I've rephrased and shortened my questions since I've gotten no responses.
Here's the just of it.
My mother and I will be together for 5 weeks (2.5 weeks spain and portugal & 2.5 weeks italy) We will meet sometime between June 29-July 1st. Our interests in Spain are (primarily madrid and barcelona) with day trips still to plan.
1) What cities could we see in Portugal laving form madrid? I should mention that we will be staying just outside of Madrid in Mostoles. Maybe leaving from Toledo or salamanca to (portalegre, evora, guarda) any others recommended?? This portion of our trip will be a total of about 12 days. Then barcelona for about 5 days.


2)Are the beaches in portugal in July overcrowded? would you go?

Our interests for Portugal are to really take in culture, scenery see small villages, relax, possibly head to a beach if possible, some sightseeing.


I value so much the opinion on this chat. as a budget treaveller I have used lonelyplanet but I find this site so much better for GREAT travel advice...I have resorted to lonely planet strictly for accomodations.
thanks a bunch,
Renata

Your question is still too long, but I have some advise. You will enjoy your time in Portugal. They are the most friendly people in Europe. Spain is great, but I really didn't like my stay in Madrid...just another large city.

hi jor,
can you suggest though some cities I can see in portugal leaving from spain?
maybe leaving from salamanca or toledo? oter? Where in portugal have you been?

Renata: We enjoyed Almeida, Guimares (more so than Guarda), and the Pousada at Belmonte. I highly recommend Sortelha, Marvao and Vila Vicosa. I did not like Evora as much as I had hoped.

Wow--I would need 2 hours to answer well. But, as a start, consider this routing. From Salamanca, go to Cuidad Rodrigo, then Caceres, then Marvao to stay at the Pousada. Then Estromoz and Evora. It gets tough after that--probably thru Begar to Andalusia and Seville. If time permits, consider Lagos and the Cape at Sagres--the Pousada there is great. On you way to Barcelona try to hit Nerja and Peniscola on the coast. Sorry, the question is very big.

Renata, I would suggest the Algarve area which is on south of Portugal. One of the towns is Porto Mao (spelling?) Don't know if it still there but I stayed at the Astor Hostel (run by brits, so language is no problem) near there for two weeks and had a fantastic time. Prices were so low I couldn't beleive it.

Maybe I should be more specific about my timing while based in madrid.
My mother and I are in mostoles with a friend for 14 days. During this time we plan to see toledo, segovia, avila, el escorial and salamanca. we want to do a short trip from salamanca into Portugal. that is what city seems easiest to get into from a map? Maybe seeing one big city and 1 or 2 small town nearby (a total stay of maybe 4-5 days.
Bob the navigator you recommended to see ciudad rodrigo from salamanca. On a map I also see fuentes de onoro? what that like? what about going to guarda from there and spending my nights there?
again this is just a small trip to portugal.. then back to madrid.
On the 16th off to barcelona. sorry for my question having been so long previously!
thanks for the help!

Renata, Gosh, I assumed you are driving--is that correct? With 4 or 5 days then the route above is the best--Caceres, Marvao, Estromoz, Evora. But, the drive to Barcelona from there will be LONG and take at least 2 days--maybe 3. I really need a total overview to comment well. Forget the beaches.

there are no drives involved in our trip. we have bought a eurail pass and we be travelling by train.
bob- before we head off to barcelona we will go back to madrid after our potential trip from portugal. So yes the beaches are out definitely as our trip is a small one. do you guys think I should foget about this trip if I'm only planning on being there less than a week? opinions?
I will see but evora seems like quite a long travel from a map. I will go on raileurope website to find the distance from ciudad rodrigo to evora or guarda. This is the other problems i am having actually. When I want to calculate the distance on www.raileurope.com. I go to point to point tickets and enter in the info and it informs me that trips from salamanca to guarda for example are "not in the database". I've tried others too for getting to portugal and it says-does not exist (e.g. coimbra, fuentes de onoro). I'm hoping this system just has not been updated?? what else can i use to get routes form spain to portugal?