A large group of us are planning a trip to Lisbon. We are planning a week in the city with a day trips to Sintra. We are getting a house for a week and we want to take advantage of it.

With a week in Lisbon, what suggestions are there for day trips besides Sintra? We will not have a car in Lisbon, but we will use public transportation and we can rent a car for day trips if we desire.

We are planning to go in March or April. Will we need air conditioning?

From there we are going on to Provence. I've been advised to fly to Nice via TAP.

Thanks in advance.

Lisbon is a great place!

You can easily take the train to Estoril or Cascais for some sandy beaches. I also believe you can take a bus to Evora which we enjoyed a lot.

We flew TAP at xmas and it was great. Apparently it is a highly rated airline - its Portugal's national airline (like BA or Air Canada).

As for air con - I doubt you will need it in Mar/April but check historical weather graphs and see what its usually like. No guarantees it will be like that next year but it will give you an idea.

You should be ok without a car depending on where you are. Do you already have a house rented? Please let us know where and how many of you there will be.

If you are totally dependent on taxis for getting around, you could be dropping a lot of money needlessly. Although not terribly expensive, many taxi drivers cheat. If they can sense that you don't know your way around, many times they will take you completely out of your way to keep the meter running. I do know my way around Lisbon and I have seen what they try to do.

You won't necessarily need to get a car for your day trips. I would second Jamikins recommendation of going to Cascais, I found this to be a delightful town - sort of like a Portuguese Nice. Lisbon has a lot of grime, grit and graffiti but Cascais is very clean and unspoiled. Also came back with five pairs of new shoes!

When you go to Sintra, you'll take a train from Rossio train station in town and then you'll take the bus in Sintra to the sights you want to see. If you can be there when they have their open air market, it's a lot of fun and you can find some real treasures from the antiques vendors. The only flea market I've been to where you can shop and browse with a glass of wine. Eat lunch at the Paris cafe.

When on the trains and in town on Tram 28, be aware of pickpockets. These are for real. You can read lots of reports here or at Trip Advisor. On the Sintra train for example, don't get on the first car. Go up several cars and sit with some of the older locals. Don't mean to sound like a curmudgeon with the cheating taxi drivers and pickpockets. Frankly I love Lisbon and go every chance I get but these are some things that can make your trip better or worse. If you are aware of what can happen, you and the others can avoid it.

If you have a choice as to time, I would recommend March over April. April is notoriously known as the month of a thousand rains. I've been there in April and it rained every day. But then it's why May is so beautiful! And if you go in March, you will likely have mild weather but it won't be so warm that you'll need AC.

Hope you enjoy your trip.

We were a week in Lisbon at the end of December (short days!). We made day trips out of Lisbon by train, and in Lisbon we use the tram, metro and taxi.
Our hotel was on a pedestrian street near Rossio.

I give you below our plan, maybe will help you:

- First day - arriving early in the morning after night flight
Rossio Square
Santa Justa Elevator
Praca de Commercio
Praca Restauradores
Rua Augusta
Av. de Liberdade

- 2nd day- Take Tram 28 for a fiew of the city ; go to Alfama
Mirador de Santa Luzia, St. Jorge Castle, Monasterio St Vicente,, Decorative art Museum, Se Cathedral

Then, Estrela Church
In the evening - Centro Colombo ( mall)

- 3rd day
Figueira Square
Belem (Jeronimus Monastery, Discovery Monument , Coach Museum
Ajuda Palace

-4th day
Fronteira Palace (splendid !!)
Gulbekian museum
In the evening - restaurant Senhor Vino (good Fado singers)

-5th day
Sintra ( Pena castle,National Palace)
Queluz Palace (palace and its garden are beautiful)

-6th day
Tile museum
Parque das Nacoes

-7th day - Cascais and Estoril

Hope you will love Lisbon, as we do.

Thanks for all of your help. this board is a wealth on information....always!!!

One more thing, I wrote up a walking tour of Lisbon when I was living there in 2008, and I have given it to a lot of friends and people on this board. If you like to walk, it gives you a good idea of the historic center of Lisbon, and it can be split up into several days if you like to stop and linger. I'll pull up the post for you, just in case.

@Valtor: We are planning a week long trip the first week of December. What type of weather did you have in late December when you were in Lisbon?

Thanks for the brief itinerary. I am going to use it as a good starting point for our planning.

We were in Lisbon over new years last year. We had mixed weather - showers, some sun, cloudy periods, fog...we had to wear jackets (not winter jackets) and it got windy a couple of days.

I definitely recommend the side trip to Evora. It was a great town to walk around for the day. Sintra is also a must and if you do rent a car for a day, i recommend Obidos, which is north of Lisbon. Have a great time

Yes, Sintra and Evora are on our list of places to visit. I think we will even spend two nights in Sintra just to break things up a bit. Thanks for the comment on the weather jamikins!

Ireynold1, I am leaving for Lisbon tomorrow and would love to see your walking tour notes on the city...We will be there 5 days and I am also thinking of making a trip to Fatima. Is that difficult to do from the city?

Thanks in advance for any insights you can offer.

Hi, bilo, have a great trip! Here is a link for you:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-of-lisbon.cfm

I know there are frequent buses to Fatima, and in fact, I think that bus is preferable to train if you are going via public transit. I assume there are organized trips as well, but I do not know about them; if you are staying in a hotel, I'm sure they can help. If price is a consideration, I think taking the bus and walking around once you get there would be a lot cheaper. The religious sites are all very close together. Have a great time, Laurie

Cascais is a FAR cry from Nice,in fact it's not interesting at all-tourist trap,no beach-huge rocks and train runs along it!
A rather depressing train ride too as it goes through some low income housing!

I agree. Nice is nice.