Hello, It's the first time for us to visit Portugal. We would like to see the best of Portugal as much as we could within 8 days in March. Below is the itinerary that I drafted. I would like to have a good combination of cities, historic towns and beaches. Do you think it is feasible? Should I get a rental car? I have not booked anything yet except for the roundtrip flights in and out of Lisbon. Any suggestions will be appreciated!

Day 1 (3/20 Thu): 11:30 am arrives in Lisbon, walk around old town, stay in Lisbon for 2 nights

Day 2 (3/21 Fri): Day trip to Sintra & Cascais

Day 3 (3/22 Sat): Lisbon > Coimbra, 2 hrs train, walk around, Coimbra > Porto, 1 hr train, stay in Porto for 3 nights

Day 4 (3/23 Sun): Day trip to Douro Valley (or Braga & Guimaraes)

Day 5 (3/24 Mon): Walk around Porto old town or day trip to surrounding towns.

Day 6 (3/25 Tue): Walk around Porto old town. 2.25pm, Porto > Faro, 1 hr flight. Stay in Algarve for 2 nights.

Day 7 (3/26 Wed): Algarve’s coastline, Lagos & Albufeira

Day 8 (3/27 Thu): Algarve > Lisbon, stay in Lisbon for 1 night

Day 9 (3/28 Fri): Fly out from Lisbon in the morning

Two nights in Lisbon is VERY little. Are you sure that will let you see / experience what you want of that lovely city? For comparison, I thought 4 full days insufficient.

If Day 2 is possible, it would be extremely rushed. Sintra is, IMO, better suited to at least one overnight stay, if not two -- as a day trip, you will be among hordes trying to do the same things you are trying to do ... and you can't see all of Sintra's major sites in a single day. Cascais is in a different direction.

JMO.

Hi Kia, thank you for sharing your thoughts. I would like to stay longer, but we do not have the luxury of time to spend. It is hard to decide which one to drop from the list. The reason that I only gave two nights to Lisbon is because I thought I might have more chances to visit it compared to other places in the future. Is Cascais just 20 minutes driving from Sintra? I saw there were some day trip tours covering both towns, but I can drop it if it is not feasible. Thanks for your suggestions!

We spent three nights in Sintra and still didn't see all the major sites. I'd never visit as a day trip as it's just too busy and chaotic and is much calmer and approachable after the day trippers have left.

I wasn't a fan of Lisbon personally, but that was more due to the crowds than the city itself. We spent five nights there and barely scratched the surface, two nights (which is just one full day) would have frustrated the hell out of me, but I guess it depends on what you plan to do with that one day.

We also spent five nights in Porto (loved it) and three in the Douro.

IMO you're really rushing around and trying to see way too much in too little time.

If you are basically skipping Lisbon because you think you'll visit it another time (and it is among the easiest places to reach in Portugal), consider skipping it entirely -- use public transportation to go straight from the airport to Sintra. (Note that a car is basically useless in Sintra, as you can't get to any of the sites except by bus.)

I am sure that kja meant to go straight from the Lisbon airport to Sintra. You can take the train from there. I spent my first night after arrival at the Hotel Star Inn Lisbon Airport (you can walk from the terminal or wait for a shuttle) and then next morning to Sintra by train. I agree that an overnight or two is better.

Indeed! I caught it and edited it a bit on the late side. Oops.

Pre-pandemic I did a day tour with Hello Portugal that our hotel concierge recommended and booked. Pick-up in Rossio Square around 8:30 AM and so we were among the first to arrive at the ticket booth at the Palace and then time to explore Sintra and stop for coffee before meeting up with our driver who was very informative about Lisbon and what we were seeing en route. This was the last day of our 10 day Portugal vacation and the third day of our time in Lisbon. After Sintra he took us to the monument on the coast to see the westernmost part of continental Europe and then to Cascais, again very informative. We had a few hours to walk around the harbor area as well as some of the modern architecture in Cascais while enjoying some gelato, Back to Lisbon and Rossio Square, a few blocks from our hotel. It was a good and busy day. If I were to revisit, I would want two nights in Sintra.

You do what you can do. I have a cousin who went with her two grown daughters for Feb school vacation several years ago, 2 nights in Sintra, 2 nights in Cascais and 2 nights in Lisbon. She has since gone back for a Porto visit. You can'd do it all necessarily in one trip.

Which? There are two national palaces in Sintra and at least two other major palaces there....

Pena Palace.. the one atop the hill. So interesting and worth the time to visit

Thanks for clarifying and for making sure the OP explores this option.

You actually only have 7 full days so I would just stick to Lisbon, Porto and Sintra.

That's a good idea! Thank you!

Sounds good! Thank you for the suggestion. I will check it out.

Thank you for sharing your good experience with day tour. I will take a look at Hello Portugal's tours. Yeah, I understand day trip is not ideal. My thoughts were seeing as much as I can in my first visit. So that I could plan a longer stay for my favorite places in my second visit.

Sorry for my late reply. It does not allow me to submit more than 5 posts in 24 hours.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I had the similar feeling as you had when I visited big cities, Tokyo, New York, Barcelona, Madrid. I spent three days in each of them (in different trips) and only scratched the surface a bit. Unless I live in these cities for a month, I think 2 days or 3 days won't make much differences to me. It is impossible to see all attractions anyway.

I enjoyed small villages more than cities. I agree with you about the differences between taking day trip and staying overnight. I would consider staying one night at Coimbra.

Is Douro mainly for wine-tasting? I'm afraid that my 19-yr old daughter might not be interested and considering skipping it. It seems that we could do wine tasting in Porto too.

Thank you for your suggestions. I've revised my itinerary. By dropping Algarves, I added one night to Lisbon and one night to Coimbra. Day 1 (3/20 Thu): 11:30 am arrives in Lisbon, walk around old town, stay in Lisbon for 3 nights

Day 2 (3/21 Fri): Day trip to Sintra, Cabo da Roca & Cascais

Day 3 (3/22 Sat): Lisbon

Day 4 (3/23 Sun): Lisbon > Coimbra, 2 hrs train, walk around, stay in Coimbra for 1 night

Day 5 (3/24 Mon): Coimbra > Porto, 1 hr train, walk around Porto old town, stay in Porto for 3 nights

Day 6 (3/25 Tue): Day trip to Braga & Guimaraes

Day 7 (3/26 Wed): Walk around Porto old town or day trip to surrounding towns.

Day 8 (3/27 Thu): Porto > Lisbon, 3 hr train, stay in Lisbon for 1 night

Day 9 (3/28 Fri): Fly out from Lisbon in the morning

Is Douro mainly for wine-tasting? I'm afraid that my 19-yr old daughter might not be interested and considering skipping it. It seems that we could do wine tasting in Porto too.

We were personally drawn by the wine and port, but many visitors enjoy a cruise along the river, which can also be done from Porto. We spent three nights in Pinhão - we hiked a bit, drank a bit and took the train to Pocinho in the Alto Douro.

Yes, you can definitely do plenty of wine and port tasting elsewhere, such as Porto.

My trip report with photos which may or may not help:

I left my liver in Lisbon

I hate to say it, but this trip would make me never want to travel again! So much time in transit to see so very little of what any of these places have to offer. But it's your trip, and I hope it works for you and your daughter.

Thank you for sharing your wonderful trip It's very helpful. Love all the pictures.

I also initially planned to visit Portugal in 2021, but had to cancel the trip due to Covid.