Portugal road trip7, 10 or 14 days from Lisbon to Porto, the Douro, Évora and the Algarve (2026)

Checked on 11 October 2026. Driving times are estimates from a routing model, without traffic or stops; real days take longer. Tolls, hire terms and parking prices change: check before you go.

Short answer: drive one way, from Lisbon north to Porto and the Douro, then south through Évora to the Algarve, and keep the car out of Lisbon and Porto. In 7 days, go from Lisbon to Porto via Sintra, Óbidos, Nazaré and Coimbra, with a day in the Douro valley, and drop the car in Porto. In 10 days, carry on south: Porto to Évora is the one long drive (about 4 h 30 in the model [1]), then the Algarve, and fly home from Faro. In 14 days, add two nights on a Douro quinta and a second night in Évora. A hire car pays its tolls through the compulsory device [5]; the A22 along the Algarve is free [3].

The three routes at a glance

	7 days	10 days	14 days
Nights	Lisbon 1, Cascais 1, Nazaré 1, Porto 3	Lisbon 2, Nazaré 1, Coimbra 1, Porto 2, Évora 1, Algarve 2	Lisbon 3, Nazaré 1, Coimbra 1, Porto 2, Douro 2, Évora 2, Algarve 2
Car days	Days 2 to 7	Days 3 to 10	Days 4 to 14
Longest single leg (model [1])	Porto to Pinhão, 1 h 37	Porto to Évora, 4 h 28	Pinhão to Évora, 4 h 56
Pick up / drop off	Lisbon / Porto	Lisbon / Faro	Lisbon / Faro
Fly in / out	Lisbon / Porto	Lisbon / Faro	Lisbon / Faro

All three are one-way rentals, which usually cost more than a return to the same desk; see car hire below. If your flight home leaves from Lisbon, finish the 10- or 14-day route with the drive from the Algarve back to Lisbon airport: about 3 h 03 from Faro airport and 3 h 16 from Lagos in the model [1].

Driving times between the stops

Modelled with OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, town centre to town centre, fastest route, no traffic, no stops, no time to park [1]. Real days take longer: lunch, fuel, a wrong turn in an old town.

Leg	Distance	Model time	Main roads in the model
Lisbon to Sintra	33 km	32 min
Lisbon airport to Sintra	34 km	35 min
Sintra to Cascais	17 km	18 min	A16
Cascais to Lisbon	28 km	21 min
Lisbon to Óbidos	83 km	1 h 00	A8
Sintra to Óbidos	89 km	1 h 08
Óbidos to Nazaré	39 km	32 min	A8
Nazaré to Coimbra	110 km	1 h 19	A8, A1
Coimbra to Porto	119 km	1 h 26	A1
Lisbon to Porto, direct	311 km	3 h 25
Porto to Peso da Régua	95 km	1 h 16	A4
Porto to Pinhão	126 km	1 h 37	A4
Porto to Évora	408 km	4 h 28	A1, A13, A6
Pinhão to Porto	125 km	1 h 36
Pinhão to Évora	387 km	4 h 56
Lisbon to Évora	132 km	1 h 35	A2, A6
Évora to Faro	226 km	2 h 58	IP2, A2, A22
Évora to Lagos	245 km	3 h 12	IP2, A2, A22
Lagos to Faro airport	90 km	1 h 07
Faro airport to Lisbon airport	277 km	3 h 03
Lagos to Lisbon airport	299 km	3 h 16

The route east from Porto into the Douro, and its tolls, are in our Porto airport car hire guide.

7 days: Lisbon to Porto, with the Douro

Day 1, Lisbon, no car. Spend the first day on foot and on the trams: Lisbon itinerary, things to do in Lisbon.

Day 2, Sintra and Cascais. Collect the car at the airport in the morning (Lisbon airport car hire) and drive to Sintra (about 35 minutes from the airport [1]). Private cars are not allowed up to the Pena palace: park in the historic centre or one of the peripheral car parks and take bus 434 or walk [7]. In the afternoon, 18 minutes on to Cascais for the sea [1]; sleep there. Which palaces to pick: Sintra day trip, Sintra, Cascais.

Day 3, Óbidos and Nazaré. About 1 h 10 to Óbidos, a small town inside its medieval castle walls [1][14]; two or three hours on foot is enough. Then 32 minutes to Nazaré [1], where the Nazaré Canyon offshore builds the giant waves of Praia do Norte; the viewing point is the lighthouse at the Fort of São Miguel Arcanjo [13]. Sleep in Nazaré. More on both, and how to reach them without a car: day trips from Lisbon.

Day 4, Coimbra, then Porto. 1 h 19 to Coimbra [1], whose university (the Alta and Sofia) has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2013 [9]; lunch there, then 1 h 26 up the A1 to Porto [1]. Keep the car parked for the city day; you need it again for the Douro.

Days 5 and 6, Porto and the Douro. One day in the city (Porto itinerary, Porto), one in the Douro valley, the terraced Alto Douro wine region where port comes from [11]: about 1 h 37 each way between Porto and Pinhão [1]. A car reaches viewpoints such as São Leonardo de Galafura and quintas away from the railway. With wine tastings on the plan, remember the 0.5 g/l limit, and 0.2 g/l for drivers in their probationary period [8]: one driver stays sober, or go by train or tour (the Douro valley from Porto).

Day 7, fly home from Porto. The airport is about 18 minutes from the centre [1]. The car hire desks there: Porto airport car hire.

10 days: Lisbon, Porto and down to the Algarve

Days 1 and 2, Lisbon without a car. Two nights; on day 2 take the train to Sintra or Cascais rather than drive (day trips from Lisbon).

Day 3, Óbidos and Nazaré. Collect the car and drive Lisbon to Óbidos (about 1 h [1]), then Nazaré; sleep in Nazaré.

Day 4, Coimbra. 1 h 19 from Nazaré [1]. A night here makes the university and the old town an unhurried afternoon and evening [9].

Days 5 and 6, Porto and the Douro. Drive on to Porto in the morning (1 h 26 [1]). One city day, one Douro day, as in the 7-day route.

Day 7, the long drive to Évora. About 4 h 28 for 408 km in the model, mostly A1, A13 and A6 [1]. Leave early and stop for lunch on the way. Évora’s historic centre, inside its walls, with low whitewashed houses on narrow medieval streets, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site [10]. More on Évora: day trips from Lisbon.

Day 8, Évora to the Algarve. About 3 h to Faro or 3 h 10 to Lagos [1]. Pick the base by the kind of coast you want: the west around Lagos and Sagres for cliffs and surf, the east around Tavira for island beaches (where to stay in the Algarve).

Day 9, beach day. Algarve beaches, coast by coast.

Day 10, fly home from Faro. From Lagos about 1 h 07 to Faro airport [1]; drop the car at the airport desks (car hire in the Algarve). Flights to Faro says who flies direct.

14 days: slower, with two nights in the vineyards

The same direction, with more nights at each stop. The longest drive stays: Pinhão to Évora is a little longer than Porto to Évora.

• Days 1 to 3, Lisbon (3 nights), no car. Sintra and Cascais by train (Lisbon itinerary, where to stay in Lisbon).
• Day 4, Óbidos and Nazaré, sleep in Nazaré. Day 5, Coimbra, sleep there.
• Days 6 and 7, Porto (2 nights). One city day; a train day trip to Braga, Guimarães or Aveiro (day trips from Porto, Aveiro and Costa Nova).
• Days 8 and 9, the Douro (2 nights on a quinta) around Régua or Pinhão. From 6 June to 18 October 2026 CP also ran its historic train between Régua and Tua on Saturdays, Sundays and some Wednesdays [15] (the Douro valley from Porto, Douro valley).
• Day 10, Pinhão to Évora, the longest drive of the trip at about 4 h 56 [1]. If that is too long with children, drive back to Porto the evening before (about 1 h 36 [1]) and leave from there, or take one of the Évora nights on the way instead.
• Days 10 and 11, Évora (2 nights). One whole day in town and the Alentejo countryside around it.
• Days 12 and 13, the Algarve (2 nights), then day 14, fly home from Faro. For more Algarve days, swap in our Algarve itinerary.

Tolls: what a hire car does for you

• Hire cars carry a toll device by law. Every rental car in Portugal must have an electronic toll device on an automatic payment system; you are charged the tolls you actually used, plus administrative costs for the service, which the decree leaves to a ministerial order (Decreto-Lei n.º 84-C/2022, arts. 27 and 43) [5]. What your company charges for the device is in its rental terms: ask at the desk and check the device is active.
• Free since 1 January 2025: the A22 across the Algarve, plus the A13 between Torres Novas and Coimbra (from Marateca to Santarém it is still tolled), the A13-1, A23, A24, the A25 (its last tolled stretches, Aveiro to Albergaria, followed on 1 January 2026, according to Infraestruturas de Portugal [21]), the A4 in the interior (the Transmontana and the Marão tunnel) and parts of the A28 [3].
• Still tolled on this trip, for example: the A1 between Lisbon and Porto, at €25.05 end to end for a class 1 car in 2026, and the A2 between Lisbon and the Algarve at €23.80, as Brisa announced via ECO [4]. Our routes use only parts of these, so your total will differ; the official simulator linked from driving in Portugal gives a figure for your exact route.
• Your own foreign car: set up EasyToll, a TollCard, Via Verde or a compatible EU device before you reach the electronic-only gantries; EasyToll and TollCard don’t work on Lisbon’s two Lusoponte bridges [2]. The details, and what to do if you drove through without paying: driving in Portugal.

Car hire and the one-way question

All three routes start in Lisbon and end in Porto or Faro, so the car is a one-way rental. Expect a one-way fee on top of the daily rate; it differs by company, season and route, so compare the total price in the quote. We did not collect one-way fees for this page.

Two ways to keep the cost down:

• Shorter hire. Take the car only for the days you drive, not the city days at either end.
• Train for one leg. Lisbon and Porto are linked by direct Alfa Pendular and Intercidades trains (trains in Portugal); you could, for example, take the train north and hire a car in Porto for the Douro, Évora and the Algarve.

The desks, deposits, excess cover and child-seat options at each airport are in our three hire guides: Lisbon airport, Porto airport and the Algarve (Faro airport).

Parking in the cities

• Lisbon: the low-emission zone (ZER) applies on working days from 07:00 to 21:00. In Zone 1 (Avenida da Liberdade and the Baixa) only cars meeting Euro 3, generally built from January 2000, may circulate; in the wider Zone 2, Euro 2, generally from January 1996. Lisbon City Council describes this third phase as the one in force [6]. A modern hire car meets it. Street parking zones, the EMEL prices and the ePark app: driving in Portugal and Lisbon airport car hire.
• Sintra: no private cars up to Pena; park in the historic centre or the peripheral car parks [7].
• Porto: six automated restricted-access zones (ZAACPorto), among them the Ribeira and Flores, let in only cars registered on the city’s platform [18]. Street parking in zones I to IV is paid on weekdays from 09:00 to 19:00 except public holidays, and in zone I also on Saturdays from 11:00 to 16:00 [19]. If your accommodation is inside a restricted zone, ask it how guests’ cars get in. Prices and apps: Porto airport car hire.
• Óbidos, Nazaré, Coimbra, Évora: we did not check their parking rules. Follow the signs, expect the old centres to be narrow, and book a room with parking where you can.

When to go

• Spring and autumn suit the whole route: the inland stops are hot in summer. Évora averages a 33.3 °C maximum in July and 33.5 °C in August, with about 11 days a month at 35 °C or more [16]; Vila Real, above the Douro valley, 29.0 °C in August [17].
• Summer is for the coast: Cascais, Nazaré and the Algarve. Drive in the morning and keep the middle of the day for shade or the sea.
• Month by month: best time to visit Lisbon, best time to visit Porto and the north, best time to visit the Algarve, and the weather tables for Lisbon, Porto and Lagos. The country overview, region by region: Portugal.

A Portugal road trip with kids

• Child seats are law. Children under 12 and shorter than 135 cm must ride in an approved seat suited to their size and weight, in the back; a child under 3 may ride in front only in a rear-facing seat with the passenger airbag switched off. The fine is €120 to €600 per child [8]. Book seats with the car or bring your own, and check them before you drive off.
• Fewer moves. With small children, the 10-day route is a lot of driving for ten days. Two calmer options: stretch the 7-day route (Lisbon to Porto) over 10 days with more nights in each place, or take the 14-day route.
• One sight a day. In Sintra, one palace or Quinta da Regaleira, not both (Sintra day trip); in the Douro, a boat or the train ride rather than tastings.
• Ideas by stop: Lisbon with kids, Porto with kids, the Algarve with kids.
• Prefer the train? Our Portugal itinerary with kids does Porto and Lisbon by train in 7 days, and adds the Algarve or Madeira in 10 or 14.

A Portugal road trip in winter

• Short days. On 21 December the sun rises at about 07:49 and sets at 17:20 in Lisbon, and 07:55 to 17:10 in Porto [20]. Plan the drive for the morning, and don’t leave the Porto to Évora leg for the afternoon.
• The Douro is quiet and cold. Vila Real averages a 9.9 °C maximum and 2.8 °C minimum in January [17], and the historic train ran only from June to mid-October in 2026 [15]. Winter is still fine for a quinta night and the viewpoints; check what is open before you go.
• The south is milder, which is why the routes end on the Algarve. Winter weather for each region is on the weather pages above.

Before you drive

• Rules of the road (speed limits, alcohol, phones, fines on the spot, the vest and triangle): driving in Portugal.
• Data for navigation: eSIM for Portugal. Tourist tax by town: Portugal’s tourist taxes.
• Getting there: flights to Lisbon, flights to Porto, flights to Faro.

Where next

• Lisbon · the Lisbon coast · Sintra · Cascais · Ericeira
• Porto · Porto and the North · Douro valley · Braga · Guimarães · Aveiro
• The Algarve · Lagos · Faro · Tavira · Sagres