Lisbon vs. Faro for a 4 day trip

Two totally different cities- Faro is a beach/college town of 60,000. Lisbon is a sprawling metropolis with great nightlife as well. If the early October weather is still beach weather in Faro, then Faro it is.
Since you can take a 3.5-hour train and
travel between the two, maybe split the time between Faro and Lisbon.

No comparison. Early October you could have great weather in Lisbon which is an interesting city. Faro has an airport because that's where charter flights come in for package holidays. Your choice.

For four days, Lisbon - a decent amount of time for this interesting city. Faro is more of a beach/resort-type destination, and I doubt that you could occupy four days there.

If cheap flights are important, have you considered Porto?

Lisbon.

Spent seven days there in July 2015 and went back for more in September 2015 as Lisbon was the in and out point for our easyJet flights from Liverpool John Lennon Airport.

Plenty to see and do in Lisbon itself - just take some good walking shoes as the city is best explored on foot.

You may well find yourself returning to the city on another trip to take in Belem, Cascais, Estoril and Sintra as rail based side trips from Lisbon and then heading off to Coimbra for a couple of nights and then Porto.

All of these were visited on our travels last year.

As a contrast, we had seven days in Tavira in March 2016 and headed over to Faro for the day. After spending around four hours in Faro's Old Town (the time spent also include time for a very leisurely lunch), we got the train back to Tavira...

My opinion...
Lisbon! Definitely.

And if you think about splitting time... do Lisbon first. And split only if you still feel the need after being in Lisbon. Otherwise I think you are going to regret, or have the urgent need to return back to Lisbon.
15 to 20km from Lisbon you also find beaches. Some more urban (Cascais line), and also others a bit wilder (Caparica).

So my choice would be Lisbon.

Faro is interesting for 4 hours, if even that

I am lisboner, so I might be a little biased, but... Definetely Lisbon!
Much more interesting as a city to visit and you still have great beaches just 20 minutes away in car.

I have a little blog where I compiled all the tips I have about Lisbon, that I've been sharing with foreign friends coming to visit in the past years. You can have a look here if you want to: www.allaboutlisbon.com

Enjoy your trip!

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