Spain / Portugal advice
 

Happy New Year to all
I love the start of the new year as I can plan our next trip.
This year it is Spain and Portugal at the end of August/early September. We have never been before and have 22 days which I would like to split between the two.
For the past week I have been researching and reading lots of tip reports (MaiTais took me 2 days ) which have given me a wealth of information.
I have come up with the first draft of an itinerary and would like to get some feedback/advice.
I know that we could spend our entire time in one country but this is a sampler trip.

So the plan is
Fly into Lisbon (4)
Pick up a car and head north
Obidos or Coimbra (1)
Porto (2)
Pinhao (2)
Marvao (1)
Evora (1)
Drive back to Lisbon and fly to Seville
Seville (4). Day trip to Cordoba
Granada (2)
Fly to Barcelona (5)

Is this doable without being rushed.
Any hints or tips or recommendations where to stay.
Any advice is appreciated

Doable, yes. Without being rushed? Depends on your interests! I thought 6 days a minimum for Sevilla / Cordoba (and am glad I spent 2 nights in Cordoba, rather than visiting as a day trip from Sevilla). I thought 3 days a minimum for Alhambra, and found myself hard-pressed to see Barcelona itself (not counting day trips) in just 6 nights. YMMV.

Here's what I recommend: Get some good guidebooks (or spend some time with a few in your local library) and plot your wish list on a calendar. Read trip planning threads here on Fodor’s, not just trip reports (no matter how delightful they are). Note that many things in Spain are closed on Monday, and often for all or part of Sundays too; and many things in Spain will also be closed daily for a very long mid-day break.

Hope that helps!

one night stands do not work. Spend a lot of time travelling then just to crash out in your hotel after a meal is not some sort of vacation.
Slow down and see more.

It's perfectly doable and no rushed at all IMO.
Barcelona is far away from the other places you plan to visit.
I would rather have combined Portugal with Western Spain, may be like this:
Madrid - Avila - Salamanca - Pinhao (why 2 days?) - Douro Valley - Porto - Coimbra - Batalha etc. - Lisboa - Evora - Merida - Sevilla - Cordoba - Madrid.

Hi,
Happy new year.
I'm Portuguese and i know very well all these places, including Spain.
Doable, yes. Rushing, yes, but that's part of the fan, right!!!. So many amazing things to see on the way.

For start, Lisbon 4 days. Enough to see all the sights plus a day trip to the beach town of Cascais e Estoril and Sintra. From Lisbon you definitely should check Obidos and Nazaré, they are only a one hour drive from Lisbon. Coimbra 1 day is enough, though on the way you should check the amazing Knigts templar castle of Tomar and the Battle monastery in the city of Batalha (amazing). These sites are very close to each other.
Porto 2 days is enough.
Why 2 days in Pinhão? Instead you should book a Douro Valley cruise, they tour all the river including the village of Pinhão and it takes 1 day, you'll see much more in a relaxed way.

Also you can see Marvão on the way to Évora, it's very small doesn't take you the all day to visit it.
4 days to Seville and Cordoba is oK, the flight only takes 1 hour.
Barcelona is a little bit far away. There are tons of amazing village in the area like Elvas, Merida, Jerez de la Frontera, Cadiz and the Algarve in Portugal, all much closer. With a car is a must.

For trains Seville-Cordoba area book early at www.renfe.com for possible discount fares; www.seat61.com has great info on that; for general info trains also www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

Thanks very much everyone. Will consider suggestions.
I know we are trying to fit in lots but I am comfortable with the pace.
We fly out of Barcelona and it is a must see for my husband



Mbjl, where would we do the day cruise from?
I will skip Marvao. I wanted a stop somewhere between Pinhao and Evora as it is quite a long driving distance.
I will look at this again.

While this itinerary might not seemed rushed to neckervd, I already noted that it would have been too rushed for my tastes. And one night stands most certainly CAN work, although some travelers don’t like them. It all depends on what YOU want to see and experience.

Good luck!

Day cruise o Douro is out of Porto.

Hi,

The Douro River cruise starts at Vila Nova de Gaia, in front of Porto. It'll take you to the Unesco world heritage site of Douro Valley. I never did this but i know people how did and they came back blown away. It's also in my agenda.


The cruise operator is Douro Azul
http://www.douroazul.com/Default.aspx

I agree with you, Marvão is very far away

Trains do Seville-Barcelona in about 5-5 hours - all in all not much longer than flying and you see the Spain in between.

Marvão is very far away, but it is absolutely lovely. To visit Douro Valley in a cruise you have lots of operators, don´t need to book in advance, just go to the river bank while you´re in Porto. Althour I agree with RiberaSacra in general considering one night stan, the ones you pointed to Portugal are ok, or you even not need a night there, as they are related to small villages (like Marvão, or Pinhão).

Heading to Spain and Portugal in May with a similarly aggressive itinerary. I had 3 nights planned for Porto.

My concern with taking the cruise is that the Duoro Valley looks similar to other wine regions I have visited (Mosel Valley specifically). Am I mistaken, and is it worth taking the cruise?

Many thanks

millie2112 - trip looks great! Have a wonderful time!

Thanks everyone for your input. I have been having a great time researching.
I have chosen Coimbra as a one night stay as I would like to visit Obidos and perhaps Nazare on my way to Porto and I would rather arrive early in Porto.
From Porto I would like to stop in Geres and Guimaraes before I get to Pinhao. This will give me time to relax later on in the day and give me one full day in the area to check out the Wineries.
I am also mindful that I will need some pool time to relax a bit.

Marvao looks very picturesque. I have two nights before I need to be in Lisbon. In the two days I would like to visit Tomar, Marvao and Evora.
Does anyone have any suggestions where I could base myself for a 2 night stay?????

Masterphil, you enjoy your trip too. The more I research Portugal the more excited I get about the trip and even more confused about my itinerary.

Hi, I'm from Lisbon

I dot not agree you based in Coimbra do visit Obibos and Nazaré. From Coimbra to obidos you are travelling again in the direction of Lisbon. If you are going to Porto from Lisbon, it makes more sense to do it like this,:

Lisbon - Óbidos - Nazaré - Coimbra - Porto - Guimarães - Gerês - Pinhão - Tomar - Marvão - Évora

From Tomar to Marvão you got 2 hours drive.
From Marvão to Évora, 1,5 hour drive.
Between the 2 villages you'll have the Montargil dam with river beach which could be a good base
https://www.lagodemontargilhotel.com/en/

HI,

Masterphil, Mosel Valley and Douro Valley share similarities, both are wine regions close to a river, but they are very different. Both are beautiful, thought.
The Douro valley wine region is the oldest regulated area of wine production in the world.It's the born place of Porto wine, It's a world heritage site because the way the vineyards are planted and the way wine is make, vineyards are planted in handmade slops throughout the river banks. It's a unique landscape, you can't find it anywhere in the world. So, only for that, it sure deserves a visit, right?

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1046
https://www.visitportugal.com/en/content/douro-valley

mbjl1976 Thank you very much! You are a wonderful salesperson for the region!! How can I not make it a stop after that wonderful description? My wife and I are considering retiring in Portugal in a couple of years and were travelling there to check it out.

Here is my itinerary, since you live in Portugal, any recommendations are welcomed!

My apologies to millie for piggybacking on this post!

1. Fly Paris to Malaga stay the night.
2. Drive to Granada for 1 night.
3. Drive to Cordoba for 1 night.
4. Drive to Seville for 1 night.
5. Drive to Lagos for 2 nights.
6. Drive to Cascais for 2 nights.
7. Drive to Sintra for 1 night.
8. Drive through Obidos to Porto for 3 nights.
9. Drive through Coimbra, Tomar, Santarem to Lisbon for 3 nights

Then we fly to Copenhagen for 2 nights and flight home.

Entire itinerary is still available to change...

Thanks!

Masterphil, why are you only spending 1 night in Seville? You won’t see much at all. We had 4 nights in Seville this past September, and feel it was the barest minimum necessary to see the highlights and enjoy this beautiful city. We also spent 2 nights in Córdoba and 2 nights in Granada. You won’t see much with your current plan. Maybe you should start your own thread for Spain and Portugal? You will get more responses that way.

Hi Masterphil ,

KarenWoo is right,you need to spend more time in Seville and Granada, they are amazing cities.
2 days for Lagos is ok, for Cascais only 1 day, the same for Sintra, 1 plus day if you want to see all the palaces. You can do day trips to these 2 since they are only 30 minutes away from Lisbon.
Skip Santarém, not very interesting, Tomar is very small, only takes 1/2 a day to see the Knights templar castle. In the Leiria region (where Tomar is) you have others options like the Battle monastery in Batalha, the castle of Leiria and Fátima.


Lagos - Lisbon (with day trip to Sintra and Cascais) -Porto - Coimbra - Tomar - Battle Monastery - Óbidos - Lisbon

You can also catch you flight in Porto you know, you'll save a lot of time. If so, it should be like this:

Lagos - Lisbon (with day trip to Sintra and Cascais) - Óbidos-Battle Monastery - Tomar - Coimbra - Porto


Yes, start your own thread

Thanks Karen and mbjl. We weren't going to spend any time in Spain, but I convinced my wife to take 3 extra days off from work.

I thought since we were so close to Spain, we had to at least see it. That's why the quick 1 night kind of look-around trip.

If we do retire to Portugal, we will have more than enough time to go back and give each city the time it deserves.

Retirement wise we are looking at Cascais, Coimbra or Porto as possible landing areas.

Thank you for all of your help. I really appreciate it!