Portugal: a small town, or one more day in Lisbon?
 

Hi there,

I will be spending about 9 days in Portugal in March. I will be solo, and am a grown-up mom/professional person just taking shelter from ordinary life. I'm looking mostly for ambiance, museums, food, beautiful views, alone time, and, like, no one using my body as a jungle gym, and no reason to say "hands to yourself" 20 times an hour.

With that intro, I am considering the following itinerary. I would love community feedback, especially on whether I should cut out one of my stops in order to have a third full day in Lisbon. Fyi, I am not super into beaches, don't care that much about wine, and will have a car.

Day 1: arrive in Lisbon around 7am; grab rental car and drive to Porto; explore
Day 2: explore Porto further
Day 3: leave Porto, day stop in Aveiro, continue to Coimbre in the evening and stay
Day: 4: explore Coimbre
Day 5: explore Comibre further
Day 6: Catch the roman ruins in Combriga on my way out, then head to Obidos, visit, and stay the night there
Day 7: Drive to Sintra; spend the day and night
Day 8: Back to Lisbon first thing in the morning; drop the car, explore
Day 9: Explore Lisbon further
Day 10: early-morning departure

Many thanks in advance for your wisdom.

Hi,

Day 1: arrive in Lisbon around 7am; grab rental car and drive to Porto; explore - OK, remember 300 km between both, 3 hours drive
Day 2: explore Porto further - OK, better 2 full days
Day 3: leave Porto, day stop in Aveiro, continue to Coimbra in the evening and stay -Ok
Day: 4: explore Coimbra -Ok
Day 5: explore Comibra further - No need, one day is enough to Coimbra, it isn't that big
Day 6: Catch the roman ruins in Conimbriga on my way out, then head to Obidos, visit, and stay the night there -NOT OK, on the way visit the Knights Templar Castle of Tomar, and the Battle monastery of Batalha. Stay in Batalha, then go to Óbidos passing by in the Castle of Leiria and the Monastery of Alcobaça. If you'are religious stop at Fátima world famous pilgrim site
Day 7: Drive to Sintra; spend the day and night - Ok, but only if you have something else in your mind, Sintra is only 30 minutes away from Lisbon
Day 8: Back to Lisbon first thing in the morning; drop the car, explore - OK
Day 9: Explore Lisbon further - OK
Day 10: early-morning departure

Hope i help you

Even if you don't like the beach, you certainly like the scenery and the beautiful landscape. My advice is check it out, they are beautiful.

If you are getting off a night flight do not do this! Driving tired and with jet lag is as dangerous as driving drunk.

You have too many one night stays and don't really need a car for this itinerary. Skip the nights in Obidos (very touristy and deserves maybe three hours) and Sintra (day trip from Lisbon). You could take the train from Lisbon to Porto and then rent a car for the trip south, but Porto to Coimbra is easy by train. You have only nine days, one of them partially lost to jet lag. You could easily split that time just between Porto and Lisbon.

Hi, thank you! So are you saying that Conimbriga is not worth my time and that I should do those other sites instead?

2 one-night stays is too many? Also I wanted to get a car for the flexibility. It seems like if I wanted to do all of the stops that the other poster suggested, I would need wheels, yes?

Conimbriga is definitely worth your time.

One night stands are a pain and occupy time packing/unpacking and checking in/out that could be better spent sightseeing.

If you plan to stop in the countryside a car would be helpful, but you don't need or want it in Lisbon, Porto and Coimbra.

Take a night away from Coimbra, replace overnight in Obidos with Evora, stopping in Obidos on the way from Evora to Sintra. Obidos is food for an hour or two, very highly touristed.Personally, I would also stay in Lisbon doing Sintra as a day trip by train.