10 Day Portugal Itinerary: Lisbon, Porto & Douro Google Sheets Template
Matt - June 17, 2026
Portugal is a great country for a detailed itinerary because the trip is compact on a map but full of small planning choices. Lisbon and Porto are easy anchors, Sintra is close enough for a day trip, the Douro Valley needs a little extra timing, and smaller stops like Coimbra or Évora can make the route feel less rushed if you place them well.
This 10 day Portugal itinerary is built for a first trip that wants city time, a Sintra day trip, Porto, the Douro Valley, and one or two slower historic stops before returning to Lisbon. You can use the free Portugal itinerary Google Sheets template as your starting point, then adjust hotels, trains, day trips, restaurants, and optional ideas for your trip. If you want a broader planner instead of a destination-specific example, start with the Google Sheets travel planner template.
What this Portugal itinerary template includes
The template is a reusable planner for a 10 day Portugal trip, not just a list of places to save for later. It includes:
- A day-by-day itinerary for Lisbon, Sintra, Porto, the Douro Valley, Coimbra, Évora, and your return to Lisbon
- Unscheduled ideas to consider, including Cascais, Óbidos, Aveiro, Braga, Guimarães, Nazaré, Tomar, and the Algarve
- A Portugal packing checklist and pre-trip to-do list
- A trip cost tracker for lodging, trains, tickets, meals, tours, taxis, and shared expenses
- Official links for trains, airports, ticketed attractions, and tourism references
- Room to add your own hotels, restaurants, tours, notes, and links
Start with the sample route, then replace the lodging rows, flight times, restaurants, and activity notes with your real plans.
The route at a glance
For most first trips, this version gives Portugal enough variety without turning every day into a transfer:
- Days 1-3: Lisbon and Sintra
- Days 4-6: Porto and the Douro Valley
- Day 7: Coimbra
- Days 8-9: Évora and return to Lisbon
- Day 10: Depart Lisbon
That route works especially well if you want to travel mostly by train. A car can make certain side trips easier, especially Óbidos, Tomar, Nazaré, or parts of the Alentejo, but you do not need a car for the core Lisbon-Porto-Sintra-Coimbra-Évora structure. Check current schedules with CP - Comboios de Portugal before choosing lodging or locking in transfer days. For the broader planning process behind routes like this, see the multi-city trip planning guide.
Day 1: Arrive in Lisbon
Use your first day for arrival, an easy meal, and a first look at central Lisbon. After landing at Lisbon Airport, settle into your lodging and keep the afternoon close to Baixa, Chiado, Cais do Sodré, or wherever you are staying.
A walk around Praça do Comércio works well on arrival day because it gives you the river, broad plazas, and a clear sense of where the lower city sits. If you still have energy, wander toward Chiado or Cais do Sodré for dinner. If your flight is delayed or jet lag hits harder than expected, this is also an easy day to simplify without affecting the rest of the trip.
Day 2: Belém, Alcântara, and Alfama
Spend the morning in Belém, where several major Lisbon sights are close enough to plan as one focused area. Belém Tower, Jerónimos Monastery, riverside walks, and pastry stops all fit naturally together, and the official Visit Portugal Lisbon Region page is a useful reference for the area.
After lunch, choose one afternoon direction instead of trying to cover every Lisbon neighborhood. LX Factory works well if you want shops, cafes, and a more casual creative district. MAAT works better if you want architecture, exhibitions, and riverfront space. In the evening, Alfama gives you viewpoints, older streets, and a more atmospheric dinner plan.
Day 3: Sintra day trip from Lisbon
Sintra is close to Lisbon, but the day gets much better when you plan it with a little breathing room. Take an early train from Rossio Station, then focus on two main sights instead of trying to see every palace in one day.
Start with the Park and National Palace of Pena, especially if it is a priority for your group. Build in time for the transfer up the hill, the palace visit, the terraces, and the park. After lunch in Sintra town, visit Quinta da Regaleira, which feels different from Pena because the gardens, tunnels, and Initiation Well are the heart of the visit.
Return to Lisbon for dinner. Sintra can be beautiful and tiring in equal measure, so this is not the night to add a complicated cross-city plan.
Day 4: Lisbon to Porto
Travel from Lisbon to Porto in the morning or early afternoon, depending on your checkout time and the train schedule. Porto works best when your first day is more orientation than obligation: check in, get settled, and use the afternoon for São Bento Station, Ribeira, and the Dom Luís I Bridge.
The Porto and the North region is known for Porto itself, port wine, the Douro River, and historic towns across the north. On your first Porto afternoon, you do not need to solve the whole region. A simple walk from the station area toward the river gives you tiled interiors, narrow streets, bridge views, and a sense of how Porto stacks itself above the Douro.
Day 5: Porto historic center and Vila Nova de Gaia
Use the second Porto day for the city itself. Start near Clérigos Tower, Livraria Lello, and the surrounding historic center. If you want to visit Livraria Lello, check current ticket and entry details before you go; if you skip the interior, the area still works well for cafes, tiles, bookstores, and a slow city walk.
In the afternoon, cross toward Vila Nova de Gaia for river views and a port lodge or cellar visit. Choose one tasting or cellar tour and leave time to enjoy the riverfront rather than packing the afternoon with reservations. Porto is one of those cities where the hills and viewpoints are part of the experience, so it helps to keep some open time for the walk itself.
Day 6: Douro Valley day trip
The Douro Valley is one of the most important planning choices in this itinerary. You can visit by train, guided tour, river cruise, or car, and each version creates a different day. A train day gives you scenery and simpler logistics. A guided tour can make winery visits easier. A car gives you flexibility, but it also adds driving responsibility on narrow or winding roads.
The official Porto and North tourism page notes the Douro as the river and World Heritage landscape associated with port and Douro wines. For a first trip, plan around one main town, winery, lunch, or viewpoint so the day still feels like the Douro Valley, not only a long set of connections.
If you go independently, confirm the return train before you commit to dinner plans back in Porto. This is a good day to keep the evening light.
Day 7: Porto to Coimbra
Coimbra makes sense as an overnight because it gives the route a worthwhile midpoint between Porto and the return toward Lisbon or Évora. The Centro de Portugal region includes Coimbra, Aveiro, Óbidos, Nazaré, Tomar, and several other places that can be easy to overlook if you only plan Lisbon and Porto.
After arriving, drop your bags and give the afternoon to the university area and the old town. Coimbra has hills, student history, river views, and enough atmosphere to reward a slower stop. It is a better overnight than a rushed lunch break if your trip has room for it.
Day 8: Coimbra to Évora
Évora brings the itinerary into the Alentejo, which changes the pace after Lisbon, Porto, and Coimbra. The transfer can involve Lisbon depending on your route, so check train timing before choosing your exact lodging.
Once you arrive, focus the afternoon on the old town: the Roman Temple, the cathedral area, plazas, churches, and whitewashed streets. The official Alentejo tourism page highlights Évora as one of the region’s World Heritage cities, and it is compact enough to enjoy without planning every hour.
Évora is also a good place to slow down around food. Build dinner into the plan instead of treating the city only as a historical stop.
Day 9: Évora morning and return to Lisbon
Use the morning for whichever Évora experience you did not fit the previous afternoon: a museum, church, cafe, market, or a slower walk through the old town. Then return to Lisbon in the afternoon so your final morning is not dependent on a long transfer.
That last Lisbon evening can be simple: revisit a favorite neighborhood, choose one final dinner, and pack. If you are flying internationally the next day, staying in Lisbon the final night keeps the trip easier to manage.
Day 10: Depart Lisbon
For an international departure, leave enough time for transit, bags, check-in, and any airport delays or peak-season lines. If your flight leaves late, this can become a final cafe, viewpoint, or museum morning, but keep the plan close to your lodging or the airport route.
Optional Portugal itinerary ideas
The template also includes unscheduled ideas you can work into the trip if they fit your pace:
- Cascais: a coastal break from Lisbon when you want beach time without adding an overnight
- Óbidos: a walled town that works best with a car day or a slower central Portugal route
- Aveiro: an easy-feeling stop between Porto and Coimbra if you want canals and a lighter city visit
- Braga or Guimarães: northern Portugal day-trip options from Porto for more history and architecture
- Nazaré: a coastal stop for travelers adding a driving day through central Portugal
- Tomar: a historic stop around the Convent of Christ if you are building a more heritage-focused route
- Algarve: a beach extension that usually deserves extra nights rather than a quick add-on to this 10 day plan
If the Algarve is a priority, consider making it a 12 to 14 day Portugal itinerary instead of trying to squeeze it into this route. Lisbon, Porto, Sintra, the Douro, Coimbra, Évora, and the Algarve can all fit on one trip, but the version with beach time needs more room.
How to adapt this Portugal itinerary
For a train-focused trip, keep lodging near practical transit areas in Lisbon, Porto, Coimbra, and Évora. You will still walk a lot, but you will avoid building the trip around rental-car logistics.
For a car-focused trip, use the template to compare drive-heavy days before booking hotels. The car is most useful for smaller towns, coast stops, rural Alentejo, and routes that are awkward by rail. It is less helpful inside Lisbon or Porto.
For summer travel, leave more room around midday heat, ticketed sights, and popular viewpoints. For spring or fall, you may be able to build longer walking days, but it is still worth checking opening hours, train schedules, and major holiday dates before you finalize the trip.
How Travel Mapper helps with a Portugal trip
The free template gives you the structure for dates, times, places, links, notes, costs, and checklists in Google Sheets. If you want the map-powered planning tools, Travel Mapper lets you see your itinerary on a map right inside Google Sheets so you can spot awkward day groupings before the trip is booked.
That map context is especially helpful in Portugal because the route has several different planning layers: Lisbon neighborhoods, a Sintra day trip, Porto hills and river crossings, Douro Valley timing, and transfer days between cities. With the Travel Mapper add-on, you can use map view, drag-and-drop itinerary editing, Google Maps autofill, itinerary email, and Google My Maps export during the 7 day full-feature trial. After the trial, you can still keep using the basic Google Sheets template for free.
The Travel Mapper Chrome extension can also help while you research. If you find a restaurant, viewpoint, hotel, or activity on another site, you can add it to your itinerary while you are still researching and decide later whether it belongs in the final day-by-day plan.
Portugal itinerary FAQ
Is 10 days enough for Portugal?
Ten days is enough for Lisbon, Sintra, Porto, the Douro Valley, and one or two smaller stops like Coimbra and Évora. It is not enough to comfortably include every major region unless you are willing to move quickly. If the Algarve is a must, consider adding more days or replacing Coimbra and Évora with a beach-focused extension.
Should I visit Portugal by train or car?
The core route in this template works well by train, especially Lisbon to Porto, the Sintra day trip, and the main city-to-city transfers. A car is more useful if you want smaller towns, flexible coast stops, rural Alentejo, or an Algarve extension. Check current train schedules before you book lodging around a rail-based version.
Where should I start and end a 10 day Portugal trip?
Lisbon is the simplest start and end point for many travelers because it has the largest airport options and works well as the base for Sintra. Porto can also work as a start or end point if your flights line up. If you can fly into Lisbon and out of Porto, or the reverse, you may be able to reduce backtracking.
Should I include the Algarve in a 10 day Portugal itinerary?
You can include the Algarve in 10 days, but it changes the trip into a faster route with more transfer time. For a first Portugal trip, Lisbon, Sintra, Porto, the Douro, Coimbra, and Évora give you a strong mix of cities, day trips, wine country, and historic towns. Add the Algarve when beaches are a main goal or when you have a few extra nights.
Can I use this as a Portugal trip budget template?
Yes. The template includes a split-cost tracker where you can add lodging deposits, trains, tickets, tours, meals, taxis, groceries, and shared expenses. Replace the sample numbers with your real costs as you book.
Get the Portugal itinerary template
Make a copy of the 10 day Portugal itinerary Google Sheets template, then update it with your flights, hotels, restaurants, tickets, train times, and optional ideas. Use the sheet for free, and try Travel Mapper when you want to see your Portugal itinerary on a map inside Google Sheets.
