Book aheadBook the two fast trains, Pena Palace and the Joanina library as soon as you have dates; a room in Pinhão for a Saturday in May goes early.
Hours, prices, timetables and coordinates are from general knowledge; re-check them on the official sites before you go.
Ten days: Lisbon's old quarters, Belém, Sintra's palaces, Coimbra's university, three days in Porto, a night in the Douro Valley, and Porto again before the flight.
Land at 10:00, the metro to Rossio. The Baixa's squares, São Jorge Castle, Alfama's lanes and sunset at Graça.
🗺 The whole day in Google Maps →about €2 each
Red line, change at Alameda to the green line for Rossio, 30 minutes. Buy a Viva Viagem card at the machine and load it with zapping credit: metro, trams, buses and the Sintra train. Bags at the hotel, then lunch.
The Baixa is the grid of streets rebuilt after the 1755 earthquake; Praça do Comércio is its great square, open to the river through a triumphal arch.
free
Walk down the Rua Augusta from Rossio to the arch and the river steps. The arch's top has a viewing terrace, about €5.
A Moorish castle taken by Portugal's first king in 1147, on Lisbon's highest hill, with walls to walk and the city below.
about €15 eachday's highlight
Twenty minutes uphill through Alfama, or tram 12 or 28. Walk the walls for the river and the roofs; the camera obscura in one tower shows the city live. An hour and a half.
Lisbon's oldest quarter, spared by the earthquake: stairways and small squares between the castle and the river.
freesteep
Down through Alfama to the Santa Luzia viewpoint, then up to Graça's terrace for the sunset, about 20:40 in May. Ginjinha, cherry liqueur, is sold from doorways for €2.
€25–35 each
Grilled sardines or bacalhau in a tasca. Bread and olives on the table are charged if eaten.
Jerónimos Monastery at opening, custard tarts, the riverside to LX Factory, and an evening in Príncipe Real and Bairro Alto.
🗺 The whole day in Google Maps →A monastery of white limestone begun in 1501 and paid for by the spice trade, with a cloister carved with ropes and sea creatures; Vasco da Gama lies in its church.
about €18 eachday's highlightbook a time
Tram 15 from Praça da Figueira, 25 minutes. Book the opening slot: by eleven the queue runs along the façade. The church is free and has its own door. An hour.
The bakery that has made custard tarts to the monastery's recipe since 1837.
about €1.50 a tart
Sit in the tiled back rooms; the takeaway queue moves fast too. Cinnamon and icing sugar on the tables.
A small fortress of 1519 standing in the river, and a 1960 monument of navigators carved on a ship's prow.
free outside
See the tower from the bank. Walk back east along the river past the monument and over the MAAT museum's sloping roof, free to climb.
A textile factory under the 25 de Abril bridge turned into restaurants, shops and Ler Devagar, a bookshop in the old print hall.
€15–25 each
A Sunday market in the lanes. Lunch, the bookshop, then tram 15 back and a rest.
Príncipe Real is a leafy square of concept shops and cafés under a vast cedar; Bairro Alto below it is a grid of lanes full of bars at night.
free
Up the Glória funicular or on foot to the São Pedro de Alcântara viewpoint, then Príncipe Real. Dinner in Bairro Alto from 20:00; drinks in the street after.
€25–40 each
Petiscos, small plates to share, and vinho verde. Bars stay open late; the lanes are loud until 2.
The train from Rossio at 8:11, Pena Palace at a booked 9:30, the Moorish Castle, lunch in the old town and Quinta da Regaleira.
🗺 The whole day in Google Maps →about €2.50 each way
Every 20 minutes, 40 minutes; the Viva Viagem card pays. From Sintra station the 434 bus loops up to Pena, or a tuk-tuk for about €5 each.
A 19th-century king's fantasy palace of yellow and red towers on a crag, built by Ferdinand II over a ruined monastery.
about €20 eachday's highlighttimed slot
Take the first slot; by eleven the rooms are a queue. The terraces look over the coast to Lisbon. Two hours with the park.
Walls of the 9th and 10th centuries along the ridge opposite Pena, with both palaces and the sea in view.
about €12 eachsteps
Ten minutes' walk from Pena; walk the wall between the towers, then the forest path down to the old town, 25 minutes.
An estate of about 1910 with a gothic mansion, grottoes and the Initiation Well, a spiral of stone stairs 27 metres down.
about €15 eachbook
After lunch in the old town and travesseiros, the almond pastries, at Piriquita. Down the well, out through the tunnels to the lake. An hour and a half, then the train back.
The 10:00 train to Coimbra, an hour and forty. The old university on its hill, the Joanina library at a booked 14:00, and Coimbra fado in the evening.
🗺 The whole day in Google Maps →€20–30 eachreserved seats
Alfa Pendular or Intercidades to Coimbra-B, about 1 hour 40. There, the shuttle train to Coimbra-A in the centre takes four minutes and is included. Bags at the hotel, lunch in the lower town.
One of Europe's oldest universities, in a royal palace on the hilltop since 1537. Its baroque library of 1728 is lined with gilded shelves; a colony of bats eats the insects that would eat the books.
about €15 eachday's highlighttimed entry
Twenty minutes uphill, or the Elevador do Mercado lift to the top. The ticket covers the library at its set time, the Great Hall where degrees are given, the chapel and the tower.
From the courtyard's colonnade the view runs over the Mondego river. Two hours in all.
A Romanesque cathedral of the 12th century built like a fortress, halfway down the hill.
about €3
Down the steep lanes past student houses, the repúblicas, with their banners. The stair street Quebra Costas, "back-breaker", leads to the lower town.
Coimbra's fado is sung by men in students' black capes, serenades rather than Lisbon's laments, with the Coimbra guitar.
about €10 each
Fado ao Centro, below the cathedral, has a short show every evening with an explanation of each song, and a glass of port. Fifty minutes.
€20–30 each
Chanfana, goat slow-cooked in red wine, is the local dish. Student prices in the lanes off the Praça do Comércio.
Santa Cruz monastery and coffee in its old church, the Quinta das Lágrimas gardens, then an hour's train to Porto and the Ribeira at dusk.
🗺 The whole day in Google Maps →A monastery founded in 1131 where Portugal's first two kings are buried, with a tiled church and a Manueline cloister.
about €4
Next door, Café Santa Cruz serves coffee in the monastery's former chapel, under ribbed vaults. Have breakfast there.
The gardens where, the story goes, Inês de Castro, a prince's lover, was murdered in 1355 on his father's orders; a spring here is called the Fountain of Tears.
about €3
Across the river by the footbridge, 20 minutes. Old trees, the two fountains, quiet. An hour.
€15–25 eachreserved seats
Lunch, bags, the shuttle to Coimbra-B. About an hour to Porto Campanhã, then any train to São Bento, five minutes.
Porto's riverfront of tall coloured houses under the iron bridge, the old merchants' quarter.
free
Down the lanes from São Bento to the quay. Dinner on the Ribeira or one street back, where it is cheaper.
São Bento's tiles, the cathedral terrace, the upper deck of the Dom Luís bridge, and a port tasting in Gaia.
🗺 The whole day in Google Maps →Porto's central station of 1916, its hall lined with 20,000 blue-and-white tiles of battles and country life.
free
Fifteen minutes is enough. Buy tomorrow's and Saturday's Douro tickets at the counter while you are here.
A fortress-like cathedral of the 12th century on Porto's highest point, with a tiled gothic cloister.
cloister about €3
The terrace in front looks over the roofs to the river. Then down the Barredo lanes behind it.
A two-deck iron bridge of 1886 by a partner of Gustave Eiffel, the upper deck shared with the metro.
freeday's highlight
Cross the upper deck to the Serra do Pilar monastery terrace on the far side: the whole of Porto across the river. Down to the Gaia quay by the cable car, about €7, or the steps.
Port has been aged in barrels in Gaia's lodges for 300 years; the old houses give tours and tastings.
€20–35 eachbook
After lunch on the Gaia quay. Taylor's and Graham's are up the hill with gardens and views. An hour, three wines.
€20–35 each
A francesinha, Porto's sandwich of meats under melted cheese and beer sauce, is a meal on its own.
Livraria Lello at opening, the Clérigos tower, the Bolhão market, then Serralves' gardens and the sunset at Foz.
🗺 The whole day in Google Maps →A bookshop of 1906 with a carved ceiling and a red forked staircase.
€10–15 each, off a bookbook a time
Book the first entry; the ticket comes off any book you buy. Half an hour.
A baroque bell tower of 1763, 75 metres high; 225 steps to a gallery over the whole city.
about €10 each
Two minutes from Lello. Narrow stairs; the view takes in the river, Gaia and the cathedral.
Porto's covered market of 1914, restored and reopened in 2022.
€10–20 each
Cheese, ham, tinned fish and fruit; lunch at its counters. The tiled Capela das Almas is two minutes up the street.
A museum of contemporary art by Álvaro Siza, a pink Art Deco villa of the 1930s and 18 hectares of gardens, woods and a treetop walk.
about €25 each, park only about €12
A taxi or ride app, 20 minutes, about €10. The villa and the treetop walk are the best of it; the museum's shows change. Two hours.
Where the Douro meets the Atlantic: a promenade, two lighthouses and beach bars.
free
Twenty minutes' walk downhill from Serralves. Sunset after 21:00 in late May; dinner on the seafront, and tram 1 or a taxi back.
A small bag and the river train to Pinhão, two and a half hours. A boat among the terraces, a quinta tasting, and sunset over the river's bend.
🗺 The whole day in Google Maps →A regional railway of the 1880s that follows the river for its last hour, past terraced vineyards.
about €13
No reservations: be on the platform early on a Saturday in May and sit on the right. Leave the big bags at the Porto hotel; you sleep there again on Sunday. Check the timetable on cp.pt.
Small boats take an hour up and down the river between the steepest terraces of the valley, a UNESCO landscape.
€15–20 each
Several companies at the quay, boats on the hour. Lunch after, by the river.
A quinta is a Douro wine estate; several by Pinhão open their cellars for tastings of port and table wine.
€15–30 eachbook
Quinta do Bomfim is ten minutes' walk from the station; book a slot. Check in after.
A village viewpoint high above Pinhão, looking down on the river's great bend and the terraces on every side.
taxi about €15day's highlight
A taxi up, 15 minutes; ask your hotel to call one and agree the return. Or walk up in an hour, steeply. The light is best in the hour before sunset, about 21:00.
Dinner back in Pinhão, or at the village restaurant by the viewpoint.
A morning among the vines at Quinta da Roêda, lunch by the river, then the afternoon train back to Porto for a last evening.
🗺 The whole day in Google Maps →Croft's estate just upstream of Pinhão, with a walk through its terraces and a tasting on a terrace over the river.
€20–30 eachbook
Twenty minutes' walk along the river road. Book the vineyard walk and tasting; in May the vines are in young leaf. Two hours.
about €13
Two and a half hours; sit on the left this time. In São Bento by about 17:30.
€25–40 each
Polvo à lagareiro, roast octopus with olive oil and potatoes, or tripas à moda do Porto, the tripe stew that gave the city's people their nickname.
Coffee at the Majestic, the Capela das Almas' tiles, then metro line E to the airport for the 14:00 flight.
🗺 The whole day in Google Maps →A café of 1921 of mirrors, carved wood and leather, on the Rua de Santa Catarina.
€10–15 each
Expensive for Porto but a fine last breakfast. The Capela das Almas, covered in blue tiles, is five minutes up the street.
about €2.50 each
Line E from Trindade, 35 minutes; or a taxi, about €25. At the airport by 12:00 for the 14:00 flight.
Every leg of this trip is a train. Two are booked; the rest are bought on the day.
Lisbon–Coimbra and Coimbra–Porto run on the Alfa Pendular and Intercidades lines, every hour or two, with reserved seats. Book on cp.pt or the CP app; early fares are cheaper.
The Sintra train takes the Viva Viagem card. The Douro line has no reservations; buy at São Bento's counter or on cp.pt, and come early on weekends. In Porto, the Andante card pays for metro and buses.
Lunch from 12:30, dinner from 19:30. Bread, olives and cheese put on the table are charged if eaten; send them back if you do not want them. The prato do dia is the cheap lunch. Tip by rounding up, 5–10%.
Cards work almost everywhere. Keep €60 in cash for tascas, the Douro boats and taxis in Pinhão. Multibanco ATMs charge no fee of their own; avoid Euronet.
For two, 10 days and 9 nights from Lisbon to Porto: rooms, trains, tickets, food and a buffer. Flights are not included.
| Item | Economy | Comfort | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hotel in Lisbon, 3 nights | €330 | €540 | |
| Hotel in Coimbra, 1 night | €80 | €130 | |
| Hotel in Porto, 4 nights | €400 | €640 | |
| Room in Pinhão, 1 night | €130 | €250 | A quinta costs more |
| City taxes | €30 | €30 | |
| Trains between towns | €150 | €200 | Lisbon–Coimbra–Porto, Douro return, Sintra |
| Metro, trams, taxis in town | €80 | €120 | |
| Castle, Jerónimos, Sintra, the university, Lello, Clérigos, Serralves | €260 | €260 | About €130 each |
| Port lodge, two quintas, Douro boat, fado | €160 | €220 | |
| Lunches | €260 | €360 | 10 lunches for two |
| Dinners | €420 | €600 | 9 dinners for two |
| Coffee, pastries, drinks | €100 | €140 | |
| Buffer | €120 | €250 | |
| Total | €2,520 | €3,740 |
Realistic figure: About €2,900–3,200 for two, without flights
Cards work almost everywhere. Keep €60 in cash for tascas, the Douro boats and taxis in Pinhão.
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