3 week logistics for spain/portugal/italy
 

i'm plsanning a 3 week (~21 day) trip to EU and trying to figure out the logistics. the only appealing flight is to barcelona, which isn't ideal because its in the middle, but such as it is..

Would it make sense to go...
Spain: from barcelona (2-3d) to grenada (2-3 days) to madrid (2-3 days),
Italy: fly from madrid to ???
Portugal: fly to porto (2-3 days) from italy, go to lisbon (2-3 days), go home

open to recommendations. Logistially, does this make sense though?

Edit: it probably makes more sense to end my trip in lisbon, as lisbon has better flights to toronto.

Two days here two days there ends up being nothing but travel. Think about it.

Day 1 Arrive in Barcelona from Toronto.
Day 2 run around with jet lag
Day 3 travel to Granada
Day 4 Alhambra I guess
Day 5 Travel
Day 6 Madrid
Day 7 fly?

Is your vacation supposed to be commuting every other day to the next stop? Barcelona,Madrid etc also require more than a day or two if you really want to see something

the idea was
day 1: run around with jet lag
day 2: do sight seeing
day 3: do more travelling
day 4-5: do more travelling or run around commuting
day 5: see things
day 6: see more things
day 7-8: see more things or run around commuting

Total waste of time and money IMHO.

If your entire trip is 21 days, you will have a total of 18.5 days free on the ground -- and then you lose another nearly 3 full days traveling from Spain > Italy > Portugal, and back to Spain. so let's say you have 16 days . . . and you want to visit three countries. That would be rushed for just Spain and Portugal ( with a mere taste of both countries)

IMO, and as Traveler_Nick and janisj suggested, you will be spending a tremendous amount of time in transit for very, very little time to actually see anything. Logistically, it makes absolutely no sense to me.

But what we think doesn't matter -- what matters is whether you can actually see and do what YOU want to see and do. And to figure that out, you need to decide what, exactly, you want to see and do, check hours, and plot things on a calendar. For transportation times, check rome2rio.com and be sure to click through to the underlying links because the main pages are sensitive to seasonal variation. Then add at least a few hours to either side for getting to from the train station or whatever, checking in/out, packing/unpacking, getting lost/oriented, etc. You will truly have VERY little time for anything.

What I'm seeing here is people telling me I'm doing it wrong without offering suggestions. In my experience, 3 days is enough time to spend in a city. That said, the comments here have merit. I'm a pretty lazy traveller and commuting isn't my favourite.

with that said though, my rewards redemption comes with 2 stops or 1+an open jaw and I'm looking to make the most of the redemption.

Excuse me, but I did offer a very specific suggestion for how YOU can decide what amounts of time work for YOU.

I have no idea where you've been, but I can't imagine a blanket statement of the sort "3 days is enough time to spend in a city." For me, I can see that for, say, Lucerne or Oxford, but MANY cities warrant much, much more IMO, and a few destinations deserve much less.
FWIW, I thought Barcelona warranted 5 full days PLUS time for Montserrat, Girona, etc.
I thought Madrid warranted 4 full days PLUS 2 full days for Toledo PLUS time for Segovia, etc.
The Alhambra alone requires 2 nights. Granada easily warrants 2 or 3 full days.
Personally, I can't imagine visiting Granada and not also visiting Sevilla (at least 3 days), Cordoba (at least a day, if not 2), and maybe another destination or two in Andalusia.

For me, making the most of a redemption would mean using it to actually see some wonderful places. Maybe your definition differs.

>>In my experience, 3 days is enough time to spend in a city. <<

All well and good -- but to get three days one needs to stay 4 nights. So with travel times figured in, you could comfortably fit 3 cities at a push, plus maybe one small town for a night-ish. Which three cities is up to you -- assuming Barcelona is one of the three since you plan on flying in/out of there.

Thanks for the feedback. Everyone I've ever asked said Lisbon and porto could be done in a few days. so, would you say that a week in portugal and 2 in spain or italy would be a more enjoyable relaxing trip? I never intended to see an entire country in one trip, even a 3 week one. I planned to return to europe at a later date. I essentially plan to see cities, not countries.

Have you read any of the trip reports on this forum? Have you read any of the many planning threads that are available here?

I haven't been to Portugal. I know I want 2.5 weeks for what I want to see when I go, including about 5 days in Lisbon and 3 in Porto.

We know NOTHING of your interests, and so I can't imagine that any of us can say what you would or would not find enjoyable or relaxing.

The problem isn't getting from Spain to Italy. That's basically a two hour flight. The problem is the number of stops.

21 days four stops is potentially relaxing. Seven stops is a lot of rushing around.

From the sounds of it right now you have

Barcelona
Lisbon
Porto

What are you interested in most? Add one or two stops to the above.

"I essentially plan to see cities, not countries."

Cities are an organic and integral part of the countries where they're located. It makes more sense to plan trips seeing a country together with its cities and other parts, a smaller region within a country including the cities there or an international region with its cities. Even if you do only a short city break it's worth to do a daytrip at least to see a bit of the hinterland.

"I planned to return to europe at a later date."

In that case stick to Spain and Portugal on this trip and go to Italy on a next trip.


"Spain: from barcelona (2-3d) to grenada (2-3 days) to madrid (2-3 days"

Remember that you're going to GrAnada and not GrEnada! :-)

https://www.businessinsider.com/a-co...granada-2014-6

https://blog.privatefly.com/us/grena...el-destination

<<the idea was
day 1: run around with jet lag
day 2: do sight seeing
day 3: do more travelling
day 4-5: do more travelling or run around commuting
day 5: see things
day 6: see more things
day 7-8: see more things or run around commuting>>

Well, if that was the idea, you've nailed it. The question then becomes WHY was that the idea? Because you love racing around? Apparently not; you said that yourself. And contrary to your assertions, you've gotten some very specific advice here, which you can take or leave. As for "everybody I've ever asked....", seems you've talked only to people who will agree with you. People you're talking to here will not. Barcelona, Lisbon, and Porto would be a suitable but fairly rushed mix for me with 18+ days on the ground; anything beyond that, no.