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1st Day: Arrival
The airport is located in one of the peripheral parts of the city, and it’s served with buses and a subway that can lead you straight to the center. Taking a taxi is not recommended. Taxi drivers operating at the Lisbon airport are known for cheating tourists, being extremely violent and rude, and this even with locals.
From “Parque das Nações”, which is located at a 10min distance from the airport, you can take a train directly to the city of Porto. The center of the city is named Baixa-Chiado or Rossio. The following map of Lisbon’s metro can show it...
More information: http://www.metrolisboa.pt/
Once in the city center, you can easily walk around to get to know the city center, which is quite small. Take the chance to try the best Portugal has to offer, the pastry and fish dishes. But avoid restaurants full of tourists, as it can cost you up to 3x more for the exact same meal. Many cheap restaurants in Lisbon can actually offer you more quality than expensive ones targeting tourists.
2nd Day: Visiting Belem & Cascais
Two of the most interesting areas of Lisbon, for their palaces, museums and beaches, are Belem and Cascais, both easily accessible by train, which you can take from Cais-do-Sodré. Cascais is the last stop.
More information: https://www.cp.pt/
3rd Day - Cultural Interaction
You will want to be among the Portuguese to know their culture and learn from it. To do this, you have the magnificent beaches of S.João do Estoril, Oeiras and Paço de Arcos, all easily accessible from the train station of Cais-do-Sodré.
In the evening, especially on Fridays and Saturdays, you can join dozens of Erasmus students in Bairro Alto, near Rossio subway station. Here, you can enjoy the nightlife, a huge variety of music, from traditional Fado to trance and house music, being played in different clubs and bars in that area. Bairro Alto is one of the best places to listen Fado singers live. It’s also very easy to start a conversation with random people in the streets of Bairro Alto.
You have night buses passing through Cais-Do-Sodré and Rossio, which can take you to many locations of Lisbon, as well as Taxi drivers in Rossio, always ready to take you anywhere you want.
4th Day - Chilling
The river side in Cais-do-Sodré and Belem, offers an amazing relaxing experience where you will never get bored. The same with the Cidade Universitaria, the University’s City, where there are always interesting lectures to attend, many of them open to the public. You can access any of these places by subway.
Don’t forget to also visit the Castle of S.Jorge, at walking distance from Rossio, or Marquês-do-Pombal, an historical area nearby, also at walking distance from Rossio.
5th Day – Sintra
One of the most beautiful scenarios in the suburbs of the region of Lisbon is Sintra. You can take a train from Rossio to go there. It’s the last station. Alternatively, you can also take a bus to Sintra from Oeiras, a train station you can access through Cais-do-Sodre.
In Sintra, you will want to visit Pena Palace and the Moorish Castle. There are buses from the train station that can take you directly there.
After visiting Lisbon, you can take the subway to Parque das Nações, where you can then take a train to the city of Porto, in the north of Portugal. The train will arrive at the center after a few hours, and this city is small enough for you to walk around. Do ask anything you need to the locals in Porto, because they’re the friendliest and more welcoming in the whole country and love to help tourists.
From the metro station of Entrecampos, you can also find a bus stop where you can buy a ticket to go to many Spanish cities, including Costa-del-Sol.