Portugal Travel Guide: The Ultimate 1-Week Travel Itinerary🇵🇹
Updated: 6 days ago
Portugal is one of my favourite countries to visit, Portugal has historic cities, world-renowned cuisine, natural landscapes, and spectacular beaches. The weather and the variety of landscapes is why you should visit, this is a great vacation location.
Check 10 Top Things to Know Before Traveling to Portugal + Cultural Do’s & Don’ts
Chapters
​1. How to Get Your Visa for Portugal | ​4. Best Time to Visit Portugal |
​2. How to Get to Portugal | ​5. 1-Week Itinerary |
​3. How to Move Around Portugal | ​ |
How to Get Your Visa for Portugal
You can get the visa by going to the embassy, or visiting the official website, or getting it with an agency like iVisa. iVisa provides 100% online travel documents such as: Visas, health declaration forms, embassy registrations, passport photos, passport renewals, tourist cards, and other travel documents. It is the simplest solution to process your travel visa.
Here’s why you should choose iVisa:
Speed and Simplicity - Easy, traveler-friendly application process. Simple and much less complicated than dealing with foreign governments.
Get Approved - All documents are reviewed by a team of immigration experts. Their staff is well-trained and offers years of experience.
Secure and Safe - World-class data centres and state-of-the-art security. Your credit card information will never be exposed to any government websites!
Awesome support - Their customer support is ready to help 24/7. They want you to enjoy your travels and avoid the stress of getting a visa!
How to Get to Portugal
Portugal’s biggest airport is Humberto Delgado Airport a.k.a. Lisbon’s airport, you will be able to find a lot of international flights that goes there. You can also find other international flights to Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport a.k.a. Porto’s airport. I like to use Omio to find either buses or trains, and if you are looking for cheap flights to get to Prague, then your best option would be to use WayAway. You can also use this promo code - TP-385219 - for WayAway Plus or you can directly visit this link! (You will get 10% off WayAway Plus subscription!)
Check Why You Should Visit Portugal: 10 Reasons Why You Should Visit Portugal
How to Move Around Portugal
It is easy to use public transportation in Portugal, you will find buses and trains easily, or you can rent a car and take a camper-van as Portugal has some of the most beautiful remote locations in the world. Check Omio to move from one city to the other!
Check 5 Top Places to Visit in Portugal
Best Time to Visit Portugal
You can visit Portugal all year long, I visited it twice so far, once in the winter and another in summer and I enjoyed both times. The ideal time to visit would be fall and spring, during those times there will be fewer tourists and the prices would be cheaper as well. Also, during those times the weather is nice, it is neither hot nor cold, and there still is sunshine.
Day 1 - Lisbon
You will need to start your days early in Portugal as most tours start at around 8:30, so starting exploring Lisbon can be done starting 8:00 - 8:30. For the first day of your trip you will need to wear comfortable shoes as you will be walking a lot since most sites are close to each other. Since this is your first day, you will need to arrive the day before.
Check Why You Should Visit Lisbon: 10 Reasons Why You Should Visit Lisbon, Portugal
When it comes to getting around Lisbon, public transportation such as the bus, the metro, and the train are available all over Lisbon, you can get a reusable paper VivaViagem card at a station and then top it up for every trip and it can be used through the entire city. It is also better to get a transportation when going uphill and then walk downhill to enjoy the city. Uber and Taxify are also a great option and not expensive, but public transportation is cheaper. Scooters are also available through apps such as Lime, Tier, or Wind and they are a quick way to get around the city, but you have to be 18 or older to use them.
Check Lisbon Travel Guide: 15 Top Things to do in Lisbon, Portugal
You can check my travel guide on Lisbon where I include everything you need to see, how to get there, best accommodations, best times to visit, and much more. You can also check my travel itinerary to follow.
Check Lisbon Travel Guide: The Best 3 Days Travel Itinerary
Day 2 - Cascais & Lisbon
Cascais is a coastal resort town near Lisbon, it is filled with beautiful white houses, flower filled streets, and amazing beaches. It is Lisbon's residents weekend or holiday escape. Cascais is connected to both Lisbon and Sintra, so it is easy to go on a day trip from any of them. Cascais can be reached easily from Lisbon, you can take the train from Lisbon which takes around 30 minutes. Train leaves every 10 minutes so make sure to book your ticket at the station and hop-on as there is no seat reservation.
Check Why You Should Visit Cascais: 10 Reasons Why You Should Visit Cascais, Portugal
I created a travel guide for Cascais where you will find all the details on how to get there, how to move around in Cascais, accommodation if needed, best times to visit, and what to see/visit. You will only need half a day in Cascais so you can go back to Lisbon to continue exploring.
Check Cascais Travel Guide: 8 Top Things to do in Cascais, Portugal
Spend half a day in Cascais and then go back Lisbon. You will find a lit of thing to do in the travel itinerary I created for Lisbon.
Check Lisbon Travel Guide: The Best 3 Days Travel Itinerary
Day 3 - Day Trip to Sintra
Sintra is a resort town in the foothills of Sintra Mountain in Portugal, it is a UNESCO site with hilltop castles and exotic gardens. You can take a train from Lisbon's Rossio station, you will find a train that departs every 20 minutes from there, and the train ride only takes 40 minutes. Keep in mind that on Sundays the train leave every 1 hour instead. A one-way ticket from Lisbon to Sintra costs 2.25€ and it can be easily bought from a machine or a ticket booth or counter.
Check Why You Should Visit Sintra: 10 Reasons Why You Should Visit Sintra, Portugal
Once you arrive in Sintra, there are two bus lines that pass by the palaces and castles, these are line 434 and line 435. You will need to decide which bus line to take prior based on the sites you want to visit. If you are going on a day trip from Lisbon where you will spend half a day, then chose one bus line, but if you plan on staying longer then you can take both to explore more sites.
Check Sintra Travel Guide: 7 Top Things to do in Sintra, Portugal
You can buy bus tickets at the bus itself or at the train station, buses run every 15-20 minutes starting from 9:15 am. You can return on a hop-on hop-off bus which would cost 6.90€. I created a travel guide for Sintra where you will find all the details on how to get there, how to move around in Sintra, accommodation if needed, best times to visit, and what to see/visit.
Check Sintra Travel Guide: 24 Hours in Sintra, Portugal - A Complete 1 Day Itinerary
You will only need half a day in Sintra so you can go back to Lisbon to continue exploring, but you will be spending more time in Sintra that Cascais.
Check Sintra & Cascais Travel Guide: 24 Hours in Sintra & Cascais, Portugal - A Complete 1 Day Itinerary
Day 4 - Porto
It is time to move from Lisbon to Porto, this is where you will be staying until the end of the trip. Porto has an airport with a lot of international flights arriving from different locations, so you can see if there is a flight available from where you are visiting. However most flights go into the capital, Lisbon, so it is also possible to get to Lisbon and then take a direct train or a bus from there to Porto.
Check Why You Should Visit Porto: 10 Reasons Why You Should Visit Porto, Portugal
A train ride takes around 3 hours and it cost between 26€ and 60€, take the train from Gare Oriente. A bus ride takes between 4 to 5 hours and it cost between 25€ and 37€, take the bus from either Sete Rios or Gare Oriente. I love to use Omio to book most train or bus rides in Europe in general.
Check Porto Travel Guide: 16 Top Things to do in Porto, Portugal
When you make it Porto, it is easy to explore on foot as most sights are within a walking distance from each other so make sure to wear some good and comfortable walking shoes. Simply make sure to buy tickets for the trams and funicular railway in case you get tired of walking. Also, using Uber to get around Porto is a good idea as well as Uber is not expensive in Portugal in general.
Check Porto Travel Guide: The Best 3 Days Travel Itinerary
You can check my travel guide on Porto where I include everything you need to see, how to get there, best accommodations, best times to visit, and much more. You can also check my travel itinerary to follow.
Check Porto Travel Guide: 24 Hours in Porto, Portugal - A Complete 1 Day Itinerary
Day 5 - Day Trip to Aveiro
Aveiro is a city located on the west coast of Portugal along Ria de Aveiro Lagoon known as the "Portuguese Venice". This city is distinguished by its canals that are navigated by colourful boats which are traditionally used to harvest seaweed.
Check Why You Should Visit Aveiro: 5 Reasons Why You Should Visit Aveiro, Portugal
A Bus ride from Porto to Aveiro takes around an hour and it costs around 12€. A train ride from Porto would take 1h for 3.55€. Take the train from Campanhã or São Bento stations and take the yellow line, trains run every hour.
Check Aveiro Travel Guide: 24 Hours in Aveiro, Portugal - A Complete 1 Day Itinerary
I created a travel guide for Aveiro where I shared best times to visit, how to get there, how to move around in Aveiro, accommodation if needed, and what to see/visit.
Check Aveiro Travel Guide: 13 Top Things to do in Aveiro, Portugal
Day 6 & 7 - Porto
You will find a list of things to do on day 6 in my travel itinerary I created for Porto. The 7th and last day is where your trip will end. You can either leave from Porto depending on where you are going next, or you can go back to Lisbon and leave from there.
Check Porto Travel Guide: The Best 3 Days Travel Itinerary
