Spain, Portugal & Paris 4 week itinerary
Apr 13th, 2015, 06:48 PM
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 14
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Spain, Portugal & Paris 4 week itinerary
Hi everyone,
My husband & I are planning a trip to Spain & Portugal for 4 weeks somewhere in Sep/ Oct. I am at the stage of planning and making an itinerary and would like some advice. We are interested in architecture/ culture/ food & beautiful landscape. (which I am sure are plenty) We don't want to include too much but would like to cover as much as we can comfortably.
And our main area of travel is Spain with a few days in portugal and a few days in Paris if possible. So far this is what I have come up with.
Flying into LISBON and out of PARIS.
Lisbon - Porto - Lisbon (5 nights)
Train or Fly to:
Madrid (5 nights) with day trips
Train to:
Cordoba (1 night)
Train to:
Seville (3 nights)
Bus to:
Granada (1 night)
Train to:
Valencia (2 nights)
Train to:
Barcelona (5 nights)
Train to:
Bilbao (maybe 1 night)
Bus to:
San Sebastian (maybe 1 night)
Train/bus or fly to:
Paris (3/4 nights)
As you can see main areas are Lisbon, Madrid, Seville, Barcelona & Paris with a few stops in between. Also the latter part of the trip is lot of long distant travelling and I am not too sure about the times or means of transportation. Would like some comments about what you think.
My husband & I are planning a trip to Spain & Portugal for 4 weeks somewhere in Sep/ Oct. I am at the stage of planning and making an itinerary and would like some advice. We are interested in architecture/ culture/ food & beautiful landscape. (which I am sure are plenty) We don't want to include too much but would like to cover as much as we can comfortably.
And our main area of travel is Spain with a few days in portugal and a few days in Paris if possible. So far this is what I have come up with. Flying into LISBON and out of PARIS.
Lisbon - Porto - Lisbon (5 nights)
Train or Fly to:
Madrid (5 nights) with day trips
Train to:
Cordoba (1 night)
Train to:
Seville (3 nights)
Bus to:
Granada (1 night)
Train to:
Valencia (2 nights)
Train to:
Barcelona (5 nights)
Train to:
Bilbao (maybe 1 night)
Bus to:
San Sebastian (maybe 1 night)
Train/bus or fly to:
Paris (3/4 nights)
As you can see main areas are Lisbon, Madrid, Seville, Barcelona & Paris with a few stops in between. Also the latter part of the trip is lot of long distant travelling and I am not too sure about the times or means of transportation. Would like some comments about what you think.
Apr 13th, 2015, 11:33 PM
#2
Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 5,934
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Sounds like a quite good plan. Perhaps take a day from both Madrid and Barcelona and add to the fabulous Basque Country (Bilbao, San Sebastian etc). Then you'll get some even portions of Madrid, Andalucia, Barcelona and the Basque Country with Valencia in between. Would give you a rich (and a bit rushed, I would perhaps skip Valencia on this highlight trip) taste of a wonderful and very diverse country.
Bilbao: http://www.euskoguide.com/places-bas...ilbao-tourism/
San Sebastian, European capital of culture 2016 and the food capital of Spain if not all of Europe: http://www.euskoguide.com/places-bas...stian-tourism/
The Basque Country: http://tourism.euskadi.eus/en/
Bilbao: http://www.euskoguide.com/places-bas...ilbao-tourism/
San Sebastian, European capital of culture 2016 and the food capital of Spain if not all of Europe: http://www.euskoguide.com/places-bas...stian-tourism/
The Basque Country: http://tourism.euskadi.eus/en/
Apr 14th, 2015, 06:23 AM
#4
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 1,866
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
You might want to write out your itinerary in <strong>days</strong> instead of nights to give you a better idea of how much time you actually will have for sightseeing in each place. Then put in your travel times.
For instance, you are traveling on the day before and the day after your "night" in Granada...which does not leave a lot of time there...depending, of course, on what time of day your bus/train are.
I think it takes about 3 hours by bus from Seville to Granada...not counting checkout/checkin times and getting to/from the station.
It's over 6 hours from Granada to Valencia by train, I believe.
You need to check those times--since I am not certain about them-- and factor that in for all city changes.
You may find that you need to re-arrange your order and/or drop a city or two.
SS
For instance, you are traveling on the day before and the day after your "night" in Granada...which does not leave a lot of time there...depending, of course, on what time of day your bus/train are.
I think it takes about 3 hours by bus from Seville to Granada...not counting checkout/checkin times and getting to/from the station.
It's over 6 hours from Granada to Valencia by train, I believe.
You need to check those times--since I am not certain about them-- and factor that in for all city changes.
You may find that you need to re-arrange your order and/or drop a city or two.
SS
Apr 14th, 2015, 08:52 AM
#5
Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 6,534
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I arrived in Granada in the afternoon, took a night tour of the palace at the Alhambra, got up the next morning and toured the gardens, and then left for Madrid after a long unch (I flew to Madrid, and it was fine for me, but I didn't invest in time in exploring the town of Granada.
If you don't mind driving and doing a bit of road-tripping, you could get a car in Sevilla and drive to Cordoba to spend your night, then drive to Granada, and then drive to Valencia -- but I would do one more overnight in between.
It looks like you are back tracking to Lisbon to fly to Madrid. Have you checked out what flights you could get out of Porto to a Spanish destination, or if it is possible to fly into Porto first via a European connection? For instance, can you fly to Paris first, then to Porto, then to Lisbon, then to Madrid?
The devil is in the details in a trip like this when it comes to looking up what airport connections you can make that might be better. Takes patience to do it, but if you use the airport websites, Wikipedia entries for airports, and a website like skyscanner or Whichbudget, you can sometmes come up with some nifty connections.
If you don't mind driving and doing a bit of road-tripping, you could get a car in Sevilla and drive to Cordoba to spend your night, then drive to Granada, and then drive to Valencia -- but I would do one more overnight in between.
It looks like you are back tracking to Lisbon to fly to Madrid. Have you checked out what flights you could get out of Porto to a Spanish destination, or if it is possible to fly into Porto first via a European connection? For instance, can you fly to Paris first, then to Porto, then to Lisbon, then to Madrid?
The devil is in the details in a trip like this when it comes to looking up what airport connections you can make that might be better. Takes patience to do it, but if you use the airport websites, Wikipedia entries for airports, and a website like skyscanner or Whichbudget, you can sometmes come up with some nifty connections.
Apr 14th, 2015, 02:59 PM
#6
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 14
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
You are right sandralist I havent checked connections from porto to madrid. If there are any, that would save us time. Thanks.
And thanks ssander i will do a more detailed itinerary taking into account the travel times.
And thanks ssander i will do a more detailed itinerary taking into account the travel times.
Thread
Original Poster
Forum
Replies
Last Post
paulfeigenbaum
Europe
11
Feb 7th, 2012 10:43 AM
