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Seeking advice on number of days needed to explore Lisbon up to Braga

We are planning to go to Portugal in December. We are thinking of flying into Porto, visiting Braga, then work our way down the coast to stop at: Aveiro, Coimbra, Nazare, Sintra to Lisbon. I would travel MSP to Porto, then Lisbon to MSP. Porto, Coimbra and Lisbon could be hubs as we visit surroundings. Has anyone done such an itinerary? And wondering is 12 days is reasonable?

Modes of transportation are open for us, train, uber, car etc. I am not concerned about this. Just the itinerary as we are thinking.
Thanks for any input!!
Julie

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7166 posts

If those are the only places you’re going, Aveiro can be seen in a couple hours. Depending on if you like beach towns, Nazaré is good for 1-2 nights. Coimbra is worth 2-3 nights. From Nazaré you could go the hour drive to visit Óbidos and possibly visit Alcobaca monastery that is between the two towns.

Everything depends on what you want to see and do while transiting. If you want to use a town as a base to take day trips, you could use more time. For example, last year we spent 4 nights in Tomar, but took some day trips. We didn’t go south of Óbidos so I can’t speak to Sintra or Lisbon.

For the Portugal portion of our trip we spent four nights in Tomar, three nights each in Coimbra and Porto, two nights each in Penalva Do Castelo and Nazaré, and one night in Óbidos. We had a rental car.

You’ll run out of days before you run out of places to visit.