CATravelBug

Hello,

My husband and I are hoping to visit Spain and Portugal in June for 2 weeks. We have already been to Barcelona and Madrid so wouldn't mind bypassing if we need to but most likely we'll fly into one of these cities with hopes to getting to Sevilla/Granada and then down to the Costa del Sol. Generally, our travel plans are really aggressive and we end up changing cities every few days but I'm pregnant so my husband is requesting that we try to make a few cities our home base. Does anyone have any suggestions? We're ideally looking to fly into either Barcelona/Madrid and fly out of Lisbon/Porto. It seems like getting to Portugal from Spain isn't as easy as I anticipated...

Thanks in advance for your help!

CathyM

I'd seriously consider focusing on Andalucia this trip given the logistics in a 2 week trip and also for a more leisurely pace (but I am biased towards Spain). My only concern is how sensitive you are to heat - it won't be as intense as July/August but it will be quite warm. If you can arrange your sightseeing in the morning/evening and take a relaxing break in the afternoons you may be OK.

I'd do something like:

-Sevilla 4-5 days w/daytrip to Cordoba and possibly more (Cadiz, Sanlucar, Jerez, Ecija, Osuna, Carmona)
-White villlages 2-3 days (use Ronda as a base)
-Granada - 2-3 days
- Malaga 2-3 days

You could play around with the # of days in these places but it's a 4 city stop in 2 weeks which isn't bad. If you spend the higher end range then you'll have 14 days. If you did the lower amount of days you'd have could add another stop (Ubeda, Cadiz, Priego, etc...) - what interests you most.

Logistically you could get a connecting flight from Madrid to Sevilla to start your trip. Then rent a car for the white villages portion (pick up when leaving Sevilla and drop off car on arrival in Granada). Then you could potentially get a flight departing Malaga and connecting back home via Madrid.

Just one idea - you could easily "tweak" to your interests.

bobthenavigator

After 5 trips to Spain and 2 trips to Portugal---a total of 13 weeks for both---we still have not seen it all.
I too suggest you pick one area of Spain for focus, and Andalusia is hard to beat. Or, spend both weeks in Portugal.

ColeConners

I suggest you do visit Seville, Granada and Cordoba. Then fly from Seville to Lisbon. Make sure you also visit Sintra and perhaps Obidos on the way to Porto.
Here are some sites with additional info:

LISBON: http://www.lisbonlux.com/
SINTRA: http://www.lisbonlux.com/sintra/
OBIDOS: http://www.lisbonlux.com/obidos/
PORTO: http://www.gooporto.com/

Two weeks is a good time to explore all of these places without much rushing. In Spain, stay in Seville as your home base, and in Portugal, stay in Lisbon and end your trip in Porto, where you can fly out of.

davidx

I'm inclined to agree about staying in Andalucia this time but if you are very concerned to see something of both countries, you could make for Galicia and stay at Tuy right by the border, There are two trains each way from there to Porto and of course there are umpteen from Porto to Lisbon.

Shanti

I went to Seville/Granada/Cordoba in June 2009. It was extremely hot, especially in Seville. I ended up leaving Seville a day earlier than planned due to the heat - and I loved Seville and I live in an area with hot summers. I remember being in Egypt and Greece when I was pregnant and the combination of being pregnant and hot wasn't a lot of fun.

So as much as I loved visiting those three cities, I just can't recommend going there in June, especially since you're pregnant. Instead, save those areas for another trip and concentrate on visiting the coast.

BigRuss

Considering it's on the other side of Iberia from Portugal, I have no clue why you would even consider flying to Barcelona.

That's just daft.

If heat is going to be an issue (and if you're pregnant, that's highly likely), consider the north coast of Spain and Porto as your main sites, with a plane hop between. And get some Zofran for the flights because you may have overwhelming nausea on take off and landing.

kimhe

I back CathyM's suggestion. And if it gets too hot in inland Sevilla/Granada, fabulous Málaga city on the coast will be cooler (highs usually 75-85°F in June).

About Málaga: http://www.andalucia.com/cities/malaga/home.htm

And in between Sevilla and Málaga, you'll find Antequera, the so called heart of Andalucía. The first of the Granada emirate towns to fall to the Christians in 1410.
http://www.andaluciacoastandcountry.com/antequera.html

And on the coast just east of Málaga is charming Nerja with the famous prehistoric Caves and great beaches. http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2622/...de6a8146_o.jpg
http://www.nerjatoday.com/nerja/nerja-caves/

thursdaysd

I totally agree about the heat in Spain! Although I think the Alhambra is magnificent and quite enjoyed Ronda I much prefer Portugal to Spain. It will be cooler, quieter and you can eat dinner earlier. There's enough to do in and around Lisbon to keep you occupied for a week, then you could take the train to Coimbra and finally Porto.

serbap

Agree with ColeConners.
Granada hasn't much to see, altough it's worth a trip from Seville just to see the Alhambra, it's really great.
Seville is very beautifull with things to see and do for 3 days.
I wouldn't go to the Malaga as the Algarve beaches in my opinion are so much better than Andalucia's and from Seville to Algarve's nearest beaches is just 150 km and on the way to Lisbon, while Malaga is more than 200km.

CATravelBug

Thank you so much for all of the suggestions!