After a lot of research and readings on this forum I am finalizing the 22 days itinerary for a Portugal and Spain vacation in May.

We bought our flights into Madrid and out from Barcelona.
We want to begin our trip from the north of Portugal and continue in Spain.
I would like to ask the experienced Fodors travellers to comment and make suggestions on my itinerary.

May 04: arrive to Madrid, take an Iberia flight to Vigo. Car pick-up in Vigo and drive to Viana do Castelo
May 05, 06: Viana do Castelo, Barcelos(Thurs market), Guimares
May 07: drive to Sao Pedro de Moel
May 08: Batalha, Marvao- spend the night in Marvao
MAy 09 to 13-Lisbon, with a trip to Sintra
May 14: drive to Evora, night in Evora
MAy 15: drive to Cordoba with a stopover in Seville to pick up my sister who is going to join us for the Spain leg of the trip, spend the afternoon/night in Cordoba
May 16, 17: Visit Cordoba in the morning and leave for Granada in the afternoon, spend the full day of 17th in Granada
May 18, 19: drive through the pueblos blancos. We want to visit Ronda, Arcos de la Frontera, Grazalema. Did not pick a base yet so any suggestions will be appreciated.
May 20-22: Seville. Return the car on the 20th and leave Seville on the 22nd with an 18:45 Iberia flight to Barcelona
May 23-25: Barcelona
May 26: leave for home

I would really like to have the famous Mirabel files on my destinatios. Can somebody please send them to me?

Thanks,
Claudia

Claudia, the trip certainly looks exciting, albeit exhausting! Doable, though a lot of windshield time. Something about the week from May 15-22 that can be re-arranged; there is some backtracking that should be avoided if possible. I would drive from Evora to Seville, base and spend more days in Seville, including a day trips to Cordova, and the Route of the White Towns. On the 20th, I would drive to Granada, and after spending 1 1/2 days in Granada, drive to Malaga Airport- drop the car and flight Iberia to Barcelona on the 22nd.

I don't have Maribel's files (she might be traveling on Spain), but she has posted incredible information that you could use while waiting for her files.

I have wonderful memories of Viana; DO NOT miss the Cathedral of Santa Lucia, if you can stay at the Pousada of Santa Lucia even better. The first days of May can bring some rain to Northern Portugal, but if sunny their beaches are breathtaking. Efife has some amazing, unspoiled beaches and I highly recommend.

Are you all set with hotels?

Chatters, thanks for the reply.
I am trying to minimize the driving time in Spain but I also try to minimize the money I spend on keeping the car parked in major cities. Parking in Lisbon will probably be expensive for 5 full days. I wanted to avoid parking in Seville for another 5 days and driving in and out of the city doing 3 day trips.

Having Seville as first stop in Spain(dropping the car there), and doing a day trip to Cordoba then driving to Granada and fly from there to Barcelona was in my initial plans but could not find a rental car from Seville to Granada for 2 days( at least Autoeurope has none).
So, I already booked the flight from Seville and cannot change that-the prices were changing every hour or so last week and I wanted to secure a 32 euros price.

We are budget travellers and our accomodations will not be spectacular. Will mainly be staying in pensaos/hostals.
So far I booked Pensao Portuense in Lisbon- read very good reviews about it-, Hostal Nueva Naciones in Granada and Hostal Girona- gets good reviews-in Barcelona.

Viana had a high priority on my destinations list. Thanks for the suggestions!

Anyone else who has Maribel's files and would be willing to send them?

Best,
Claudia

Maribel files...Nobody has them?

Hi clo,

I rented a car from Europcar through www.kasbah.com and picked it up in Sevilla and dropped it off in Granada, so that shouldn't be a problem. I had mine for 3 days.

I went from Sevilla to the white towns to Granada, using Ronda as my base, which I totally loved. It does seem a little backwards to go from Cordoba to Granada then back west to the white towns before flying east to Barcelona.

However, I don't know why Chatters would have you go from Granada to Malaga to fly. You can fly from Granada to Barcelona very cheaply. I did it for $35.

It's also a shame you aren't spending any time in Sevilla. It's a wonderful city easily worth 2 days.

So, I guess I'd suggest spending a few days in Sevilla, taking a daytrip to Cordoba, spending a few days in the white towns, then driving to Granada and flying to Barcelona from there.

Hope this helps a little.

Great trip--you have done your homework. It looks similar to a trip we took years ago minus the ending in Barcelona. You will love Marvao and Viano, and the market at Barcelos is a cultural phenom. Have fun !