Hello Friends,

I need help how to spend 4 days in Portugal, besides Lisbon. I will be in Lisbon for my school international experience for 5 days (Fri-Tue). I am staying until next Sunday to explore Portugal. I need ideas for must vist places/cities in Portugal. I want to see the beauty of Portugal.

Please any ideas or help will be appreciated. I can rent a car or take trains for my trips.

Also, I may visit my friend who lives in vilamoura. Do you think it would be better to visit other places and ask my friend to visit me in Lisbon.

Thank you for your time!
Regards

Sintra, Evora and Obidos would be easy to get to and are worth visiting.

Also Cascais

I agree, the area west of Lisbon has several options. We stayed at the Hotel Estoril, in the town of the same name. Cascais, Sintra, and Estoril could combine for a nice few days.

If heading away from Lisbon to totally is you plan than Oporto might be an option to consider. As much as I enjoyed the beaches of the Algarve, that region is probably not what you are looking for.

Hello All,

Thank you for your response.

Here is the itinerary that I am thinking of:
So as you know I will be in Lisbon for 5days (Friday-Tuesday) for my class.

- Tuesday- We have a class tour to Sintra. The afternoon is free for us to explore before heading back to Lisbon in the evening. would that be enough time in Sintra?
- Wednesday- Drive to Coimbra, with a stop at Fatima. Stay night at Coimbra
- Thursday- Spend time during the day in Coimbra, and then drive down south to Evora. Spend night in Evora
-Friday- Explore Evora, spend night in Evora.
- Saturday- Drive to Lisbon, and explore lisbon further, or visit Cascais or Sintra (if few hours weren't enough during my Sintra trip on Tuesday).
- Sunday- Fly back home


1) What do you think about the plan above, especially since we don't have much time to explore Portugal fully.
2) We will rent a car on Wednesday for our trips outside of Lisbon. Makes sense? Should we go by the travel time suggested by google map?
3) Any suggestions or recommendation would be helpful

Thanks!!!!

hello! to be honest i don´t know much about travel time from lisbon to coimbra...

during the 5 days you´ll spend in Lisbon you can easily visit Cascais as well...just take the train you will be there in 15 min.

i think Evora and Coimbra are worth seeing, and of course Fatima is a well known religions place...
If you can, try visiting Mafra and it´s Palace, and Obidos...

also, this is the link to a forum page about lisbon that
has a great itinerary from one person that commented, and has a lot of suggestions that i´ve made...
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...for-lisbon.cfm

just a correction to Ryan, it´s Porto, and not Oporto...

the south and the north part of Portugal are beautiful as well but maybe you should let them for another time...

Your real problem is what you can afford to miss, given your lack of time and the wealth of places to see. I think your planed itinerary is good but it is worth going a bit out of your way to visit the spectacular village of Marvão - Casa D Dinis is a great place to stay - even hgher and nearer to the castle than the Pousada.

"just a correction to Ryan, it´s Porto, and not Oporto."

Actually, both phrases are used. Look it up.

Porto in Portuguese and Oporto in English.

Just the way it is Lisboa in Portuguese and Lisbon in English.

There's not a lot to see in Coimbra. We were there last week on a late afternoon and spent a few hours which was more than plenty.
I should spend more time in Sintra. That is, only if you are interested in seeing the palaces and gardens.

"There's not a lot to see in Coimbra."

I guess you didn't go to see the Roman ruins in Conimbriga. Did you visit the university library? Plus, it's a great town for just wandering around.

Unfortunately the uni library and the museum were closed (as was everything else) because June 23 was an official holiday.

In that case your experience was hardly typical, was it?

You're right, but we found the city quite seedy compared to Porto and Lisbon. We did have a good night's sleep at the Pousada, though.

I'm Portuguese and i know Portugal from north to South and...

If you like beaches go to south, like Algarve.

If you like monuments, big city's, go to center like Lisbon.

If you like nature, "peace" go to north like Oporto, Amarante or Douro Valley.

I wouldn't associate Porto with nature! Nor do you have to go to the Algarve for beaches. Perfectly fine ones on the Atlantic coast.

Last time I've checked, Algarve beaches were on the Atlantic coast...

lobo_mau - you're right. I'll rephrase it. Perfectly fine beaches on the west coast.

I understood