Portugal 6 Day Itinerary
Portugal spent 500 years as one of the world’s most active maritime empires, then contracted so fast economically in the 20th century that it preserved things other European countries demolished. The tiles on Lisbon buildings (azulejos) date back to the Moorish period and have been reproduced continuously ever since. The pasteis de nata was invented by Jerónimos Monastery monks in the 19th century as a use for egg yolks left over from starching habits. The big waves at Nazare were surfed for decades before anyone measured them and discovered they were the tallest in the world. This kind of accidental discovery is a recurring Portuguese pattern.
Visas and Entry
Portugal is part of the Schengen Area. EU and EEA passport holders enter freely. US, Canadian, Australian, and most Latin American passport holders can stay up to 90 days in a 180-day period without a visa. The ETIAS travel authorisation (for previously visa-exempt non-EU nationals) is expected to become mandatory; check the current status before travel. South and Southeast Asian passport holders typically need a Schengen visa applied for in advance.
Getting In
From Lisbon Humberto Delgado Airport (LIS), the metro Red Line runs directly into the city centre. The journey takes 20 to 30 minutes. You will need to buy a Viva Viagem reloadable card (€0.50 deposit) at the station machines and load it with credit; fares are around €1.65 to €1.90 per ride. Taxis run on meter and cost approximately €15 to €20 to most central hotels. Uber and Bolt operate at the airport and are usually cheaper than taxis.
Day 1: Lisbon, Alfama and Belem
Alfama is the oldest neighbourhood in Lisbon, built on a hillside south of the city centre that survived the 1755 earthquake and the fire that followed it. The rest of Lisbon was rebuilt in the 18th century on a rational grid (the Pombaline Baixa); Alfama is medieval and largely unchanged in street layout. Walk up from Largo do Chafariz de Dentro and take any uphill path: the neighbourhood rewards getting lost. The Miradouro da Graca viewpoint (not the more famous and overcrowded Miradouro da Portas do Sol) gives the best angle on the Alfama roofscape and the Tagus River below.
Tram 28 is the line that runs through the historic neighbourhoods and is on every tourist list because it is, in fact, a useful tram that goes where you want to go. It is also very crowded in summer and a known pickpocket environment. Keep your bag in front and your phone in a pocket, not in your hand, if you choose to ride it.
In the afternoon, take the riverside bus (Line 727 or 728) or a taxi 6 kilometres west to Belem, the riverfront quarter from which Vasco da Gama and the Portuguese exploration fleets departed. The Jeronimos Monastery (admission around €12 for adults) is the best example of Manueline architecture, an elaborately detailed Portuguese Gothic that uses ropes, armillary spheres, and maritime motifs in its stone carvings. Allow an hour inside. The Belem Tower in the river nearby (admission around €6) is smaller than it appears in photographs and best viewed from the riverside rather than entered.
For pasteis de nata, Pasteis de Belem on Rua de Belem is the original shop, run by the same family since 1837 using the Jeronimos recipe. There is always a queue that moves quickly; eat them standing outside with a sprinkle of cinnamon and icing sugar, still warm.
Dinner at Time Out Mercado da Ribeira: a food market in the 1882 brick building on Cais do Sodre with around 40 stalls run by named chefs and established restaurants. It is designed for tourists but the food quality from the better stalls (Cervejaria Ramiro for seafood, Henrique Sa Pessoa’s stall) is genuinely good.
Day 2: Sintra and Cascais
The Sintra train from Lisbon Rossio station runs every 20 minutes and takes about 40 minutes; tickets cost around €2.25 each way. Sintra is a cluster of 19th-century royal palaces and estates in forested hills above the coast, and the landscape is genuinely unusual: the hills trap moisture from the Atlantic and support a microclimate with species that are not found elsewhere in the Iberian Peninsula.
Pena Palace is the main event. Built in the 1840s for King Fernando II in a Romantic fantasy style mixing Gothic, Moorish, and Manueline elements, it is painted in ochre and terracotta and sits on a peak above the clouds on overcast days. Tickets for the park cost around €8; park plus palace interior is around €20. Book ahead online, particularly in summer, because timed entry slots for the interior sell out on busy days. Go when the gates open (9:30 am).
Quinta da Regaleira, a 10-minute walk from the town centre, is the stranger option: a 20th-century private estate built by a wealthy eccentric filled with symbolic architecture, underground tunnels, and an inverted tower (the Initiation Well) that descends 27 metres through a spiral staircase to a chamber that connects to tunnels running under the garden. Admission around €12. It is more interesting than Pena to anyone with a tolerance for architectural symbolism.
Take the Scotturb bus 403 from Sintra to Cascais rather than returning to Lisbon: it runs along the coastal road (the Linha da Cascais) through Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point of mainland Europe, and takes about 90 minutes. Cascais is an affluent coastal town with a good fish market and several beach options accessible by bicycle.
Day 3: Obidos and Nazare
Renting a car for this day is the most practical option; trains don’t connect Obidos and Nazare conveniently. The A8 motorway north from Lisbon reaches Obidos in about an hour.
Obidos is a medieval walled town with the original fortifications intact: you can walk the complete perimeter of the walls (about 1.5 kilometres) along the top of the battlements. The town is small, preserved, and sells local ginjinha (cherry liqueur) in chocolate cups from every shop. It is very popular in summer; arrive before 10 am or after 3 pm to avoid the worst of the coach tour crowds.
Nazare is 40 minutes north of Obidos and is famous for the Praia do Norte beach where the biggest waves ever surfed were recorded. The waves are generated by an underwater canyon (the Nazare Canyon, one of the deepest in the world) that concentrates Atlantic swell and stacks it to extraordinary heights. The big wave season is October to March; in summer, Nazare is a standard beach town with smaller surf. The Sitio viewpoint at the top of the cliff reached by funicular gives the best view of the beach and the wave break below.
Day 4: Lisbon to Porto
The Alfa Pendular or Intercidades train from Lisbon Santa Apolonia or Oriente stations to Porto Campanha runs around 3 hours and costs between €25 and €50 depending on booking time and class. Book at least a week ahead for the best prices on the CP (Comboios de Portugal) website.
Porto occupies a hillside above the Douro River and has the kind of density and texture that Lisbon’s Pombaline grid does not. The Ribeira district at the riverfront is where most visitors spend their time, but the Bonfim and Cedofeita neighbourhoods uphill have a more working character that is worth an afternoon.
The Bolhao Market reopened in a restored building in 2022 after a decade of renovation; it is a proper covered market with fish, vegetables, flowers, bread, and a lunch counter serving simple grilled fish. Have lunch here.
Livraria Lello on Rua das Carmelitas is frequently cited as one of the most beautiful bookshops in the world, and it is genuinely beautiful: a 1906 building with a neo-Gothic facade and a carved wooden interior staircase. It is also extremely crowded because J.K. Rowling is said to have used it as inspiration for Harry Potter. A €5 entry fee applies (refundable against a book purchase); book a time slot online.
The Ribeira district warning: along the waterfront, vendors offer “free” port wine tastings that lead to high-pressure sales of bottles at €40 to €60 when the equivalent quality is €10 to €15 from a proper wine shop. Only book tastings with established port houses (Taylor’s, Graham’s, Sandeman, Ferreira) on the Vila Nova de Gaia side of the river, where the lodges are physically present. The port houses of Vila Nova de Gaia offer legitimate tours with tastings from around €15.
The Ponte Dom Luis I bridge (designed by a student of Gustave Eiffel) has an upper deck for pedestrians with the best view of both banks; take the cable car or the steep stairs up to the Vila Nova de Gaia side for the view back toward Porto.
Dinner: Francesinha is Porto’s contribution to sandwich culture: steak, sausage, and ham layered between thick bread, covered in melted cheese and a beer-and-tomato sauce, served with fries. It is genuinely more interesting than it sounds. Cafe Santiago in the centre is the most established address for it.
Day 5: Porto and Guimaraes
Start the morning in Porto at the Igreja de São Francisco, a 14th-century Gothic church with an interior covered in some 200 kilograms of gold leaf applied during the 18th century. The effect is extraordinary and slightly overwhelming. Admission around €5.
The Clerigos Tower (Torre dos Clerigos), designed by architect Nicolau Nasoni and finished in 1763, is the tallest church tower in Portugal and was the landmark navigators used to locate Porto from the sea. Climbing the 240 steps costs around €5 and gives a view over the terracotta rooftops. Open from 9 am.
Guimaraes is 55 minutes from Porto by train and is where the first King of Portugal, Afonso Henriques, was born in 1109. The Guimaraes Castle is the claimed birthplace and was the seat of the first Portuguese court. The Ducal Palace next to it is a restored 15th-century palace with original period furnishings and tapestries. Both sites cost around €5. The medieval quarter between the castle and the palace is well preserved and has the sign that every Portuguese schoolchild knows: “Aqui nasceu Portugal” (Here Portugal was born). Whether that is historically precise is debatable; that it is taken seriously by the Portuguese is not.
Day 6: Douro Valley
The Douro Valley between Porto and the Spanish border is the oldest demarcated wine region in the world (demarcated in 1756, predating Bordeaux by about a century). The landscape of steeply terraced vineyards descending to the river is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is genuinely spectacular in the September harvest period and also in spring when the almond trees flower white on the terraces.
The most straightforward day trip from Porto is the Linha do Douro train, which runs along the river from Porto Campanha eastward. The stretch from Regua to Pinhao is particularly scenic and takes about an hour from Regua. Quinta do Portal and Quinta do Crasto are two established wineries near Pinhao that offer tastings with advance booking.
Boat cruises on the Douro from Regua or Pinhao last two to four hours and cover river sections that are not visible from the road. Several operators offer lunch cruises with wine included; Douro Acima is a reliable option.
Return to Porto by late afternoon. Departure from Porto Francisco Sa Carneiro Airport (OPO); the metro Line E (violet) runs from the airport to central Porto in about 35 minutes for a standard metro fare.
Practical Notes
Portuguese food is not flashy. Bacalhau (salt cod) is prepared in supposedly 365 different ways (one for every day of the year, locals say) and is the national protein. Grilled sardines are the summer street food; the season runs June to September. Bifanas (pork cutlets in rolls with mustard) are the local equivalent of a sandwich and cost €2 to €3 from a proper tasca.
The Lisboa Card (24, 48, or 72 hours) covers the Lisbon Metro plus most museum entry within the city. It pays for itself if you visit three or more museums in a day. There is no equivalent in Porto, where the main attractions are more scattered and often best walked.
Portuguese tap water is safe and good. Do not pay for bottled water at restaurants unless you specifically want it; asking for “agua da torneira” (tap water) is normal and acceptable in any establishment.
Tipping in Portugal is lighter than in the US but customary: around 5 to 10% at restaurants, rounding up at cafes. Waiters will not follow you to the door if you leave nothing, but it is good practice.
Weather: Portugal’s Atlantic coast is cooler and windier than the Mediterranean equivalent. Lisbon in June to September is reliably warm (25 to 32 degrees Celsius) and crowded. Spring (March to May) and autumn (September to November) are the better travel windows for avoiding queues at Sintra and Porto.