You are visiting Portugal and you have one week in the country to explore. Here is your itinerary. If you follow this then you will enjoy the best vacation of your life. Trust me.

Friday Evening

  • Fly from the US to LIS; you’ll land in the AM here.
  • Don’t eat on the plane. Flights from the US East Coast to LIS are almost too short. By the time they serve and collect the meal you only have 3-4 hours of flight time remaining. Instead, eat the airport and try to sleep as much as you can on the hop over.

Saturday

  • Take an Uber to your hotel (I recommend Hotel das Amoreiras). Drop your luggage.
  • Walk from your hotel to Jardim da Estrela, stroll through the park, grab a coffee, and marvel at the Basílica immediately opposite the park.
  • Make sure that you have 10 EUR on you and walk up the hill to Campo de Ourique - an addorable neighborhood. Grab lunch at any spot that you like. Keep walking to the entrance of the Prazeres cemetary. This is the single best place to guarantee you can catch one of the iconic trolleys - including the 28. They only take cash. Wait for the next one to arrive and hop on.
  • Take the trolley into the heart of Lisbon. Hop off at the Sé Cathedral.
  • Walk from the Sé to Praça Luis Camões in Chiado and explore.
  • Head back to the hotel, change, shower, do not nap.
  • Take an Uber or walk to Mercado de Campo de Ourique for dinner. They have a ton of options, everyone can get what they like, it is casual and you’ll leave wondering why the United States doesn’t have these in every neighborhood.

Sunday

  • Schedule a Tuk Tuk tour ahead of time and have them pick you up at your hotel.
  • Have them take you all over Alfama and to Graça.
  • Ask them to finish the tour in Belém.
  • Spend the afternoon visiting the monuments and monastery in Belém. Walk up the hill from the monestary to the Lisbon Royal Treasure Museum. It is absolutely worth it. Tour Ajuda Palace while you are there.
  • Head back to Lisbon and grab dinner at one of the options on this list.

Monday

  • Take an Uber to Sintra; it should take you about 35 minutes. There is also a train but it runs every half hour and only leaves from a couple specific stations in Lisbon.
  • Have them drop you off in the town of Sintra. Explore a bit and then either grab a Tuk Tuk or walk up to the Pena Palace.
  • Skip going into the Palace - the outside is pretty enough and the interior tour is slow. Instead, hop on the bus or walk over to the Moorish Castle.
  • After the Moorish castle, finish your tour by visiting the best palace in Sintra - Quinta da Regaleira. Explore everything on the grounds.
  • Grab another Uber and have them take you to Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in Europe. Ask nicely or hire another car to go to Praia Grande for sunset. Eat dinner while you are at Praia Grande at Bar do Fundo, an incredible beachside restaurant (you’ll need reservations).

Tuesday

  • Time to travel again! Portugal is home to one high speed train, the Alfa Pendular. It is a delightful way to travel. Book first class tickets (they don’t cost too much more) and hop on from central Lisbon. You’ll be able to get meals or snacks in the dining car, use their WiFi, and enjoy a fairly scenic trip.
  • After about 90 minutes on the train you’ll make your first stop in another city - Coimbra. Coimbra is charming and the university town of Portugal. I think it’s worth hopping off the train, eating lunch and exploring for the afternoon, and then hopping back on the train to continue on to Porto. Make sure you book tickets with this in mind, though, because you’ll need separate bookings.
  • You should arrive in Porto that evening. Check into the Yeatman, a beautiful hotel on the south side of the river amidst the ancient port houses. Porto is a city that is built into a nearly vertical cliff on the north side of the river and from the hotel you have the best views of the place. You are close enough to go into the city but away from the noise and chaos of actual Porto.

Wednesday

  • Enjoy Porto! I don’t have that many recommendations other than try a Tuk Tuk and skip the Harry Potter bookstore.

Thursday

  • Here’s where you can choose your own adventure. If you’d like, take the train or a boat tour east and explore the Douro valley. If you really want to get off the beaten path, book a cabin at the Casa do Rio at Quinta do Vallado - we try and do this every year. You’ll need a rental car and a couple of days, though. Otherwise there are vineyards within daytrip distance.

Friday

  • Take the Alfa Pendular back south from Porto to Lisbon. Enjoy one last afternoon and evening in Lisbon at the Tile Museum. Pack your bags.

Saturday

  • Head on home. Try to arrive at the airport two hours before your flight if you are checking bags. The airport is overcrowded and struggles to scale up during peak hours.
  • The biggest danger is exit immigration. Once you pass security, you’ll arrive in a large atrium. There are airline lounges up the escalators in this atrium if you have status. Otherwise you can grab a snack and hang out. If you are flying back to the United States directly from Lisbon (or any other destination outside of the Schengen Area) you will need to go through exit immigration. This can take 20-30 minutes, so be sure to time that into your departure. I know folks who have spent too much time in the waiting area in the atrium because they thought they were done with lines only to see their gate appear on the board and realize they didn’t account for an additional 30 minute process.