Recommended smaller, scenic towns for first timers

Unless you want to spend more time in transit than actually seeing places, please don’t try to cover the Douro down to the Algarve plus Lisbon into a week. The Algarve is tourist central. Focus on the north.

Is day 1 going to be lost to jet lag? Please don’t hire a car on arrival if you are jet lagged. The Portuguese standard of driving is often poor and you need to be alert.

Do you want to see anything of Lisbon?

I spent a week based in Caldas da Rainha and used it as a base for seeing Tomar, Fatima, Obidos, Batalha, Alcobaca and the coast and didn’t have time to get as far as Porto or the Douro.

There are lots of great places to see - Porto, Aveiro, Coimbra etc, but you need more than a week to cover even the highlights, so you will have to decide what are the best options for you. Many people would opt for Lisbon and Porto with a week, but these are not small places.

Thanks for the reply. As I’ve been researching since my post, I see the wisdom in your advice. If we do see Lisbon, it would most likely be a day trip from somewhere smaller nearby. The alentejo region looks far mar interesting than Algarve for our tastes.

Definitely spend your first night (or two) in Lisbon. From Lisbon you can take a direct 1h train from Lisbon’s East Station to Sintra and explore a couple of castles if that interests you. You can then take a direct train to Evora (1h 45m) and spend a couple nights there before renting a car and driving to Tavira. From Tavira you can explore the Algarve and do not miss Salema that’s 1h 20m away. I would also buy RSs PT guidebook for more advice.

If you go to the Douro Valley, there is a charming little disused fortified town about a two hour drive to the Southeast close to the Spanish border called Castelo Rodrigo. The town itself is interesting but the highlight for me was visiting the Fox Coa National Park at dusk with Ana, the owner of Casa da Cisterna, a wonderful guest house in the little town. She has keys to the park’s gate and you arrive as the sun is setting and she describes why people settled there thousands of years ago. She then takes you on a short hike as it turns dark and illuminates and explains the prehistoric Paleolithic carvings in the rocks. One of the more WOW experiences on my 20+ trips to Europe.

While you have received some excellent suggestions for places to see in my adopted country, you simply don’t have nearly enough time for most of them.
One of the towns of the Silver Coast - São Martinho do Porto, Caldas da Rainha or even Nazaré (not my favorite) are close enough to Lisbon and would lend to a number of great areas in the central part of the country, as mentioned in an earlier post.
If the Alentejo appeals, you could easily take the train from Lisbon to Evora before picking up your car. Evora is a nice small town with lots of history and other small towns of interest within easy reach. There is a Megalith Tour out of Evora (if he has survived the covid lockdowns) that is pretty amazing.I
I would not suggest traveling to the Algarve or Porto in such a short trip.

Hello from Wisconsin,
This is not a really small place but it less touristed and in the northern half of Portugal, Viseu. A city on top of a large mound. Close enough to do day trips by car to the Spanish border region to see hill top fortresses cities. You can also get to the Douru Valley, but the south side of the river isn't what you would hope for. The road is off the river so vistas are rather rare.

A word on driving. Like many places in Europe, once you drop off the new high speed four lane highways, your speed drops dramatically. Let's guess you go from 70 mph and over to 35 and under. And you have to be much more alert on these secondary roads.

Portugal is a great place to spend time. The food is simple and fresh.

wayne iNWI

If you don’t want to stay in central Lisbon which I recommend, you could stay in nearby Caiscais.
The region north of Porto, the Minho, is where Guimares, first capital city of Portugal, is located. Historical and interesting . Also Braga,

I have a three-plus week trip to Portugal planned (and canceled due to Covid), so based on all the wonderful advice that I got, I offer my two cents. With only one week, I agree with others that at least 3 nights in Lisbon/Sintra, you're in Portugal after all, and then rent a car and go to Evora. Within Evora there is much to see/do, and with a car you can reach many interesting, but smaller places, or go on the megalith tour, go on the cork forest tour, see tile factories. That would give you a diversity of experience without too much hassle and give you a taste for more. With more time, like I will have if this pandemic ever goes away, you could easily cover more. My eventual trip will cover the northern part, (Porto, Braga, Guimares and the Douro), down to Coimbra, Tomar, east to Caceres in Spain, back to Elvas and Evora, and finally Lisbon and Sintra. I can't wait.

What Philip said (all of it) about Castelo Rodrigo. There are a number of interesting small towns/villages to explore. I also spent a couple nights in Elvas which is a lovely town with a few good restaurants to see some of the other towns around there. I liked it much more than Evora. I also stayed 2 nights at Quinta de Marrocos just outside Regua in the Doura Valley - excellent dinners and even better wines.

It's a little harder with R/T Lisbon. Maybe take the train Porto (either metro or taxi/uber from the aiport to the train station) for your first night and pick up the car next morning, then Douro, Castelo Rodrigo and Evora and return the car at the airport. It does depend on flight times.

I had a much longer trip and enjoyed Porto more than Lisbon, loved the Douro and eastern Portugal more than the western, more touristed part of the country. Note that driving times are often 50% more than GPS/google maps estimate, unless you're on the toll roads. I wasn't much taken by Evora, drove out to a cork factory for a tour that was very interesting. I skipped the megaliths (to each his own, for me they're just a bunch of rocks) but the rock art at Foz Coa was a WOW, especially at night when it's easier to see and especially with Ana who is delightful and knowledgeable.

I suggest that you consider flying into and out of Porto. The far north of Portugal gets less tourist traffic, and there are many small towns and villages worth exploring. Although Rick's guides for the major cities are very good, I suggest that you check out other guidebooks for smaller towns. For a base, you might consider Ponte de Lima, or one of the many small towns in that area.