richarde99

We will be celebrating our 35th wedding anniversary in Spain and Portugal from January 31 to February 14. We will fly into Barcelona and out of Lisbon. We are currently planning to spend 3 nights in each of Barcelona, Madrid, and Seville, traveling between them by Renfe AVE train. We will then fly from Seville to Lisbon on TAP Portugal and stay there for 4 nights, with a day trip to Belém. This will be our first time traveling abroad in the winter, and we realize that 13 days on the ground is a short time, but it is what we have. Other than our flights, we have not booked anything else yet, so we are open to suggestions. We appreciate your time and look forward to your comments.

KarenWoo

You probably know that 3 nights essentially gives you 2 full days in a destination with perhaps 1/2 day on arrival day or 1/2 day on departure day, so at the most 2.5 days in each place. When you arrive in Barcelona, you will be suffering from jetlag so you will be exhausted on your arrival day and unable to accomplish much. Barcelona is a large city with many interesting sites. I understand the desire to see and do as much as you can, but I think you will have a more enjoyable trip if you delete one of the cities from your itinerary. I love all the cities you are visiting but I honestly think this itinerary is too rushed to be very enjoyable. As much as I like Madrid, I would delete Madrid (unless you are avid art fans) and visit Barcelona, Seville, and Lisbon. IMO, Seville is prettier and more interesting than Madrid. So a possible itinerary could be:

Barcelona - 5 nights
Seville - 4 nights
Lisbon - 4 nights

OR spend 4 nights in Barcelona and 5 nights in Lisbon and then you could include a daytrip to Sintra if that interests you.

bilboburgler

Congratulations on 35 years.

Time and again we have people asking how to tour Portugal and Spain in 10 to 12 days.

Honestly, don't.

I see you have already booked an internal flight. Climate Change hhhhm

Really each country needs and deserves more time and more focus.

Madrid normally (before Climate Change see above) in mid winter is pretty cold (the 2nd highest capital in Europe), so you will need to take clothes to enjoy that which will be less useful in coastal Barcelona/Belem etc where dampness may be an issue

Sevilla is a fantastic visit, if you run out of things to do then hop on a train to Cordoba which is equally pleasant or Malaga which is smaller but equally enjoyable.

If the flights can be undone I might look again at coastal Spanish sites like Granada as well