An Easy Portugal Travel Itinerary With Everything Planned Out For You
If you’re curious about Portugal or looking for itinerary inspiration, then check out the Portugal Itinerary below with everything planned out for you.
Table of Contents
Portugal Itinerary Day 1: Arrive in Lisbon. Explore Alfama (Old Lisbon) and Castelo de São Jorge.
It’s quite an uphill walk to Castelo de São Jorge, so wear good walking shoes and stay hydrated. As you’re walking up or down from the castle, keep an eye out for the Lisbon Cathedral and several viewpoints with picturesque views overlooking the city. You can’t miss them because they’re teeming with tourists and selfie-takers. On the way you’ll see the historic yellow tram winding the narrow streets, so if you get tired, hop on for a fun ride.
Castelo de São Jorge is situated on top of a hill overlooking Lisbon and offers beautiful panoramas of the city and sea beyond. It’s a large and beautiful piece of architecture to visit with shaded courtyards, large willowy trees and a peacock or two prancing about! Keep about two or three hours to make the uphill walk to the castle and explore at a leisurely pace.
Portugal Itinerary Day 2: Explore Lisbon on foot and see the main sights: Praça do Comércio, Tower of Belem, Monument of Discoveries (Padrão dos Descobrimentos). End the day at Eduardo VII Park for some incredible views at sunset. At night head on over to the Bairro Alto area for dinner and drinks.
Turns out Lisbon is a pretty compact city. There are a few key sights to see and they can all be covered in a day or two depending on how much you want to see and do. I enjoyed a more leisurely pace and opted to explore the city on foot and without a guide. The hotel concierge and Uber drivers (great source for more local finds) offered great recommendations on what to see, eat and do.
Simply map it out on Google Maps and set off for the day. The main stops for any Portugal itinerary will include”
- Praça do Comércio: a bright yellow building with lots of restaurants and shops to explore
- Tower of Belem: the historical gateway to Lisbon
- Monument of Discoveries (Padrão dos Descobrimentos): a monument built to honor the Portuguese’s discoveries).
I enjoyed a meal at Time Out Market Lisbon — a large outdoor market featuring popular and well-known restaurant brands and communal seating. End the day at the Eduardo VII Park with beautiful landscaping and incredible views over the Lisbon. Secret tip: hide a bottle of wine in a bag with some plastic cups and discreetly enjoy the sunset view with some vino. See photo below for a reference of where to go.
Be sure to try out the green wine that Portugal is known for; it’s light, refreshing and perfect for daytime drinking. At night, head over to the lively Bairro Alto area for dinner and bar hopping. Highly recommend making reservations for dinner since the restaurants are quite small and have limited seating.
Portugal Day 3: Take a day trip to Sintra from Lisbon
Make Sintra a part of your Portugal itinerary. You won’t regret it.
Sintra is historically a resort town, located about 30-40 minutes away from the Portuguese capital city Lisbon, where nobles and the upper class owned vacation homes (aka mansions!).
Getting to Sintra is quite easy. If you’re in a group of three or more, then I recommend taking a taxi or Uber, which can cost 25-35 euros. If you’re traveling alone, in a couple or even a group, you can also easily take a train (there’s one available every 30 minutes every day) from Lisbon’s Rossio station to Sintra station. A round trip ticket is approximately 5 euros. The journey is approximately 40 minutes.
Read this blog post for more detailed information about Sintra.
Portugal Day 4: Take the train to Porto and stay overnight. Explore the city leisurely on foot. Visit the bookstore frequented by JK Rowling back in the 1990s. Enjoy a variety of port wines with a view over Porto.
Porto is a quaint town located north of Lisbon, approximately three hours by train. There are trains departing every hour or two from from Lisbon’s Oriente train station to Porto’s Campanha train station.
Charming and colourful, Porto has beautiful architecture and buildings bathed in shades of pastel yellow, pink and orange. I think it’s the ideal city to leisurely walk around and explore. There’s no pressure to do anything in particular, except drink port wine! I explored the city with no real agenda and enjoyed some great coffee and dessert at Cafe a Brasileira.
If you’re you’re a Harry Potter fan, then visit Livraria Lello. It’s a local bookstore JK Rowling frequented when she lived in Porto in the early 1990s. During peak tourist season, there is a very, very long line to enter the humbly-sized store. I skipped visiting the store because it was too crowded, but on a better day maybe it’s worth paying to enter and visit.
Located in the Douro valley and famous for port wine, Porto’s largest port wine production houses are located by the Douro River bank. In the evening cross the Dom Luis 1 bridge, which leads you to the top of a hill in the neighboring city of Vila Nova de Gaia. From the top, take the cable car (Teleferico de Gaia) down to the river bank to visit the port wine houses for wine tours, wine tasting, and food with views over Porto. Book in advance to secure a table since seating capacity is limited.
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