jbenitez7399

Working hard to nail down a final itinerary for 8 days in Portugal - mid-March 2023. Family of 5 (2 parents, 3 kids 17/14/11). If it were summer we would definitely do Algarve. My only hesitation is if there is enough hiking, exploring, caves to do/see without sunning and swimming? Thoughts?

D1 (Thursday) - Arrive noon to Lisbon, stay in Chiado area (no car, plan to walk mostly and supplement with metro, taxi as needed)
D2 (Friday) - explore Lisbon
D3 (Sat.) - day trip to Evora via train (Chapel of Bones, Roman Temple, Praca do Giraldo)
D4 (Sun.) - explore Lisbon (maybe train out to Cascais in afternoon?)
D4 (Mon.) - day trip Sintra via train (figure 3 castles - suggestions?)
D5 (Tues.) - depart Lisbon for...WHERE SHOULD WE GO for 3 nights? Not opposed to renting a car for this portion of the trip. Lagos? Albufeira? Porto? Combria? or do we stay the entire time in Lisbon and so more day trips (Obidos, Nazare, Arrabida...)
D6 (Wed.) - ?
D7 (Thurs.) - ?
D8 (Fri.) - back to Lisbon for overnight
D9 (Sat.) - depart Lisbon at noon

Help please!

VANAARLE

7 days is only 6 nights.
Lisbon to Evora using the train is 2 hours each way. means around 3 maybe 4 hours in Evora. That may not be enough.
D5 to D8 Just visit Oporto.It is a log way but worth it.
No need to rent a car.
For context for other responders here is the original question, Portugal - 8 days end of March 2023

Michael

If you were to spend three nights in Porto you could change your ticket to an open jaw and depart from Porto.

The Roman temple in Evora might be a bit disappointing, This is it, and nothing more:

https://flic.kr/p/2gqD297

Maribel

The Red Expresso bus from Lisbon's Sete Rios bus station to Evora takes from 1.5 to 1.45 minutes. It actually can be handier than the train for a day trip.
See the schedules here-
https://rede-expressos.pt/en


For the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Evora, in addition to the Temple of Diana photographed above, there's an excellent city museum, the Cathedral with its roof top walk, the public gardens with strutting peacocks, the Chapel of Bones, enjoying a coffee at the main square, Praça do Geraldo, the beautiful tiles inside the Loios church (a part of the Pousada), visiting the cloister of U. of Evora, and there's wine tasting, since the Alentejo is a major wine producer.

https://juliedawnfox.com/things-to-do-evora-portugal/

https://www.evoraportugaltourism.com/guide/top-10-attractions-and-things-to-do-in-evora.html

jbenitez7399

thanks for the reponses

@VANAARLE I do not understand "7 days is only 6 nights" - we will be in Portugal for 8 full days, plus half a day at the beginning (a travel day) and not including the final day (travel day)

unfortunately tickets are purchased and I'm not interested in paying more to change at this point (for the open jaw)

I think my kids will enjoy the Chapel of Bones so we will take the day trip to Evora. It must be special as so many ppl on here recommend staying a night or two. But now we don'r need to take a pic of the Temple of Diana. Hah!

Any recs on best place to fill the other days?

Maribel

For simplicity's sake, you might want to simply stay in Lisbon with your kids to avoid moving around and enjoy several day trips . And the kids might enjoy a Hippo sightseeing tour or the new QUAKE museum in Belém, which is a didactic experience, 90-minutes long, to learn about the 1775 Lisbon earthquake and following tsunami. There´s also the Oceánario in the Parque das Nações, built for the Lisbon Expo. And the Castelo de São Jorge with its strolling peacocks. And Eduardo VII park is really lovely.

https://www.hippotrip.com/en/
https://lisbonquake.com/en-GB
https://www.oceanario.pt/en


A day trip to Cascais via commuter train from the Cais do Sodré is a good idea, and there is a wonderful walking/cycling path from Cascais all the way to Guincho beach along the ocean and in addition, the oceanside promenade from Cascais to Estoril. You can walk to Estoril, then from there take the train back to Cais do Sodré. We spent 3 nights in Cascais in March and had lovely weather, although obviously not beach season (and cold water!)

Or a bus trip up to the surfing capital and very pretty fishing village of Ericeira, which your kids would enjoy. It´s easier, as in quicker, to reach Ericeira by bus than Nazaré. You might even catch a few big waves, but it´s really unpredictable.

https://www.cascaisportugaltourism.com
https://www.ericeiraportugaltourism....us-or-car.html

jbenitez7399

thank you Maribel . I think we will take your advice and stay mostly in Lisbon, DT to Cascais. we tend to shy away from zoos and aquariums but definitely plan on Parque das Nacoes, Castelo de Sao Jorge, Eduardo VII park and many of the amazing things Lisbon has to offer.

it's coming together but of course still more Qs...

1. arrive in Lisbon
2. explore Lisbon (morning walking tour)
3. Cascais day trip
4. explore Lisbon (Belem area)
5. Évora day trip (via bus)
6. Lisbon
7. Obidos, Tomar, Batalha... day tour **(need rec for tour company/guide for day trip please!)**
8. Sintra overnite
9. Sintra/Cabo da Roca return to Lisbon in evening
10. travel home (noon flight)

can anyone recommend a tour company/guide for D6 Obidos, Tomar, etc? I've looked online and the pricing is all over the place. reviews seems good to great - but there has got to be a standout right?

And what about a food tour? seems like Lisbon Riders stopped their food tour because of covid

Maribel

7. There are plenty of companies that will take you on the Obidos, Batalha, Alcobaça tour (which is the standard) but it does make for a very long 8-hour day, covering a considerable amount of ground and 2 major and vast monuments.
And yes the pricing is all over the place, depending on whether they provide the tickets and lunch and the quality of the guide..

The tours that throw in Nazaré and Fátima into the mix just scratch the surface of all the stops and are definitely not recommended.

Do you want a private tour or will a small group tour suffice? The private tours are indeed pricey, but priced for an entire group or family rather than per person.

Like this one, which I've used-
https://www.lisbonexplorer.com/obido...ha-tour-2.html

But if you want to include Tomar instead of Batalha, this Windland tour gets solid TA reviews and is priced per person.
https://www.windlandtours.com/en/pri...talha-alcobaca

jbenitez7399

thanks you again Maribel! yes, it will be a long day but also a nice change to have someone driving us around and telling us what to do/see/eat. hahah. I reached out to both tour operators. I'm so excited for this trip!!

as for private vs. small group. it's all price pending. we just wouldn't want to do any of this large coaches.

Maribel

Forgot to answer your food tour question.
I can recommend both Culinary Backstreets and Taste of Lisboa.

https://culinarybackstreets.com/food-tours/lisbon/
https://www.tasteoflisboa.com

jbenitez7399

quick recap - trip was awesome! the entire family enjoyed themselves. highlights - spending time walking and getting lost in Lisbon. we did a free walking tour w/ Lisbon Chillout Freetour our first day which was perfect, BEST private tour with Windland Tours (thank you Maribel for rec). Vera was a fantastic guide and all 3 kids (11/14/17) picked that day trip (Obidos, Alcobaca, Batalha) as their favorite thing they did (adults too!), and lastly Sintra! so glad we took advice here and spent the night. also, I need to say how safe and harmonious Lisbon was. we never felt truly lost or threatened or worried (which has not been our experience in other European countries and large US cities).

edits I would make - skip Evora... even though the Chapel of Bones was really cool(!!) we had just seen the amazing monasteries and churches of Alcobaca and Batalha (and Belem) so Evora was underwhelming and, as noted multiple times here, a long trip for just the day. we didn't explore the surrounding areas as we took a bus there an back so maybe it would be different with a car? also, I think we could have dropped 1 of the days in Lisbon then combined the extra day and instead of Evora explored somewhere else for an overbite BUT still - we all had the BEST time and can see why people fall in love with the country and the people (and we only saw a small bit).

Crowds - can't image in summer as some of the sites already had swarms of people and some Disney World lines. thanks to everyone for their help in planning!!

ekscrunchy

Thanks for returning to report on your experiences....I enjoyed reading about your trip.
I know you did not go to Algarve. I read about it so much and wonder if I ought to include the area in future travel plans, linking with southern Spain..

Anks

Hello
I am planning a trip portugal in dec
for a week. Do you think it was good that you made Lisbon your base and took day trips?
I also want to go to Faro and Porto. Are these too far for day trips?
We are a family of 3 and my son is a teen.
We like outdoors but we also like to relax.
Did you travel mostly by train and are they easy to book last minute?
Just asking for your helpsince you already went. Thank you!

maitaitom

"I also want to go to Faro and Porto. Are these too far for day trips?"

Short answer ... yes. 6-7 hours in a car for a few hours in Porto is not not worth it. Stay in Porto a few days.

jbenitez7399

hi Anks, for us - yes, Lisbon was a good base and central enough for day trips. we did not travel as far as Porto or Faro tho (it seemed too far for a day trip and we didn't have enough time to appreciate both areas). we took the train a couple times (to Cascais and Belem), the bus once (RT to Evora) but then got lazy and took too many Ubers in-between miles and miles of walking...but the weather was nice and we felt safe and invigortated by everything we saw. enjoy! i'm looking forwrad to going back for Porto and Algarve