travelgirl2

I know there is a lot of jumping around, which we usually don't like to do, but ... I think these are the best itineraries I can come up with. Which itinerary do you think would be best? I welcome all suggestions.

We are locked into the flight to Lisbon and home from Malaga. We want to spent time in Andalucia, driving around and staying in a few paradores, although they are so expensive that we only want to spent 1 night at each. We are 4 people, so will need 2 rooms everywhere. A family with 2 well-traveled teenage boys.

The difference in these 3 itineraries is Day 2 through 7, how we get from Lisbon to Seville. Once in Seville, the itineraries are identical.

Option 1:
Transportation from Lisbon to Seville = $1300 = $800 (4 people x $200) for flights Lisbon-Barcelona and then Barcelona-Seville PLUS $500 for rental car Seville-Malaga

Advantage = cheapest, get to see Barcelona (seen it before), minimum driving
Disadvantage = moving around a lot, maximum 3 nights in one place

Day 1 - fly into Lisbon
Day 2, 3 - Lisbon
Day 4 - fly from Lisbon to Barcelona - 2 hour flight
Day 5, 6 - Barcelona
Day 7 - fly from Barcelona to Seville - 2 hour flight
Day 8, 9 - Seville
Day 10 - drive Seville to Cordoba - 1 1/2 hour
Day 11 - drive Cordoba to Ubeda - 1 1/2 hour - stay in parador
Day 12 - drive Ubeda to Jean - 1 hour - stay in parador
Day 13 - drive Jean to Granada - 2 hours - stay in parador
Day 14 - drive Granada to Rhonda - 2 hours
Day 15,16 - Ronda
Day 17 - drive Ronda to Malaga - 1 1/2 hour
Day 18 - fly out of Malaga (early monring flight)


Option 2:
Transportation from Lisbon to Seville = $2000 = $2000 for rental car Lisbon-Malaga (includes $800 cross-border dropoff charge)

Advantage = easiest transportation driving door-to-door, get to see Tavira
Disadvantage = have to drive everywhere, have to park car while in Seville, expensive

Day 1 - fly into Lisbon
Day 2, 3, 4, 5 - Lisbon
Day 6 - drive Lisbon to Tavira - 3 hours
Day 7 - drive Tavira to Seville - 2 hours
Day 8, 9 - Seville
Day 10 - drive Seville to Cordoba - 1 1/2 hour
Day 11 - drive Cordoba to Ubeda - 1 1/2 hour - stay in parador
Day 12 - drive Ubeda to Jean - 1 hour - stay in parador
Day 13 - drive Jean to Granada - 2 hours - stay in parador
Day 14 - drive Granada to Rhonda - 2 hours
Day 15,16 - Ronda
Day 17 - drive Ronda to Malaga - 1 1/2 hour
Day 18 - fly out of Malaga (early monring flight)


Option 3:
Transportation from Lisbon to Seville = $2700 = $2200 (4 people x $550) for direct flight Lisbon-Seville plus $500 for rental car Seville-Malaga

Advantage = this is the actual route we want, least moving around, minimum driving
Disadvantage = very expensive

We could do this with an indirect flight from Lisbon to Seville, going through Barcelona, but it would take all day so if we have to go through Barcelona I'd rather stay there a few days (see Option 1).

Day 1 - fly into Lisbon
Day 2, 3, 4, 5 - Lisbon
Day 6 - fly direct Lisbon to Seville
Day 7, 8, 9 - Seville
Day 10 - drive Seville to Cordoba - 1 1/2 hour
Day 11 - drive Cordoba to Ubeda - 1 1/2 hour - stay in parador
Day 12 - drive Ubeda to Jean - 1 hour - stay in parador
Day 13 - drive Jean to Granada - 2 hours - stay in parador
Day 14 - drive Granada to Rhonda - 2 hours
Day 15,16 - Ronda
Day 17 - drive Ronda to Malaga - 1 1/2 hour
Day 18 - fly out of Malaga (early monring flight)

Option 4 - Don't really want to do this as it would be a really long travel day or two.
Same as Option 3, except:
Train Lisbon - Faro
Bus Faro - Seville

travelgirl2

Any feedback please?

CathyM

Option 1: I wouldn't try to squeeze in Barcelona on a 2 week trip particularly when it gives you only 2 days in Barcelona.

In general this is WAY too much moving around and not enough time to really enjoy your trip.

I can't believe there are not cheaper flights from Lisbon to Sevilla than $550, but I could be wrong.

I like the 3rd itinerary best, but it's still too much moving.

I'm a little confused about the desire to stay in all these paradors. They're nice but there are other accomodations that can be just as charming without the sometimes cookie-cutter feel of some of the paradors.

For the cities it appears you're interested in I would loosely budget these # of nights (minimum):

Lisbon - 3
Sevilla - 4 (with daytrip to Cordoba)
Granada - 2
Ubeda - 2
Ronda/white villages - 2
Malaga - 2

I'd skip an overnight an Jaen as this is already 15 days.

portuense

don't understand why you're adding barcelona to the mix, esp if you've been before. on all your options you're paying way too much. why not rent a car lisbon to tavira, drop off in tavira area; nip across the border in a taxi and rent again in ayamonte? i'll bet its €€hundreds cheaper

four_maccas

Hi travelgirl, have you thought about taking the bus between Lisbon and Sevilla? Our family of 4 did this not too long ago.

We caught the bus on New Year's Day this year from the station at Sete Rios. It was an ALSA bus (Spanish company) and we bought our tickets earlier in the week (140 euros for 4 of us, cash only) from the station.

When you get off the metro there's plenty of signs directing you to the bus and on entering it you go to an 'international' ticket booth (turn left as you walk through the door) to purchase your ticket. On the day of travel we needed to go back to this counter half an hour before departure to find out which bus bay we needed to go to.

We were on the 9:15pm bus and arrived in Sevilla at 4:50am, considerably ahead of schedule. In Sevilla if you get off at the second stop it's only a 15 minute walk to the cathedral area.

I like the look of CathyM's options - from Lisbon we spent 4 nights in Sevilla, 2 nights in Ronda (connected by bus), 2 nights in Granada (conected by train) before heading to Cordoba for a night and then to Madrid for our flight out. You could follow her itinerary all using public transport.

Whatever you choose to do I'm sure you'll have a fantastic time. We thoroughly enjoyed all the places we visited and would rate Lisbon and Sevilla highly.

josele

About your options, I think it is you who'd decide, according to your budget and willingness to drive.
Have in mind driving times shall be longer than you expect. It always is.
You're trying to visit too many places too little time each. CathyM's choice of places looks more reasonable to me.

josele

Forgot to mention, you do not say which time of the year you'll be travelling, some times there are no rooms available at certain Paradores. Check their website for offers. And there are other lodging options.

Egbert

Cathy's advice is great, that's what I would do. I certainly would cut out Barcelona. I would have cut out Portugal too but I'm sure you'll have a great time. You might find Seville and Granada to be the best parts of the trip.

travelgirl2

Thanks so much for everyone's advice. Here is what we did:

Lisbon - 5 nights
Seville - 4 nights
Cordoba - 1 night
Ubeda - 1 night
Jean - 1 night
Granada - 1 night
Ronda - 3 nights
Malaga - 1 night
Geneva - 1 night (for flight home to US)

My opinion is that I would prefer to spend 2 nights in Granada and 2 nights in Ronda. Also, while I loved the small town and parador of Ubeda, the rest of my family would have preferred to skip Ubeda and spend 2 nights at the parador in Jaen (a cool castle high up on the hill).

We didn't mind moving around, staying in various paradors. It was interesting.

travelgirl2

By the way, we travelled over the end of July and beginning of August.

Regarding transportation from Lisbon to Seville, here is what we did:

CP (Comboios de Portugal) train. 3 hour travel time. Lisbon 8:40 am - Faro 11:55 am. 28 euros. www.cp.pt

EVA bus. 3 hour travel time. Faro 1:55 pm - Seville 5:45 pm (time difference +1 hour in Spain). 16 euros. www.eva-bus.com

The reason I purchased this, as opposed to a straight ALSA bus, is that I could buy the tickets online in advance from home. (Not possible on ALSA with a one-way ticket originating outside of Spain.) Also, the train was more spacious than sitting on a bus.

We were supposed to have 2 hours to make the connection, but there were problems with the track and the train went very slowly. We ended up with 15 minutes to make the connection. After disembarking from the train, we exited the station, turned right and walked/ran about 2 blocks to the bus station. We made it in time.

Getting on the EVA bus was very confusing. We turned in our tickets at the office and got boarding passes for the bus. We found the bus with no problem, but the driver motioned for us to wait for another bus. He said his bus was 'completo', which I understood as full. Several people came afterwards and he let them onto the bus. I asked him again and he confirmed we should stand outside the bus and wait. We were beginning to wonder what was going on. Eventually, another bus came and we boarded and took one of the 4 empty seats. It went straight through to Seville, with only 1 stop. So, I assume the first driver was having us wait for the direct bus and his was going to make various stops along the way.

We enjoyed the train, as we had booked 4 seats facing a table. And we had plugs, so could use electronics very easily. The bus ride was cramped (as buses are), but all the passengers ended up talking with each other, so it was very interesting. Also, with our rushed connection, I didn't have time to use the bathroom, so imagine my dismay to find there was no bathroom on the bus. At the one and only stop, we had 5 minutes so that was essentially a bathroom stop.