Porto & Lisbon
 

My wife and I will be spending ten days in Portugal flying into Porto From Newark, NJ for four nights and spending five nights in Lisbon. Flying out of Lisbon back to Newark, NJ. We have our plans pretty much made except for a couple of choices we have to make.
While in Porto we would like to take a day trip. Which of the three would you recommend: Aviero, Braga or Guimaraes. Is it possible to two in one day?

In Lisbon we will do a day trip to Sintra but can not decide if we should go to Evora or Obidos. We want to explore both Porto and Lisbon so I don't feel we can see all three.

Your suggestions ane recommendations are appreciated. Thanks.

I loved Guimares and that would be my choice from Porto. We spent the night there. We enjoyed a nice lunch in Aveiro and it's a cute be achy town. Outside the Bom Jesus Cathedral Braga was not particularly interesting, perhaps we missed something

I think Evora has more to offer than Obidos. Obidos is a cute village, but didn't excite me, others love it.

You could stop and stay in Obidos en route by train to Lisbon - a neat old walled town but yes not much to see except the town - stay in a unique place like the government-run Pousada (name?) built right into the ancient walls.

Otherwise as a day trip I agree with yestravel about Evora having so so much more to see and down and also a neat old town - I loved seeing the cork plantations from the train en route to Evora.

I also loved Guimares a bit more than Braga - Guimares is a national patrimony place because of associations with past royals I believe - hard to do both in one day. I thought I knew all famous places in Portugal but Aviero has escaped my attention so can't comment on that place.

Thanks for the replies. It looks like Guimares and Evora. I wish I had more time to see all of the options but I don't want to miss out on Porto and Lisbon. Thanks again.

I don't know if you'll consider this a "day trip," but as it takes all day I thought I would mention it. If the weather is fine, take a cruise up the Douro River. We cruised up the river and took the train back to Porto. It was a beautiful, fun day. If we were to repeat the experience, we'd probably overnight at one of the rural estates with river views in the Douro.

I highly recommend having lunch at Graham's port lodge (Vinum Restaurant) while in Porto (it's just across the river in Vila Nova de Gaia). The views are stunning. The food was good, too.
http://www.grahams-port.com/visit-gr...urant-wine-bar
http://www.tripadvisor.co.nz/Restaur..._Portugal.html

I took a commuter train from Porto to Guimaraes - it took about an hour and trains are frequent. Tip : take a taxi to the castle, which is on a hill, and walk down through the old town - instead of up.

Diamantina, We have considered a trip up the Duro either by boat or train. But I don't think we will have time this trip.
We do plan on spending a day doing a couple of visits to the wine caves. Grahams along with Cockburn's. Also considering Taylors. Thanks for the links.


Pvoyageuse, We also will be relying on the train for our transportation. Thanks for the tip on the taxi to the castle and walking down that sounds like a great idea.