Piccolina

After perusing many old threads and trip reports, I have come up with a preliminary itinerary as follows for a 11 night trip to Portugal. I've been to Lisbon and Sintra previously. This would be my mom's first time in portugal and flight logistics make it easier to either start or end the trip in Lisbon.

The trip is last week of Sep and first week of Oct. Initially we had 14 days but I think we'll spend the last 3 nights in London as all direct flights from Porto go to Gatwick but we have to catch our long haul from Heathrow:

We are into nice scenery, good food and culture. And I will be picking up a car on the morning to day 4 to drive from Lisbon to Evora and then dropping the car off when we enter Porto.

Day 1 Arrive in Lisbon
Day 2 Lisbon
Day 3 Lisbon (will skip Sintra on this trip as I've been previously)
Day 4 Evora
Day 5 Evora
Day 6 Obidos
Day 7 Coimbra
Day 8 Duoro Valley
Day 9 Duoro Valley
Day 10 Drive from Duoro to Porto
Day 11 Porto

Grateful for your help for the following:

1. Which day is best to fit in Tomar?
2. If adding a day or two would enable us to see more, then I can consider forgoing London - is that anything critical that I'm missing in the above itinerary?
3. Any small towns along the way to fit into the above itinerary?
4. Can I fit in Marvao into here?
5. Any other comments/insights would be most appreciated!

THANK YOU!

thursdaysd

I don't think Obidos is worth the overnight. I tried to warn friends of mine who are in Portugal right now and they wound up regretting spending time there. They much preferred Marvao, so you might want to substitute it for Obidos.

Piccolina

Thanks Thursdaysd - I've also read that Obidos is a bit like disneyland which is not what I'm looking for on a holiday!

Is 2 days too much for Evora?

thursdaysd

If you are going to spend a day in the countryside, visiting wineries and prehistoric remains, then you could fill two days, otherwise I think it would be a stretch.

Piccolina

Thanks again. Which other towns do you recommend en route from Lisbon to Duoro Valley by way of Evora and Marvao?

MyriamC

Half a day in Óbidos will do (walk the ramparts, if you are fit enough). We stayed there for 3 nights which was far, far, too much. We had a car, though, and made (half) day trips to Santarém, Alcobaça and Peniche.

IMO, Tomar is best visited en route to Coimbra.

Marvão is pretty far away from your other destinations.

A pretty and colorful small town is Costa Nova. Aveiro (also called the Venice of Portugal) is nice, too. It's on the way from Coimbra to the Douro Valley.

Piccolina

Myriamc - Thank you for the suggestions for Costa Nova and Aveiro.

For Aveiro, I can fit it in betwen Serta and Duoro Valley. I did a search for hotels on tripadvisor in central portugal and saw a convent turned hotel which has rave reviews. Seems kind of fun to stay in the middle of nowhere at a "destination" hotel.

Yes, Marvao is quite out of the way - should i nix this and go somewhere else?

Basically I have 4 days between Lisbon and Duoro Valley and was wondering how to allocate my nights. 2 nights stay is of course preferrably to one night.

I would like to fit in Evora, Marvao(?), Serta, Tomar, Coimbra (but lack of nice hotel choices), Costa NOva, Aveiro from Day 4-7. What is the best way to allocate my nights?

Thanks everyone!

MyriamC

Évora is a 'must see' IMO. Just do as you initially planned: Lisbon, then Évora. Check out hotel Albergaria do Calvario.http://adcevora.com/

In Coimbra, we found the Pousada Condeixa-a-Nova (which is just a few kms from Coimbra) an excellent choice. http://www.pousadadecondeixa-coimbra.com/pt/

I like your itinerary, wouldn't change it.