Portugal itinerary - 5/6 days.
 

Hello,

I would love some advice on my Portugal itinerary (Leg 1 with Leg 2 being Spain). We will be visiting in April for 5 days:

Day 1 Lisbon (Arrive 8AM)
Day 2 Lisbon
Day 3 Lisbon
Day 4 Sintra (Day Trip)
Day 5 Batalha (Day Trip)

Couple questions:
- Is it worth skipping Batalha and go to Porto instead for the day/night? The next city we're visiting is Barcelona so we can fly out of either Lisbon or Porto. Our other option is to cut 1 day out of our Spain leg and do 2 days in Batalha and Porto (travel early AM from Lisbon to Batalha and then to Porto, spend 2 nights in Porto)
- Is 3 days in Lisbon enough to see the major architectural sites? We don't plan on visiting too many museums
- Please keep in mind we're typical New Yorkers and tend to explore cities faster than usually recommended (I found this especially true in Italy)

Thanks in advance!

Different things. Batalha is basically a monastery surrounded by a small village grown under the shadow of the monastery. Batalha offers great photo ops, but once you wander through there is basically nothing else to do. OTOH Porto is the 2nd city of Portugal. Apart from the city itself, the port wine lodgings (south bank) can entertain you for a while.

I was born in New York City, lived there most of my adult life, and now live in Italy. I walk 20 times faster than your average Italian and am a very focused urban traveler, not a "wanderer" and "soak up the foreign culture" type.

That said, Porto is a very complex place, and unless you either

(a) are only interested in "seeing" it -- the equivalent of "seeing" Manhattan from the top of the Empire state building and going to Times Square + Greenwich Village -- or

(b) have identified two or three attractions in Porto you very much want to see and can shrug off seeing the rest

then Porto really does not lend itself to a one-night visit it if architecture is the main reasons you travel.

Some of it depends on your attitude about short stops and what makes them satisfying and what makes them frustrating. Some people really don't feel frustration at getting a glimpse of a complex place, knowing they are unlikely to ever come back. And some figure they will come back if they like their "taste". But other people would rather go someplace smaller but very rewarding in terms of attractions, and leave without feeling they wish they could return.

I think if your main interest is architecture, you can see the main historic architectural sites of Lisbon in 3 days, but not much of the new. If what you mean by seeing the architecture is walking solely through neighborhoods where you'll be surrounded by pre-20th c. buildings, you definitely can do that in 3 days.