Hi all,

I'm planning a trip to Spain and Portugal for two weeks at the start of September this year. At the moment the idea is to fly into Lisbon, have a couple of days there, travel down to the Algarve (maybe Lagos?) for 5-6 days, round to Seville for a couple of days, up to Merida for a couple of days, and back to Lisbon. We'd be travelling by hire car throughout.

Just wanted to get peoples thoughts on this. Particularly interested in places to visit along this route, or even if you'd stay elsewhere at any point. I've been to all these spots (bar Merida) briefly before so I know the area (roughly). Another option would be to fly in at a different point on the route (say Faro), although I think flights would be cheaper to Lisbon.

Is Merida a cool place to visit for a couple of days or would it be better basing ourselves elsewhere in Extremadura? What about the Algarve - are there any places slightly off the tourist route that its worth going to? As a guide we were in Cinque Terre in Italy the other year which was fantastic - I know the villages do get crowded but are there any smaller places like that we could stay in the Algarve?

So many questions.....be glad of any opinions!

Hello James. Looks like a fun trip.

Do not rush Lisbon. If you are using it as both an arrival and departure gateway, spend a couple of days each end at least. You might even want to pick up (or turn in) the car at Cascais so that you can see some of the coast near Lisbon which is quite striking.

I will defer to others about the Algarve details as when we did this, it was by public transit, and we only stopped in Faro overnight between Lisbon and Seville. (In Spain we had a car and explored villages south of Seville like Ronda which was fabulous; I also wouldn't mind returning to that region to hike and explore further.)

Enjoy your trip.

Hi James

Sounds like a lovely trip. Every year My husband and I head to the algarve for a holiday and we have combined it with Seville. Seville is a really nice city with beautiful buildings. But for me it wasnt a patch on Valencia or even Barcelona. I think I spent too much time around the tourist area. Lagos is lovely, as is where we stay Carvoeiro. We usually rent a place or stay in the Tivoli Almansor which is very reasonable 4 star hotel.

Mérida has fairly extensive Roman ruins. Cáceres is a fortified Medieval town. Choose either one.

f you are going to Lisbon and you want to travel in Portugal you should contact this guys: www.lisbonchill-out.blogspot.com

They are travellers as well and give nice tips. I was in lisbon last month and I went on a tour with them was great!!! enjoy Lisbon!!

We have travelled extensively in Portugal (one of my favorite places), and we use the Posadas and Parador's...reasonable, reiable and great food. Would suggest that Evora and the douro valley are two of our favorite places.