Originally Posted by
marinkitty
You definitely don't need or want a car in Lisbon. I also agree the the pousada hotels are great - I've stayed at their historic properties in Serra da Estrela, Obidos, Marvão and in Lisbon. They have all been great and there are several more I have on my list to try eventually. In Lisbon I also like the Memmo hotels or the hotel Bairro Alto but there are also great airbnb options.
Possible trip itinerary:
Arrive Lisbon and spend 3 nights
1st full day - explore Baixa, Castelo São Jorge, Chiado (including Convento do Carmo), take the tram, stay in Chado, Principe Real or Bairro Alto
2nd day - explore Belém (including the Jeronimos, monument to the explorers, the tower and the MAAT), LX Factory (think your daughter might like it), same lodging
3rd day - head to Sintra with a car and stop at Guincho beach and Cabo da Roca on the way; start seeing the palaces (must dos IMO include Moorish castle, Pena palace, quinta da regaleira and monserrat and stay there or in a nearby town
4th day - finish up the palaces and explore Sintra itself and stay in the same place as the night before, time permitting grab a meal in Azenhas do Mar on the water
5th day - Obidos and stay in the pousada; get up early and walk the walls before the day trippers arrive
6th day - drive north to Porto either along the coast (stop in Peniche/Nazare (surf towns)/Aveiro (canals and colorful waterfront homes) or inland (stop in Tomar (knights Templar palace)/Coimbra (charming university town)/ConÃ*mbriga (a must do if Roman ruins are of interest and right near Coimbra) and arrive Porto and stay on the river with a view of the bridge
7th day - explore Porto
8th day - explore Porto and potentially a bit of the Douro Valley (could move lodging to Douro resort for views/to give the kids a more resort feel)
9th day - Drive to Evora and pick a few towns to explore to break up the day - consider staying at São Lourenço do Barrocal, budget permitting
10th day - Explore Evora (cathedral, roman aquaducts/temple, chapel of bones and have lunch in town) and then nearby villages (Monsaraz is great, also great castles in Evoramonte, Montemor-o-Novo and other nearby towns and megaliths in the countryside if that's of any interest - think a less impressive Stonehenge)
11th day - Either spend another day in the Evora area or spend a half day exploring the countyside more and then move on to the coast and stay near Comporta
12th day - Comporta area (either rent a house or stay at Quinta da Comporta or Sublime) - beach time
13th day - Comporta area - beach time
14th day - return to Lisbon and fly home (or turn rental car in the night of day 13 and stay at airport hotel to fly out the next day)
You could easily sub the Comporta time for time in the Algarve, it just means driving a bit further. If you visit the Algarve, I'd recommend the western part for a first trip - Lagos area is really scenic and the beaches are swimmable (so are the beaches in Comporta). But since you wanted to hit both Lisbon and Porto, I thought having beach time in Comporta keeps you closer (Evora is about 2 hours and Lisbon 90 minutes) so you aren't wasting time driving and the beaches in Comporta are very kid friendly and the villages have cute shops and nice restaurants and are super easy to navigate. It's way less built up than the Algarve. But the Algarve does have it's beautiful spots. Just depends what you want. I put the beach time at the end because kids tend to start burning out on the historical/charming village stuff after a while but you could do the loop the other way just as easily if you wanted R&R at the start or go to Comporta from Porto and then Evora after to break up the historical stuff more. Throwing in a river property on the Douro would also break that up and although I haven't been up there yet, friends have raved about staying a night or two at a place there. Not sure if you want to move around this much - you could base less places and do more day trips - pick a base outside Sintra and combine Sintra and Obidos - stay only in Porto vs also the valley etc.