Myer

Our travel style (we are both in our early seventies and active) is such that we've never rented a car in Europe. We usually travel around 80%+ by train and the remainder by bus. My wife suffers from travel sickness (car and bus mostly) so it's only recently that she's medicated and attempted a few bus rides.

While we are not avid museum goers we usually visit and enjoy the most well known museums.

We are not foodies though we like decent dinners.

We normally walk around town taking in the sights. My wife will do a fair amount of window shopping along the way and some purchasing.

We have never been to Portugal before so risking a whole trip on a place we know little about and seems to get widely varying reviews is not the way we do things. Of course, we'll plan a more extensive trip to Portugal should we like what we see on this trip.

After 8-9 days in Italy again (we've been to Italy about 7-8 times) we're flying from Rome to Lisbon for 4 complete days excluding to and from travel days.

My first inclination is to spend two days touring Lisbon and two days on day trips.

I did a brief computer search for tourist sights within a 1 hour train ride of Lisbon.

What I came up with is a day trip to Sintra and another that includes Cascais and Estoril.

Having described our travel style how would you spend the 4 days in Portugal?

Thanks in advance.

annhig

if you can manage somehow to see it, Rick Stein just did a long weekend in Lisbon:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode...kends-6-lisbon

even if you can't view it, this is a guide to the places he visits:

http://www.portugalist.com/rick-steins-lisbon/

ekscrunchy

I did something similar: Followed a driving trip in Spain with 5 nights in Lisbon, a city I had not visited before. With four days, I would remain in Lisbon and do one day trip by train to one of the places you mention, probably Sintra.

We spent the entire time in the city itself and had no time for day trips but then, we spent a lot of time strolling around with no fixed destination and could have fit in a day trip had we wanted to. I imagine Lisbon will surprise you...we loved the city and hope to visit more of the country sometime soon.

Myer

annhig,

Thanks for the links but all he's really interested in is food. I'll check out the restaurant in the next few days.

ekscrunchy,

I really have no idea what to expect with Lisbon. It's possible 2 days will be too much or 3 days not enough.

Maybe we'll leave the 2nd day trip or 3rd day in Lisbon to our last full day and decide where we want to spend it the evening before.

We spend quite a bit of time just wandering around but we usually have some direction with places to hit along the way.

annhig

Thanks for the links but all he's really interested in is food. I'll check out the restaurant in the next few days.

lol, Myer - you write that like it's a bad thing! At least the markets that he visits should be interesting, even if you're not that keen on the other foodie stuff. Even my DH enjoys visiting markets and he is by no means as interested in food as I am.

my reason for posting it was that you can read endless guide books about a place but pictures are worth a 1000 words. [i know that's not original!]

here's the link to Eckscrunchy's recent excellent trip report:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-fall-2016.cfm

veda815

One caution I would give you since you mention walking around is that Portugal is very hilly (similar to San Francisco you might say). I am pretty fit and walking around to see the sites pushed my physical fitness at times. Not to detract you from going; you should just plan accordingly.

Sintra is especially hilly. I was cheap and took the 5 Euro public bus to the "top" and then walked up to the castles, which was a very steep half mile walk. I would highly recommend signing up for one of the tour buses which takes you straight to the castles.

I personally did 2 days in Lisbon, 1 day in Sintra and 2 days in Porto. In retrospect I wish I had done 3 days in Lisbon and only 1 day in Porto.

I wrote up a trip report when I visited last year here: http://owlgothere.com/portugal-trip-day-1-lisbon/

veda815

Oh and to answer your original question the train system is very good in Portugal. I took the train both to Sintra and Porto from Lisbon with no problems at all. Definitely better than a car.

I would also recommend Uber for getting from the train to your hotel, etc. The first couple of days I was there I took taxis (hired by the hotel's concierge), then on the last day I called Uber to go to the same locations for less than half the price!!

Myer

annhig,

Don't get me wrong. As we get closer to our travel date I'll get much more interested in where restaurants are located and what type of food to expect.

I'm not a demanding eater but I'm fussy about what I don't like. We were in Spain in 2002 and it took some work to get used to the food.

veda815,

I'm starting to get the feeling we're in for hills everywhere.

annhig

I'm not a demanding eater but I'm fussy about what I don't like. We were in Spain in 2002 and it took some work to get used to the food.>>

I know what you mean, Myer. When DH and I first visited Spain in the 1980s we came across goose barnacles, and pickled sea urchin. I didn't like them much then and have never seen the need to try again. After several visits I can manage most things but not those.

AnselmAdorne

"... goose barnacles, and pickled sea urchin ..."

annhig, I had both of those in a seafood restaurant in Lisbon a couple of years ago. I loved them. My wife, on the other hand, liked neither the taste nor texture.

Myer, we spent six days in Lisbon, which included a day trip to Sintra. Given your travel style, and your four day allocation, I'd look at three days in Lisbon (including a jaunt out to Belém), and a day trip to one the other possibilities you mentioned in your original post.

As others have mentioned, walking around the city can be a workout, but it is a fascinating place. It's an old city that wears its wrinkles with quiet dignity. (It also appears to have embraced its graffiti artists, which may or may not appeal.)

One other thing that I might mention: one the highlights of our visit was a food tour. I know you said you aren't foodies, but we found our guide provided a narrative that was as much cultural and historical as it was culinary. And she took us to an area that we might otherwise not have ventured, which was an eye-opener. http://www.tasteoflisboa.com

Myer

Haven't abandoned the trip.

Flights and hotels have been booked.

Booked 5 nights at the Avenida Palace.

Appears to be right next to the train station to Sintra. That's convenient.

Still 7 months to the trip.

So far looks like 3 days in Lisbon and a day trip to Sintra.

I'll start working on our paths in Lisbon over the next month or so.

Thanks.

annhig

looks great, Myer.

looking forward to learning how it worked out.

cmcfong

Let me know how you like the avenida Palace. I will be there in Oct

Myer

I've started looking into some of the details.

Please convince me that I won't be as disappointed in Sintra as I was in Carcassonne in France.

So far it looks like a bunch of cattle are being herded into a few tourist sites.

I hope I'm wrong.

We'll be in Lisbon all of Sat Sept 9 to Tue Sept 12 (4 full days)(we arrive around 4PM on Fri Sept 8 and leave the morning of Wed Sept 13).

Will the crowds be much different on weekends to week days? We could plan on going Mon.