11 days in Portugal

We're planning to spend 11 days in August, mainly in Portugal, flying in to Porto and then travelling down to Lisbon (probably a week) and then from there train to Spain (probably Madrid) and from there train to St Emillion in France before flying back to London from Bordeaux.

Can anyone suggest places to visit between Porto and Lisbon and what to do in both Porto and Lisbon (initial plan is to be in each city for 3 days).

Are we missing a lot by getting the overnight train from Lisbon to Madrid?

Thanks for the help.

Obidos

Coimbra

you will need more time for Lisbon - city and surrounding (Sintra, Sesimbra, Cascais,Cabo da Roca) has lots to offer

For ideas in Lisbon and Sintra area you can take a look www.sintraholidays.com . Check the "About Lisbon" and "About Sintra" links. There you'll find some nice apartments, too.
Enjoy Lisbon!

hey, we are currently in lisbon and have just got here from porto. we drove the coast for 3 days. sintra is definitly a place you will want to visit for old town on a hillside, and obidos is a cool town that is all within a fortress like wall, you can check out both of those places in one day if you have a car, also, if you are into watersports, there is a town on the coast (west of obidos) called Peniche. it is filled with surfers and kite-surfers, very cool little place, but it gets completely packed on the weekend.

we also visited Nazare, and also Sao Pedro do Moel (that might not be spelled correctly) both very cool beach towns, and not another english tourist in site... these are towns that portuguese people go to instread of the brit infested algarve. its recommended to hit those places its its hot and sunny out.
~

hope that helps.