My husband and I are thinking of taking a trip to Spain and Portugal next year. I've been to Spain before and we know exactly where we want to go, but Portugal is a mystery to me. Where can we go that is easily accessible by train, and is there a high speed rail that goes there?<BR><BR>Our total trip is about 8 days, so we don't want to spend an entire day in transit. What do you suggest? Thanks!

If you do not want to spend an entire day in transit, where are you starting from? That would give a better idea as to destinations in Portugal.<BR><BR>My fave Portugal city is Sintra which is very easy rail from Lisbon. It's a beautiful little city with lots of things to see - 2 palaces, a very interesting convent of cork, beautiful hills. It's also very close to Cascais on the coast and Estoril. You would have plenty to do in your days there.

We'll be in Andalucia, spending a lot of time in Seville Jerez and Rota.

Sevilla to Lisboa is a full day no matter how you cut it. On an 8 day trip I would suggest staying in Andalucia... there is so much to see.<BR><BR>We went last spring for 3 weeks, half in Portugal, and half in Andalucia, and barely saw the highlights of either.<BR><BR>I suggest Cordoba, Ronda, and Granada (only one night, because the city sucks, and buy your Alhambra tix in line first thing in the morning). We also stayed in Tarifa and did a day-trip to Gibraltar. Tarifa is supposed to be nicer than Marbella or the other big beach towns.

we did lisbon for approx 1 week last may with day trips to caiscais and sintra. thoroughly enjoyed all three but were glad we made our base lisbon because we are more &quot;city people&quot; and prob would have become restless with more than 1 day in either caiscais or sintra. there is plenty to see and do in lisbon and the restaurants are great. be sure to try fish &quot;portuguese style&quot; - it is the best fish i have ever eaten!

Last July, a Sevilla taxi driver told us that there's a direct MotorCoach service between Sevilla &amp; the Algarve (Faro &amp; Lagos). There's an overnight train Madrid-Lisbon and Lisbon-Madrid. I have travelled on a Eurolines (Viajes Julia) bus to Lisbon from Sevilla (9-hours) and have come to Lisbon from Galicia (Spain) via Porto (also an all-day endurance test). <BR><BR>The only hugh speed trains in Portugal are Alfas on the Lisbon-Porto corridor. <BR><BR>SpanAir often has weekend special fares to Lisbon from Madrid. <BR><BR>Lisbon is a beautiful city: it has been ranked among the ten most beautiful Port cities in the world (right up there with Rio de Janeiro, Hong Kong &amp; San Francisco). <BR><BR>With just a total of 8-days, I wouldn't try to do both Portugal and Spain.

Get lost in the lovely little hill town's of Andalucia. If you want some quiet beaches you should find some along the southern coast of Portugual.<BR>Sintra is an excellent town but too far for what your attempting.IMO<BR>Pete