My husband and I are going to Portugal in mid-September for 12 days and are working on our itinerary. We arrive in Lisbon and depart from Lisbon. We are early 60s, fairly active -- and prefer midt-to-small towns over large cities. We enjoy history, outdoor experiences and wine regions. Based on previous trips to Tuscany and Provence, we prefer to base ourselves in one or two towns and make day trips in order to really get to know an area-- rather than one-night stays covering large distances.
So far we are booked to be in Lisbon for three days at the beginning of the trip, then plan to rent a car. After that we are in a quandary as to how to budget our time. Locales that interest us are Evora, Nazare, Obidos, Sintra and the Duoro Valley. While the areas south of Lisbon may be interesting, they are not a high priority.
Ideally we would like to rent an cottage or apartment in one locale for 4 or so days, to sight see and chill.
Three options that I have played with are a Lisbon (3 nights), Duoro Valley (3 nights), Obidos (2 night)s, Sintra (4 nights) , either leaving out Evora or making a day trip from Sintra -- OR -- Lisbon (4 nights, with a day trip by train to Evora), Duoro Valley (3 nights), Obidos (1 night), Sintra (4 nights) --OR -- leaving out the Douro Valley and doing Lisbon (3 nights), Evora (3 nights), Obidos (1-2 nights), Sintra (4-5 nights).
I would really appreciate suggestions and comments.
Portugal Itinerary ????
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I would say 4 nights is too much for Sintra, even if you are keen walkers and want to explore the forest trails. And it is especially too much if you are missing out Evora. As you are probably aware, most people 'do' Sintra on a day trip from Lisbon. I'm not suggesting you necessarily should do that, but it really would be a shame to miss out Evora altogether.
The order of your itinerary is a little strange, I must say: Lisbon then the Douro valley then Obidos and Sintra (both of them near Lisbon).
An alternative way of doing things would be to spend more nights in Lisbon and do day trips to Obidos, Sintra and Evora (or other places like Batalha and Alcobaca), and then up north stay at least one night in Oporto before doing a day trip to the Douro valley (or overnighting). If you are particularly interested in wine, the outfit Have a Wine Day ( www.haveawineday.com ) has set tours to all the places around Lisbon I mentioned, all including winery visits with tastings, and can also put together a wine tour of the Douro (where driving yourself really is not much fun) with a boat trip thrown in. There's not much to do in the Douro except admire the scenery and relax.
We did the company's Evora day trip, which also included a stop at an atmospheric circle of prehistoric standing stones as well as the winery.
Take a day trip to Sintra from Lisbon. Do not skip Evora.
I don't agree with amr65 re Sintra. If you want to see all the palaces, parks and gardens in Sintra you can easily spend 3 days there. And we loved driving the Douro Valley ourselves.
Obidos, IMO, deserves half a day or less.
3 nights in the Douro Valley may be a bit long.
You did not mention Porto. It's my favourite city in Portugal.
If you prefer small or mid-size towns, don't stay in Lisbon. It's large, hectic and chaotic. I prefer to stay in Sintra and daytrip to Lisbon.
With 12 days (11 nights) you can make a nice loop. 4 nights Lisbon or Sintra (and visit both), 3 nights Porto (spend a few hours in Obidos on the way) of which drive the Douro Valley for a day, 3 nights Evora (+visit the megalithic complex of Almendres) or 2 nights Evora and the final night in Lisbon in case you have an early flight.