sinfonia

We will be in Portugal for one week at the end of September/beginning of October. We will spend five nights in Lisbon and are having difficulty deciding where to head for the remaining three nights - either north to Porto or south to the Algarve region. Maybe even nearby in Sintra.

We are interested in seeing historic, beautiful, and cultural sites and areas (including local festivals or events if there are any then), some museums, experiencing great Portuguese food, a little shopping of local handicrafts, and relaxing to local-watch. We plan to use train, uber, and subway to get around (no car hire).

We plan to stay at Starwood and Marriott properties. Our choices are the Pine Cliffs Hotel (Algarve), Villa Monte Moncarapacho (Algarve), the AC Marriott Porto, the Sheraton Porto, Praia D'El Rey Marriott (an hour north of Lisbon), Penha Longa Resort (Sintra), and Santiago Hotel Cooking and Nature (Santiago do Cacem). I suppose the Conrad Algarve could also be an option.

The resorts look beautiful; yet there is something that is pulling me slightly more towards the perhaps grittier Porto with its medieval district, UNESCO world heritage sites, vineyards, and city life (plus wondering how those resorts would work without a car). However, I am still open.

What are your thoughts on this?

Also, while in Lisbon, we had planned to stay at the Sheraton Lisboa as I had read here on FT that the location is excellent. However, there is the Altis Belem or the thought of staying all the way in Sintra at the Penha Longa Resort during our "Lisbon" time. Is that just silly? We ultimately want to move hotels only once.

Thanks for any advice! It is our first time to Portugal and we are rather excited.