Hi Everyone,

Hi Everyone!

I'm trying to plan a 2 week trip to Western Europe for this September. Problem is, I am having a really hard time narrowing down the number of locations to visit and also the best route/itinerary to take. I'm flying from Philadelphia and have not yet booked my flight because I'm still deciding where to start and end. But I do want to book this week. I did find good prices flying into Paris and out of Lisbon, but the prices weren't so low that I wouldn't consider a different order of locations if I discovered another route made more sense. I am willing to train, bus, drive, or fly within Europe during this trip. Also, I would like to rent a scooter and spend a day or two cruising around. (Maybe in the Basque region?) I have big ideas, but too little time/$, and I don't want to ruin my trip by rushing everywhere. Here are some destinations I would love to see: I realize I'll need to cut it down considerably. So before I start crossing cities off the list, I'd love to hear your opinions. Please don't hesitate to suggest itineraries and routes if you have any ideas. I'll also welcome any suggestions for off the beaten path locations to visit along the way. Oh, and I love wine tasting, great food, and roads less-traveled

France: Paris,
Spain: Barcelona Basque region, Seville
Portugal: Lisbon, Porto, Algarve

I do not expect to see all of these wonderful places. But my head is spinning and I cannot decide! Any ideas you have would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you thank you! ~amanda

Given your limited amount of time, I would cut out anything in eastern and southern Spain. Or cut out France altogether and do the Iberian peninsula for those two weeks, although I think that two weeks is too short even for that.

Best would be to concentrate on one country and figure that you will get back to Europe some day.

These photos represent a two week trip we did a while back. With a map you could figure out the itinerary:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/...7622975757180/

First get a map and see where each of these places is located and figure out how much time you will spend traveling.

The average time for eating and sightseeing will be 1 1/2 hours per location.

Eliminate one country, preferrable Portugal and buy a guide book for each country and then narrow it down further.

Does your trip happen to fall around Sept 18-25?

If so, with your love of wine and food I'd suggest 2 weeks in La Rioja and the Basque country. Logrono (La Rioja) will be celebrating San Mateo and the wine harvest from Sept 18-25. Then head to the Basque country for the best food in the world (IMHO)

You could add in Barcelona to this agenda.

Bottom line - for 2 weeks I'd choose just one (preferable if you don't want to rush and get to really know an area) or 2 geographical regions.

The locations you listed I'd lump in these geographies:

-Paris
-Barcelona
-Basque country
-Sevilla (I'd cfategorize as Andalucia and include other cities - Granada, Cordoba, etc...)
-Lisbon/Algarve/Porto - I'd actually do Portugal as one trip or do not include in this trip

I would do either Paris and Spain or Spain and Portugal.

I think I'm finally making progress with this itinerary. And We have decided just to focus on Northern Spain with a bit of Portugal thrown in, 15 days.

We will be flying into Barcelona and flying out of Vigo, Spain. Finding out about Vigo airport solved many a conundrum I was having planning this trip. Vigo is a 1/2 hour drive outside of the Northern tip of Portugal, and the airfare out of Vigo was the lowest I found. (And I ran the same search using MANY different cities.)

4 days in Barcelona, then we will be either flying or training it from Barcelona to Bilbao, then renting a car in Bilbao, backtracking just a bit to San Sebastian and then driving through Navarre and Basque (exact stops tbd.) Then over to Porto for a couple of days and then back up to Vigo, return the rental car and fly home from there. This way we do not have to return the car in Portugal, which is very expensive. But we do not have to forget about Portugal completely. And I think having a rental car to trek through the Basque region will allow us plenty of flexibility to explore.

And we just happen to be stopping for a layover in Paris on the way to Barcelona from 8am to 7pm. So we'll get our taste of Paris after all. (Until next time...)

I'd love to hear of any unusual or outstanding accommodations, restaurants, sights, or towns along our route. Again, thanks so much for talking me out of trying to see everything in 2 weeks.

PS: CathyM, that is absolutely the time we are traveling! I'm definitely going to look into visiting Rioja for the San Mateo celebration/harvest. Thank you!

Great to hear you're making progress on your plans.

Have you seen Maribel's guides?

They are excellent for Northern Spain. You will be overwhelmed with hotel and restaurant recommendations in the Basque Country and LaRioja!

http://maribelsguides.com/

Living in Galicia I know you will also need a car here too, so do not drop it off too soon.
How do you fly to the US from Vigo? I ask as I did not know that intercontinental flights from this small airport.
A word of warning about trying to visit bodegas (wineries) during the harvest. Some will be closed to the public because they are very busy.
If wine is your thing then you should visit one (or more) of the wine DO areas here in Galicia.
http://www.slowtrav.com/spain/wine/glacia_wine.htm
http://www.slowtrav.com/spain/wine/g...guardiente.htm

Unfortunately Maribel does not cover Galicia in her guides. But I can hopefully guide you to around Galicia.

In Portugal we have stayed at the Pousada's and found them to be lovely.

Here is their website: http://www.pousadas.pt/historicalhot...FreixoHOME.htm

CathyM: I've been looking at Maribel's guides and they look to be very helpful and comprehensive. I tend to be thorough to a fault so I'm soaking up every bit of information I can get my hands on!

ribeirasacra: We will have our rental car until the very end of our trip. Thank you so much for the links. That website looks like a wonderful resource. And I'm very interested in exploring Galicia. I do understand that wineries will be very busy during the harvest. Do many of them require you to call ahead for a reservation?

Anyone have advice on how many days I should allow for Bilbao before heading out to San Sebastian? I want to visit the Guggenheim and perhaps a smaller neighboring town while we're there.

Hi,

as you are coming to Porto on September, and as you mentioned you love wine-tasting, you should think on having a visit to the Douro Valley wine region, as it will be harvesting season. You can do the tasting at the Cellars in Porto, but visiting the Douro in September is a wonderfull experience.

I'd spend at least a couple of days in Bilbao - one for Bilbao itself and another for a smaller neighboring town. Alternatively you could base youself in San Sebastian for this part of the trip and just stay longer, visiting Bilbao and other places from San Sebasitian.

It will be interesting to see how this trip shapes up as you're still covering alot of geography in 2 weeks.

I am with Cathy on this one...slow down or you will end up seeing a lot of the inside of your car...lovely plastics they have these days! ;-)

Here in Galicia you may or may not be able to get into them, even if you phone weeks in advance. They cannot give an exact day for the harvest as a late change in weather can make a week or two difference...just wait until you get here. Then ask your accommodation where is best to visit. They always have their ears to the ground.

ribeirasacra: We are flying out of Vigo via Air France. And I did slow down! Based on my findings and the advice we've been given, 15 days is not bad for Northern Spain and Portugal. I don't plan on seeing a lot of Portugal, just what we have time for once we get across Spain. We'll be in a car once we get to Bilbao and the total driving time along the northern coast is actually just 9 hours. Split up into several days I feel this is manageable.

BrunoRibeiro: I certainly hope we get the opportunity to see the Douro Valley. From what I've heard it's gorgeous! And I do love wine tasting.

CathyM: Bilbao and San Sebastian are definitely on our route. Maybe 2 days Bilbao, 1 day San Sebastian. I'll be sure to post a travel report

3 days for Bilbao and San Sebastian is extremely short - you could use all of this just for San Sebastian alone. I'd budget at least 5-6 days in this area along with at least 5 days for Barcelona (time for a daytrip to Girona or Montserrat) and 3-4 days for La Rioja.

My personal advice would be to focus on just 2 main areas in 15 days - not sure where you received advice that Barcelona to Porto (including La Rioja) could be done (at a reasonable pace) in 15 days. You'll definately have to let us know how it works out for you.

Still planning away, trying to keep things somewhat flexible. Our main focal points are shaping up to be Barcelona, Basque, and Galicia, hoping to explore a bit of Cantabria and Asturias along the way. We will be in the San Sebastian area just in time for the film festival, so accommodations are booking up quickly. I'm exploring rural B&B's, I hope to have one booked by the end of the day. I would love advice on towns to sleep in. We enjoy rural hotels but anything interesting or unusual and not too expensive is just right. So far our itinerary looks like this:

Day 1: layover in Paris (8am-8pm), flying into Barcelona
Day 2-4: Barcelona and surrounding
Day 5: flying into Bilbao early morning, sleep in Bilbao
Day 6-8: San Sebastian and surrounding
Day 9: AM train to Santander, picking up rental car, sleep in ?
Day 10: Santillana del Mar, Potes, sleep in Oviedo?
Day 11: morning drive towards Galicia, sleep in ?
Day 12: Galicia: tbd
Day 13: Galicia: Santiago de Compostela, Cambados sleep in ?
Day 14: drive down to Northern Portugal (or not?)
Day 15: flying out of Vigo

I'm still editing. Here's a list of places I originally wanted to see. Can anyone suggest which towns I should skip and which are truly special? After Santander, I think we'll have our fill of beachy destinations and we truly want to see some authentic un-touristy countryside towns.

Santillana del Mar
Lagrono
Fisterra
Potes
Oviedo
Vitoria-Gasteiz
Ribadesella
Llanes
Solares

Why can't Americans have month long vacations?

I am guessing here but you seem to want to stick to the coast right?
I would advise you not to change location every night. You will see little of the surroundings.
Reading back over your posts I will give answers in relation to Galicia.
I do not know anywhere you can hire a scooter.
There are 5 DO regions of wine for Galicia. The 2 most important regions are Rias Baixas known predominantly for white wine and the area I live in Ribeira Sacrá known principally for reds. But you can see that from the links I gave you previously.
What sort of accommodation are you looking for?
The first stop should be www.turgalicia.es here you find everything listed. If it is not listed on this website it is illegal. Who knows what you get then?
For five days in Galicia I would suggest staying in one location and travelling around a bit. Maybe drop North Portugal for the one-day visit. But that is depending on where you are thinking of going too. Where is that?

Despite appearances, we are not trying to stick to the coast. Any inland suggestions are welcome!

We are not planning on changing location every night, but we do need to move across all of Northern Spain in a couple of weeks. Still trying to decide where to station ourselves while traveling through Cantabria.

ribeirasacra: Thanks for the info regarding the wine regions of Galicia. We are looking for rural or rustic accommodations, perhaps with a restaurant or on a vineyard, but any recommendations are welcome! www.turgalicia.es looks very helpful. I'm checking that out now The more I learned about how charming Galicia seems, the more time I want to spend there on our trip.

Regarding Portugal, I just thought we could get a glimpse of the country before flying home out of Vigo since it's only an hour drive. But I don't know anything about towns north of Porto. What are your thoughts on that?

You might want to look at my trip report which starts in Porto and goes north towards Galicia before going back south.

The two weeks period is enough for what you want, and 3 days in the area of Bilbau is really enough. There is alot to see in the rest of northern Spain, North of Portugal and Galicia, like the Douro Valley, City of Porto, Guimaraes, Braga, Santiago de Compostela... There are hundreds of places were you can taste wine, and driving along the Douro Valley is just fascinanting...