Spain & Portugal Help Needed
 

We are 2 couples looking to spend up to 2 weeks in Portugal & Spain in May 2022. The only thing we know is that we want to begin the trip in Lisbon and end in Barcelona. We will need to make our own transportation arrangements since we are not interested in renting a car. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Rich

For train info see seat61.com.

By then the Lusitania, the night train between Lisbon and Madrid, should be running again.

You have to give us a bit more to work with. Both countries offer a lot to see and do. Turn the group loose looking at the majors: Barcelona, San Sebastian, Madrid, Granada, Sevilla, Cordoba, Lisbon, Porto, Malaga . . . would be a good start. Then narrow it down to a workable travel timetable where you don't spend every other day in an airport or train station.

You can't see much of either country with a week in each, especially if that includes travel time. Lisbon alone demands 3 or 4 days, as does Barcelona (as a minimum). Using Lisbon as a base, visit Coimbra and Porto and after your transfer to Barcelona, see San Sadurni d'Anoia (for the Cava) Monserrat for the Monastery--same day for these two. Then Figueres for the Dali museum will take a full day.

That means you'd only have one change of hotel and won't be living out of a suitcase. You'll have time to relax and see two very lovely cities and their surroundings.

Well, Coimbra is just under two hours by train from Lisbon, so I suppose you could do it as a day trip, but Porto takes nearly three and a half. Not my idea of a day trip, but YMMV. Plenty of places to see nearer to Lisbon if the OP doesn't want to move, but we don't know that.

I’m am closely watching this thread as I am starting to plan a 2022 similar trip.

I like the idea of Spain and Portugal in the same trip. But it seems the trains are not easy. Yes I see the overnight train between Lisbon and Madrid but I don’t see many ways to skirt about both countries—
say Madrid to Seville to Lisbon.

Am I missing something?

I suspect trying to visit the two countries in two weeks is just the wrong idea. Spain has many sites spread out across the large country. Plus both countries have a range of very pretty islands.

For a first taster I might do some of
1 North East Spain based around Barcelona but also the small cities in the region and stretching up to Narbonne
2 Madrid and the cities and palaces around Madrid
3 the southern ancient cities of Cadiz, Seville, Granada, Malaga etc
4 Lisbon and its local cities followed by Porto and the valley and possibly Santiago in the north of Spain.

No. The history of the Iberian peninsula records a lot more enmity between Spain and Portugal than it does cooperation, so there are not a lot of transportation links. (Last time I was in Spain the weather maps still had a blank area for Portugal!)

There is no railway connection south of Lisbon, so if you want to travel from Seville to Lisbon you'll have to take a bus, or possibly a plane. However, bilboburgler is right that two weeks is very little time. If you insist on both countries I would go Lisbon-Madrid-Barcelona, with a day trip to Toledo from Madrid.

With only two weeks, choose either Portugal or Spain. And for Spain limit your visits to two areas of the country at most.
We did combine these two countries on one trip but had six weeks for that trip and used rental cars in each country.

We have been to Spain three times, total of about three and a half weeks, mostly Madrid area and Andalusia. We made it to Barcelona, but not to areas around there or to San Sebastián area. Spain is larger than you might think, and train links are not easy like Italy where Milan to Venice to Florence to Rome to Naples are linked with great transportation, and many links to places near the major cities.

Personally, with only two weeks, I would stick with Spain.
However, I have not been to Portugal, and friends love it.
1. If Lisbon and Barcelona are musts, You could check flights and costs from Lisbon to Barcelona and do only those two areas.
2. You could fly to Madrid from Lisbon, see Madrid, Toledo and Segovia, (or Madrid, Cordoba and Seville) and take a fast (two hours) train from Madrid to Barcelona.
3. You could also look at flights to Seville or Malaga, see a bit of Andalusia (Seville and Granada) by bus and take another flight to Barcelona.
4. If you could not find a good flight from Seville, Malaga or Granada to Barcelona, you could get to Madrid from Seville by train, then fast train to Barcelona.

Basically, If both countries are a must, your itinerary will depend a lot on what transportation is available and how much time or money you are willing to spend just going from place to place.

Ha! I was thinking about mentioning that. We stayed on a farm near Mérida and the owner was in his 50s. When he went to school, they took French as a second language. They are 70 kms from Portugal, but they took French. In Portugal, we were told that their second language in school was English.

@Ian - the Palácio dos Marqueses de Fronteira in Lisbon has one big room with the walls covered in tiles depicting wars against Spanish occupation in the mid 1600s.

@Sassafras - When were you in Spain, and what exactly are you complaining about? The Spanish rail system used to be pretty bad, but they have spent a lot of money on it and there are now high speed rail links between the major cities and nice new rolling stock. It is true that you still need to take commuter rail along the north coast, but its not clear that the OP is headed there and it certainly works OK. It is also true that RENFE doesn't load the timetables as quickly as one might like but they do eventually get there. For more see: https://www.seat61.com/train-travel-in-spain.htm

Thursdaysd, I love Spain and did not mean to appear to be complaining. I am not bothered by inconvenience of travel, but it must be considered when planning. You are right though, to point out the changes, and your guess is right that it has been awhile since I was there, so I do need to re-evaluate my advice. I know they were working on the connections between Granada and Madrid (have not checked because I haven’t needed to, but assume it is finished), and connections are great between Madrid and Seville, Cordoba, etc. plus the new fast trains between Madrid and Barcelona.
On the other hand, even with great connections within Spain, there is still distance and time, and the real point I was trying (perhaps not effectively) to make, is I think the OP will have to limit their sightseeing to one other area if they must do both Lisbon and Barcelona in two weeks, especially if that has to include travel time getting there. Whatever they see will be interesting and memorable.

@Sassafras - oh, I entirely agree about two weeks being so short. I have several times spent five or six days just in Lisbon, and the last time I was in Barcelona I had six days and could still have used more. I just felt the Spanish should get some credit for improving their railway.

Still, some people like to travel fast. It's also difficult to know what trains will be available next year. The night train between Lisbon and Madrid is not currently operating, and seat61 says it may not be reinstated.

We were told not to speak Spanish in Portugal and a Cuban- American couple we met also learned quickly not to speak Spanish, rather English.

Portugal's oldest ally is England ( treaty of Windsor and treaty of Methuen). Spain shares frontiers with France and of Spain's five language one is closish to French. Portugal has some natural geographic frontiers with Spain. Similar to those between Spain and France.