Hello everyone! We are traveling to Portugal from July 23-31 and I need a little help figuring out how to plan the time. I will be traveling with my boyfriend and my daughter who is 8 yrs old now. We are late 40s/early 50s. I would like to see Porto-Algarve-Lisbon but it seems tight to get it all in. I feel our time is limited and I can't do much more but if there are other recommendations I would greatly appreciate the feed back. The only thing that is set is stone is the the flight into Porto and out of Lisbon and I am very excited about staying at Torel Avantgarde in Porto and seeing the Algarve area..

July 23-26 - Porto - staying at Torel Avantgarde. Day trip to Duoro valley via a tour(recommendations?) Self guided the rest of the time.
July 26 travel to Algarve - Stay in Lagos at Iberostar Selection or in Carvoeiro at Tivoli Carvoeiro? or somewhere else?
July 29-31 Lisbon. Need hotel or AirBNB recommendations.

First question - should I fly, train or drive from Porto to Algarve area?

At first I was planning to fly from Porto to Faro, but now I am considering renting a car on the 26th and driving and stopping along the way if there are some must see places. I'm really looking forward to our time in Algarve and don't want to cut that short. I am willing to sacrifice time in Lisbon if necessary. The beach towns look amazing and I would like to do some surfing lessons if possible.

We enjoy eating well but with my daughter I avoid the long 8-10 course meals I would otherwise enjoy. Would love some more restaurant recommendations as well.

Should we stop in Sintra on our way from Porto to Algarve or do it as a day trip while we are in Lisbon? I plan on not having a car while in Lisbon so I assume I would need some sort of organized tour to get me there.


Thank you!
Jenny