sarabeth

My husband and I are going on a river cruise late October for 11 days. We are arriving in Lisbon beforehand with about 5 days to explore the area. We want to rent a car, leave Lisbon right away and go to an interesting area before starting the cruise.
Any suggestions? Quaint hill towns, beach towns?
thanks, everyone!

sandralist

If Lisbon doesn't interest you, what does interest you about Portugal? Not that Lisbon is the end-all be all, but it no point in sending you to a town of historic interest if you history doesn't interest you.

If your river cruise is leaving from Porto, you also might consider immediately taking the train from Lisbon to Porto and renting the car there so you can see northern Portugal and parts of Spain. Would that interest you?

sarabeth

the cruise starts with 3 days in Lisbon with bus transportation to Porto where the cruise starts...so we want to visit other places around Lisbon. We like small villages, interesting buildings, good food...we will rent a car

bobthenavigator

Look at Obidos, Nazare, Sintra, and Evora---all are worth your time and easy driving from Lisbon.

yestravel

With 5 days I might split the time between Sintra and Evora - spend 2 nights in Sintra and 3 in Evora. Sintra is charming, crowded perhaps in the day, but empty at night. You can even take some lovely drives from there if you want. Same is true for Evora, great little town, lots ot see and can drive out into the countryside if you like. There are some great TRs on this board tht you can read to see what there is to visit or, of course, guide books.