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Visiting Portugal for 9 days. Need help with itinerary

My husband and I are visiting Portugal for 9 days for our anniversary in the beginning of October. This is what I've planned tentatively and need help to figure out what the best place is to spend some of the nights. We're planning on renting a car for most places.
Day 1 Lisbon
Day 2 Sintra and return to Lisbon
Day 3 Lisbon to Obidos, Nazare, Fatima and Batalha (Stay in Obidos or Nazare?)
Day 4 Stay in Obidos or Nazare?
Day 5 Drive to Coimbra, Stay the night
Day 6 Drive to Douro Valley, stay the night
Day 7 Port Tasting and Douro, stay the night
Day 8 Explore Porto
Day 9 Return to Lisbon by Train
Day 10 We leave

I'm questioning some decisions- Are Obidos, Nazare, Fatima and Batalha doable in two days? As of now I'm planning on Staying in Obidos for 2 nights. Is it better to stay there or Nazare? Should I dedicate more time for Porto or Lisbon? We would love a somewhat relaxing trip. Appreciate any and all tips!

Posted by
70 posts

Short answer: Add a few more days so you can do Lisbon and Porto justice. Drop Fatima. Obidos is a half day on your way north. Be sure to walk the wall from the front gate on your left and stroll back through town on the main drag. Several good lunch options here as well. When you leave Obidos, you could pick your options between Alcobaça, Batalha, Fatima, Nazare and spend a night in this area before heading north to Coimbra. You can also visit any you miss the next day before heading north. To me, 11 days would be more relaxing if you cut a little here and there.

Long answer:
We did a 15 day Portugal trip flying into Madrid, driving to Evora, Lisbon, Tomar, Porto and the Douro Valley back to Madrid. We visited Obidos, Alcobaça, Fatima, Batalha & Marvao from a home base in Tomar. Tomar is a great little town worth a visit. We stopped in Coimbra on our drive to Porto. We pre-booked a local guide who toured us around the city center, fabulous library, university, etc. Had lunch and left later in the afternoon for Porto. Unless you're on a pilgrimage, I would drop Fatima as it is totally too commercialized. Marvao is also too far out of your way on 9 days. Evora is worth a visit but you can also do that from Lisbon. But honestly you don't have time. You can combine Sintra, Cabo da Roca & Cascais on a day trip from Lisbon. We did this with Lisbon Riders. We also did several of Rick's Lisbon walks on our own, as well as, a Mouraria food & culture tour with a guide. We didn't go to Nazare. I would also do more time in Porto and do a day trip to the Douro Valley.
I have a Daily Schedule & a separate Mileage Chart for our trip with more details if you are interested but would need to send it by direct message. Please excuse any typos, punctuation errors or grammar contortions as this was written in haste.

Posted by
22 posts

Hi, I did a roadtrip in April -

Day 1 - Flew to Lisbon, grabbed car and drove to Sintra
Day 2 - Sintra
Day 3 - Sintra to Alcobaca & Batalha, slept in Leiria
Day 4 - Leiria to Braga, slept in Braga
Day 5 - Braga & Guimaraes, slept in Porto
Day 6 - Porto
Day 7 - Porto to Coimbra, slept in Tomar
Day 8 - Tomar to Fatima, dropped in car in Lisbon and slept in Lisbon
Days 9, 10, 11 - Lisbon

We had our kids (7 and 4) with us, so we didn't do the Douro wine thing. Obidos is adorable for an afternoon but I wouldn't sleep there. I prefer Sintra; it just has more to see and is so charming. I think 2 days for Obidos/Nazare/Fatima/Batalha is doable. I would also look at Alcobaca which is right in that area. We didn't do Nazare because the weather wasn't really beachy. Braga was great (especially Bom Jesus do Monte) and Guimaraes was a pit-stop for the castle and lunch before heading to Porto for 2 nights. I felt a day and a half were enough for Porto (we were there on Easter weekend and ate at Tapabento - YUM). I only spent half a day in Coimbra (lovely) and slept in Tomar to visit the Convento. Fatima was a short stop but I have been there before. Lisbon needs 3 days minimum.

We drove everywhere except for Lisbon, although we would never drive to Sintra again, the parking was difficult. We used Amoita, great rental company and so easy!

Posted by
6113 posts

Have you been to Lisbon before? If not, you are short changing it. Porto can be seen in a full day as it’s compact.

Obidos needs a couple of hours, but I wouldn’t stay there. Nazare is an overrated beach resort ( not sure why RS thinks it has much merit) and October may or may not be beachable.

I prefer Tomar, Alcobaça and Batalha to Fatima. If you want to stay near the coast, Caldas da Rainha is an option and has a good market and many traditional tiled buildings.

I don’t think that I would describe your planned pace as relaxing.

Posted by
3 posts

Thanks for all the wonderful tips!

We're going to drop Fatima, makes sense. I added a full day in Lisbon based on all suggestions. Another recurring suggestion is to not stay in Obidos. Based on that, what's a central place to stay so that we can explore Obidos, Alcobaca, Batalha? Finally, since we're not with our kids, is it better to have 2 nights in Porto or 2 nights in a Quinta in Douro?
Thanks again for the replies!!

Posted by
3 posts

And, its our first time to Portugal. Steve from Arkansas, I would love the schedule. As an interior designer,I have a public instagram account for my work where you can DM me. @peruridesigncompany
Thanks so much!

Posted by
15560 posts

what's a central place to stay so that we can explore Obidos, Alcobaca, Batalha? Tomar I went to both Obidos and Nazare, didn't think either was worth the time, though Obidos was more interesting there wasn't anything exceptional about it. Consider spending a little time in Tomar itself.

is it better to have 2 nights in Porto or 2 nights in a Quinta in Douro? I loved my 2 nights in a quinta, but then I also had 3 nights in Porto. There are a lot of great things to see and do in Porto. Staying at a quinta is more relaxing, and you have the opportunity for scenic hiking through the vineyards along the river. Very different choices, depends on what you prefer.

Posted by
1654 posts

By my count, you are staying in 5-6 different places in 9 days! You will be spending so much of your time moving from place to place, you will miss some of the real enjoyment of Portugal - slowing down and taking time to enjoy views, wine, etc.
In 9 days, I would suggest staying in no more than three different places. Lisbon, Coimbra and either the Douro or Porto. You can visit some of the places in central Portugal from Coimbra but Coimbra itself deserves a full day and night.

You can also visit Porto from the Douro valley or the other way around.
I know it’s tempting to try and see as many places as possible. But, staying fewer places and not rushing from place to place, will enable you to better appreciate this lovely country. The itinerary you list is very far from a relaxing trip!