My husband and I are hoping to visit Spain, Portugal, and Basque Country this summer for two weeks. We don’t mind the on-the-go travel style, but I realize that it may be stretching our time very thin. In Spain, we’d like to see Barcelona, Madrid, Cordoba, Seville, Grenada. We’d also like to visit Lisbon and some of the Basque Country. Too ambitious? I need major help planning this trip. We are both first-time visitors.

Thank you!

Whenever I see the question, "Is this too ambitious?" my answer is yes and then I read the rest of the question. It is more than 500 miles from Barcelona to Lisbon. You can map out a trip and see how much time you will spend traveling. Then figure out what you want to see most.

Some of "the Basque Country" where? It spills over between France and Spain. At any rate, yes it's ambitious to cover that big a swath of land in only two weeks.

Thanks! We're planning on taking a flight to Lisbon from Madrid. We just may hold off on visiting the Basque Country for another trip.

Trains are great in Spain and OK in Portugal - for lots of into on trains check www.seat61.com; BETS-European Rail Experts and www.ricksteves.com. There has been a Madrid-Lisbon night train that could save daytime travel time and a night's hotel cost. skip Basque country

We visited Madrid and Andalucia in September for 15 nights, and this was our itinerary:

Madrid - 4 nights
Toledo - 1 night
Cordoba - 2 nights
Granada. - 2 nights
Malaga - 2 nights
Seville - 4 nights

I feel we spent the minimum number of nights in each place. Some people visit Cordoba as a day trip from Seville, but I feel they are missing out on all that Cordoba has to offer. It was one of our favorite places.

Since you are going to Madrid, it would be a shame to miss Toledo. It’s close by and a wonderful city.

KWoo has a great itinerary - though it's nice to stay in a Toledo after tourist mobs have left relocating for a night also takes a lot of time - I'd do as a day trip from Madrid perhaps.

My travel style is on-the-go. Here’s what I wanted for the places you mention: Barcelona – 5 full days; Madrid – 4 full days, Cordoba – 2 full days, Sevilla – 3.5 full days, Granada – 3 full days, Spanish Basque country – 6 days. That doesn’t include time to move from place to place, or anything in Portugal, or places near Madrid (e.g., Toledo, Segovia, Avila, Salamanca)…. You have 2 weeks? I think you are being WAY too ambitious.

I strongly encourage you to get some good guidebooks (or spend some time with a few in your local library), identify the things you most want to see in each location, check their opening/closing times on the internet, and mark them on a calendar. Then pencil in your transportation, add some time on either side (for getting to/from your lodging, checking in/out, packing/unpacking, getting lost/oriented, etc.). Then see how things fit together. And BTW, note that many things in Spain are closed on Monday, and often for all or part of Sundays too; and many things in Spain will also be closed daily for a very long mid-day break.

Good luck!