Help with Spain & Portugal Itinerary
 

I would appreciate any advice on how to make the most of our trip to Spain and Portugal as first-timers. My in-laws, who are in their late 60s, invited my husband and me, both in our late 30s, to travel with them to Portugal and Spain, provided we attend a wedding in Lisbon and that I handle all travel logistics and itinerary planning. Our trip spans from November 18th to December 4th (17 days, 16 nights). I have already booked round-trip flights from LAX to MAD as it was our only non-stop option, as requested by mother-in-law.

While it would be ideal to spend the entire two weeks in Portugal, my in-laws would also like to visit Spain due to their heritage and as this could be one of their last international trips. My husband and I are also particularly drawn to Moorish architecture, Spanish history, charming towns, and beautiful landscapes, so we'd like to split our time between Lisbon and Andalusia.

Here is the current itinerary I am considering:

• Lisbon: From Madrid, fly to Lisbon. Spend 7 nights (5 full days, not including the wedding event day) in Lisbon, with a potential day trip to Sintra or Cascais.
• Seville: From Lisbon, fly to Seville and stay for 4 nights, including a day trip to Cordoba.
• Granada: Take a train from Seville to Granada for 3 nights.
• Madrid: Return to Madrid by train and spend the remaining 2 nights there before flying home the next day.

Here are few challenges I'm facing:

1. We must be in Lisbon on November 23rd for the wedding, so our itinerary must work around this key event. This means we either spend some time in Spain before flying to Lisbon or fly directly from Madrid to Lisbon on our arrival day. Considering the initial travel and jet-lag, what would you do or where would you rather be?
2. With Cordoba as a day trip from Seville by train, would it be better return to Seville then head out to Granada the next morning, or go directly to Granada from Cordoba, leaving our luggage in the lockers at the Cordoba station?
3. How should we allocate our days between Lisbon, Andalusia and Madrid? Should we extend or shorten our time in Lisbon or Andalusia, or possibly skip Madrid altogether? Would we be missing out on something special by not spending time in Madrid? Additionally, my mother-in-law loves Christmas festivities, so if there are unique events happening in Madrid, that might influence our decision to spend time there.

My husband and I are fast-paced travelers, but my in-laws prefer a slower pace. While they can manage 10,000 steps per day, they are generally not active. We want to ensure the trip caters to their needs, allowing them to enjoy it comfortably while maintaining a natural pace that doesn't feel rushed. Any suggestions or advice on this plan would be greatly appreciated!

I'm sure you'll have a wonderful trip! It certainly sounds like you've been very responsive to your in-laws wishes and interests. :)

1. My personal preference is to keep traveling until I reach my destination, when I can collapse and recover without further worries. But if your MIL insisted on a non-stop flight, is she open to going straight from Madrid to Lisbon?

2. Personally, I hate backtracking, so MY choice -- if forced into seeing Cordobo on a day trip -- would be to go from Sevilla to Cordoba to Granada. But even if you decide on a day trip, I wonder if your MIL has a strong preference here. Will she need recovery time?

Are you open to spending a night (or two) in Cordoba? It can be visited as a day trip, but IMO, it deserves more time than that would allow.

3. IMO, your time is short for the all you hope to see, and of the locations you plan to visit, Madrid is likely to be among the easiest to re-visit ... so you might want to limit your time in Madrid to as little as possible. I would think that would mean the night before your departure flight and maybe that first night, if your MIL is not willing to keep going.

By a similar logic, Lisbon is the easiest destination for most of us from the US to reach in Portugal, so if you're looking to trim corners, cutting your time in / around Lisbon might make sense.

In contrast, getting to Andalusia from the US is harder. If there are places you want to see there, make sure you have time for them!

As noted above, I'd add a night or two to Cordoba, and I would take a night from Lisbon, so: 6 nights in Lisbon, 4 in Sevilla, 2 in Cordoba, 3 in Granada, 1 in Madrid). YMMV.

If you decide to visit Sintra -- and if your MIL is open to the idea -- I'd shift at least one of the nights from Lisbon to Sintra -- not because I don't think Lisbon deserves it (it's magnificent!) but rather because seeing any of the wonderful sights in Sintra can be difficult if you aren't there in the morning to start out before day trippers arrive. I spent two nights in Sintra, which allowed me to see the main sights at a pace that worked well for me. (And given your interests, you might make Monserrate and the Pena Palace priorities in Sintra.)

BUT (and this is a big one): I haven't travelled to these regions in November / December, so the considerations I mention might not matter or might even fail to reflect the realities on the ground. I trust that more knowledgeable people will post.

Hope that helps!

Thank you so much, kja , for your thoughtfully crafted response and suggestions! You've made several excellent points that have influenced how I should plan our upcoming trip. I've spent the last several days figuring out how to best order the cities based on prices, transportation options and schedules to see how everything would fit together.

1. If it weren't for the wedding in Lisbon, we would love to make this a Spain-centric adventure. Like you said, it's probably best to get to our destination as soon as possible and recover from jet lag in Lisbon. It's a shame I couldn't find direct flights to Lisbon, so I opted for Madrid since we’d end our trip in Spain.
2. You're absolutely right, Córdoba deserves at least an overnight stay! I've been wracking my brain how to best make this happen.
3. I appreciate your logic and agree with your suggestion to shorten our stay in Lisbon to 6 nights as I think 4 full days (wedding day not included) would be enough to get taste of Lisbon and Sintra. My husband and I are very much looking forward to seeing Monserrate and the Pena Palace!

As a result of all of the considerations above, this is how I plan to break down the trip:

Lisbon 6 nights
Granada 3 nights
Cordoba 1 night
Seville 5 or 6 nights
Madrid possibly 1

We’d book an early flight from Lisbon to Malaga and then take a bus to Granada. From there, we would take the early train (7 am) to Córdoba for one full day and night. The following day, we would take the train to Seville for 5 or 6 nights.

I'm still debating whether to take the train to Madrid the day before our flight or on the day of. If we leave the day before, we will have to change accommodations one last time but avoid a long travel day. If we leave on the day of the flight, we can stay in Seville for 6 nights, but it will make for an extremely long travel day.

Train service in Spain is excellent, but problems do arise. If you wait until your flight day to reach Madrid, how would you feel if something prevents you from getting there? Most of us make it a point to be in our departure city the night before a transatlantic flight. I loved Sevilla, but think you could take a night from it without limiting your chance to explore and enjoy it.

You'll need reservations for some of the places you hope to see, e.g., the Pena Palace and Alhambra. You can learn more with a good guidebook (I've found the Rough Guide very good for both Spain and Portugal) and you would do well to consult other planning threads on this forum.

I'm glad you found my comments helpful and think you'll have a wonderful time.