1 week in Portugal/Spain
 

I am planning a trip with a friend of mine for a week's stay in Portugal and Spain. Both of us have been to Madrid and Barcelona before but would like to see other regions in Spain.

We heard nice things about Lisbon and Seville. We are planning to rent a car and drive around for 6 days. Can someone tell me which parts of Spain (I know there are many!) are stunning and we musn't miss on this trip? What is the island with Mallorca like? We are planning to visit at the end of July.

Thanks.

IMHO the first think you have to do is deciding if you wish to visit Spain or Portugal.

Any time after 16 July (la Virgen de Carmen) is peak season, pricewise in Spain.

Lisbon is nice; IMHO Sevilla is too hot, temperature-wise. I would go north during Late July: Galicia is very active around Santiago (25 Jul).

If you rent a car in Spain, don't even think about dropping it off in Portugal (or vv.); and make sure you are covered if you take it into another Country.

With just one week, why not stay in Lisbon. There's other things around that area and driving over to Sevilla is a wasted drive.

Near to Lisbon, you can visit to Cascais (sp??)which is right on the Atlantic coast. The old section of Lisbon is good to visit and this would take a good day's worth of walking.

Food at Lisbon is great and a lot cheaper than you'll find in Spain.

If you drive from Lisbon to Sevilla, you're going to pass near Huelva. I haven't stopped there myself but Spaniards joke about this city.

That's my best opinion. Lisbon is certainly worth a week's worth of vacation.

Blackduff

Blackduff, Spaniards don't joke about Huelva :) We have lots of jokes about a little village in Huelva's province called Lepe, which is one of the richest villages of Spain due to the strawberries they have :)

Kenderina
Now I remember about the joke. It was people from Lepe cannot go anywhere. When they see the road sign for Huelva, they return back home.

Of course I have this screwed up again.

I've had some of those strawberries too. In the spring, when they're not too sweet, I've had this with a bit of honey. I always who thought about honey and strawberries. Wonderful.

Blackduff

Kenderina & Blackduff: our relatives (in Madrid) have a Condo in Mazagon (Huelva); we have visited them there several times. I state unequivocally that prices in Huelva are much cheaper than Sevilla or Madrid for just about anything.

For a 1-week visit to Portugal and/or Spain in late July, Huelva would not be on my recommended list, unless you might want to see Palos de la frontera from whence Cristobal Colon embarked on his first Voyage of Discovery.

For 1-week, I would stay in one place and maybe do a few daytrips from there.
Santander (too crowded)?
Zaragoza (nice, but warm)?
Vigo? Yes! And you could daytrip to Santiago de Compostela; or Monte Santa Tecla or in Portugal Braga & Guimaraes

We visited Seville and the Algarve (stayed in Lagos) last September. It was an easy drive between the two and both can be done in 1 week. However, it might just be too hot at the end of July. I think I would stick with Lisbon and head north to the Porto region, perhaps cross into Spain from there. It'll probably still be hot, but not as it is in the south.

Yes, Blackduff, that's one !! ;)

I prefer the strawberries with frozen cream or chantilly :)

I prefer the frozen cream or chantilly without strawberries :-)