7 days is way too long for lisbon IMO. Beautiful city, but there's not much to do there. If you can, I'd reccomend renting a car and driving around, the area is really nice. There's some nice beaches around too. Don't remember the details unfortunately, was there some years ago.

Bumping for any advice on what to do in or near Porto. Won a free stay for a couple of nights at a 5-star hotel in the city, but would obviously like to extend the trip by a few days in another place nearby to make the plane tickets worth it.

>>1135251
I will be in Lisbon from 25 till 30 July. I will take the train to Porto in the morning. I'll fly back in the evening on the 3rd of August.

Aside from the typical sightseeing, do you have any recommendations for nightlife and nature/beaches?

Hope this isn't too late.

>>1135914
Will you be renting a car? Public transport links in the north of Portugal aren't very convenient so you will be restricted to Porto. If you're looking for ancient stuff go to Guimaraes or Batalha. For nature, go to Peneda-Geres national park.

>>1136173
I personally find the Lisbon nightlife trashy. Drug culture is a big thing in that city so in most places you will see hordes of people selling drugs and just drinking aimlessly. The Algarve has a more "westernized" nightlife similar to what you would find in the US or the Spanish Isles. But again, public transport in the Algarve is also very limited apart from the Lisbon-Faro train.

Lisbon also has a Casino in the Eastern part of the city and an older one in the western Estoril suburbs. Casino Estoril is nicer and has more of a charm to it, even though Casino Lisboa is bigger and more modern. The coast to the West of Lisbon around Cascais has a really good night life too, I honestly prefer partying there than in Lisbon itself.

Best beaches in the Lisbon Area IMO are Praia Grande and Guincho.

BTW I can't stress hard enough how much I recoment you get a car. The road infrastructure there is new and extensive. Traffic is not a big problem even within the city because there are a lot of expressways running within Lisbon. Parking is easy to find and cheap (using a car park for several hours will usually cost you no more than €6. If you're from Europe you're probably used to being reliant on buses and other urban public transport because driving has become so prohibitive. This is your chance to experience a country in the comfort of a private car, so I would say enjoy it.

>>1137033
Is it difficult to navigate if you can only read/speak English?

>>1137160
Nah. Young people understand English and speak some. Not at all like the useless kids of Spain. Another indication of the danger of dubbed movies.

>>1137180
Sorry, I meant driving in traffic/street/highway signs

>>1137197
Are you from Europe? Traffic signs are pretty much the same throughout the continent and rely mostly on symbols rather than words. So if you have driven within the EU you will find Portuguese traffic rules familiar.
A with a blue background are motroways, IP and IC are secondary roads on green and white background. Some IPs and ICs are built to motorway standards even though they aren't official motorways.

Direction signs are based on destination rather than coordinates. So if you're in Lisbon and wants to go somewhere in the north, you should follow sings that say Porto and then somewhere between the two cities there will be a sign showing your destination. This is the only thing that can be confusing if you come from a country where road signs would show North, East, South etc.

If it makes you feel better, just use google maps. If you aren't from the EU, roaming charges can be a bitch so download a GPS app that works offline. Navmii is a good one, download the map of Portugal and take it with you. Don't get a satnav from the car rental company because they overcharge you.

>>1137201
Oh and I forgot to add: some motorways in the north have a weird toll system without any toll booths. Check with your car rental company and ask them if the car comes with the payment machine thing.

This site has more info:
http://www.portugaltolls.com

It can be a confusing system because different motorways are managed by different companies so sometimes your payment machine works in a motorway but doesn't allow you yo use the fast lane through the toll botth in another, but Portugal relies so much on tourism I'm sure you will get comprehensive info when you rent your car.