3 weeks Trip -Paris/Spain/Portugal
 

my husband and I are travelling this September for 3 weeks. We start on Paris for a week. Any recommendations as far as must see museum? There's so many. Also, we are debating between taking the train from Paris to Barcelona or flying due to cheap airfares. Any suggestions. We plan to stay in Barcelona for 3 days and 2 days in Madrid. From Madrid-again Train VS plane? Is there a lot of sights to see on train or plane is better? first time to Europe.
thanks

It's a long slog by rail if you go direct between Paris and Barcelona - 6.5 is about the fastest but that is a 7am departure - until after noon you'll take 8-9.5 hours if you depart anytime after the 7am train until one around 12:30pm (6.25 hours) - there is an overnight train connection if you want to take a French night train to Tolous then change to a train to Barcelona.

FLY! Or break your journey in say Avignon - the heart of classic Provence and a city with lots of things to see and do for a day.

Barcelona-Madrid best by train - faster and probably cheaper overall.

Madrid to Lisbon the only direct train is a overnight hotel train - direct and you save travel time even over flying and save on the cost of a night in a hotel to boot - Spanish hotel trains can be pretty spiffy in Gran Classe at least - some compartments even have showers in them - but those are pricey.

Anyway for lots of great info on trains and overnight trains check: www.seat61.com - good info on discounted train tickets like Barcelona to Madrid (www.renfe.com - Spanish Railways official site); www.ricksteves.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com.

Portugeuse trains are good but there are not many of them - Lisbon to Faro and Porto is quite modern but other routes may have aged trains moving like milk trains.

great. thanks for the tip

With three weeks I would suggest taking the AVE high-speed train to Seville from Madrid - a wonderful old city - spend a few days there then go by bus in 4 hours to Faro, Portugal and train to Lisbon - seeing the Algarve as you go along.