Hello,

I fly in on July 4, 2018 with my husband to Paris, France. We plan to fly out that same day and arrive in Porto, Portugal. We fly from Paris, France on July 24, 2018.

I need help to eliminate destinations from my itinerary, as I am certain I will be unable to see all the places I have chosen. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. The following is the list of destinations I need to narrow:

PORTUGAL:

Porto (1)
Rio Douro - Day trip from Porto (1)
Tomar - See on the way from Porto to Lisbon (1)
Lisbon (1)
Sintra - day trip from Lisbon
Evora
Elvas - day trip from Evora (?)
Cycling Rota Vincentina (3)
Start - Vila Nova Santo André
End - Brejao
Lagos


SPAIN:
Seville (2)
Ronda (1)
Setenil de las Bodegas - Day trip from Ronda
Granada (1)
Cordoba (1)
Madrid (3)
Segovia - Day trip from Madrid
Toledo - Day trip from Madrid
Avila (1)
Salamanca (1)
Barcelona (2)


I am interested in beaches, culture, food, and nature. I do not need a nightlife or clubs. Museums do not necessarily interest me but architecture does.

Additional information:
We will be backpacking
We will not be renting a car
All transportation must take place by train, bus, or airplane

I've been to all those places by train and or bus - some like are rather hard to reach but if not in a hurry... anyway for lots on trains (and possible railpasses as like in Spain traveling so much by train) - check www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www.ricksteves.com and www.seat61.com - latter has info on booking your own discounted train tickets in advance. Buses often run similar routes as trains do and are cheaper on walk-up basis but trains cana be cheap too if book far enough in advance to get limited number of discounted ducats.

I haven’t been to Portugal yet, but FWIW, here’s what I wanted for the places you mention in Spain: Seville 4 full days, Ronda 1 day, Granada 3 days (just the Alhambra typcially requires 2 nights in Granada), Cordoba 2 full days, Madrid, 4 ful days, Sevilla, another full day, Toledo 2 full days, Avila 1 day, Salamanca at least 2 full days, Barcelona, 5 full days (not counting day trips).

Barcelona is clearly an outlier, it doesn’t look like you are planning to visit anything else in the area, and its one of the places in Spain that is easiest to reach (because it has an international airport), so you might cut it from this trip.

If you are giving Spain only 10 days, I’d go for EITHER Andalusia OR central Spain, not both. Or skip Portugal this trip and visit only central and southern Spain.

I think you would benefit from identifying what you want to see in each location and how you will get from place to place (for which you can use rome2rio.com), then plot your trip on a calendar. Each time you change locations, add time on either side of your actual transportation time for getting to/from your lodging, checking in/out, packing/unpacking, getting lost/oriented, etc. And 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.

Hope that helps!

Important question: What do your numbers in parentheses represent? Days? Or nights? You are moving around a lot, and you are spending very little time in most of your destinations so you won't see much of any destination.

We have been to Spain twice. Once in 2010 when we spent 5 or 6 days in Barcelona and 3 nights in Costa Brava.

This past September we spent 15 nights in Madrid, Toledo, Cordoba, Granada, Malaga and Seville. To break it down, we had 4 nights in Madrid, 1 night Toledo, 2 nights Cordoba, 2 nights Granada, 2 nights Malaga, and 4 nights in Seville. So that is 2 weeks. I would not have wanted less time in each place, and I wish we had some extra nights in some places. I realize you aren't going to Malaga, but using my itinerary as a guide, you could substitute Ronda for Malaga.

I haven't been to Portugal yet, but we will be in Lisbon for 5 nights in April, so I have done a lot of research. Based on what I have learned, I think you could do one of the following for a week in Portugal:

Stay in Lisbon for a week, including day trips to Sintra, Evora, and Cascais.
Or split the week between Lisbon and Porto.

I agree with kja that Barcelona is an outlier, and you won't see much in 2 days or 2 nights. You could visit Barcelona on a separate trip, and also have time for nearby areas, such as the Costa Brava.

Hope this helps.

Just remember every time you move to a different town you will lose time from packing, checking out, to getting to the bus, train, or airline terminal and waiting there to the reverse on the other side.

The only places I have not been are the bodegas and the bike trip.

I can also assume you are using frequents to go in and out of Paris.

I would just make a list of what is important to you and eliminate the bottom half. And you will still have a hectic trip.

Barcelona is definitely worth more than 2 days... Maybe that's the one you can remove for this trip and come back later for a longer trip.

If taking long-distance trains you should be booking those Spanish train trips now or maybe get a Spain Railpass that lets you chose which trains to take once there and you are traveling so much on trains could be the rare person that it is a good deal.

One day in Porto is not sufficient. There are plenty of backpacker hostels. For Rio Douro do you mean a boat tour? That can be weather dependent and is an all day affair.
Lisbon - with only one night how can plan a day trip to Sintra, which takes the better part of a day? Add at least one more day. How d you plan to explore Evora - not a lot of p[public transport options.
2 days in Barcelona is, IMO, adequate to see the high spots consistent with your tastes - Gaudi buildings and basilica, market, park Guel, maybe zoo.

For hostels, more and more ofwhich has private rooms for couples, check Let's Go Europe which lists amny for most cities and critiques them as well as budget hotels which for two can be as cheap as hostels.