Fodor's To Europe!
Royal Iberia: Portugal and Spain
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Fly into: Lisbon
Fly out of: Madrid
Total Duration: 13 days
Looking for a royal flush? This itinerary takes in royal themed sites in Portugal and Spain. You'll follow in the footsteps of kings, queens, and royal explorers, visiting castles, monasteries, and palaces. Start in Lisbon and Sintra before heading to Spain to explore Madrid, Segovia, and Toledo. It's not all palaces and churches, though; we've included plenty of cultural and food stops as well as the occasional nature break.
- Art and Culture
- Architecture
- Food and Wine
- History
This Trip's Top Experiences:
Days 1-3
Jose Manuel-ITP
1 Lisbon
Castles and Kings
- The kings of Portugal once resided at the Castelo de São Jorge
- The Museum-School of Decorative Arts is inside the 17th-century Azurara palace
- View one of the best collections of royal coaches in the world at the Coach Museum in Belém
Days 4-5
Vinicius Tupinamba/shutterstock
2 Sintra and Queluz
Where the Wealthy Summered
- Palácio Nacional de Sintra is the only surviving palace from the Middle Ages in Portugal
- Take a horse-drawn carriage to visit the Pena Palace
- The town of Queluz is dominated entirely by its impressive palace
Days 6-8
Vinicius Tupinamba/Shutterstock
3 Madrid
Art, Palaces, and Peace
- See portraits of Spain's royals at the legendary Prado
- The 18th-century Palacio Real has 2,800 rooms
- Picasso's Guernica is the showpiece at the Queen Sofia Art Center
- Parque del Buen Retiro was once the private playground of royalty
Days 9-11
Hakan Svensso/wikipedia.org
4 Segovia
Royal Sites and Inspiring Landscapes
- The Real Monasterio de San Lorenzo de El Escorial has a wealth of paintings—and plenty of dead kings
- Visit the Roman aqueduct, one of the greatest surviving examples of Roman engineering
- Climb the rampart of the imposing Alcázar castle
Days 12-13
Jose Luis Mesa/shutterstock
5 Toledo
El Greco's Inspiration
- Lose yourself in the maze-like streets
- See El Greco's work in many churches here
- Toledo's cathedral is one of the most richly endowed in Spain
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