My husband and I will be in Portugal for three days at the end of the year. We will arrive in Lisbon early the morning on December 31 and leave the evening of January 2. We are travelling by train and will not have a car. We plan to be based in Lisbon and also spend time in Sintra.

We haven't made hotel reservations yet, but are leaning toward the budget locations, such as Casa de Sao Mamede, Dom Sancho I, Hotel Portugal or Pensao Londres.

Since we will be there on New Years Day, I assume that almost nothing will be open. We plan to use that day to wander around and see the sights. We may even go to Obidos, since the town seems to be a good one for walking, not shopping or museums. What is the best way to get from Lisbon to Obidos and back in the same day? Bus or train? I am having trouble reading the train schedules and no luck interpreting the bus schedules.

Any suggestions are welcome.
Thanks!
Carol

My wife and I were in LIS for New Year's eve last year, and left on New Year's day....so I can offer some, tho perhaps not much help.

We stayed at the Sofitel, which is not really "budget", but which we found to be well located and reasonably priced. No car for us, either. As far as things to do on New Year's Day, we found it dead, dead, dead. Granted we left for London mid-day, so things may have opened later, but all was quiet when we left.

We very much enjoyed the New Year's Eve celebration by the waterfront, and strolling the Boulevards with everyone else was fun, too!!

No can help with bus/train to Obidos, but we didnt' have any problem getting back and forth from Sintra by train. Make sure and "get lost" in Barrio Alto, tho, since we found a number of cafes and restaurants we'd have never found otherwise!

Best wishes for a great trip!! Dave

It was very easy getting from Lisbon to Sintra by train. We loved Sintra(especially the Pena Palace).
However, we had a terrible time getting to Obidos by bus but this was from Leira, where we were staying for a few days.
Confusion reigned at the bus station. We finally got a bus to Obidos, which wasn't that far away, but it made something like 40 stops before we got there.
It might be an entirely different story from Lisbon. In any case, try to get someone from your hotel to call the station to help you with bus times, etc. (maybe someone at the station will speak Englis - they didn't in Leira). Obidos is charming and certainly worth the effort to get there.

Thanks for the information. We made reservations at the Dom Sancho I. We'll just play it by ear and see what we can do during the holidays.

Thanks again!
carmand

I traveled from Lisbon to Obidos by bus this October. I had thought the bus runs to Obidos but perhaps because if was off season, it no longers went direct to Obidos. The bus was hourly and went to the nearby town of Caldas de Reina (spelling?), a 10 minute taxi ride from Obidos. When you exit the bus station there are no signs for the taxi stop but it's across the street and down one block.

I didn't return to Lisbon from Obidos, but headed to Nazare. I had to get the bus from CdR, taking a cab from Obidos again.

I don't know for sure about train service to Obidos but per the Rick Steve's book that I had there is a train but it stops a kilometer outside of town.

Thanks for the update. I keep finding conflicting information about whether it is best to go by bus or train.

I appreciate all of the advice that I get.

Dear Carmand,

You can get to Obidos easily by train. You would leave from the Rossio station and make one change of trains to reach Obidos. (Obidos is on the Leiria line.)

The train station in Obidos is about 1/2 mile from the entrance to the walled village. You can either walk or take a taxi from the station. However, the village is small, and nothing will be open on New Year's Day.

Also, because New Year's day is a holiday in Portugal, the trains and buses will be running on reduced schedules.

You would make better use of your short visiting time to wander around Lisbon on New Year's Day---there certainly would be much more territory to explore.

Georgine,
Thanks for the information. We had hoped that even with everything closed for the hoiday, Obidos would still be worth visiting. We may just save the town for another visit.

I'm sorry it took so long to respond. I've been away from my computer for a couple of weeks.
Carmand