vanne49

My husband and I are planning a trip to Portugal leaving mid April for two weeks. We live in SC and have found a great round trip flight, but it flies in and out of Lisbon. We are planning to rent a car as we leave the city. My first concern is whether we should fly in/out of Lisbon or multi city as we plan to travel the country. I know that there is a train between Porto and Lisbon if Porto is our last destination and we fly out of Lisbon. Thoughts??

Michael

Starting and ending a trip in the same location does not necessarily mean backtracking. It could be a circular route, perhaps going up the coast and coming back farther inland. Or you could shorten your stay in Lisbon at the beginning of the trip, return to Lisbon by train adding a day at the end of the trip. That way you would not feel that you are taking a long train ride just to catch a plane.

Seamus

Ditto Michael's comment. If you have a great airfare, just arrange your itinerary to begin and end in Lisbon. We flew into Porto and out of Lisbon because it worked for our itinerary. There is indeed easy train service between Porto and Lisbon but it would eat up at least half a day making that transfer by the time you get to/from the station to your accommodation.

vanne49

Great, I appreciate your guidance. We have been hoping to take this trip, like most, for the past two years. I am in the early stage of planning. What are your “not to be missed” suggestions. We love museums, castles, cathedrals, shopping, and great food. Enjoy getting off the beaten track to enjoy the country, the people and their culture. My husband loves Port! Thoughts on how many days in Porto and Lisbon? Planning a two week trip. Thank you

Seamus

If you are not yet locked into flights, an open jaw into one city and out of the other makes good sense. Whether you start in Lisbon or Porto doesn't matter, IMO, though I'd probably start in Lisbon. For info on what/where/when, see the great info by none other than our fellow Fodorite maribel posted at this site.

VANAARLE

Are you after off the beaten tracks or just touristy locations?
Portugal has meets all your requirements of museums, castles, cathedrals, shopping, and great food. Just you will not have enough time to see all. I would suggest you take a deep breath and do some planning. Concentrate on an area. and not change locations each night. This will give you more time to take in what you see. Vacations are for relaxing from our busy lives.
research:
https://www.fodors.com/world/europe/portugal
https://www.fodors.com/community/tags/portugal/
https://twitter.com/visitportugal?lang=en
https://www.lonelyplanet.com/portugal
https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...ortugal+travel
Also with personal suggestions, our budget may not be your budget.

vanne49

Again, thank you!
I am watching “google flight” like a hawk for the best flights in and out of Portugal. Looks like we may be flying in/out of Lisbon. We do like a relaxed off the main tourist trail type of trip. That said, we are planning to spend a few days in both Lisbon and Porto. I have read many of the forums and several travel guide books. I am thinking that if we do fly in and out of the same city, we could drive coastal one way and inland, as suggested, on the return.
Needless to say, we will have to do our homework, with some Fodor expert assistance to narrow down the areas of travel. Plan to leave U.S. mid April for 16 days. Sound reasonable???

STWtraveler

I've been to Portugal, and I much preferred Porto to Lisbon. If your husband likes port, then definitely tour the port houses--it's fun to learn the process and taste the port. I also loved the hills around Porto. Between Lisbon and Porto you would see many cathedrals that are truly amazing.

vanne49

We will be in Portugal for 15 days. Land in Lisbon early morning, April 18, and plan to push through the day.
Our thoughts are to spend 4 nights in Lisbon. Day trip to Sintra via train.
Rent a car on our way out of town and travel to Evora for a night or two. Estremoz, thoughts??
We are not looking to spend time on the beach, but don’t want to miss a “must see”. Through much research 😳 it looks like Nagare is way too touristy.
Thoughts on Obidos, Peniche, or a fishing village to pass through? My husband has his eye on the lighthouse in Cabo do Roca, worth going to at sunset?
Albados?
Tomar and Coimbra are possibly on the agenda.
We plan to spend 5 days in the area of Porto.
We will have a car while in Porto and I know that parking will be an issue. Looking at parking in parking structure in town or guesthouse/B&B out of the center that have parking.
Definitely want to spend time in Duro Valley exploring vineyards. Wondering if we should split the time between Porto and the wine country as far as lodging.
We enjoy off the beaten path exploring. I love small villages and of course need to do a bit of shopping.
We fly out of Lisbon on a 11:00 fight on May 3.
I welcome all thoughts on this coming together itinerary.

vanne49

I also realize that 25 April and 1 May are holidays. Not quite such what to expect as far as closures and festivities.😳

virginiafish

We are leaving Feb. 27 and in Portugal until Mar. 14th. This is the itinerary we have planned with the help of our Fodorites, Julie Fox and dear friends. Fine tuning at the moment. Renting a car after Lisbon until Cascais.
Feb. 28 - Lisbon-3 nights @ Hotel de Baixa
Mar. 3 - Evora-2nights @ Albergaria do Calvario Hotel
Mar. 5 - Tomar-2nights @ Thomar Boutique Hotel
Mar. 7 - Cuimbra-2nights @ Pharmacia Guest House
Mar. 9 - Foz (Porto) - 3 nights @ Duas Portas
Mar. 12 - Cascais-2 nights @ Westlight Cascais Chalet

We chose to stay in Foz (Porto) because it will be easy to park the car as we will not use it in Porto.

HappyTrvlr

We visited Lisbon, Caiscais and Estoril as day trips from Lisbon, Evora, Obidos, Alcobaça, Batalha, Nazare( skip it!) Coimbra, Guimares and Porto. Then we took a taxi over the border to Spain, picked up a Spanish rental car and continued our trip.We loved Portugal and it’s welcoming people.

KarenWoo

We were in Lisbon on April 25, and there were no closures.

On our trip, we only had time to visit Lisbon and Sintra. We spent 5 nights in Lisbon including a day trip to Sintra. Depending on what you like to do, I would suggest an extra night in Lisbon. There were a few things we didn't have time for, and I wish we had more time for exploring more neighborhoods. Do you like museums? Lisbon has some awesome museums. We spent a lot of time in the Gulbenkian, and we also visited the Coach Museum. We didn't have time for the Tile Museum, which I regret.

OR another option would be to spend 4 nights in Lisbon and 1 or 2 nights in Sintra. It all depends on how many castles/palaces you want to see in Sintra. Per many recent trip reports, Sintra has become insanely crowded, so many people recommend spending a few nights there to see more palaces and get a flavor of the city in the evening after the daytrippers have left. If you can't or don't want to spend any nights in Sintra, then seeing Sintra as a daytrip is better than not seeing it at all, IMO.

vanne49

Thank you, I so appreciate suggestions and experiences of those of you that have traveled this beautiful country before me.
We are trying to pull it together, for such a relatively small country there is sooo much to see!

Bunny2294

Hi, if you'll be staying in Lisbon, just be careful when riding the Tram where most pickpockets target tourists. Overall, Portugal is a safe place to visit. Hope you enjoy your stay.

vanne49

Arrive in Lisbon 18 April, fly out of Lisbon 3 May
Lisbon (4 nights)
-day trip to Sintra
Evora/Estremoz(2nights)
*Cities of interest and possible visit with overnight selective stays:
Peniche
Obidos
Nazare
Albados
Tomar
Coimbra
Aveiro
Duro Valley (2 nights)
Porto (3 or 4 nights)
We are thinking that Algarve is too much to pack into this trip. We plan to rent the car as we leave Lisbon and return to Lisbon the day/evening prior to the day of departure.
Too much??? Thoughts and recommendations.
Obrigada!