kwongo

I'm going to be traveling alone from France to Morocco through Spain & Portugal. My rough itinerary right now looks like:

Day 1: Arrive in Marseille
Day 2: Marseille
Day 3: Montpellier
Day 4: Montpellier
Day 5: Carcassone > Toulouse
Day 6: Toulouse
Day 7: Barcelona
Day 8: Barcelona
Day 9: Barcelona
Day 10: Madrid
Day 11: Madrid
Day 12: Madrid
Day 13: Lisbon
Day 14: Lisbon
Day 15: Faro
Day 16: Lagos
Day 17: Seville
Day 18: Granada
Day 19: Granada
Day 20: Algeciras > Tangier
Day 21: Marrakesh
Day 22: Marrakesh
Day 23: Fez
Day 24: Casablanca
Day 25: Fly out of Casablanca

Is there anything I could cut out or anywhere I should spend more time? This just doesn't quite look right to me.

neckervd

I suppose you like only big towns, as you don't mention smaller places.
You could also go from Granada to Almeria or Malaga and from one of these places by ferry to Melilla or Nador. There are trains and buses from Nador to Fes.
There is furthermore a NavieraArmas ferry from Motril (Granada) to Morocco.
There are also flights from Sevilla to different Moroccan towns (often cheaper and less hassle than the ferry solution).

StCirq

You haven't allowed for the time it's going to take to get from one place to another - you can't just suddenly be in Montpellier or Seville or Fes. Therefore, your actual time on the ground is about half the amount it looks like when you list it this way. In other words, way too many places in too short a time.

RogerM

You've listed a lot of places without indicating which are priorities so it's difficult to suggest changes. First off though, as others have indicated, unless you have either (1)a private plane at your disposal or, (2)are just doing a quick stop survey of these places to see which might be worth really visiting some day, you're trying to cover far too much ground. If it's the latter just disregard the rest of this.

My rough estimation is that with this itinerary, out of the 23 or 24 full days you have available you'll be spending somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 or 12 days "in transit" and that leaves you but 10-12 "full days" where you get up in the morning, spend the day being a tourist and then sleep there that night. Remember, it takes 2 nights to spend a full day in any single location.

The quick answer then is, of course, reduce the number of towns you want to visit to say, 5 or 6 at the maximum. With less moving you'll have an opportunity to at least see some of the main sights and get a very small feel for the culture and atmosphere of each place.

If you haven't committed to the beginning and ending points that you've listed I'd consider flying into say, Barcelona and skipping France altogether and concentrate on your priority places in Iberia and North Africa.

If your beginning and end points are already booked I suggest a few nights in Marseille then head to Barcelona. Skip Portugal altogether and concentrate on Spain and then the North African locations. Good luck with your planning!

Man_in_seat_61

This might give you some ideas, it explains the train times, cost and logistics of a journey from London to Paris to Madrid to Tangier to Marrakech by train & ferry: http://www.seat61.com/Morocco.htm

As you plan to stop off, use the German Railways all-europe online timetable to plan train times, www.bahn.de/en (if it gets a little sketchy in Spain, switch to Spanish Railways www.renfe.com)

I then sketch out a complex trip like this: http://www.seat61.com/spreadsheet.htm

Yes, you do need to allow for travelling time, and yes, the logical thing is to drop Portugal as it's a detour. Not Morocco - as fantastic.

And definitely stay in the Continental Hotel in Tangier when you arrive, I have fond memories of various stays in that classic place. It's cheap too!

MaloBalo

100% drop Portugal. Transit time eats up half a day from Lisbon-Lagos and then again some hours if you don't have a rental car when heading for Lagos. Besides, you won't even see half of the stuff in that area, not mentioning that Faro is hardly worth a stop on such an itinerary. I'd go for something like this:

Marseille
Montpellier
Barcelona
Madrid
Cordoba
Sevilla
Marocco

Be honest to yourself and find out what your real preferences are. Start by the number of days you want to spend in Marocco and then try some backward induction.

Robert2533

Tangier is the pits, unless you're an experienced traveler. I would drop it and head directly for Marrakesh and would include Rabat in the mix, making Fez a day-trip.