Portugal and Southern Spain travel tips
 

My husband and I are leaving for Portugal and Southern Spain for two weeks in late April. This is a spare of the moment trip. We're reading books but we'd like your input re places to stay, best places to visit, etc. Thank you so much, Martu518

Do you want us to put the whole itinerary together? Or are you just asking for hotel info.

You really need a place to start based on your interests that people can comment on or make add'l recos.

And for hotel you really need to give us a specific nightly budget.

And exactly how many days do you have on the ground - not counting arrival or departure days.

Hello, thank you so much for your reply. Certainly, we do not expect anyone to put our itinerary together, we are simply requesting general advice.

We fly into Lisbon and, based on what we have read so far, which is little, we think we should start by visiting Alfama, Baixa, Bairro Alto and Chiado. If you or someone else has visited this area, would you/they recommend doing so during the first part of our trip. As previously mentioned, this is a last-minute plan and we are worried about the fact that April is just around the corner and so far we don't know exactly which places to visit. We are also thinking of going to Sintra, Evora and Belem. We feel 3 days in Portugal would be enough since we would like to concentrate on the South of Spain. Since we've been to Barcelona, San Sebastian, and the Basque Country, we are looking forward to visiting Andalucia. So based on your experiences, would you say that 3 days in Portugal would be sufficient? We do not plan to visit the North of Portugal by the way.

A friend of ours suggested The Albatroz Hotel located in Cascais (on the ocean outside of Lisbon). Again, if someone has stayed in that hotel, we would appreciate hearing what they have to say about it and its location.
While on the subject of hotels, we usually stay in mid-to-high nightly rate hotels.


Lastly, we have 13 days on the ground and won't have to rely on public transportation, we will be driving.
Thank you all in advance for your advice.
Martu518

Will you be returning the car to Portugal? If not, there will be a large one-way drop off fee.

Feria in Sevilla is from the 12th to the 17th of April this year.

Robert12533
Thank you Robert for the tip. We will be returning the car to Portugal. Martu518

13 days in Andalusia and Portugal - with about 9-10 in Spain - I would drive from Lisbon via Evora - neat old city - and then down to the Algarve and drive via Tavira - one of few old-worldish cities on modern Algarve with many high-rise flats, etc - one city with character - possible stopover

then head to nearby Spain and drive to Seville.

Couple of days in Seville and possible day trips to Jerez de la Frontera - for sherry tours ('sherry' being a corruption of the Spanish Jerez by the English who dominated the industry for years I think - filling old English biddies thirst for the drink or day trip on the same day also to Cadiz, old town on the sea.

Then drive via the white-washed hill towns to Ronda - good for a day - physically gorgeous city as a big gorge bisects it - try to include Cordoba - at least a full day in this ABC city - always Another Bloody Church to see and most of them neat - of course the cathedral converted from Mosque in Middle Ages is the marquee attraction and the reason for coming to the city.

Drive from there to Granada - spend a full day there to see the awesome Alcazar, called the finest Moorish edifice left in Europe and then drive to Malaga, nice old town on the sea, for a few days and head back to Portugal.

PalenQ:
You've been very helpful - great advice! Thank you so very much for your generosity. Martu518

I would put Sintra in the definite list you have around Lisbon - two great castles in this former royal town - just on the door step of Lisbon - really loved it - could do a half day there and then do like I did (I went by slower bus however) from Sintra head thru eucalyptus groves with their sweet smells to Cabo da Roca, a rocky point that is said to be the farthest western point of the European continent and a wild landscape of waves smashing into the rocky point a lighthouse is on:

https://www.google.com/search?q=cabo...w=1920&bih=955

then follow the coast to Cascais and the Estoril on route back to your Cascais hotel or central Lisbon if staying there.

A wonderful loop easily done in one day.

when driving a Spanish registered car in Portugal make sure you read and understand how to pay tolls on some highways.
http://www.portugaltolls.com/en/web/...portagens/home

@ribeirasacra
Aren't most of the rental cars in Portugal now equipped with the device for the automatic tolls?

When I went to Portugal in May, we stayed in Cascais and really liked it BUT with a short visit, I'd stay in Lisbon. I think you need one day to see Lisbon, one day to visit Sintra and then one day for Belem and Cascais, but there is really not so much to see in Cascais. I would use public transportation for this part of the trip.

Stay in Lisbon rather than Caiscais. Also, include Belem with the Jeronimos Monastery and Monument to the Discoveries, the Tower, a section of Lisbon on the Tajus River.

Thank you all for your responses. We have been working on the following itinerary. Please let me know what you think. Also, I'd appreciate it if you could give us some Hotel suggestions. We've added two more days to our original schedule: we will be gone 17 days.

April 27 departure
Portugal:
Lisbon 3 nights - Hotel?
April 28, 29 Lisbon
April 30 visit Sitra
(has anybody heard of Hotel Albatroz in Cascais?)
Picking up car at Lisbon Airport before heading to Evora
May 1 Evora

Spain
Sevilla 3 days - Hotel?
May 2, 3, 4

Ronda 2 days - Hotel?
May 5, 6

Granada 3 days - Hotel?
May 7, 8, 9

Cordoba 2 daus - Hotel?
May 10, 11

Lisbon 1 night
May 12

May 13 departure


Should we consider La Costa del Sol (Marbella, etc.) and shorten our days inland?

Again, thanks for your help. Martus

You should book your hotel in Cordoba as soon as possible, you are going to be there during the patio festival: http://www.andalucia.com/cities/cordoba/patios.htm
http://english.turismodecordoba.org/...de-cordoba.cfm

The festival is much more than flowers and patios, most nights there will also be concerts, both outdoors and in theaters, and you could expect to see some of the greatest flamenco artists on stage. Here's last year's program, and it's very similar from year to year: http://www.turismodecordoba.org/84/g...ordoba2015.pdf

We've been very happy to stay in modern Hotel Cordoba Centro just off the main Plaza de las Tendillas and close to "everything": http://www.booking.com/hotel/es/cord...tro.en-gb.html

Hotels we have stayed at
Sevilla: Amadeus
Granada: Parraga Siete

For this year in June we have booked Las Casas de El Arenal in Sevilla and San Gabriel in Ronda.

Hello, again:

Thanks for your input; appreciate it! I am stuck stuck with Lisbon hotels and I'm panicking a little. Either they're booked, not centrally located, or have bed bug reports yikes!!!
Has anyone heard of the International Design Hotel and/or The Albatroz near Sintra in Cascais? Martus

booking.com lists over 1,100 properties in Lisbon for your dates, some of them very highly rated - although my favorites are fully booked. Surely at least one of them meets your criteria.

Stay in Lisbon, not Sintra, you have too little time there as it is.

It is not clear whether you have already booked your tickets. If not, you would save time by flying home from a different airport, although you would need to use public transport for part of the trip to avoid drop off fees.

In Granada I stayed at the Hotel America - it is right next to the Alhambra but not as pricey as the parador.

I'd explore the posadas of
Portugal amd the Paradors of Spain on Internet. Usually historic and good local cuisine, folks speak English and are very helpful with ideas, problems, maps etc. incidentally Portugal is my favorite place on earth. And we have been everywhere excepting S Africa and Greenland/Iceland.

@justwishin - how did you like North Korea? And Transnistria?

Obidos is a walled city excellent - medieval looking not far north of Lisbon and has a Pousada like justwishin talks about actually built partly into the ancient ramparts.