My husband and I will be spending 3 weeks in Portugal in June. We will be in Lisbon for a week in the beginning. We are renting a cottage in the Minho region for 6 days in the end and plan to spend a couple of nights in Porto before that. We have about 3 days that we would like to visit another region of Portugal. We would prefer to not rent a car. I am considering Evora, Obidos, and Nazare. We don't really like to move around a lot so would just choose one. Any recommendations?

I am curious what mode of transportation you will use if you prefer not to rent a car. If you pick up a car at the end of your stay in Lisbon, you could drive along the beautiful coast through Estoril and Cascais and head towards Obidos for a day visit. From there you could drive to Nazare and stay in that area before heading to Porto and Minho region. Evora is south of Lisbon and would require an overnight stay before heading north and then maybe another overnight stay before reaching your final destination.

Scotia, how right you are....TSmith, consider Scotia's plan including Cascais and don't neglect Sintra, before heading dead north to picturesque Obidos (oo-bee-doosh), and nearby Nazare' beaches... thereafter continuing north to Minho area, ending in Oporto.

Without renting a car, this can be a difficult proposition IMO. The driving is pleasant and quite easy, good highways and signage...we rented our car the day we left Lisbon (downtown) and were out of the city in ten minutes.. and still found time to visit Arraiolos'(h) beautiful newer Pousada, Evora, Marvao, Belmonte, Obidos, Nazare', ending up in the Cascais-Estoril-Sintra area before heading back to Lisbon to fly out....all well within the same time frame that you intend. From what I can see, doing this by bus/train can become a major task.

Here's a look at my pics to give you some ideas...

http://picasaweb.google.com/stuarttower/Portugal2008#

No matter what method you choose, you will fall in love with this gem of a country...

stu tower

We will be returning to Portugal for the third time in four years. We have always rented a car for each of the trips.

I am not saying you cannot do major routes with public transportation, but nothing is like a spur of the moment adventure with your own wheels.

We have used Carjet and Economy Car Rentals and have found very good prices for rentals.

You will love Portugal.

Thank you for your input. We were planning on renting the car in Porto for using in the Minho region. I guess we could consider picking it up earlier in Lisbon and returning it to Porto. We were sort of looking forward to some train travel as I find it is very different traveling with and without a rental car. Public transportation does limit things though, especially as it looks difficult to get from Evora to say Monsaraz on a weekend. What about the International Driving Permit?

You should visit Fatima; it is a very strange and eerie place.

My ex-husband's family owns a house in Nazare. I like it there, but I think the water is rather cold. The beach there is very beautiful, though.

I would be bored by 3 days in Obidos.

I love Sintra.

Cascais is a cute little town, but the beach there is tiny--the size of a postage stamp.

Thin