StacyB

Hello All,

My husband and I are finalizing our itinerary for Portugal. Would those of you recently there or well versed give me some ideas or suggestions about this itinerary? Please forgive my spelling, I want to get this down and posted so am not looking up proper spelling right now. Typing this makes me think we are changing locations too often, but we need to end up in Lisbon. We love history, museums and active things such as walking and biking. We enjoy some days that are low key for exploring and wandering. Should we cut out Porto? Are we short changing all our destinations? We would like to go to Faro since it is on the coast.

4/30-5/2 Azores -Porto Delgado- We have a car rental and place to stay there.This is all set.

5/3 Fly early morning to Lisbon-Air BnB near Ave.Libertade

5/5 High speed train to Porto-Staying in city central

5/7 Train to Faro (I know this is a long train, but we are willing to do this)

5/7-5/9 Faro (no place to stay yet. Looking for a smaller, homey place)

5/10 Morning in Faro, afternoon to Lisbon

5/11-5/13 Lisbon (Splashing out at Avenida Palace)

StacyB

Still deciding about renting a car for the longer trips outside of Lisbon. May cut Porto to give us more time to really get to know the other cities. I'd love some feedback.

Lisbon_Eagle

Sorry, but it doesn't have much sense. You are flying to the center of the country for less than full two days, then you travel to the north for 3 hours for less than full two days then you travel from 5 and half to almost 8 hours depending on your time travel for spending a couple of days in Faro and then again travel again to the center - you will spend a LOT of time in trains doing nothing.

It's far more logical to visit Lisbon then Faro (or Porto, i'm not fanatic, or if you prefer Porto-Lisbon-Faro, like 4 days each place, or the other way around). That is, focus in a straight travel line instead of going up and down.

Maps are deceiving.

Rubicund

I agree with L_E, all that way for a couple of days in Faro when you wont have much time to see the Algarve doesn't make a lot of sense. I'd stay in the Lisbon/Porto area, which will add lots of time back into your holiday.

StacyB

Thanks, Rubicund and LisbonEagle, We have tweaked it a little. Now we are thinking Lisbon (where our plane lands) for 4 days, Evora for one night and 1.5 days and then either Faro or back to Lisbon. With time limited and so many places to see, it's difficult to get the right mix!

StacyB

Itinerary tweaked once more! We will use Lisbon as our hub and decide where we want to day trip or take one overnight. Also plan on a bike tour of the city and perhaps a food tour as well. Going to Faro, in particularly, seemed to take up some days. We are very excited about getting to Lisbon. If there are people with suggestions, I'll be happy to listen.

lreynold1

So are you no longer going up to Porto either? I think it was a wise decision to take out Faro. Faro has a nice little historic core, but the beaches all around are jam packed with high rises and private estates crowded together.

Obvious trip from Lisbon is Sintra. But I would spend at least one night there, if you want to get a sense of the town without the millions of daytrippers. It is beautiful at night with no one there. And there are many things to see, each one of the 5 listed on this website is well worth a visit, IMO. Moorish castle, National Palace, Pena Palace, Convent do Capucho (a monastery made of cork), Palace of Montserrate. The Queluz Palace is also well worth a visit, but it is located between Lisbon and Sintra so not easily accessible without a car http://www.parquesdesintra.pt/en/

I wrote up a walking tour that I always give to my friends. I go to Lisbon every year for work and always take a day to do this, it covers most of my favorite places.
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-of-lisbon.cfm

For your Lisbon splurge, I would make sure that the Avenida Palace is still the gem it used to be. I was in there maybe 8 years ago and it was faded, to say the lest. But maybe there have been renovations. Other splurge options would be the new pousada in Praça do Comercio, or any of the fancy boutique hotels that seem to have popped up all over Lisbon recently.


Just one last comment that may be of no interest to you, but you would have more touring time, I think, if you took all your days in Lisbon sequentially, rather than breaking them up for a trip to Porto in the middle. If Porto is still on the list, why not get up there as soon as you arrive from the Azores? The train station is very close to the airport and you could be there by afternoon. (or fly, for that matter). That would eliminate the hassle of one of the arrival and departure days.

Anyway, whatever you decide, you will have a great time. Both Lisbon and Porto are wonderful cities.

StacyB

lrenyold--Thanks for the hints. We are leaving tomorrow and are very excited! I will consider the overnight at Sintra. Good idea.

jangita

I'm just piggy backing on this thread.
We will fly int Lisbon next March so we have plenty of time for planning.
I am thinking 5 nights each Lisbon and Porto and taking one day trip from each.

Any thoughts?

Would it be better to stay longer in one than the other?

We mostly enjoy food and wine, sitting in cafes and lots of walking.

anjun

Lreynolds, you said Faro is too commercial and busy.
Do you think it's too much of the same as Azores?

packed

We really enjoyed Porto. The city is alive and just across the river are the Port Companies. A couple of hours from Porto there is a lovely area, the Douro River Valley, where there are pretty vinyards. We spent a couple of nights there and took a boat ride for several hours among the vinyards.
Sintra was not our favorite. Commercial with lots of crowds.

HappyTrvlr

Portugal is such a small country. Make several stops between Lisbon and Porto, then the only day trip needed would be Sintra. We stayed in Obidos, Evora, Coimbra and Guimares between the larger cities of Lisbon and Porto. I wouldn't want to take a night away from Lisbon to stay in Sintra.