both, and that won’t take away too much from the remaining Lisbon time. Have a great trip!

Posted by
6113 posts

The Algarve is probably going to be the busiest place in Portugal. I would drop this (particularly if you don’t have accommodation booked at this late stage) and add time to see the lovely towns of Tomar, Alcobaca and Batalha.

You are short changing Lisbon if you do 2 day trips elsewhere.

Posted by
191 posts

We did evora as a day trip, but it was a pretty full day. We skipped the algarve for our 10 days.

Posted by
568 posts

I am slightly confused by your full days, I tend to think of how many nights you have somewhere. I'm assuming you count two nights for 1 full day.
If I had that much time in the Algarve, I would want a car. I don't know if the cost of picking up a car in the Algarve and dropping in Porto is prohibitive, but if not i would suggest doing that. I would then drop a day from the Algarve, ( maybe 2) and drive to Evora. Personally I enjoyed Evora more than much of the Algarve. This would also give you more time to relax in Lisbon at the end.
My only other comment would be on daytripping from Coimbra to Tomar without a car. We traveled by train from Tomar to Coimbra and my recollection was slow, with stops. There was supposed to be a bus, but times didn't work. I feel there are probably closer options for a day trip. If not then 2 full days in Coimbra is more than you may need

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