Lisbon to Porto: a 6-day road trip
Lisbon to Porto via Sintra, Obidos, Nazaré, Coimbra — about 396 km of driving across Portugal, suggested over 6 days.
See the attractions & sights guide for this route →
Stops on this route
Lisbon
Lisbon is Portugal's capital, built across seven hills on the north bank of the Tagus estuary. Its pastel facades, black-and-white cobbled pavements, and yellow trams have made it one of Europe's most photographed cities, while its Age of Discoveries monuments recall the era when Portuguese ships set out to chart the globe.
Sintra
Sintra is a hill town in the Serra de Sintra mountains, wrapped in cool, mist-fed forests that made it a favored summer retreat for Portuguese royalty. Its wooded slopes hide a cluster of exuberant palaces and estates, from Moorish ruins to Romantic-era follies, earning the whole landscape UNESCO World Heritage status.
Obidos
Óbidos is a small walled town in the Oeste region, its whitewashed houses trimmed in blue and yellow and its streets still enclosed by a complete medieval castle wall. Once a wedding gift from Portuguese kings to their queens, the town has kept its compact, fortified layout largely intact for centuries.
Nazaré
Nazaré is a fishing town on Portugal's Silver Coast, built around a wide crescent beach and a clifftop old quarter called Sítio. For centuries it was known for its traditional fishermen and the black-clad widows who sold dried fish along the sand; today it is famous worldwide for the giant waves that break at Praia do Norte, where a deep offshore canyon funnels Atlantic swells into some of the largest surfable waves on Earth.
Coimbra
Coimbra rises in tiers above the Mondego River, its skyline dominated by one of Europe's oldest universities, founded in 1290. As Portugal's former capital and a longtime center of learning, the city blends Roman ruins, Romanesque cathedrals, and a lively student culture that still fills its steep lanes at night.
Porto
Porto is Portugal's second city, spread across steep granite slopes on the north bank of the Douro River, where it meets the Atlantic. Its historic center, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is a dense stack of tiled townhouses tumbling down toward the riverfront Ribeira district, and its name gave the world port wine, still aged in warehouses across the water in Vila Nova de Gaia.
Road charges and rules along the way
Portugal
No motorway vignette or environmental sticker is required for passenger cars in Portugal; motorways are free or distance-tolled.
Mandatory equipment: Safety vest (reflective, high-visibility), Warning triangle, Spare bulbs (headlights)
Plan this route with EuroDrive Scout — tolls, vignettes, ZTL alerts, fuel and parking →