Portugal for 10 days in September
 

Hello, im visiting Portugal for 10 days in the beginning of September. Looking for a nice Itinerary.
Thinking of driving from Porto to Lisbon, Also want to relax in Faro for a few days.

Welcome! You need to provide us with more than that to help you! What are your interests? Why Portugal? What do you want to see? Are you driving? Using public transit? Where are you flying into and out of? What have you planned so far?

We spent 2 weeks in Portugal over New Years - here is our trip report and pics to get you started:
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...l-20102011.cfm

jamikins, thank you for your reply. Portugal is amount a few countries i havent been in Europe so its next on the list. im traveling with my wife we are both in our mid 30's, like beautiful scenery, castles, history, food, culture unified by photography....:)
Nothing is booked yet but thinking about flying into Porto and DRIVING to Lisbon with visiting cities on the way. Want to do Evora and Faro as well

Sounds like we have similar interests - our photos are in our trip report above.

With 10 days I would spent 3 nights in Porto, pick up a car and drive somewhere (Coimbra/Tomar, Obidos) and visit the central west bit of Portugal and then spend the rest of the time in Lisbon.

Lisbon is a great place, and I highly recommend a day trip to Sintra from there. You can also visit the beaches for a day as well in Estoril, or a day trip to Evora - but be sure you spend at least 2-3 full days in Lisbon itself, its a great town!

Meant to add Faro is not really close to the other areas you want to visit and doesnt really fit with your schedule. I would give that a miss this time...

We are doing a similar trip but we have almost 3 weeks. We fly into Porto, stay 3 nights. We then drive to Sintra for 6 nights (visit Lisbon, Nazaré and maybe some other town), then drive to Tavira (Algarve) where we will spend our last 10 days.

Sorry, so to be clear I would spend 3 nights in Porto, 2 nights in central Portugal, and then 4 nights in Lisbon.

Would you recommend renting a car after 3 days in Porto? How is the English language situation in Portugal?

Any beaches I can hit up from Lisbon?

English is widely spoken, maybe not in small towns, but we had no problem.

Nazare would be my beach choice between Porto and Lisbon, and Estoril or Cascais from Lisbon.

Thank you jamikins, btw your report is amazing, so detailed.

So i finally booked a flight out of NYC leaving on Sept 4th and arriving to Porto on Sept 5th. How many days should i spent in Oporto? Should i take day trips from Oporto? should i rent a car right away?

If you're not going to do the Algarve portion of this trip, I would recommend that you turn your rental car in when you get to Lisbon (airport will be convenient for you). You don't really need a car in Lisbon and if you want to do a day trip to Sintra, you can take the train which leaves every 30 min. One caution about the taxi drivers. I was there last month and half the time, the cab drivers tried to route us on a far longer path than was necessary. I was able to question their directions because I know my way around fairly well but had I not, we would have ended up paying more than we needed to.

Check out Home Away holiday rentals or Ownersdirect.com for an apartment so that you can stay in the center of town (Chaido, Baixa or Barrio Alto areas). You'll have a wonderful time walking to many of the sights, restaurants and shopping plus it's easy to catch Tram 28 from these areas and you can hop on/off this trolley throughout the historic districts.

If you want a car with an automatic trans, you should reserve as early as possible as they're not the majority of rentals and must be specifically requested - at least with Avis where I always rent. If you don't mind driving a manual, then you can wait to closer to your dates.

If you have time in Porto (for me one full day is enough) you should visit Guimarães/Braga (Cities) to the North and/or Douro Region to the east (landscape)on a day trip (with a car)

Driving south to Lisbon maybe you can do Aveiro (Portuguese Venice), Montemor-O-Velho (Castle), Coimbra (city), Leiria (Castle), Batalha (Monastery), Tomar (Convent). If you are really in for food stop at Mealhada and eat Suckling Pig.

Obidos (castle) you can do it on a Day trip from Lisbon and you can add to it Mafra (convent) and Ericeira (small town by the sea).

Lisbon itself you take you minimum 2 full days, regarding daytrips you should go to Evora (city) and Monsaraz (castle and the biggest artificial lake in Europe)and Sintra/Cascais/Cabo da Roca Area.

If you want to relax faro os not the best option, if you just want to relax maybe Alentejo (i.e. Evora, Monsaraz are the best options).

We did an 8 day trip going from Porto to Lisbon, very similar to Jamikins' suggestion. Here's our report http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...l-portugal.cfm

Nazare, in between Porto and Lisbon, has a nice beach (and some great, and inexpensive food).

Glad you enjoyed the report :)

I would spend a full day in Oporto at least, and then maybe do a day trip to the Duordo valley. I would not get the car until you ready to do the day trip and then the next day head out as you dont need a car in Oporto. So maybe 3 nights in Oporto (1 full day in the city, 1 full day trip) at least.

Enjoy!