Hi everybody.

My wife and I hope to visit Portugal next early September. We are in our late sixties, active, love to take long scenic walks, enjoy local fresh foods, beer and wine, and time to relax, We will be flying out of and into Boston, MA.

Hoping that we may receive some advice on how best to plan an approx. 10 day vacation. I say approx because we have some wiggle room if absolute need t add a couple of more days, e.g., 11 or 12 total. Prefer to keep it at 10, if possible.

I read that the weather is fairly consistent in being dry and warm with occasional short spells of rain.

Based on my googling, it appears the main sites (although I'm sure there are so many beautiful towns, cities, and places) are Lisbon, Sintra, Porto, Duoro Valley, and Algarve. We don't mind renting a car and taking long drives if it is practical and suggested. We try to limit the number of flights that we take. However, trains will work if recommended. We also try and limit the number of hotels we need to stay at since we don't want to be hoel hopping the whole time. The only time we don't mind the 1 night stay is at the airport on the return flight.
In fact, speaking of flights, we need help in terms of where to fly into and out of.

Then of course there are the Azores which I suspect will need to be a separate trip. The looks and sounds of the Azores are extremely appealing since we absolutely love hiking and looking for whales. Yet, I could be convinced to try and fit it in. I could also consider going to the Azores this trip and mainland Portugal on another. Love to hear the different feedback.

I know there is so much to see and do and distances become somewhat tricky. This is why I need your help.

Please let me know if you need any information to help suggest how to plan this trip.

Also, please let me know if I have not posted this in the correct forum since I sometimes struggle with that.

Thanks, W

With 10, or even 12, days you will need to be very selective. It is not unusual for people to spend 4 or 5 days in Lisbon, plus another day or two in Sintra. It is not unusual for people to spend 3 or 4 days in Porto, plus time for one or more day trips.

The Michelin Green Guide to Portugal is excellent. I strongly urge you to consult it.

You won’t have trouble finding fresh seafood and excellent wine in Portugal.

For weather: weatherspark.com

If you plan to visit both Lisbon and Porto, explore options for flying into one and out of the other. Or fly into Lisbon and immediately take the train to Porto; then work your way back down to Lisbon. You can get very detailed information about how, exactly, to get from Lisbon’s airport to Porto (and other info about trains in Portugal and elsewhere) on seat61.com

You posted correctly – Europe forum, tagged for Portugal.

Thank you so much. I will check out your references.

I'm trying to limit the flights to just into and out of Portugal. Prefer not to fly within for several reasons.

Based on what I read, Porto is more our style. Lisbon looks beautiful but we are not so much of big city/museum people. For a comparison, we have been to Florence and truly thought it was beautiful but 2 days there were plenty. Glad we went; I suspect the same for Lisbon unless told differently. Porto appears more our style where we could walk around the town, great scenery, food, etc although I believe the food is Portugal is outstanding throughout. Please don't get me wrong. I do want to go to Lisbon but I think we may want to spend more time in Porto.

Similarly, I want to spend time tin the Algarve area. Hence the dilemma, i .e., two opposite directions (Porto and Algarve).

I'm looking for the right mix of walking, hiking (easy to moderate), and relaxing enjoying the beautiful scenery. Fine with renting a car but heard that between some places the drive is not scenic.

I like your idea of flying into one area and out of the other even though it is not as convenient in terms of pricing and direct flights from/into Boston.

Not sure Sintra is a must for us. I am ignorant on this but we were just in the Loire Valley in France and have seen enough Chateaus and gardens as beautiful as they are. I have read that Sintra is somewhat (not exact) like that; although a day trip may be worth it since it so close to Lisbon.

Thanks again,

W

Only you can decide what to prioritize and how long to spend in each location. It seems to me that you would benefit enormously from a guidebook or two.

FWIW, Sintra is nothing like the Loire, is very scenic, and has some lovely walks. As a day trip, you'd be with hordes of others and would be rushed. Maybe that would work for you.

Hi and thanks. All great points.

after watching several Youtubes, I'm thinking of flying into Porto from Boston via a Delta alliance, i.e., Air France. From there we need to decide if we make Porto a base for 4 nights and do a day trip to the Duoro Valley or are we better off staying 3 nights in Porto and then 2 in the Duoro Valley before we head to Lisbon. Transportation is another issue.

Does it make sense to rent a car in Porto so that we may drive to the Duoro Valley and then return it in Porto and take the train to Lisbon or just drive to Lisbon and return the car there? Or do we just keep the car for the 2nd half of the vacation? I hear that a car is Lisbon is not practical.

Is the drive from Duoro Valley or Porto to Lisbon scenic?

Then I'm now thinking of staying in Lisbon for 3 nights with a day trip to Sintra and then off to Algarve for 3-4 nights for relaxation and scenic walks along the shore if that is possible. I think I would like to end our trip here. I hear that having a car in Algarve would be nice. The issue is renting in Porto, returning in Lisbon, and if we take the train to Algarve then we need to re-rent a car. Need advice on what's the best option in terms of the transportations. I assume hiring a driver from Lisbon to Algarve would be very expensive.

Unfortunately there are no reasonable flights from the Faro airport back to Boston so we would head back to Lisbon for one night before the flight home.
Does it make sense to stay near the airport for the last night?

So it sounds like we need more than 10 nights to make this work without being too rushed. Prefer to keep it at 12 nights max, if possible.

Alot of questions! When to rent a car and when to take the train is challenging for me right now. However, I think the order of Porto, Duoro Valley, Lisbon and Algarve makes sense. We will do the Azores on a separate trip.

I value your feedback and please feel free to pick this apart.

Thanks, W

Frankly, I consider watching YouTube videos to be a terrible way to plan a trip. For inspiration, maybe -- especially if you want an action-packed, see everything at a superficial level trip. Google searches aren't great either -- you just end up with the most popular places, which might not suit your interests. You won’t find what YOU want either way. Honestly, get a guidebook. The expense is trivial in comparison to the cost of your trip. For that matter, you should be able to consult guidebooks in your local library.

For the Duoro Valley, it depends on your interests, but with only a day or two, I don’t see the benefit of a car. You can enjoy the scenery from a train, and if you want to visit a winery or two, you can do that by train, too, without having to worry about driving after a wine or port tasting.

With your interests, a day trip to Sintra doesn’t sound ideal. You say you want some nice walks, and it is a great place for that, but I don’t see that happening with a day trip. I could be wrong.

Why would you plan on two separate stays in Lisbon? Put all your time there in one block at the end.

For transportation options, rome2rio.com

Even with 12 days, I would find your trip rushed – and I travel hard. YMMV.

Thanks Kia.Appreciate the feedback. Special thanks for the link for the transportation.

Youtube helps me with seeing some of the sights and tips like using Airalo, subways, transportation, etc. Agree that it is not best for exact planning but I do find it helpful for some considerations of where to visit. I never use it for restaurant recommendations because that is a very subjective matter. Your suggestion on guidebooks is well noted and I would recommend the same for anyone. I myself currently have several books out from my local libraries. I particularly like the Fodors Essentials but there are several others as well.

I would like to minimize car rentals but often I find that there are times when it is very convenient for the flexibility. However, as noted, Lisbon is not a place to have a car similar to Paris. When we went to France, we rented the car when we left Paris for Normandy which allowed us to stop at Honfleur which was amazing and would not have been possible if we took the train. However, I agree, trains are very practical depending on where you are, where you are going, and what you want to do.

This is exactly why I love your opinion and others. I take it all in and try to make the best decision that works for us.

The two separate stays is Lisbon is based on my desire to end the trip in the Algarve area and simply having 1 night near the airport in Lisbon before the flight home if we have an early departure. If it is a late departure we will just drive from Algarve to Lisbon. At least this is my present thought.

Thanks again, W

Go straight from Porto to the Algarve.

Faro is especially nice out of season and train is a great way to get there

Really think you are trying to do too much in a short span of time. It looks like you are trying to visit all the “high points of Portugal” in one trip. A mistake in my opinion. I regularly travel Boston to Porto/Lisbon as well as Boston to the Azores and have always tried to enjoy a certain area with days trips from the home base. It sounds like you would enjoy Porto over Lisbon. Lisbon has really become a very busy, touristy city with I would expect huge crowds in September. Porto will have the crowds but more manageable. The Douro is nice but we enjoyed short day trips from Porto to Guimaraes, Braga, and Viana do Castelo much more than wine tastings in the Douro. All towns are within an hour from Porto by vehicle or train. The train ride from Porto to Lisbon is about 3 hours and scenic. Do not rent a car in Lisbon but maybe train travel to Evora, Sesimbra or Ericeira. All short train rides. Estoril and Cascais are a scenic train ride from Lisbon in under an hour.

I loved Sintra. It is an easy day trip from Lisbon. If I get back to Portugal I will spend another day in Sintra.

Thank you all!

W

Hi again. In the process of booking flights and hotels.

For hotels/resorts we like, if possible, places that have balconies, pools, and in a great location. If you have personal experience and would like to share your favorite, please do.

First I will say that rome2rio.com is very helpful regarding the different methods of transportation but still need some advice.

We are going forward with the following based on research, feedback, and of course our personal choice:

Fly into Lisbon.
Lisbon 3 nights. Any recommendations of what area to stay?

Porto 3 nights. Also looking at what area would be recommended to stay. Leaning towards the Ribeira section based on the reviews of the guide books.
Still undecided on how best to get there from Lisbon? Train or car? Not interested in bus. Does anybody have a preference and why? Car gives more flexibility but if the train ride is scenic and we don't need a car in Porto we are happy not renting until we leave Porto.

Algarve 3 nights. Similarly, any recommendations on which part to stay? I'm leaning towards the western side. I think a car rental from Porto would be our best bet since we will need a car in the Algarve area.

1 night at a hotel near the Lisbon airport. Drop off car.

Chose to skip the Duoro Valley based on our personal preferences especially since we were just in Burgundy, France and recently Napa, CA.

That gives us 10 nights which will work for us. We will plan a separate trip to the Azores in the future.

Any follow up will be greatly appreciated again!

Thanks, W

Sorry, not sure what I was thinking.

We would actually fly into Porto, train to Lisbon, car rental for drive to Algarve and then drive back to Lisbon airport to return car.

However still need thoughts on that plan as well as best areas of each to stay.

Thanks, W

I'm glad you found rome2rio useful!

Assuming that your route as described in post # 14 is correct -- Porto, Lisbon, Algarve, Lisbon, home -- then my only comment on the routing is (as already noted in post #8) to see if you can go from Porto to the Algarve and then end in Lisbon. That would save you one change of hotels. (I assume you'll want to be in Lisbon the night before your flight. i would!) I'd take the train from Porto to Lisbon or somewhere in the Algarve, pick up the rental car ASAP for time in the Algarve, return the car to Lisbon and spend my last few days there.

Porto is small and, IMO, quite walkable. As long as you are in the core of Porto (or, for that matter, Vila Nova de Gaia) and are in walking distance of the things you want to see, you should be fine.

Where to stay in Lisbon depends, I think, on what you want to see / do, what you want in a hotel (or other lodging), etc. Your trip, your call. Research your options on booking.com

I don't know the Algarve and so have no comments.

Just going to offer this as I think you have made your mind up
Portugal is the sixth most dangerous road country in the EU
I'd take the train

Hi.

Are there certain areas that are more dangerous regarding driving? Regarding the danger, are you better off driving yourself or trusting someone else?
We drove in Costa Rica 92 miles from the airport to our destination at night in the rain and it was a terrible experience. I would never do that again.

I have thought about doing Porto to Algarve to Lisbon for the most effective solution but I wanted to end the vacation relaxing near a beach resort in the Algarve other than the last night at a hotel in the airport.

This is good info you all provide; it's helping me finalize plans.

Thanks again, W

https://landgeist.com/2022/12/03/roa...ies-in-europe/

We took a tour from Lisbon to Sintra and Cascais with Inside LIisbon tours. We liked they take only 8 people in a van. The guide was informative and knew all the short cuts to seeing the sights.

https://www.insidelisbon.com/en

In Lisbon we stayed at the International Design Hotel. Excellent location right on Rossio Square.

https://www.idesignhotel.com/location/