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Spend more time in Evora area or Coimbra?

I am trying to figure my days in each area. I fly into Lisbon and plan to drive to Evora that day. Will probably have the later part of the day there and that night. Can either spend another night there and see the area around or see the area around the next day and drive to Coimbra to send the night. Then, spend part of the next day in Coimbra and drive to Douro Valley. Question is, should I spend more time in Evora or Coimbra? Seems like lots of ruins in Evora area but could I see a few and get to Coimbra in one day? Just trying to not run out of days for Porto and Lisbon.

Posted by
501 posts

It depends upon your preferences.
We have decided that 3 nights is the minimum stay for us. We find that less means we don't really get a feel for a place and there is a nagging sense of preparing to pack and depart.

We enjoyed our 4 days in Coimbra.
We have never been to Evora.

You may want to consider:
train - Lisboa to Évora (trains are very inexpensive in Portugal and run on time)
train - Évora to Porto
rent car in Porto for Douro Valley exploration

Posted by
1826 posts

The advantage of another night in Evora - it would give you time to do the Megalith Tour outside of town. This is one of my favorite things I’ve done in Portugal. It is run by an archeologist and is pretty amazing. You might want to check it out before you make your decision.

In Coimbra, Go Walks does a very good tour of the town including the university and library. It gives you a good taste of the town in a fairly short amount of time.