CarlosSandoval - thanks for the hotel suggestions! Also, I have been debating whether we should go to Toledo instead of a third day in Madrid. We don't arrive into Madrid from Canada until about 12:30pm, so I am guessing that we won't get the hotel until approx. 2pm and will be jet-lagged. That only leaves us the rest of that day + 1 other to see Madrid. If at the end of day 2 we have had enough of the big city, I think we will hop on a train and go to Toledo for the day - but we will likley play it by year. Is 1 day enough to see things without being too rushed and crazy?

I promised the boyfriend that I would try to be relaxed on this trip. Also, it's his first trip to Europe, and I don't want him to feel like we're running around too much.

When you say the "jerez tour" what do you mean by that? We were going to try to go to the horse show and get a tour of the "bodega Tio Pepe" as I understand that there isn't much to "do" in Arcos. Have you done either? Any suggestions of what to do instead?

We did the tour of the bodega also, but found it boring. I would spend it in some other city, Cordoba, Granada or even Cuencas which has more to offer. If you are heading down south, then go to Cadiz, I really like this city.

We did the 3 weeks vacation a few years ago, but started off in Portugal instead and ended in Barcelona (1 week in Portugal and 2 weeks in Spain).

Are you planning to drive? or are you relying on train/bus mostly?

oh no! Why did you find it boring?

We are renting a car for the andalusia portion of the trip - flying from barcelona to Jerez, spending the night at the Parador in Arcos, then driving to Ronda for a night, granada for 2 nights, the next day we are spending in Cordoba before driving to Seville for 3 nights.

From Seville we are going to Lagos.

See earlier posts for the revised and re-revised itinerary.

Thanks for the help!

I hear you when talking about re-re-revising itineraries, I've done it several time and I'm doing it now as wel... :)

Well, at least for us, we found the tour of the bodega not as interesting as I expected to be. Jerez is a very small town, and you can walk the entire town in one day, and not much to see there....but if this is what you have in mind for you and your partner, you shouldn't change it.

By the way, you will like Lagos, and if you have the car there, then drive to Salema and the many hidden beaches nearby ...they are wonderful, and drive to Cabo Sao Vicente... (end of the world).....you will enjoy the fresh fish, sardines...yum yum I wish I can go back again. Are you heading up to Evora also?

In terms of Jerez - we really only have a few hours to spend there and it was just a good place to start our drive b/c we wanted to see the "white villages." This is our week to enjoy the smaller villages, and try to go at a more relaxed pace.

We aren't planning on renting a car in Portugal and have only limited time. 3 weeks sounds like a long time, but there are just too many places we want to see! We are spending 2 days in Lagos, staying on the beach and booked a surf lesson for 1 day. Then we are going to Lisbon where we will have 2 days. And then we fly home from lisbon :(

I love Lisbon. Go to Belem and go to Pasteis de Belem!

Have you ever heard of this hotel: Turim Lisboa Hotel? Any idea if it is in a good location?

Thanks for all the help!!

nope. Never hear of it myself, but have you tried to search it in tripadvisor.com?

The times that I've stayed in Lisbon, I've only stayed at the Hostel Geres and at the Marriott Lisbon.

I checked the hotel on trip advisor and it got pretty good reviews. The location is near "Parca Do Dusque Do Saldanha" (sp?). If you know where this is: is it a good location? I only ask because it seems that you know a lot about Lisbon and I have no idea!

From Lagos - how far is it to Salema and/or Cabo Sao Vicente? Is it possible to go by bus since we won't have a car?

I think we will have to see how we feel once we get into Lagos. After 2 1/2 weeks of moving around a lot, it might be nice to have a few days to relax. But, it's always good to have a few options in mind of places to go.

Thanks for all the suggestions!

One more question for experienced Andalusian travellers -- Is it possible/logical to drive from Arcos to Zahara and then on to Ronda?

I'm having a hard time finding a good map...

thanks again!

Yes, it's a decent location, keep in mind that once in Lisbon you are walking distance to a lot of places, but you will need to take tram to Belem from Praca do Comercio, and to Castelo Sao Jorge. Lisbon it's great to walk and sighseeing the different sites, but lots of hills. For great food, good ...well everywhere, but for dinner, we mainly went to Barrio Alto. No specific restaurant, we just went to where the people went...

From Lagos to Salema it's approximately 25-30 minutes by bus. You can take the bus at the bus station in Lagos. It's not bad of a ride. You will definitely relax in Salema. There are approximately 4 restaurants, and I can highly recommend Mira Mar...oh boy I wish I could be there.... They are a great beach, and if you are there when there is low tide, you can walk the beach for miles and miles ...it's beautiful.

Check out the website below so you can see some of the pics. Click on Portugal & Netherlands

http://www.carlossylvia.shutterfly.com/action/

Let me know if you have any other questions

oh....Cabo Sao Vicente is much further, and I'm not sure if there is public transportation that takes you there. We had a rental car at the time. But you might want to go to the below website to check out the bus schedule.

http://www.eva-bus.net/home.php?lang=PT

CarlosSandoval - thanks so much for your pictures!! I am so excited to go I can hardly wait!

I see from your pics that you went to Peru also - I was there 2 Decembers ago - thought it was fantastic!!

Thanks for the input on the hotel in Lisbon - I am happy to walk everywhere, I just didn't want to end up in some far-off area that wasn't really "lisbon" - you know?

If you think of anything else, please let me know! thanks again

About the hotel in Lisbon (Turim). It's in a good location, however, a bit far away from the sites, and you will need to take the metro. If you are only staying for a couple of days in Lisbon, you might want to stay much closer and in the heart of everything. If I were you, I would stay in downtown closer to the main sites.

The only reason I say it it's because the first time we stayed in Lisbon, we stayed at the Marriott and although it was in a great location (Quiet) and close to the metro, we still found it inconvenient because we were spending time on trying to figure out the metro system, and wait for the metro, etc etc.

Did you check out the hostel Geres that I mentioned? ....just a thought!

Carlos - I emailed Hostel Geres a few days ago and am still waiting for a response. Any other suggestions of hotels in a better area for us?

they might be sold out, but you never know, have you tried to call them?

I don't know any other hotel in central Lisbon. These are the only two that I've stayed at and the Marriott, but that's a bit out of the way.

Hi everybody....thanks for the great suggestions. We, too, are planning a trip to Spain and am enjoying reading all of the ideas and recommendations.

Our trip is for Aug. 17 - Sept. 3 and I'm worried it is going to be hot, hot, hot...we can't go later in the year...

Guess I'll be posting specific questions separately, but if anyone has any input about the weather, I'd appreciate it...
Thanks!

still hot, and hotter inland.

rsn, my DH and I went to Spain and Portugal for 3 weeks for our honeymoon 2 years ago and of the cities you're doing, we did Barcelona, Baeza, Granada, Jerez, Seville and Lagos.

We spent 2 nights in Jerez and did not really like it. We had a terrible hotel (DO NOT stay at Hotel Joma) and we found the town really bizarre. Residents dressed up in their best Sunday clothes on Tuesday afternoon and paraded themselves down a pedestrian street where they could be seen by all. The one good thing about staying in Jerez was that we weren't far from Sanlucar de Barrameda, a coastal town with a gorgeous beach. We did do the Tio Pepe tour and I liked it, but then again, we're foodies and everything about wine/spirit production interests me.

We had a fabulous time in Lagos. We spent 3 nights there at the Villabranca apartments, spotless self-catering apartments.

Like you, we travelled A LOT during that trip and I was exhausted by the end (and it was our honeymoon!). The best was when we spent 3 nights in Lagos and 3 nights in Barcelona. It gave us a chance to sit back and relax.

Let me know if you have any questions. I can recommend some places to stay (and not to stay) in some cities.

pavfec

3 Barcelona apartments for around 100 Euro per night:

http://www.way2stay.com/Barcelona-ap...-en-52-510.htm
(By the beach in Barceloneta 80 Euro)

http://www.way2stay.com/Barcelona-ap...en-52-1090.htm
(near las ramblas, 115 Euro)

http://www.way2stay.com/Barcelona-ap...en-52-1213.htm
(near las ramblas, 75 Euro).

Save your budget by self-catering and don't get stung on Las Ramblas.
:)

Thanks for all of the great suggestions!

We have already booked our hotel for Barcelona - we're staying at "Hotel Call" which I actually stayed at a few years ago with some girlfriends. It's right off of las ramblas, a great location, it's clean and fine (but by no means "nice") and only 53 Euros a night. Which makes "fine" seem like "nice"!

Pavfec - thank you so much for your input, although you are making me a little bit nervous! haha I had posted our itinerary earlier on this thread, but I think that after so many revisions and so many posts it has gotten lost. I will re-post our itinerary for the second half of the trip. Please comment!!

Monday July 16 - fly from Barcelona to Jerez. Arrive at 4:30pm. Pick up rental car. Spend night at Parador in Arcos.

Tuesday July 17 - go on tour of sherry bodega in Jerez. Drive to Zahara, stop for lunch. Drive on to Ronda. Spend night at Hotel Enfrente Arte

Wednesday July 18 - Walk around Ronda for the morning. Drive to Granada. We have booked tickets for the Alhambra for that night. Staying at Hotel Guadalupe.

Thursday July 19 - we have booked morning tickets for the Alhambra. Staying again in Granada at Hotel Guadalupe.

Friday July 20 - drive in the morning to Crodoba and spend the day here. I am hoping to park the car at the train station and then lock our luggage there for the day. Is this possible?
In the evening, drive to Seville. Drop off rental car. Staying at the Hotel Alcantara in Seville.

Saturday July 21 - seville

Sunday July 22 - seville

Monday July 23 - leave seville at 7:30am and arrive in Lagos at noon. Spend day relaxing. Staying at the Albergaria Marina Rio

Tuesday July 24 - lagos. We booked a surfing lesson for half the day.

Wednesday July 25 - leave Lagos and take bus to Lisbon. there's a bus that leaves at 5:45am and arrives at 9:30am. I think we might do this and just sleep on the bus. spend day in Lisbon.

Thursday July 26 - Lisbon.

We have booked the hotel Turim Lisboa Hotel at 70 Euros a night for our 2 nights. We are now hearing that it is not very close to the sites, and so this hotel can be changed. We are open to suggestions or input about the hotel for lisbon...

Friday July 27 - catch flight from Lisbon to Canada at noon.

Thank you, thank you for all of your input and suggestions!! It is appreciated more than you know!

Woops, I forgot to say to Bubbao --

Spain is hot in the summer. I know it and everyone keeps reminding me!! it is my only time to travel aswell and so we decided to brave the heat and go in JULY!! we might be out of our minds, but at least it will make for some funny stories! Have a great time on your trip!

rsn, your itinerary looks fine. Not sure what I said that made you nervous!

I just have one question: when are you dropping off your car in Lagos? Is your hotel in town there? I ask because we found we needed a car in Lagos. Our apartment was further up from the city centre and we found it useful to drive into town at night. We also used it to go to a different beach one day on the west coast (the beaches in Lagos were very crowded).

And beware of driving in Granada - it's very easy to get lost! Street signs are at the beginning and end of the street, so you could find yourself at an intersection and not know where!

Pavfec - just the comments about your experience in Jerez! I also keep second guessing myself about the trip.. there are so many places to see and things to do, I just want to make sure I'm making the right decisions!

We haven't arranged a car in Lagos, and weren't sure if we needed one. Our hotel is right on the beach, and I think we thought that we could walk around everywhere. If you have a spare minute, do you think you could check out the location of our hotel? I have looked at the maps on the web, but I don't really know if it's a good location, other than being on the beach.

It has also been recommended that we try to go to Salema.

These are our "relaxation days" and so the less running around might be better so that we can unwind.

rsn, our bad experience in Jerez was mainly due to the hotel we stayed at. It was run down and service was terrible (there were hairs from certain body regions on the bathroom sink and I had to ask the desk 4 times to come and clean it!!). Anyway, don't fret. If you're staying at the Parador in Arcos, it'll be a lot nicer. We passed through Arcos and wish we could have stayed. It was gorgeous.

As for your hotel in Lagos, I see where it is and it seems close to the city centre, but I'm not completely familiar with that area (we didn't explore it). Have you looked on TripAdvisor for reviews? Perhaps someone has comments about its location.

rsn, regarding your drive from Arcos to Zahara, the northern route (via Villamartin) will be quicker than the southern one through El Bosque, mainly due to the slower section east of El Bosque. The roads are good but wind a lot -- white knuckles/sweaty palms when posted 40km/h.

We just got back a couple of weeks ago, and were also planning on going to Zahara but were waylaid in Ubrique (by the leather stores there!) so just went directly to Ronda.

We used the 2006 Michelin Spain & Portugal Atlas 1:400000 which was fine. Warning: some roads/highways have been renumbered, so they may not correspond to the map. This confused us a couple of times, as we weren't positive we were on the correct road.

Let me know if you have any specific questions, and I'll try to answer them.

hi, rsn,

i see that you're going to be at the hotel guadelupe in Granada. hope you like it as much as we did.

to get there, when you hit granada, keep to the ring-road and follow the signs all the way to the alhambra car park [you need to head for the south of the town and then turn back on yourselves up a big hill] - the hotel is right opposite the huge car park and the hotel will give you a card to get a discount on the parking fee which you pay on your way out.

there is a small lay-by on the road right outside the hotel but you can only stop there to unload, and it's not much closer than the car-park itself, if you can get a space near the road.

you can walk down into town in about 10 minutes- some interesting little shops on the way down where I bought a lovely leather bag for DD who was brother and house-sitting for us. to get back up, there is a bus from the main square that drop you right outside the alhambra entrance.

glad you got tickets for day and night visits- I'm sure you won't be disappointed.

have a wonderful time,

regards, ann

Hi there, just wondering which company you're using for ground transportation in Portugal (Bus). I found the EVA bus company, but their website is not very user friendly. Need bus from Lisbon to Faro, Faro to Albufeira and Albufeira to Seville.
Also any suggestions on hotels in Seville (After a hard time I found decent reasonable hotels in the other cities - Madrid, Barcelona, etc)
any info would be much appreciated.

try this one
http://www.rede-expressos.pt/

Eva is the other largest transportation company in Portugal.

Hi everyone! Sorry it has taken me a while to respond to all of the new posts, but it has been very busy here!!

Firstly, Thank you so much for all the info! I leave in less than 3 weeks and i am so excited!!

Secondly, we are making a minor change - we are going to spend 1 day less in Seville and go to Lagos a bit earlier. People have been telling us that Seville is particularly hot and so we are thinking it might be nice to spend some extra beach time instead.

Carlos - now it might be possible to go to Cabo Sao Vicente on our way to Lisbon.. but might still leave that part open and see how we feel once we are there.

matador2 - we are staying at hotel alcantara in seville which got good reviews on tripadvisor and is located right beside the cathedral. it's also not so expensive. In barcelona, we are staying at "hotel call" which is in a great location right off of las ramblas. For 55 EUR a night, you are getting what you pay for, but I stayed there a few years ago and found it good enough to go back to. I found that the location and price made it worth it.

Ok you two twenty-something lovebirds...
Here's the deal. You are going to have an amazing time!! In Barcelona you should definitely spend a day doing the wine thing. If you want, there is a catalunya wine expert that is a member of our community site at land-of-guiris.com. I think his name is ryanopaz on the site. We all went down to the Priorat, which is a muy famoso area. Penedes is also known for producing consistent quality. For places to taste these delicious wines, visit the Shortlist on www.bcnweek.com. You can visit that site for other great events, articles, etc. But I would recommend a beach day down in Sitges. It's worth it. Well worth it.
Remember www.bcnweek.com

thanks so much for your suggestions - we will definitely see how much time we have in Barcelona and will hopefully make it to Sitges if we have time.

A FEW UPDATES: we have taken out a day in Seville, and we are now looking into renting a car in Lagos and taking a drive to Sagres. then, the following day, we will leave Lagos and drive up to Lisbon where we now have 3 full days.

We were thinking of doing a day trip to Sintra from Lisbon as we cannot find any reasonable accomodation in Sintra.

Any suggestions? THANK YOU!

Yes, try to stop by in Evora on your way to Lisbon. Evora is beautiful! Have a great time and hopefully you can make it to Salema as well.

Where are you staying in Lisbon?

Carlos - Hi! I was hoping you would hear from you! We are definitely going to go to Salema from Lagos now that we have decided to rent a car in Portugal for a few days. On the drive to Lisbon I think we will try to stop in Evora but we won't have much time.

If we spend a day to drive to Lisbon and see Evora, then that only leaves us 1 day to go to Sintra and 1 day to see Lisbon (although we will have all 3 nights in Lisbon).

We are staying at the Turim Lisboa hotel. It is a little out of the way, but it got great reviews on tripadvisor and the price is right, especially now that we are renting a car twice.

I'm jealous.....I love Portugal and the people are friendly. Don't forget to go to Belem and try Pasteis de Belem! they are a treat!

aha BCN week is extremely well informed. and funny.

yosoyyo - thanks for the suggestions! The link that you posted for ryanopaz (wine expert) isn't working. I am trying to arrange a wine tour near Barcelona and I was hoping that you could sen me some additional info. Thanks!

Well, I'm leaving tomorrow for my trip and I just wanted to thank everyone who helped me plan it all out! I could not have done it without your support and suggestions.

Thank you so much!!

I will try to take good notes to share when I get back at the end of the month.

Take care

We've done a lot of driving tours in southern spain and have visited a few other spots.

http://stumblebumstravels.blogspot.c...ch/label/SPAIN

Hi RSN! are you back yet? how was your trip? do you have any pics or travel report? please share your highlights!

C