2 weeks in Portugal--help!
 

Hi,
I'm leaving on August 31 for two weeks in Portugal and have a general idea of where I am going, but I am in the fine-tuning stage of my itinerary (specifically, the non-Lisbon and non-Porto parts) and need some help!

I've read various guidebooks, looked at online forums, etc., and I'm sort of overwhelmed at this point--too much info, combined with having a busy life! My main point of stress is not knowing how long to stay at a given spot and which spots to spend the night.

I'm not going to the Algarve on this trip.

I'm on public transit.

Here's my tentative plan; as I said, my point of panic is fine-tuning the timeline.

9/1: Lisbon, tour around town via walking and tram, fado at night with hostel folks
9/2: Day trip to Sintra and Cabo da Roca (Monday, so it's the best day to go because a lot of other stuff is closed on Mondays)
9/3: Lisbon, Belem
9/4: Lisbon (morning to wrap up sightseeing); afternoon/evening train to Evora; overnight Evora.
9/5: Evora
9/6: Evora to Obidos (public transit issues?); overnight Obidos (everyone says it's better once the day-trippers leave)
9/7: Obidos to Nazare; stay Nazare
9/8: Nazare; visit Alcobaca and Batalha (or just Alcobaca)
9/9: Nazare to Coimbra; overnight Coimbra
9/10: Coimbra to Aveiro; a couple hours bicycling around Aveiro; Aveiro to Porto; overnight Porto.
9/11 to 9/14: meeting up with a group in Porto to do a Porto/Douro Valley wine tour; everything already arranged.
9/14 pm: train back to Lisbon
9/15: fly home :-(

Any advice regarding my timeline (specifically, the 9/4 through 9/10 portion) would be much appreciated! Please excuse my lack of accents and possible misspellings; I'm doing this off the top of my head.

It looks very doable to me.
We much prefered Alcobaca to Batalha so if time is short go to Alcobaca.
Wile in Coimbra, visit the Quinta Las Lagrimas (now a hotel) where the romance of King Pedro and his Ines took place. They have lots of pictures and whimsy dealkng with these two lovers at the Quinta.They are entombed in Alcobaca. You can take a pedestrian bridge over the river from the main part of Coimbra to the Quinta. It looks like a very nice trip.

You'll have to return to Lisbon in order to take the Rápidas Verde bus to Óbidos, then on up to Caldas da Rainha to get to Nazarê. You should be able to catch the Regional train from Leiria to Coimbra and then head to Aveiro.

www.rodotejo.pt
www.cp.pt

Thanks for the feedback--especially the "looks very doable to me" :-) I always worry that I try to do too much. I'm sure once I get there it'll fall into place nicely.

I'm going to cut out Batalha I think. Also considering skipping Aveiro but I LOVE the idea of the town's free municipal bicycles and I just want to ride around a couple hours.

More feedback welcome!

Portugal is such a welcoming country, one that treats it's visitors in a special way. You will have a wonderful trip.

Google "King Pedro and Ines Castro " before you leave..a rather bizarre story!

Yikes, I just realized that Sept. 8 is Nazare's big festival, and poking around online has led me to believe there will be no place to sleep in town :-(

BUT I've read that in Nazare older women hang out at the bus stop or in front of their houses renting out rooms. Has anyone been in Nazare at this time? Is it possible to find a place to sleep? I will be arriving early in the day....