Portugal 5 Day Itinerary
Portugal has been one of Europe’s most visited countries for several years running, and the crowds show. Knowing where the tourist footprint is heaviest, and planning around it, is the difference between a frustrating trip and a genuinely good one. This five-day route takes in the big highlights but flags the pinch points honestly.
Visa: Portugal is part of the Schengen Area. Most Western passport holders enter visa-free for 90 days. Check the Portuguese Border and Foreigners Service (SEF) for your specific country if you are unsure.
Currency: Euro. Cards are accepted almost everywhere, but some small cafés, markets, and rural restaurants still prefer cash. Carry €20-50 in notes.
General transit tip: Trains between Lisbon, Coimbra, and Porto are efficient and affordable, especially when booked in advance through CP (Comboios de Portugal). Booking 8 or more days ahead can reduce fares by up to 65% on some services. Within Lisbon, you can now tap a contactless credit card directly on metro validators and some buses; no need to buy a separate card if you are only in the city for a day or two.
Day 1: Lisbon
From Lisbon Portela Airport (LIS), the red line metro connects directly to the city centre in about 20 minutes for €1.90 single fare. It is the fastest and cheapest option by far. Taxis run €15-20 to the centre; Bolt is often €8-15 on the same route and is more predictable.
Lisbon is hilly in a way that catches people off guard. The Alfama district, the oldest in the city, climbs steeply above the Tejo River and rewards walkers with views, small chapels, and neighbourhood pastry shops that have nothing to do with tourism. Miradouro das Portas do Sol and Miradouro de Santa Luzia are the two best viewpoints in Alfama; both are free. The 28 tram connects Alfama to the rest of the city and is genuinely useful but costs €3.20 per ride and gets crushingly crowded on tourist routes. If you are not committed to the tram experience, the metro and walking are faster.
Belém, about 6 km west of the centre, has the Jerónimos Monastery (UNESCO, adult admission approximately €10) and the Belém Tower (approximately €6). Both date from the Age of Discovery, when Portuguese explorers were opening sea routes to India and Brazil. The monastery cloister is exceptional. Go in the morning before the tour groups arrive around 10 AM.
Manteigaria on Chiado is the place for pastéis de nata. There are older and more famous establishments, but Manteigaria makes them fresh to order and the quality is consistently high. Get them warm, dusted with cinnamon. Budget €1.20-1.50 per tart.
For dinner, avoid the restaurants closest to the main tourist drags in Alfama and Bairro Alto. Casa da India, a small and inexpensive restaurant serving traditional Portuguese food, draws locals at lunch and fills quickly; it is a representative local meal at a price that will seem almost unreasonably low by western European standards.
Day 2: Sintra and Cascais
The train from Lisbon Rossio station to Sintra takes 40 minutes and runs frequently; fare is around €2.30 each way. Sintra itself is walkable from the station but the palaces sit on steep hills above town, requiring either the 434 bus (from the station, often backed up in summer mornings) or a taxi.
Pena Palace is the essential visit. The neo-Romantic palace, completed in 1854 and built on the ruins of a 16th-century monastery, sits on a crag above Sintra with candy-coloured turrets visible from the coast on clear days. A combined park and palace ticket costs €14 for adults; booking online in advance is not optional during peak season (July to August), when timed-entry slots sell out three to five days ahead. The timed entry means you have a specific 30-minute window to enter the palace interior; missing it means you keep the park access only. Arrive at the palace grounds at least 30 minutes before your slot.
Quinta da Regaleira, lower in town, is worth a separate hour for its bizarre neo-Manueline architecture and network of tunnels and wells beneath the gardens (admission approximately €10). The Initiation Well, a spiral staircase descending into the earth, is genuinely strange and more interesting than most of what passes for “hidden gem” in Portugal.
From Sintra, the train to Cascais runs via Lisbon (change at Oeiras or go back to Lisbon and connect); direct by taxi is about 20 minutes. Cascais is a small coastal town with a good seafood restaurant scene on the pedestrian streets near the marina. Relax, eat well, and catch the train back to Lisbon in the evening.
Day 3: Óbidos and Nazaré
Both Óbidos and Nazaré are on the coast north of Lisbon and are most practically visited by rental car; buses exist but are slow and infrequent. Óbidos is about 80 km from Lisbon and Nazaré another 30 km north.
Óbidos is a medieval walled town where the entire historic centre fits inside a circuit of 13th-century walls. Walking the walls takes about 20 minutes and is free. The Ginja de Óbidos (local black cherry liqueur) is sold in small chocolate cups from vendors at the town gates; it is not a gimmick, it is actually worth trying. The town gets very crowded at midday in summer; arriving by 9 AM lets you have the lanes largely to yourself.
Nazaré is a former fishing village that became famous internationally when big-wave surfers began riding the massive swells at Praia do Norte, where an underwater canyon funnels Atlantic swells to extraordinary height: the world record wave, surfed here in 2017, measured 24.4 metres. The large waves occur in winter (October to March), not in summer when most tourists visit. The summer beach at Nazaré town itself is a wide, busy Portuguese resort beach. If you visit in winter hoping to see the big surf, check surf forecasts in advance (Surfline or Magicseaweed) as swells are not constant, and do not approach the Praia do Norte clifftops when waves are breaking: several tourists have been swept off the cliff and drowned. The Forte de São Miguel Arcanjo lighthouse above the beach has good views in any season.
Fresh fish is Nazaré’s other claim. Order caldeirada (fish stew) or grilled perceves (goose barnacles) at any of the restaurants along the main street and you are eating the actual local product.
Day 4: Coimbra
Coimbra sits roughly halfway between Lisbon and Porto. The train from Lisbon (Intercidades or Alfa Pendular) takes 1 hour 30 minutes to 2 hours; from Nazaré or Óbidos, a car is more practical for the approach, with the train from Coimbra to Porto the following morning.
The University of Coimbra, founded in 1290, is one of the oldest universities in the world and still in active use. The Joanine Library within the university complex is one of the most ornate Baroque libraries in Europe, built between 1717 and 1728, with carved and gilded shelves housing over 300,000 volumes. Admission to the library is limited and requires a timed ticket purchased in advance; expect to pay around €12-15 for the combined university complex entry. A colony of bats lives inside and eats the insects that would otherwise damage the books. Staff leave leather mats on the tables each night to catch the guano.
The old town (Alta and Baixa quarters) runs steeply down from the university hill to the Mondego River. The Arco de Almedina, a 12th-century gate in the old city walls, connects the two levels. Fado de Coimbra, the local variant of the Portuguese guitar-song tradition, is distinct from Lisbon fado and performed here mainly by university students in traditional black capes. If any performances are scheduled in the evening at Santa Cruz Church or local venues, they are worth attending.
Day 5: Porto
The Alfa Pendular train from Coimbra-B to Porto Campanhã takes about an hour. Porto’s São Bento station, one stop further into the city centre, is itself worth entering: the entrance hall is lined with 20,000 azulejo tiles depicting Portuguese history. No admission charge.
Porto is more compact and walkable than Lisbon and has a more authentic feel for it: less polished, more neighbourhood-scaled, with a genuine working-port character around the Ribeira district on the Douro River. Do not eat on Praça da Ribeira square itself; the terrace restaurants face the water and charge tourist prices. Walk one or two streets back and the quality improves and the prices drop.
Livraria Lello, the ornate bookshop on Rua das Carmelitas, is worth seeing but generates queues that extend around the block in peak season. Admission is €5 (redeemable against a book purchase), which successfully filters the casual visitor. The interior staircase and stained glass ceiling are genuinely beautiful; plan 20-30 minutes.
The Dom Luís I Bridge, completed in 1886, crosses the Douro in two tiers: the upper level carries the metro, the lower level is a pedestrian and road crossing. Walk across the upper level for the view over the Douro gorge and the Port wine lodges (caves) on the Vila Nova de Gaia side. All the major Port producers (Taylor’s, Graham’s, Ramos Pinto) offer cellar tours with tastings for approximately €15-20 per person; Taylor’s has particularly good river terrace views.
Francesinha, the Porto-specific sandwich made of cured meats layered inside bread, covered in melted cheese, and then drenched in a tomato-and-beer sauce, is a meal in itself. It is heavy, regional, and not found reliably outside Porto. Order it at a neighbourhood restaurant rather than a tourist-facing one; locals have strong opinions about which establishments make the genuine article.
Practical note for the whole trip: Portugal’s train fares rise sharply as you approach the departure date. Buy Lisbon-Porto and intercity tickets as far in advance as possible at cp.pt. The savings on a round-trip or two-city routing can easily cover a night’s accommodation.