My husband and I are planning a 10 night trip to Portugal in Mid May 25. We will arrive on a Sunday and take a private driver directly from the airport down to Alburfeira where we stay for 5 nights. I think I’m good with my plan for the Algarve Coast area. My plan so far is :
Monday- 2 hour Tuk Tuk in the morning and then just explore the town/area- Afternoon boat tour of the coast.
Tuesday - private tour of the Western Algarve Coast area up to Lagos etc.
Wednesday - 7 hour jeep tour to the interior Algarve.
Thursday - Another day in town or what I call a “clean up day” to revisit something we enjoyed or add something, etc.
Friday - Use Daytrips.com for transportation from Alburfeira to Lisbon with a 2-3 hour stop-over in Evora.
Saturday — Lisbon
Sunday — Sintra
Monday —Sintra ?
Tuesday -Lisbon

We will have 5 nights / 4 full days in Lisbon staying in Rossio Square. We definitely want to see Sintra. I have been reading other posts here that suggest staying in Sintra to avoid the day trippers, which as much as I would really like to do that, I think I would rather just not have to change hotels again. With that being said, would 2 day tours be worth it? We definitely want to see Peña Palace and Quinta da Regaleira.

We plan on 2 full days for Lisbon. This is where I could use the most help. I was hoping to get some help planning a good strategy to most effectively explore the city. Since from what I understand, Lisbon is on a big hill, I would like to tackle it by starting at the top and working our way down. So far, a few things we would like to make sure to include is some of the lookout points with the best views, Belem Tower, the Carriage Museum and Pink Street. More suggestions for what to see are welcome too. Where would be a good starting point at the top and what would the be the best way to get to there. What would be a good order to try to see some of the highlights without having to walk up hill all day?

Thank you

I’m among those who argue against day trips to Sintra, and not just because there’s simply too much to do there in a day, but moreover, seeing even a few high priority sites can be miserable if you are crammed with a mass of other day trippers. Personally, I can’t imagine making 2 day trips just to see 2 sites that you can see in a day. YMMV.

Lisbon is not “on a hill.” It is on MANY hills – seven main ones, IIRC. Taxis are inexpensive, so you won’t necessarily need to keep climbing … but IME, taxis aren’t necessarily available when or where you want them.

Do you have a decent guidebook? Forgive me for saying so, but it doesn’t sound like you do. I think you would benefit greatly from consulting one.

Good luck!

As mentioned Lisbon has 7 hills, for some of the areas you'll have to either walk or take a taxi/Bolt.
For the more flatish areas you can use the Metro, look at the system map for your locations.
https://www.metrolisboa.pt/en/

Metro does work well, although it is small.

From my point of view, in day in Sintra is enough. You might do Cascais and then Sintra or save one day for Mafra - Ericeira. You will need a car.

I think looking at my trip report may be helpful. Wonderful Portugal We went in March and even then, Sintra was busy and we were happy to have a private guide, as you will see when you read. We may not have seen all you want to see, but we were pleased.